Page 14 of One Step After Another

She did all of it.

But why?

• • •

“MR ... KUTNER,” THEofficer said, glancing down at the medical chart he’d taken from the edge of Luca’s hospital bed to double-check for the name he clearly hadn’t been able to remember. “That is your name, correct?” Not even close.

Luca shrugged where he stood beside the bed, already dressed in his clothes from the night before—minus the bloody blazer that no one had seemed to notice—and ready to leave. His ride would be arriving soon. He didn’t plan on this conversation with the cop lasting any longer than it had to.

“That’s what the file says,” Luca replied. “And my ID.”

“Right, right.” Flipping over a paper on the chart, the cop huh’d under his breath before glancing up to meet Luca’s stare. “Yikes, hope someone is coming to drive you home because the drug you got hit with last night ... a horse tranquilizer, apparently. How much do you remember about—”

“Little to nothing. As I told the nurses and doctors and the last cop that came in here. He was a bigger asshole than you, though. Chose the right career because I don’t think he would have made it as the doctor he pretended to be with a bedside manner like that.”

The officer chuckled. “Some of us have interesting methods of interviewing.”

“Or some of you just like to have fun.”

“Or you’re lying.”

Luca didn’t bother replying to that. What would be the point? He didn’t intend to shoot himself in the foot ... or stick it in his mouth, for that matter.

“See,” the cop continued, still eyeing Luca for even the slightest sign of a lie, not that he would find it, “security footage tells us a lot about your movements and our mysterious woman’s last night. What we’re slightly more interested in than the fact you seemed to take the same stairwell where one of the Smithenson family’s security detail was found unconscious is what we saw in the elevator.”

“Which was?”

“You talked to her. She didn’t talk back. What did you say?”

“Can’t remember,” Luca replied easily.

Or lied easily.

Depending on how one wanted to look at it.

“You seemed familiar. Like you knew her.”

The cop who hadn’t even bothered to introduce himself to Luca reached for a paper on top of a pile he had sat on the table at the end of the bed. Holding the one on the top up, it was a photo of Penny and Luca standing side by side in the elevator. It didn’t show Penny’s face—the wide brim of her hat hid that. Her white hair was visible, however, as was the way he clearly looked at her from the side with a grin that spoke of interest. Couldn’t hide that.

The man was right.

Luca did recognize her—there was a familiarity in his actions. There was also something else he could use for his current situation. Another lie.

“Can’t see her face there but you should have,” Luca said, chuckling under his breath. “Chick was hot—fuck me for taking a shot.”

The cop cleared his throat. “Clearly it didn’t work. The bitch stuck you with a needle the first chance she could.”

“Yeah, shitty luck, huh?” Then, Luca arched a brow. “Did you catch her face at all?”

“No,” the man replied. “Well, Mr. Kutner, thank you for ... your lack of help. We will be in touch should we think of anything else. And if you remember something else—”

“I’ll be sure to call.”

“I’m sure.”

Yeah, Luca knew that tone. The cop couldn’t say he was lying but thought he was; Luca wouldn’t verify or deny and since everything they had on record about him currently was a lie ... they weren’t coming back. They couldn’t.

Just before the cop walked out of the room, he turned back with a finger pointed at Luca like a loaded gun when he asked, “And how do you remember nothing except for the fact she was attractive?”