Chapter Seventeen
Randal Crest’s
Home
Saturday Afternoon
Finding the man’s home was easy, since he lived in the middle of town, in a historic building. It was a hop, skip, and a jump away from where he worked at the bank as a financial advisor.
The place was nice, and it even had a doorman when you arrived.
After flashing badges, they were directed to the elevators and headed up to the seventh floor.
Someone liked nice things, and that was evident by the whole building.
“I love a condo,” Dannie said. “I have an apartment close to work, but I’d love to be high up and get a view of the city.”
It was kind of amusing since Damascus was hardly a city. It was more like a town.
Still, they understood.
They enjoyed where they lived in Philadelphia. Having that kind of a view was always nice.
“We have a condo,” Gene admitted as they rode the elevator up to Randal’s personal space.
The man looked over.
“You live together, too?” he asked.
Gene nodded.
“Yep. We’ve lived together since we first got together,” he admitted, smiling over at his man.
And he’d never change it for the world.
Gene only hoped that he could lock the man down so they always had that. There was no place he wanted to be but beside Ethan. In fact, he couldn’t imagine not living with him.
“Really?” Dannie asked.
Ethan nodded.
“I asked him to move in, and he did. We’d gone on a little fishing trip, and became a couple,” he stated, not going into details. The man didn’t need to know they’d got sloppy drunk and fucked for hours.
That was their private memory.
They also didn’t want too much information getting out, and back to Gabe. They’d been burned before by letting someone into their world.
“So, love at first sight?” Dannie asked.
Gene was honest.
“For me, yes. I took some time to grow on Ethan. I’m like mold,” he said, joking.
Ethan looked over.
Gently, he placed his hand over Gene’s casted one.
“No, it was love at first sight. I just didn’t know it,” he admitted. “I don’t let my guard down easily, but I was attracted to Gene’s sweetness and gentleness. He’s my soulmate, and I love him.”
That made Gene’s heart skip.
Yeah, he was a lucky, lucky man.
“Sweet?” Dannie said, busting the man’s ass. “Him?” he asked.
Gene actually growled.
That made Ethan laugh.
“Well, he’s sweet to me, but I don’t poke him quite like you do, Detective,” he admitted. “Maybe don’t. He gets punchy.”
The man laughed.
“I can’t help it. I grew up with brothers. I provoke as second nature.”
Gene shrugged.
Yeah, he got that too.
You didn’t grow up with brothers and not learn how to play dirty out of survival, so no offense was taken.
“You don’t live with your lady?” Gene asked.
Dannie shook his head.
“Nah, we have two very different lives. While she’s very accepting of the fact that I work weird hours, and have a crazy job, I like to give her space. No one wants to wake up in the middle of the night when I get a call.”
Ethan called bullshit.
“He just lied,” he said to Gene. “I detect false narrative,” he stated.
The cop laughed.
“Okay, so maybe the profiler thing isn’t bullshit,” he admitted.
Gene was curious.
“So why don’t you? You know a hell of a lot about us. Share, Detective.”
Dannie did.
“I’ve been burned before, and I want to make sure one hundred percent that she’s the one. I’m moving slow. We’ve only dated for the last five months. Steph is not my normal type,” he admitted. “She’s…wholesome. I’m a cop. I see some shit, so as you can imagine…”
Oh, they got it.
It took a special someone to marry a cop or have a relationship with them.
It wasn’t easy.
“She has a routine, and I don’t. Cops don’t often marry teachers. We marry nurses, we marry other cops, and then we divorce them.”
Yeah, that was the truth.
As the elevator door opened, they stepped out.
“There’s nothing wrong with making sure,” Gene said, as they headed toward the man’s condo.
That’s what Dannie thought, and why he was being cautious. He wanted to get married once, and only once.
At the man’s door, they knocked, and they could hear music coming from inside. When the door was opened, the man who matched the driver’s license appeared.
He was drinking.
And not alone.
“Yes?” he asked, holding a martini in his one hand, as a redhead was sitting at the counter behind him in his kitchen.
“Randal Crest?” Gene asked as they all pulled their badges.
He lifted a brow.
“Is my music too loud?”
Gene went there.
Oh, it was crap music, and it was clear he was trying to get into a particular woman’s pants, but they were Feds.
Not beat cops.
“No, but we need to speak to you about your ex, Ivey. She was found dead.”
That was all the redhead had to hear. She put her martini down and grabbed her coat. She flew past them so fast that Randal didn’t even get to say a word.
“Oops. I guess she didn’t want to be tied up in a murder investigation,” Detective Pezzimente said.
Randal cursed.
“What the fuck?” he asked. “She was just about ready to sleep with me!”
That was what he was worried about?
Not the part where they said his ex was dead?
What was this?
That was suspect behavior if they ever saw it before. That disregard…
Well, now, they had more questions.
“Can we come in and talk to you?” Gene asked. “It’s for the official investigation.”
He opened his door wider, and they headed in together. Inside, it was a typical bachelor’s pad. The furniture was leather, the tables glass, and the view was nice.
Someone made money.
No.
Freaking.
Doubt.
“So, ask away,” Randal said, kicking back his martini, and then dumping out the woman’s. “The day is shot to shit now,” he stated.
They sat at the island, as he moved around in the kitchen, putting away food that he’d likely planned on cooking for the woman who’d run for her life.
They’d likely saved her.
This dude screamed ‘serial dater’.
“So, your ex was murdered,” Gene stated. “We have some questions.”
Randal actually laughed.
“Well, when you find the person, let me know who it is. I’ll make them a drink. They deserve it.”
That made them pause.
“Pardon?” Gene asked.
Randal leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.
“That bitch cheated on me. I had a ring, and I was going to marry her. I wanted to have a life with her. She was my WHOLE WORLD. I brought her to Christmas parties, and I was so damn sure she was the one.”
Oh, wow.
They hadn’t expected that.
“She cheated on you?”
He nodded.
“Oh, she destroyed our whole relationship, and I never saw it coming. Do you know what it’s like to have your life torn apart by infidelity?”
Both Ethan and Dannie nodded.
“Yes,” they said at the same time.
Gene, on the other hand, didn’t. He’d never been cheated on, since he’d never invested in anyone before Ethan. Oh, but he could see himself going nuclear if Ethan ever cheated on him.
“Well, then, you know how much that sucks.”
He yanked open a cabinet and tossed a ring box onto the counter.
“I keep it so I can remind myself how much I hate her for breaking me.”
Dannie picked it up, and it was a gorgeous ring. It had a two-carat stone and side stones.
“I’m sorry,” Gene admitted.
The man shrugged.
“I guess I wasn’t enough for her. I gave her all of me, and she held that little piece back. Lesson learned.”
Gene had to get this back in control.
“When was the last time you saw her?” he asked, thinking about the condoms.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be this dude she was still having sex with, but instead, the blond.
“A month ago, when she broke up with me,” he admitted.
Then, he pulled a box from the small pantry not far from where they were. In it, there was a box of pictures, some sweaters, and female toiletries that he’d clearly pulled from his bathroom.
“I meant to throw this out, but I just…”
They got it.
Heartbreak sucked.
“And you’ve not been to her home since?” Gene asked, making sure.
Randal laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
“I’d rather cut off my own arm and slap myself with it than go there. The last time I showed up, it was a Wednesday. She had a teacher-in-service day, and I thought to surprise her. I went and got flowers and then showed up there. HE was there.”
Okay, well, maybe this might help them.
Gene let him talk.
“I had a key, so I went to the door, which wasn’t locked. When I got inside, I heard them. I heard the love of my life being fucked. When I went to her bedroom, he was in her. He was in my woman!”
Tears filled his eyes.
Oh, boy.
That hurt was raw, and while it might be a good reason to kill her, they needed to figure out if he knew the other two women. They were both taken a block from where he worked.
“Who was it?”
His lower lip quivered.
“Her boss. She was cheating on me with the principal of her school.”
Holy.
Shit.
They’d talked to Robert Fergus, and he NEVER let on that he was in a relationship with the woman.
That was wild.
It made sense, though, since he was blond.
“Robert?” Ethan asked.
The man nodded.
“Yeah, I’ll never forget that name or that blond asshole’s smug face. It’s hard to, when you hear your woman, the one you wanted to marry, yelling ‘fuck me good, Robert! I only want your cock’!”
Oof.
That had to hurt.
“She saw me standing there, and she let me walk away. Not that I’d forgive her for cheating on me, but still. She just let me walk away. Ivey wasn’t the woman I thought she was. She burned me so bad that now, I don’t feel anything but rage.”
They let him talk.
In actuality, they were all reeling.
They’d not expected this. The guy the co-workers painted as the problem, was actually the victim, and the actual victim was not so kind.
This went sideways fast.
“I am now just floating through life, angry.”
Gene went there.
“Can we ask you some questions about two other women?” he inquired. “They were found with Ivey, and we’re curious if you ever saw her with them?” he asked, phrasing it that way to ensure they didn’t make him clam up.
He wiped his eyes on his sleeve.
“Sure. Ask.”