Overwhelming Force Page 6

  Brandon Han was the most brilliant profiler Omega had. Joe knew both him and Andrea Gordon, a talented behavioral analyst who was now Brandon’s partner on most cases. Having them here would help, or at the very least help Joe’s peace of mind.

  “Thanks, Steve.”

  “Don’t touch anything, okay? You should probably walk back out the way you came and wait for the locals outside.”

  Joe nodded, still looking at Sarah, then realized his boss couldn’t see him. “Yeah, okay.”

  Steve sighed. “I’m sorry, Joe. It’s always hard when it’s someone you know. Even an ex.”

  Joe said his goodbyes and then called 911, reporting the death. Then he stood staring at Sarah for a long time.

  He hadn’t really felt much for the woman, besides a physical attraction. He wished he knew more about her, who he should call, family or whatever, but he didn’t. The police would have to handle that.

  Who would’ve wanted to kill Sarah? She was an accountant, or in public relations or something like that. Not a job that tended to develop enemies.

  Had she known about the danger? Is that why she had emailed Joe? The cryptic message she’d sent didn’t provide many clues.

  Finally he did what Steve had suggested and moved outside to wait for the locals. He would need to identify himself as law enforcement and let them know why he was here. Otherwise an armed man at a murder scene tended to make cops pretty nervous.

  Joe stood leaning against his car, still trying to wrap his head around this entire situation, when the locals came speeding in, sirens blaring. Four separate squad cars and an ambulance. Must be a slow day around town.

  Joe had his Omega credentials out in his hand, extended so the officers could see that he clearly did not mean them any harm. The men stopped to talk to him and he explained the situation, gave them Sarah’s info, then waited as three of them rushed in. The other two stayed with Joe, hands noticeably near their sidearms.

  When the three men exited Sarah’s house they were moving much less quickly. There was no hurry; nothing could be done to help her now. The officer in charge nodded at the two men who’d been tasked with babysitting Joe while the others were inside.

  “Is the coroner on his way?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, let’s rope this area off. Neighbors are going to start wondering what’s going on.”

  The man in charge turned to Joe. “I’m Detective Jack Thompson. So you work for Omega Sector. Were you here on official business? Something to do with a case?”

  “No. I used to date the victim, about a year ago. She emailed me this morning, asked me to come by.”

  One of Thompson’s eyebrows lifted suspiciously. “Is that so? Did things end badly between you two when you broke up?”

  “No, we were never very serious. Neither of us was upset when we decided it wasn’t working out.”

  “I see.” Officer Thompson jotted a couple sentences down in his notebook. “And did you and Ms. Conner talk to each other much since the breakup?”

  “No, maybe once or twice, but not really that I remember.”

  “But she just happened to email you this morning and asked you to come by?” Disbelief clearly tinted the man’s tone.

  Joe didn’t take offense to the question. He could admit it was a little weird that he hadn’t spoken with Sarah for months then the day she contacted him, she winded up dead.

  “Yes.”

  Thompson studied Joe’s car for a moment before turning back to Joe. The nice vehicle obviously wasn’t winning Joe any points with the detective. “What exactly do you do for Omega Sector, Mr. Matarazzo?”

  “Joe is one of the finest hostage negotiators we have.” The sentence came from behind him. Joe turned to find Brandon Han and Andrea Gordon.

  Brandon showed his credentials to Officer Thompson. “We’ll need to get inside, if that’s possible.”

  Thompson’s lips pursed and his eyes narrowed at Joe. “Fine. But I’m going in to supervise, make sure everything is handled correctly. Please stick around Agent Matarazzo, in case we have any more questions.” He left to enter the house.

  “Sorry about your friend, Joe,” Andrea said, touching him on the arm.

  “Thanks,” he told the striking blonde. “And thanks for coming, you guys.”

  Brandon shook his hand. “No problem. We’re going to go inside, see if we spot anything the locals might miss. Will you be okay out here?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. You guys do whatever you need to do to help with the case.” He watched as Brandon led Andrea toward the front door, a protective hand on the small of her back.

  Joe leaned back against his car and got comfortable. This was going to take most of the day; Officer Thompson had just started with his questions, and didn’t seem interested in making this easy or comfortable for him. Joe wasn’t going to be able to see Laura as he’d hoped. That was probably for the best; he didn’t want to drag her into this anyway.

  Chapter Seven

  By Wednesday afternoon Laura was cursing Joe Matarazzo’s name. Damn the man. Damn him because for just a split second she thought he had really changed. That he wasn’t the selfish playboy he once had been.

  After the accident on Friday, her aches had made her want to forget all about Joe. But then the flowers—or more importantly the fact that he’d remembered her favorite type of flowers were stargazer lilies—had caused her to think maybe Joe really had changed. Then Sunday the ice cream had arrived.

  She had to admit the frozen stuff—again, all her favorite flavors—had melted her heart a little bit. Brought back memories of their time together.

  She had fully expected him to show up or call on Monday. When he hadn’t, she’d been okay with it, and even wondered if she should call him and tell him thanks, but decided not to. When she didn’t hear from Joe all day Tuesday, she’d gotten a little miffed.

  By Wednesday at lunch, Laura was disgusted with herself and Joe. If he didn’t want to see her again, that was fine. But he shouldn’t act like he wanted to then not follow through.

  And her? How many times was she going to fall for his sexy-boy appeal and wit?

  There was nothing more dangerous than a man with charm. And Joe Matarazzo had it in spades.

  And Laura was just an idiot to keep trusting his not-really promises. I’m not giving up. It had at least been true for two days.

  So she could admit she was a little short-tempered when her law office phone rang at 4:00 p.m. Her assistant was gone for the day so Laura answered the phone herself, unable to keep her irritation out of her voice.

  “Law Offices of Coach, Birchwood and Winchley.”

  “Wow, do you always answer the phone like you’re considering strangling the entire neighborhood?”

  Joe. It figured that he would know she was about to write him off for good and call now. The man’s timing was impeccable.

  “No, I’m just considering strangling one person.”

  That quieted him.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get in touch before now,” he finally said. “Things have been complicated.”

  “Things tend to always be complicated with you, Joe.”

  He gave a short bark of laughter, but there didn’t seem to be very much humor in it. “Well, believe it or not, I’m about to make things more complicated.”

  Laura rolled her eyes. “Why don’t I just save you the trouble and stop you right there. I’ve been thinking over the last couple of days and realize I need to stand firm on what I told you at the restaurant on Friday. You and I are better off away from each other.”

  “Laura—”

  “This isn’t about the not calling.” Damn it, why had she said that? Now it sounded like she was pissy because he hadn’t called. Which, of course, she wa
s. “I just think you and I should leave the past where it was.”

  “Laura—”

  She didn’t want to hear what he had to say, knowing if he gave her an excuse, she’d believe him. “Joe, I just can’t go through the back-and-forth and you changing your mind.”

  “Laura, stop.” She’d never heard that particular air of forcefulness in his tone. Joe tended to always be so laid-back most people forgot how strong he could be when needed. It was enough to stop her midthought. “I am willing to discuss this all with you at a later time, because there’s no way I’m going to let you run away from us. But I’m not calling about that.”

  “Then what are you calling about?”

  “Have you had a chance to watch the news or get online to read the news over the last couple of days?”

  No. She’d been forcing herself to stay too busy to even allow herself to do anything as stupid as Google Joe Matarazzo. “I haven’t, sorry. I’ve been too busy at work. Why?”

  “I’m calling because I need you as a lawyer. A woman I used to know was murdered on Monday.”

  And now didn’t she feel like an ass? “Oh my gosh, Joe, that’s terrible. But you shouldn’t need a lawyer just because someone you knew was murdered. Unless they caught you in the act.”

  “It wasn’t quite that bad, but it wasn’t good either.”

  Okay, that didn’t sound promising. “Still—”

  “And then it happened again this morning.”

  “What?”

  “Another one of my ex-girlfriends was killed this morning.”

  As far as excuses went for not calling, two dead ex-girlfriends in two and a half days was a pretty good one. Laura heard noise in the background.

  “Joe, where are you right now? Were you arrested?”

  “They haven’t brought any formal charges against me, but they’re holding me for questioning. I’m at the Colorado Springs downtown station.”

  Laura had already grabbed her purse and blazer. “Don’t say anything to anyone. I’ll be right there.”

  “Laura, there’s more. Both women contacted me just before they died. And I found both bodies.”

  That really didn’t look good. “I’m coming, Joe. Just don’t answer any questions until I get there. Okay?”

  “Don’t you need to ask me if I did it?”

  “No. Just don’t talk to anyone.” Laura hung up the phone and rushed out of her office.

  She didn’t need to ask if Joe was guilty; she knew he wasn’t. Joe might be a lot of things Laura didn’t like, but he wasn’t a killer.

  * * *

  IF JOE HAD been the police, he would’ve brought himself in for questioning too.

  When he’d received a message this morning from Jessica Johannsen, another one of his ex-girlfriends, asking him to come to her town house in the north part of Colorado Springs, Joe hadn’t thought anything bad about it. He figured she’d just heard about Sarah’s death, read a newspaper or saw a news report, and wanted to talk to him. To make this about her instead of Sarah.

  Jessica had always been sort of clingy, not someone capable of handling much emotional stress. And she loved drama. Joe had never really been interested in her, although that hadn’t stopped him from dating her for a few weeks about two years ago.

  Jessica had had delicate features with long black hair and icy blue eyes. The press had delighted at what a lovely pair they’d made.

  She’d bored him silly.

  But he hadn’t been surprised to receive a message from her after Sarah’s death. Jessica would want to be held, patted, to be the center of attention even though Sarah’s death had nothing to do with her.

  She’d asked him to meet her this morning in her text message. He’d texted her back and told her he was busy.

  He hadn’t wanted to take the time to see Jessica. He’d wanted to see Laura. After Monday’s incident with Sarah, he hadn’t been able to call or go see her as he’d planned. He’d spent all day on Tuesday cleaning up from Sarah’s death: he’d talked to her parents since he’d been the one who’d found her body, he’d worked with Brandon and Andrea to see if they could gather any leads in figuring out who the killer might be.

  He hadn’t wanted to drag Laura into this whole sordid mess, so he hadn’t contacted her at all.

  But by Wednesday, all he’d wanted to do was see Laura. To just breathe in her smile and banter with her. It didn’t need to be sexual; he just wanted to be with her.

  So Jessica’s text asking him to meet had just irritated Joe. When he told her no, and Jessica had sent another message telling him how scared she was, he’d decided to go see her. She’d just keep bugging him until he did.

  As soon as Jessica’s door floated open like Sarah’s, Joe should’ve known there was a problem. He should’ve stopped right then, backed out and called the local police.

  But he hadn’t. Instead, just like with Sarah, he’d rushed inside to see what was going on because he didn’t want to be there in the first place. He just wanted to talk to Jessica and leave.

  He’d honestly thought Jessica would step out in some sort of outrageous negligee at any moment. Or even be completely naked wanting to seduce him. To get him to hold her while she cried fake tears about something that had nothing to do with her.

  Jessica had been naked. But she’d been dead. Stabbed, just like Sarah.

  All the lousy things he’d thought about her had rattled in his head as guilt swamped him. No one would ever hold Jessica Johannsen again as she cried fake or real tears.

  Joe had called the locals immediately. He’d thought about calling Omega, too, but had stopped. Steve had helped him once but that’s when it was just a random murder that happened to be Joe’s ex.

  Joe had no idea what it meant now that two of his exes were dead. But it wasn’t a problem he was going to drag the Omega team into. He’d have to deal with this on his own.

  Detective Thompson and the other local Colorado Springs police hadn’t been nearly as friendly this time, not that Thompson had liked Joe much on Monday. They hadn’t hauled him off in cuffs, but Thompson had left someone with Joe at the scene to watch him every minute. And once they were done with the crime scene, they’d asked to escort him to the station.

  Escort, as in have him ride in the back of their squad car.

  Then he’d sat in the interrogation room for two hours. He wasn’t sure if they were trying to intimidate him, didn’t know what to do with him, or what.

  All he knew was that this looked bad. Really, really bad.

  They hadn’t arrested him, which was good. They did read him his rights, which was bad. They hadn’t taken his phone—although that probably only happened if he was officially arrested—so he’d used his cell to call Laura. They hadn’t told him he couldn’t use it, so he’d figured he would. He had no idea how long he would be sitting in this room by himself, although he was sure someone was watching him, waiting to see what he would do.

  Joe could’ve had a team of lawyers here, and would have if Laura had refused, but he wanted her. Other lawyers may be more vicious, more predatory in their methods of keeping their clients out of jail, but Laura believed in him.

  Had always believed in him, even if she hadn’t liked him.

  And with all her intensity and intelligence he had no doubt she was a damn fine lawyer.

  Detective Thompson entered the room. “Sorry to have kept you waiting, Matarazzo.”

  Joe highly doubted it.

  “I heard you made a call. Got a lawyer.”

  Joe sat back. “It’s my understanding that I’m allowed to have a lawyer if I’m being charged with something.”

  Thompson mirrored Joe’s gesture, head tilting away, mouth downturned. “And it’s my general experience that only people who are guilty need a lawyer. Besides, w
e haven’t charged you with anything. You’re free to go at any time.”

  Joe just wanted this to be over with. “I didn’t kill Jessica Johannsen or Sarah Conner. I haven’t had any contact with either of them for months.”

  “Interesting isn’t it, though, that both women just happened to contact you right before they died?”

  What could Joe say to that?

  He shrugged. “Interesting isn’t the word I would use, but yes, it’s strange.”

  “And you happened to find both bodies. Another interesting factor.”

  “I’m law enforcement, Thompson. One of the good guys.”

  Thompson moved in closer, leaning his elbows on the table that sat between them. “I know you’re law enforcement, Joe. Is it okay if I call you Joe?” Thompson didn’t wait for an answer. “You’re part of Omega Sector, one of the top law enforcement agencies in the country.”

  “That’s right.”

  “How does a guy like you end up working for Omega?”

  “What do you mean, ‘a guy like me’?”

  “You don’t need a job, right? You’ve got plenty of money. So working for Omega as a negotiator is more like a hobby for you.”

  Joe pursed his lips. No, it wasn’t a hobby for him. But he could admit, most of the people in the Critical Response Division probably thought of him that way.

  Seeing Joe’s face, Thompson continued. “I’m just saying, you’re on the Omega roster, but you’re not really a member of the team, are you? I don’t notice any of them beating down the door to get you out of here.”

  Joe forced himself not to show any emotion. “I thought I wasn’t under arrest, so why would there be a need for them to come get me out?”

  But Thompson’s remark had hit home. Joe wasn’t part of the team at Omega. He got along well with everyone, joked with them, did his job. But none of them would call him a true member of the team.

  The other man smirked. “Okay, I’ll just take you at your word that they’ll be here if you’re arrested.” But he obviously didn’t believe that was true. “So you’re a part of Omega. There’s a lot of stress in law enforcement. Has been known to make strong men snap. Do something stupid. Add that stress to trying to balance two women and it could get a little crazy.”