Free Dark Lava: Lei Crime Book 7 (Lei Crime Series) by Toby Neal Page A

the contacts and contacted his lawyer. They put him in an interview room to wait, and he sat down on the hard chair, crossed his arms, and lay his head down on them.
    He wished he could cry, release even a fraction of the grief and horror that f elt locked inside his throat. As many crime scenes as he’d seen, as much blood as he’d waded through, both in the army and the LAPD, it still shocked him that so much blood could be contained in such a tiny woman.
    The thought made him want to vomit again.
    His lawyer, Shawn Shimoda, finally arrived along with his union rep, Cal Bendes. Captain Omura, her lips pale and pinched together, followed them in, a notebook and pen in her hand.
    “ I have recused Bunuelos and Kaihale from this case against their wishes,” she said. “They’re too close to you. I’m putting McGregor and Chun on the case going forward.”
    Stevens nodded. Looking at his hands, he spotted a rime of blood under his nail. He wondered if it was hers, or from the baby.
    “Did the baby live?” he asked.
    “ We’re not sure yet.” Omura flicked on the recording equipment. Gone was the easy camaraderie of their working relationship from that morning. When she sat down, her eyes were expressionless, her face almost immobile. “Why don’t you tell us what happened today.”
    “ Anchara called me.” Stevens picked at the blood under his nail. He needed to get it off him, every bit of it. “She called me and told me she needed to see me, right before we had our Skype meeting with the Hui leader. She said she was in trouble. I told her I’d call her after the meeting.” He got the bit of blood out, flicked it away, and ran both hands through his hair. He felt a suspicious stickiness. He resisted the urge to rip out his hair in handfuls. Instead, he placed his hands on the table to control them. “Anchara asked me to meet her at the motel. I said no; let’s meet at Marco’s. She said she was injured, I had to meet her there.” He raised his eyes to Omura’s. “I was worried about how meeting her at the motel would look. I knew Lei wouldn’t like it, and that motel doesn’t have a good reputation. I was only two blocks from the place by then, though, and decided to see what was up before I called anyone else. I went to the door, knocked. She didn’t answer. I was alarmed. I pounded and called a second time. I tried the knob—it opened, and she was there, naked. There was blood everywhere.” He stopped. Swallowed. Glanced at the mirrored interview window. He knew Pono and Gerry and half the station would be watching, if they’d been allowed to.
    “ Go on,” Omura prompted.
    “ I approached the bed. At first I thought she was having the baby and hemorrhaging, but when I approached, I saw she’d been stabbed.” He ran a hand through his hair again, tried to tame the tremble in his voice. “She was bleeding out from wounds to the chest.”
    “ Had you known she was pregnant?”
    Shimoda stirred beside Stevens. “ You don’t have to answer that,” the lawyer said.
    Stevens turned to him. “ I want to answer. The answer’s no. I heard from Lei that Anchara attended our wedding a month ago, but she sat in the far back by herself. She must have slipped out before anyone noticed, to hide the pregnancy. I haven’t seen her since the day she left me.”
    “ So how long ago was that?”
    “ I’m not sure.” His mind couldn’t compute the months. “I want to tell you what happened next.”
    “ Okay then.” Omura’s voice was gentle. He reminded himself to be cautious—today she was neither his friend nor his chief.
    “ I approached the bed. She was still alive, trying to speak. ‘The baby. The baby,’ she said.” He swallowed again. “I was calling nine-one-one. I ran to the bathroom and got a stack of towels. The knife she’d been stabbed with was lying beside the bed. I didn’t touch it. I put towels and pressure on the wound to slow down the bleeding. ‘Take the baby,’ she