Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ariana
I carefully opened Sam’s office door and peeked inside, only to see that he was on the phone. When he saw me, he waved me in. After finishing his call, he leaned back in his chair, brought one leg up, and rested it on the other.
“What can I do for you, Ariana?”
I put on my sweet and innocent face, acting as if this case was hopeless.
“Can you recall anything odd or out of the ordinary the night of your party?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Everyone was having a great time. Why?”
“I just feel like I’m at a dead end here, and I can’t seem to find anything that could clear Luca. I’m really worried, Sam.”
“Ariana, Luca never should have hired you to defend him, and I don’t know what he was thinking. I mean, come on, this is your first real case. You’re fresh out of law school and really don’t have much experience.”
I wanted to throat punch him.
“Did you see Luca leave with Gina that night?”
“I did.” He nodded. “I thought to myself, ‘Wow, lucky guy.’”
“But you didn’t know who she was?”
“No. How would I know her?” he asked as he cocked his head.
I needed to be very careful with my wording, or he would become suspicious.
“I thought since Luca represented her a year ago, you would have met her or something.”
“I don’t know every client Luca represents.”
“Anyway, I’m sorry to bother you. I was hoping that you would have seen something that night that could help him.”
“I’m sorry, but I was drinking and socializing with everyone. I wish to God I could help, but I didn’t see anything odd.”
“Thanks, Sam.” I got up from my seat and walked over to the door. Placing my hand on the knob, I turned and looked at him. “By the way, how was your birthday?”
“It was great. Best birthday I think I ever had.” He smiled.
“Did you and your wife do anything special during the day?” I asked with caution.
“No. We were supposed to, but she’s really big into charity work and had meetings all day. I didn’t see her until I got home and we got ready for the party. Why are you asking?”
“I noticed that picture you have of the two of you behind your desk, and you both look so happy. I just thought maybe she would have done something romantic for your birthday. I know if I had a guy in my life and it was his birthday, I’d plan the whole day out. Birthdays should be celebrated all day as far as I’m concerned.” I smiled.
“I agree. Maybe I’ll run that idea by her for next year.” He winked.
I gave him a small smile as I left his office. If my theory were right, he’d be spending his next birthday behind bars. As I was walking to Luca’s office, Sheila stopped me.
“Sam was the one who rented that limo Gina climbed into,” she whispered. “It had to be him she met.”
“He also lied to Luca about spending the day with his wife. He just told me that she was in charity meetings all day, and he didn’t see her until he got home and they left for the party.”
“What motive would he have for wanting to kill Gina and frame Luca?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out, and we don’t have much time. Do you think when he leaves tonight, you can search his office?”
“Sure. I’ll call you if I find anything.”
“Thanks.” I placed my hand on her arm before walking away.
I reached Luca’s office only to find that he wasn’t there, so I went to Olivia’s cubicle.
“Do you know where Luca is?”
“He left.”
“Left? Do you know where he went?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say. Is everything okay with the two of you?” she asked.
“Besides him being charged with a double murder and me stressing trying to figure out who framed him? Yeah. Everything is great.”
I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer, so I texted him.
“Hey, where are you? I’m at the office and Olivia told me you left.”
No response.
I sighed and placed my phone back inside my purse. I couldn’t think about where he went off to. I needed to think about my next move. There was something I wasn’t seeing. I went back to the Peninsula and viewed the security tape again. This time, I viewed it while the party was going on, watching every person who entered the lobby.
“Bruce, stop right there.” I pointed to the screen when I saw Sam Butler in the lobby at approximately ten o’clock, making a phone call. “Who would you call that late while at your birthday party, Sam?” I spoke out loud.
“Wife, maybe?” Bruce spoke.
“His wife was with him.”
“Mistress, perhaps?”
“She was sitting at the bar at the party.” I smirked.
“Ah. That’s crazy.”
I picked up my phone and dialed Sheila.
“What’s up, Ariana?”
“Is Sam’s phone through the firm?” I asked.
“Yes. All the partners’ phones are. Why?”
“Then you’d have no problem getting his phone records?”
“Nope. I can get them quick. Why?”
“I need them as soon as possible.”
“I’ll start working on it now.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you to tell you where to meet me. I’m not coming back to the firm today.”
I ended the call and watched more of the security footage. Nothing out of the ordinary grabbed my attention except seeing Luca and Gina step onto the elevator to go up to her room. It bothered me. I knew he just went up there to talk because she needed legal advice, but seeing his hand on the small of her back as they entered the elevator struck a jealousy chord in me that I found hard to control. A thought came to my head. Something I didn’t think about before. I grabbed my phone and purse and thanked Bruce again for helping me out. I flew out the doors of the hotel and dialed Luca.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Where the fuck are you?” I blurted out.
“At your apartment. Why? And why are you taking that tone with me?”
“I went to your office after talking to Sam, and Olivia said you left. Then I sent you a text message, and you didn’t respond.”
“I never got a text message from you, Ariana. Are you on your way home? You sound frantic.”
“I have some questions to ask you. I’ll be home soon.”
After ending the call, I dialed Sheila.
“Hello.”
“I’m headed home. Can you meet me there?”
“I got the phone records, and I’m on my way.”
“Great. See you soon.”
Before heading home, I stopped at the craft store and picked up a large whiteboard with some erasable markers. It was a bitch to carry inside my apartment building, but I made it up the elevator and dragged it down the hallway to my apartment. As I opened the door and attempted to bring it in, Luca came running over to me when he saw me struggling.
“Ariana, why didn’t you call me to help you bring this up?”
“I don’t know,” I spoke in a frazzled tone.
“You look exhausted,” he spoke as he set the board against the wall.
“We need to hang that up on that wall right over there.” I pointed. “Sheila will be here soon. And what’s that smell?” I asked as I sniffed around.
“Dinner.” He smiled.
“You cooked for me?” I pouted.
He walked over to me, took my purse from my shoulder, set it down, and placed his hands firmly on my hips while softly kissing my lips.
“I did, and I hope you like it.”
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I stared into his panty-melting eyes.
“I know I’ll like it. Thank you.” I smiled.
“You’re welcome. Now why is Sheila coming over?”
“I had her get Sam’s phone records.”
He broke our embrace and poured me a glass of wine.
“Why?”
“I’ll lay it all out on the board as soon as you get it hung.”
“You do know we have boards like this at the firm in our conference rooms?”
“Do you want me writing Sam’s name all over it for him to see?”
“Ah, good point.” He nodded. “Well, do you have anything to hang it with?”
“I bought a small hammer and some nails. They’re in the bag in my purse. I’m going to go change before Sheila gets here.”
I walked into the bedroom and threw on a pair of cropped yoga pants and a loose tank top while Luca hung the whiteboard on the wall. I was exhausted, and I was running out of time. His trial started in three days, and I wanted to do everything I could to prevent it from happening. As I was walking to the kitchen, there was a knock at the door.
“Sheila, come in.” I smiled as she handed me a folder.
She stepped inside, said hi to Luca, and then looked around.
“What a great place you have, Ariana. It’s so cozy.”
“Thank you. Would you like a glass of wine?”
“Wine sounds really good right now. Thanks. What is that smell?” she asked as she walked over to the edge of the counter.
“Luca is making dinner,” I replied.
“I didn’t know you cooked, Luca.”
“I do, but that stays between us.” He smirked. “I hope you’ll stay and join us.”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” She smiled.
While Luca finished preparing dinner, I wrote some things down on the whiteboard.
“So, this is what we know.” I pointed to the board with a blue marker. “Gina Burroughs checked in to the hotel at three o’clock. At three-thirty, she went to the lobby and made a phone call to Sam Butler. Shortly after hanging up, she left the hotel and climbed into a limousine that Sam Butler rented. When she returned to the hotel at eight p.m., approximately four hours later, she went up to her room and then came back down at nine-thirty and headed into the bar where the party took place.”
“Come sit down and eat, Ariana,” Luca spoke.
I set down my marker and sat at the table where Luca placed a plate in front of me consisting of Chicken Marsala, roasted fingerling potatoes tossed in oil and herbs, French-style green beans, and a loaf of French bread.
“Oh god, Luca. This is amazing. Why have you been holding out on me about your cooking skills?”
“Yeah, Luca, you could be a chef. This is delicious,” Sheila spoke.
“Thank you. My mother taught me to cook. It’s really all she did. She loved to cook big meals.”
I ate a piece of chicken and sipped my wine before asking Luca the question I needed an answer to.
“Okay, I have a question. If Gina came down to the bar at nine-thirty and you didn’t go to her room until eleven, what did you talk about for an hour and a half?”
“She didn’t come to sit at the bar until ten thirty,” he replied.
“Huh?” I cocked my head. “How do you know the exact time she sat down?”
“I was just finishing off my scotch, and I looked at my watch to see what time it was because I was ready to leave. It was at that moment that she sat down next to me. We talked, and I bought her a couple of drinks.”
“Talked about what?” I asked.
“Nothing much. I just asked her how she was doing, and she asked me about the party. She never let on that she knew Sam.”
“Didn’t you find it odd that she was there?”
“No. She was a call girl. Hotels are their thing. I didn’t find anything odd about it at all. Then she told me she needed some legal advice.”
“Is that when she seemed nervous?”
“Yeah. It was like when she asked me to come to her room, her demeanor changed.”
“The bartender told me that she dropped her purse, and all the contents fell out,” I spoke as I ate a potato.
“Yes, and I bent down and picked everything up for her. That was right before we headed to her room.”
“About what time?”
“I don’t know. I picked up her purse, handed it to her, finished off my drink, and then we left.”
“So that could have been what? Ten minutes?”
“Possibly. Ariana, I don’t understand what me picking up her purse has anything to do with this?”
“Rohypnol, after ingested, takes about fifteen minutes to kick in. When she dropped her purse, intentionally, may I add, and you bent down to pick it up, she slipped it into your drink. And that’s why you can’t remember anything after you got to her room.”
“Why the hell would she drug me?”
“Because, obviously, she was in on it,” Sheila spoke.
“Oh, come on. She planned her own murder?”
“Not her murder, but something. She lured you up to her room for a reason, and I need to find out what that reason was.”