Page 60 of Winter
Tommaso slidfrom the bed and called Raffaelo in Italy. He told his brother what had happened and Raff was horrified. “Is Inca okay?”
Tommaso sighed. “No, Raff, she’s not. Come home. She needs you.”
Raffaelo hesitated. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You can.” Tommaso’s voice hardened. “You can, and you must. We have done this to our girl; we made her fall in love with us. We must be there for her now.Bothof us.”
“Both?”
“Yes.”
There was a long pause before Tommaso heard Raffaelo’s sigh. “I’m on my way.”
Olly Rosenbaum was wokenby a telephone call from his boss and told he was reinstated, effective immediately. He didn’t find out about Scarlett’s murder, though, until he flicked on the television as he ate his breakfast. He lost his appetite immediately. Rushing down to the Sakura, he found it surrounded with crime scene tape and deserted by everyone except journalists. At the rear, he saw blood frozen to the ground and felt sick. He felt confused, sickened, and lost. Not knowing what to do, he went to the police station, where he saw Knox.
He hugged his friend tight. “I’m so sorry, man.”
Knox gave a tight nod. “I just want to find who did this.”
“What have we got so far?”
He filled Olly in. “The thing I keep coming back to is … Scarlett was wearing Inca’s raincoat. What if the killer was targeting Inca and not Scarlett?”
Olly felt sick. “A possibility … but you and I both know that killers rarely change methods. The guy threatening Inca—if itwasn’tKevin Harnett— always,always,stabbed his victims to death. So, if Inca was the intended target, then it was probably someone different, and more worryingly, it was someone who knew her well enough to know that it was her coat. It’s just a plain raincoat, right?”
Knox considered. “You might be right.”
“He’s not.”
They both turned to see Inca, flanked by Tommaso Winter, at the door of their office. Inca was pale as she stepped into the room, her phone in her hand. She looked down at it as she read out what was obviously a text message. “I thought she was you. That’s why I ended her pain with the headshot. If it had been you, like it was supposed to be, you would have gotten all six in your belly so that you would have suffered what you deserve, you bitch. You’re going to die soon, Inca, and no one can save you.”
She handed the phone to Olly then, who read it back, shaking his head. Inca looked at Knox, her eyes full of pain.
“It should have been me, Knox. I’m so sorry. I wish it had been me instead of Scarlett; I would give anything to change places with her.”
Tommaso gave a choked, distressed sound and she turned to him, putting a hand on his chest. Knox got up and put his hands on her shoulders. “It shouldn’t have beeneitherof you, Inks. We’ll catch the son of a bitch who did this. I promise.”
Olly nodded, but Inca noticed he didn’t look at Tommaso once. It was as if he didn’t exist. “We’ll get him, Inca. Can you stay awhile? We’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Of course.”
Tommaso—who ignored Olly too—kissed her cheek. “Darling, Raff is flying in from Italy this morning—I’ll go pick him up. Stay here until we come for you, okay? To be safe?”
He looked at Knox, who nodded. “Don’t worry, Tommaso. She’ll be safe with me.”
Olly waited until Tommaso had left before speaking again. “So, why he’d drop the restraining order?”
Knox gave him a warning look, but Inca sighed. “He realized he’d overreacted and, given the situation last night, he thought you being suspended was not helpful.”
Olly rolled his eyes and Inca half-smiled at him. “He backed down, Olly. Now you have to do your bit.”
Olly held his hands up. “Fine. Now, let’s get some coffee and talk.”
Raffaelo hadn’t slepton the flight back to Seattle. All he could think of was Inca lying dead on the freezing ground, riddled with bullets. What was it about her that made men’s bloodlust flow so vehemently?
Lust. Desire. Jealousy.
Speaking of which … what had Tommaso meant?
