Fortune Favors The Bold

CHAPTER TWO: FIFTY-THREE SUSPECTS

Fifty-three names. F**k! That was going to be lots of questioning and eliminating.

How was it possible for a household to have seventeen servants, with their respective families residing in the headquarters? Alaya couldn’t imagine living under such crowded circumstances, she couldn’t help wondering why Adonis hadn’t left the family home for a more peaceful surrounding.

Last night, the house had accommodated thirty-six guests for the grand dinner, where Mason Fortune had announced that the next perpetrator to the throne would be Adonis Fortune, his only son. That must have caused real frustration and jealousy amongst the family members, but who would have been pissed enough to commit murder?

Alaya looked at the details like photos being snapped inside her head, and the only thing which was very suspicious for the moment was that Nora and Adonis Fortune had been very meticulous about not contamining the crime scenes. And that someone had shut down all the cameras on the night of the murder. It had to be someone from the inside.

Past experiences around similar cases usually didn’t permit such a legendary equanimity when a close one was recovered dead. Under normal circumstances, the bereaved ones were so aggrieved that they omitted to keep their level-headedness around crime scenes, which usually made things more complicated for the investigation.

However, in that particular case, Alaya found it very suspicious that both mother and son had been calm enough to keep the room untouched. Something was definitely fishy there, and she intended to start with that.

Another salient fact was that the golden room contained no personal belongings of Mrs. Fortune, which meant trouble in paradise. The husband and wife hadn’t been sleeping together, another trail for her to explore.

“What gives, Pet?” Jonathan Shaw asked in a manly voice, wearing his gloves as he arrived on the scene. The superior grin was the fact that he’d addressed her by her nickname, something which everyone at the precinct thoroughly enjoyed.

‘Pet’ – short for Petrov, was meant to demean. It was a deliberate attempt for the men in her office to use the twisted nickname to show her her rightful place. She was not one amongst them, she was just a ‘pet’ which they could toy with without mercy.

Giving in to their bullying meant that they would have the upper hand, so she blatantly ignored the insulting name and perused the murder scene in spite of the minutiae details she had memorized by heart.

“Sliced at the neck like a sacrificial animal on the marital bed. Symbolic for it indicates a crime of passion. From the lacerations around the neck, I can deduce that the murder happened between one and three a.m., but I am waiting for Ray Campbell to give his official verdict.”

“Where is the rest of the team anyway?” the man asked before preceding her into the bedroom.

“On their way, I guess,” she replied stealthily, knowing that instead of praise, another sarcastic comment would come slashing her way. Somehow, the presence of Adonis Fortune in the room made her cringe in awkwardness. It shouldn’t have mattered, but she wasn’t very willing for him to witness Shaw browbeating her. Her not reacting did not make it any less humiliating.

Truly enough, John’s eyebrows shot upwards at her answer. “Well,” he drawled silkily, not concealing the fact that he was deriving perverse pleasure in delivering the derisive comeback. “Not everyone is as hardworking as our little Pet, right?”

It happened in most of her cases, she was the only one who lived for her work because she had no social life. It wasn’t the first time she was the only one on the crime scene, but what she resented was the fact that her colleagues made her feel guilty about it. Like she was setting a benchmark that they couldn’t reach.

John Shaw snickered at the crestfallen expression she couldn’t hide. Then, he winced at the sight of the crime scene, forgetting his small dig. It was definitely not a sight for the faint hearted.

“Damn! I’ve never seen so much blood,” he murmured for her ears only, but a quick look at Adonis showed her that he had more or less caught up on everything. Even her standing disgrace.

She groaned inwardly, focusing on the blue eyes at her side. “The purple-blue discoloration is starting,” she said quietly, pressing her thumbs on the victim’s neck. “See how the discoloration does not go away even by pressing? So, we can say that the death’s been over two hours.”

“Possibly,” the Sherriff acquiesced with a deep frown. “What about any sign of struggle? Had he been defended himself against his attacker?”

“No sign of struggle,” Alaya confirmed with a shake of head.

“Which means he knew the murderer,” John drew the same conclusion as she had. The lack of physical fight indicated a high probability that Mason Fortune knew his assassin and had not even thought about defending himself during the attack.

“That would be highly likely,” Alaya agreed in a small voice, although she once again glanced fleetingly in Adonis’ direction. The action was pure reflex, she was just checking whether he’d overheard their conversation. She had been surprised at his vehemence about it not being a member of the Fortune dynasty. “Plus all the cameras and security was off. Someone from the inside is definitely involved.”

That usually meant one thing. Adonis was either a suspect or was hiding vital information from the police.

Catching his displeased frown, Alaya looked away quickly flustered with herself at his morose mood. The man was livid with rage, his rigid stance exploding with outrageous offense, and she was sure it was because of her presence.

Damn! She didn’t know what she’d done to ruffle his feathers, but she couldn’t lose the case. Captain Gibbs was already looking for an excuse for relegating her, and that was why he’d assigned her such a high-profile case. She’d overheard the guys at the precinct talking about her behind her back.

“I just can’t believe Cap gave such an important case to Pet!” Detective Bosco had exclaimed in sheer frustration, and Alaya had hidden a smile behind the concrete wall which had concealed her from them. She’d believed them peeved because they were jealous of her, and she was even more determined not to fail the Captain who had for the first time shown faith in her.

Detective Frank had snorted scathingly. “She’s just eyewash until the FBI takes over the case. We usually have three days to break through, otherwise the bureau will intervene, especially in the murder case of the affluent Mason Fortune.”

“Yeah,” her partner Jimmy had grinned derisively. He was the worst of the lot despite being assigned together with her in several cases. “Signing her up for more failure to halt her promotion. That seems like our Cap’s doing! He does not want a woman in this office, especially one who doesn’t smoke! Poor Pet! She wouldn’t know what hit her until it’s too late.”

All three men had guffawed together like silly fools, leaving Alaya fuming with rage. Story of her life. Most of the time, she was unaware of what was happening around the office because she didn’t smoke. Most of the men discussed their problems with the captain during their small smoking breaks, which left her at a huge disadvantage.

Sighing loud, Alaya came back to reality, realizing that if she wanted to be kept on the case, she had to make Adonis Fortune her ally. Although she wanted to stay away from the man as much as possible, he was the only one who could request her on the case even after FBI intervened.

Trying a tentative smile towards the gorgeous man, she approached him stealthily. There was that way he looked at her which seemed to read through her like a book. Like even buried under her layers, he could easily pick up when she was faking it. And that intense gaze spooked her like nothing else.

“What?” he snapped in face of the cloying smile she was offering. Her lips pursed in displeasure as she dropped the act of sweetness at his outburst.

“There’s a high chance that a Fortune or near family has committed the murder,” she whispered balefully.

“Reason?” he retorted back in the same low tone.

“There’s no sign of struggle on the body,” she bit her lips as she realized that she had once again referred to the victim without consideration. He seemed to ignore her mistake, seeming mesmerized by something on her face. She frowned in puzzlement but continued. “…so there’s a high probability that the victim knew his attacker. Therefore a very strong likelihood that it was a member of your family.”

“No,” he asked in a completely blunt note, snapping out of whatever haze he’d been consumed in. “I was asking why you’re acting so nice to me all of a sudden.”

Alaya was completely taken aback at the forthright question, and she winced accordingly at the acerbic tone. It was quite refreshing to discover that Adonis Fortune didn’t hide under any mask of politeness or fakeness. His attacks were quite straightforward, or was this special treatment reserved just for her?

In response to his question, she shrugged nonchalantly. “We’re in a scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours situation.”

He crossed his arms across his chest, his biceps protruding in opulent display, the muscles bulging under his short-sleeved shirt. “You need this case?” he mused pensively, his thumb and forefinger caressing his chin. The one-day stubble gave him the sexy look of a pirate, his hardened jaw clenched so tight that it seemed carved from granite.

“I do,” she acknowledged unwillingly. “The biometric identification was turned off as per your request? Is there any reason why you would ask to lower the security on the night of murder?”

Adonis crossed his arms across his broad chest and sighed heavily. “There was a family dinner, and I didn’t think it important to have too tight security. It was a private thing, so I asked the guards to lay low that night.”

“Anyone else was aware of this change?”

“No, not that I recall of,” Adonis replied firmly, and Alaya gave a brisk nod.

“My theory is that some member must have known that there was less security than usual. As much as you don’t want to involve a Fortune in the murder case, I am more determined to find the real culprit. I can promise you that I will keep you informed of everything going on about the case if you specifically request for me.”

“So am I not a suspect?” he asked with raised eyebrows, and Alaya sucked in an audible breath. Was he misinterpreting her cry for help as a means to breach the law? She would never.

“Guilty until proven innocent,” she replied curtly. “This alliance between us isn’t for me to cover for the crime. I just want you help to stay on the case. If it turns out that you’re the murderer, I will take personal pleasure to put you behind bars myself.”

“Then, why should I help you?” he queried sardonically, his olive-green eyes burning with a heat that thrilled her to the bones. Every feminine instinct in her screamed to beware of that man, but those very womanly predispositions were also much inclined towards him. So much.

Alaya Petrov, a tomboy who had grown up with five brothers all police officers along with a father who’d been captain of the precinct in Seattle Washington was not familiar with either love or lust. It was only in her late twenties that she’d started to embrace her feminine side without guilt. Her mother had died when she was quite young, so she’d had troubles accepting her true nature as a woman.

Now, finding herself combatting that underlying s****l awareness was not only appropriate but a total novelty for her. She’d always believed herself to be immune to man charms, her relationship kept to the basic as she was too busy with her career life anyway.

Adonis Fortune had the knack to challenge her without even trying, his laser-like focus eyes on her enough to cause her insides to shudder with reaction.

“Trust me,” she drawled confidently, not letting him have an inkling of how he affected her. “As per my past experience, you will certainly require my help in the future. And you have no ally in this case. Especially when FBI will get involved. I can only promise to give you certain information beforehand off the records without breaching the law.”

Adonis stared at her for such a long time that Alaya feared he would just laugh at her face like her other colleagues so often mocked her. Then, his massive shoulders moved sinewy making her swallow hard as heat engulfed her.

“Alright, Miss Petrov. You’ve got yourself an ally in me for better or for worse.”