Free You are Mine by Lisa G Riley Page B

said, “God, you’re such a loser, and
just I hate you sometimes!”
    Another knock sounded at his door, and Brian
bade the person to enter. The door opened and his best friend,
Jacques Winthrop stepped inside.
    “Hey, Jack. Come on in. You remember Linda,
right? Captain Thompson’s younger daughter?” Jacques had also been
under the captain’s command.
    Jack smiled at Linda, who had risen from her
seat. Brian smirked when she looked like she was suddenly having
difficulty breathing. His friend often had that affect on women.
“Of course I remember Linda,” Jack said. “Our most recent meeting
was at your and Caroline’s wedding.” He held out a hand. “How are
you, Linda?”
    Linda’s smile was huge and almost
cartoon-like. “I’m fine, thanks. Well, I’d better go,” she said and
releasing Jack’s hand, fled the office, shutting the door behind
her.
    Jack looked embarrassed and Brian scoffed,
“Did it again, didn’t you, pretty boy?” In truth when they were on
the CPD together, he and Jack had often been asked if they were
brothers. Brian knew that it was only because they were of the same
height and builds and had black hair. The similarities ended there.
Jack with his violet-blue eyes and double rows of lashes and
perfectly asymmetrical features was often stared at, and many young
women became flustered around him because of what some described as
his classic beauty.
    Brian gestured towards a chair. “To what do
I owe this unexpected visit? And make it quick, please. I’ve got a
staff meeting in about half an hour.”
    “This won’t take long. I have some news, and
I was in the neighborhood so it was easy just to stop by. It’s
about Brickman.”
    Brian sat forward. “What about him?”
    “They’ve found him. He --”
    “Where?”
    Jack held up a hand. “Wait. Let me finish.
They found him in Italy. A man and his wife on a small island near
Naples called Procida were reported missing. The wife’s mother told
the local police that her daughter had been spending a lot of time
at one of the larger villas, which was being leased by a bunch of
Americans, including two brothers, and one of the brothers was with
a woman. When the police went to the villa, they found it empty of
people. What they did find, however, was freshly turned earth in
the back of the house. They dug and found the bodies of the couple,
Brunetta and Victor Ricci. She’d been dropped from a great distance
and he’d been beaten to death.”
    Brian frowned. “Why do they think it was
Brickman?”
    “Some of the islanders had done day work at
the villa, and when questioned, the men they described sounded like
Brickman and his brother Jonathan, and the description of the woman
sounded like Ida Martinez. But even more importantly, some of the
things the workers overheard made it even more likely that it had
been Brickman.”
    “What did they hear?”
    “Apparently, Brickman and his people just
assumed the workers didn’t understand English, but many of them
did. Some of them heard discussions around his drug and arms
businesses. Caroline’s name came up.”
    Already anxious, Brian stiffened.
    “Someone heard Brickman and his brother
discussing her. They at first referred to her as the artist, but
then one of them said her name -- her maiden name. The worker is an
art lover and recognized her name, even though she’s relatively new
to the art scene.”
    Furious now because even thousands of miles
away, Brickman was still obsessed enough with Caroline to talk
about her, Brian had to force himself not to destroy something.
“What did he say about her?” he asked in a voice that was barely
understandable.
    “He still wants her,” Jack said simply.
“Now,” he began before sitting back in his chair. “What do you
need?”
    ***
    BRIAN walked into the dance school and
followed the strains of This Old Heart of Mine to the back
of the building where he encountered a huge room with hard wood
floors and mirrors covering all