Unlawful Attraction

Chapter Two

Aiden

“They were finally able to drag you out of bed, huh?” Silas joked as he walked up to where I stood beside Boston West Hospital’s automatic doors.

“Just kidding, of course,” he went on. “Everyone knows that Aiden Turner doesn’t sleep.”

“And everyone knows that Silas Reed sleeps around way too much.” I smirked at my old friend, even though I didn’t really feel like it.

Silas and I had been working for the Boston Police Department as detectives for a few years now, often assigned to tackle the same cases. We worked well together because while I often relied on what I knew, Silas liked to rely on his intuition, something that I couldn’t deny had led to a few breakthroughs in our investigative work.

Silas and I also worked well together because at the end of the day, we respected each other’s process.

“Sleeps around too much?” Silas feigned offense. “I don’t think the women who’ve had the pleasure of my company would agree with you there. Plus, you’re probably just jealous because your bed is cold and lonely every night.”

“I like it that way,” I replied. “I like all the space in the sheets.”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re still not over Jasmine.” Silas frowned. “You two broke up forever ago.”

“I’m over Jasmine,” I answered with a shrug. “But just because I’m over her doesn’t mean that I’m in the mood to get tangled up with someone else so fast. Not all of us can sleep with people without knowing their last name, Silas.”

“What does knowing someone’s last name have to do with anything?” Silas said, grinning. He nodded at the hospital building. “The only last names that matter are the ones in our case files. That means the only last name that matters today is Orlov.”

“Katya Orlov.” I nodded. “Pretty sure she’s Russian, not just from her last name, but from what I heard of her parents speaking in the waiting room. Her dad has a heavy accent. I wanted to give the family some time with her before we go in and ask questions.”

“Always the gentleman.” Silas offered me a small smile. “Do we know what happened to her? Besides the fact that she had a nasty fall somewhere near the dog park?”

“Her mom called the police around an hour ago, saying her daughter was talking about some guys speaking Russian and shooting someone underneath a bridge.” Aiden offered.

“Yeah, that too,” Silas said. “What are you thinking? Because I’m getting the feeling that the longer we wait to interview the victim, the more her story is going to change.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Who knows? Maybe she has a concussion,” Silas replied. “Or maybe there’s a connection between Ms. Orlov’s family and the violence she saw tonight.”

“But if they were connected, why would her mom involve the police?”

“Good question,” Silas said before he started to head into the hospital. “We should make sure to ask that while we interview Ms. Orlov.”

***

“Thank you so much for giving us time with our baby girl,” Mrs. Orlov said as soon as Silas and I were outside of Katya’s hospital room. It was obvious she’d been weeping, her tears still fresh on her cheeks. “I understand that you have an important job to do. We just wanted to give her some comfort, let her know that we were here for her.”

“I know, Mrs. Orlov.” I smiled down at her. “Do you think your daughter would be up for a few questions right now? Is she awake?”

“Yes. Of course.” She nodded. “Katya will cooperate with whatever you want. I always used to tell her that if she didn’t become a journalist, perhaps she could be a policewoman, even though it scared me to think of her in that profession. I was always scared about her being hurt.”

Mrs. Orlov caught herself in the moment as she began to shake with a fresh round of tears. A few seconds later, Mr. Orlov had his arm wrapped around his wife, gently moving her a few feet down the hall. He only spared a single look at me as he walked with his wife, a look that felt completely unreadable, blank in a way that left me wondering just what was on his mind.

“Jesus Christ,” Silas murmured under his breath. “Just how badly was the girl hurt, Aiden?”

“No idea.” I shook my head as I began to walk into Katya’s hospital room. “But no matter how bad it is, you better keep a neutral face. We don’t want her thinking that we’re judgmental assholes.”

We walked into her room, and I stopped in the middle of my sentence as I laid eyes on Katya Orlov for the very first time.

Fuck.

She was absolutely gorgeous. She had platinum blonde hair that rested well below her shoulders, and light blue eyes that reminded me of the color of the ocean on a particularly sunny day. Her build made me wonder if she’d ever been a dancer, since she was thin and tall, as if she would’ve been graceful up on a stage. I had visions of watching Katya dance with a ballet company, her light blue eyes meeting mine from her turn in the spotlight, her lithe figure easily spinning in place and jumping to impossible heights in time to the violins.

“Ms. Orlov...Katya?” I asked, even though I already knew her name. I was still shocked by how beautiful she was, especially since her mother’s reaction made me think she’d been hurt much worse. In fact, the only sign that anything was wrong was the bandage wrapped around her arm, and gauze placed near her hairline.

“That’s me,” she replied, her voice small. “Are you two with the police department?”

“That we are.” Silas smiled in her direction, and I wondered if he was having the same thoughts as me, with visions of Katya dancing swirling around his head, too. “We just had a few questions about what happened tonight, Ms. Orlov.”

“OK. What happened tonight is that two thugs tried to kill me,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “And I...I still can’t figure out why.”

“Well, that’s why you pay taxes to the great state of Massachusetts, Ms. Orlov.” Silas smiled again. “You can leave the investigation part up to us. We promise to do our best figure it out for you”

“There were two men,” she interrupted. “One of them was younger, with a look in his eyes that seemed like... almost like killing was the kind of thing he liked to do for fun. He had dark brown hair, with a scar right down the bridge of his nose. The second guy was older and a lot less invested in the killing. Which made him even more terrifying than the first guy, like he could kill someone and his heartbeat wouldn’t increase for a second. He had dark hair, too, but his head looked like it was recently shaved, with a fresh beard growing in on his chin.”

“...Damn.” Silas let out a quiet breath before he spoke again. “Are you sure that’s what you saw tonight, Ms. Orlov? Underneath that bridge?”

“I’m sure,” she said, then paused for a moment. “Although, I didn’t... I forgot to describe the man they killed. He was older, too. He was blonde and wearing this dark jacket covered with patches, like he was a biker or—”

Katya stopped speaking for a second time, her eyes quickly darting back and forth between us.

“They said my name,” she murmured. “My last name, while they were chasing after me, when I thought they were going to kill me. I have no idea how they knew my last name. I’ve been putting this article together about people stealing pets from the dog park and trying to resell them on the other side of town, but it hasn’t been published yet, so how would they even know that I was a potential threat to their operation?”

Unfortunately, Ms. Orlov,” I said, “I don’t think this has anything to do with the article you were working on.”

I moved closer to the bed before I went on. “The two men you just described... their names are Igor Angeloff and Maxim Bardin. They’ve been on our list for months as two of the highest-ranking members of the Russian mob.”

“The Russian mob?” Katya squeaked. “What the hell is the Russian mob doing in Boston?”

“That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out,” Silas replied as he moved closer to her, too. “And I’m sorry to be the one to give you even more bad news, Ms. Orlov, but in our dealings with these guys so far, we know how they feel about loose ends. They don’t stay loose ends for long.”

“Loose ends?” Katya’s words came out as a whisper. “Are you saying that I’m a loose end? Are you saying that they’re going to come back for me?”

“It’s possible, Ms. Orlov,” I replied. “Especially if you believe that they knew your last name. It’s also possible due to your fearful state at the time that you may have imagined that they knew your last name or may have misheard them. You wouldn’t be the first person in history to have auditory hallucinations when their life was in danger.”

“I know what I heard, officer.” Katya’s voice was filled with defiance. “Is that what they’re training cops to do nowadays? Come into people’s hospital rooms and accuse them of being crazy? I don’t even know your names.”

“I’m sorry if I offended you, Ms. Orlov,” I said, forcing myself to suppress a smile. I was genuinely amused by Katya’s response, her fiery attitude sparking something inside of me. “And my name is Detective Aiden Turner. And that is my partner, Detective Silas Reed.”

“Thanks for the introduction, officers.” She closed her eyes. “You two can go now. I’m not going to be too useful to talk to in the next five minutes since the pain meds are about to kick in.”

**

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