Page 93 of Preying Heart
While Heath calls his detective friend, I show them the text messages, including the picture of Slade in the shed and on the ground groveling for a donut. “There has to be a clue in here somewhere.”
The detective shows up a half hour later. He introduces himself and asks me to call him Justin, saying he and Heath go back to the police academy. It’s refreshing to know that Heath actually had a past. Unfortunately, this isn’t a social call, so I concentrate on telling him everything that happened this morning from the moment Gavin barged into my apartment unannounced.
I show him the bed where the fight occurred, the untwisted coat hanger and the straightened hook that he threatened me with. I remove the makeup I used to cover up the bruising and let him take pictures. He said he would follow up with the doctors who attended my miscarriage to get descriptions of my injuries.
I also told him about the plan to hit Claudia by having my brother cause a car accident on her morning jog.
“Did Gavin give you any physical evidence on this planned hit? Any text messages or a map of Claudia’s jogging route?” Justin asks while scribbling in his notebook.
“He texted me pictures of Slade being held prisoner and showed me a picture of my mom being held in a basement, but no map or anything about Claudia.”
“Text me the pictures. I already picked up the photograph and put it in as evidence,” Justin says. “How exactly is the hit going to go down?”
I text him the pictures as instructed. “Gavin is supposed to pick me up tomorrow morning and put me in a car with Slade. I think he’ll give us the map at that time.”
“He’ll figure out a way to give it to you without being implicated,” Justin says. “Possibly verbal instructions, like describe which streets she uses and in what order. Unfortunately, I can’t arrest him for attempted murder until he actually attempts it.”
“Can’t you arrest him for the assault on Remi?” Lucy asks.
“I can if Remi files charges,” Justin says. “But a man like Gavin will be out on his own recognizance as soon as he’s booked.”
The detective put his pen down and scratches his chin. He glances at Heath, and a knowing look passes between them. Yep. They’re aware of the pull Gavin has in this city. Even with the physical evidence of an assault, he could turn it around and say it was self-defense. Or say I fell and hit my head, then tried to blame him after I caused my own miscarriage with the coat hanger.
“Which will make him more dangerous,” Heath says. “The advantage Remi has right now is that Gavin doesn’t believe she’d ever turn against him. He thinks she’ll do anything he says.”
Detective Quon raises an eyebrow and glances my way, making me feel smaller than ever.
“I was his mistress.” Shame pricks my skin, raising goosebumps. I lower my head and my voice is thick in my throat. “Heath is right. We can’t let Gavin know we’re on to him. If he knew I’m not cooperating, he would hurt Slade and my mom. He has hostages to force me to work with him.”
“Then we need to turn this into a sting operation,” Justin says. “I’ll file this report to document it, but you can wait to file charges. I’ll assign undercover cops to stake out the Greasley mansion and follow Gavin.”
“I want to be the one to tail Gavin,” Heath says.
“You should stick with Remi,” Detective Quon says.
“No, I have to act as if nothing happened.” I put my hand on Heath, knowing he would stick to me like glue if he could. “I have to do this alone. Make Gavin believe I’m going along with his plan. My job is to make sure Slade doesn’t screw up the accident. He’ll give me Claudia’s jogging route and watch me drive off with Slade.”
“You already told Claudia the plan,” Quon objects. “If she’s smart, she won’t be there.”
“Call Claudia and tell her about the sting operation,” Heath suggests. “Let’s get Remi to wear a wire. We’ll have Claudia act completely normal and have an officer watch over her. Then we capture the attempted murder.”
“We’ll need Gavin to give instructions,” Detective Quon says. “Otherwise, it will be Remi who is the accessory to the crime.”
“I’ll wear the wire.” I stand firm. “It’s too bad I didn’t have a wire this morning when he came over.”
“Great. I can give you a transmitter.” Detective Quon takes a pendant necklace from his kit. A black center faceted “stone” is surrounded by a circle of round-cut “diamonds” interspersed with rays of diamond-like baguettes.
I study it and spot the tiny hole in the black stone. “It’s kind of tacky, but it’ll work. Gavin will wonder where I got it and recognize the cubic zirconium.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t get real diamonds,” Justin says. “You activate it by pushing the center stone. If you want to check that it’s on, the diamonds will have a bluish tint. You have to know about it to notice it. You’ll need to pair it with your cell phone and keep your phone on and near the device.”
“I have a new phone I bought this morning.” I show it to them. “Can you set it up for me?”
The detective takes my phone and sets it up. “We’ll be able to track your location. I’ll set it up with the officer I’m putting outside to watch over you.”
I put the pendant around my neck and tuck the phone into a stretch pocket on the leg of my yoga pants and cover it with my knee-length sweater. “I’m not letting Gavin anywhere close to me until it’s time to do the hit, and then I’m going to record everything.”
“He might come over tonight,” Lucy says. “I should stay here with her. Tell Gavin I’m Remi’s best friend.”
