AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.”
“Any phone calls, texts, or emails that she found unnerving?”
“No. I'm sorry, I'm not really being very helpful,” Chloe said glumly.
“That’s okay, you're doing great,” Miller encouraged.
Of course she wasn't. If they didn’t already have a theory as to what had happened to Emily Hadden, then nothing that her sister had told them would point them in any direction.
“Just a few more questions, I promise. Is there anyone you can think of who might want to hurt your sister?”
A sluggish shake of her head was all Chloe gave. She was quickly fading, she wasn't going to be much use to them for much longer.
Miller shot him a look and he shook his head, no point in continuing the interview further. They weren’t going to find this guy through anything Chloe Hadden said, they were going to find him through Aggie, so they may as well wrap this up.
“Is there any family we can call for you, Chloe?” Miller asked.
“My fiancé is on his way. We still have to call my mother. Tell her. I couldn’t do it on my own. She's going to be devastated,” Chloe mumbled. Her eyes had gone vacant.
“I'm going to leave you my card.” Miller squeezed her hand, then released it, pulled a card from his pocket, and set it on the table.
They were at the door when Chloe’s voice stopped them. “Do you think you know who took my sister?”
Unfortunately, they did.
And it wasn't good news for Emily.
* * * * *
11:43 A.M.
His boss looked angry. That was the first thing Nick thought as he and Miller entered her office and took seats at her desk. Captain Heidi Kramer was in her fifties, tall and thin, with an angular face. She was like a tightly wound-up ball of energy, always on the move. The odd time he’d interacted with her away from work she was actually a lot of fun, but here at the office she was usually stern and all business. Today, though, she didn’t look stern, she looked downright furious.
“I hear you're dating Agape Candella,” she said as she closed the door and sat in her chair on the other side of her desk.
“I've been out with her a couple of times,” he acknowledged.
“So, you just happened to stumble upon the daughter of the man who you are obsessed with proving killed his ex-wives being attacked by an Asian man, and your partner just happens to be an Asian man.” Heidi’s voice was so cold she may as well be a snowman.
“Coincidence,” he replied smoothly. He and Miller had known that what they’d done would come out eventually, there was no way to keep it secret. But so long as they denied everything there was no proof that they'd been involved in Aggie’s attack. That was until she found out his true identity. And then everything would come out and he would lose her forever.
Raising an irritable eyebrow, she queried, “Coincidence? What you two did is not only unethical but illegal too. If I had any proof that you attacked and injured that poor woman just so you could weasel your way into her life, then you would both be out of a job. And if, nowhen, Agape finds out you will almost definitely be facing criminal charges as well. Not to mention the fact that any evidence you obtain through this ridiculous scheme is useless and will be thrown out. You couldn’t have just hooked up with her in a bar?”
“I tried that,” he admitted. “But she never looked at me once in three months. It seems I'm not her type. Unless I'm saving her life of course.”
Heidi ran a weary hand through her hair. “I can't believe you two are so stupid,” she muttered. “I buy you concocting this idioticness, I always knew your obsessiveness was going to get you in trouble one day.” She threw a glare his way. “But you,” she turned on Miller, “you ought to know better.”
“We didn’t do anything,” Nick repeated firmly. Neither he nor Miller were going to admit otherwise. They had worked too long and too hard on this case to blow it now when they were so close to finally getting a resolution.
Groaning a groan that was very close to a growl, she glowered at the two of them. “Go,” Heidi ordered. “Run the case. Convince me that Sebastian Candella is a serial killer.”
There was no need to consult his notes, Nick knew the background on this case by heart. Like Heidi had said, he was obsessed with it. “Sebastian Candella is an only child. His parents are extremely wealthy, they run a huge chain of luxury hotels plus some other miscellaneous businesses. At fourteen he and his girlfriend, Sandra Brownlee, also fourteen, had a child, Andrew Candella. Given his parents’ ages, Andrew was bounced around a lot between them and both sets of grandparents. Sebastian married Sandra on her eighteenth birthday, went to college, then to work in the family business. Four years after their marriage, Sebastian and Sandra had a daughter …”
“Agape,” Heidi interrupted.
Nodding, Nick continued, “But Sebastian had a penchant for women, he cheated at least twice that his wife knew of, had two more daughters, Clara and Naomi Candella. They share the same birthday as Aggie. Triplets but not. He had a relationship with both girls but Sandra wouldn’t allow them to come to the family home, so his weekend visitations were spent in hotels. When Aggie was eight, her mother died in a car accident, and I believe that was the event that changed Sebastian.”
“But he didn’t start murdering women immediately after Sandra’s death,” Heidi pointed out.
