Kate moved toward the front door and we followed, careful not to kick any of the shell casings littering the ground or to step in any blood. The beautiful carving of the Angelino crest that had been centered on the huge entry door had been blown into a mass of splinters. The part of the door where the knob should have been was completely missing.

  The captain, lieutenant and two officers were standing in front of the door talking to a patrol sergeant who was in the middle of his narrative when we walked up. “We let paramedics go in but made ‘em leave as soon as they were done. The house is secured. We’ve got cops at every entrance but the big guy there,” He motioned into the house. “Said nobody’s talking to anyone until some…” He pulled out his notepad. “Detective Wolfe gets here. We’ve got a body upstairs and another witness there too, but just as we were getting ready to move everybody out and start talking to witnesses, I got a call from Chief Robards. He said to freeze the scene and wait.” He shrugged. “So, we’re waiting.”

  I stepped to the right of Kate so I could see into the doorway to see what big guy they were talking about. Gabe stood just like I’d pictured him in Kublai Khan’s court. He had his arms crossed, legs spread, and feet planted firmly on the terrazzo tile of the entryway. He was oblivious to the uniform officer standing beside him.

  When Gabe saw me, he motioned with a tilt of his head to come in. I started forward and heard Kate growl softly behind me so that only I could hear. “Alex.”

  I glanced back at her and remembered her saying she didn’t want me to go anywhere without her. I nodded and she followed me up to the door. Gabe uncrossed his arms. “I’ll take you to Ms. A.”

  Lt. Lake, who’d come in behind us put his palm on Gabe’s chest to stop him. “I’m sorry, sir. You need to stay here until the detectives get your statement.” Gabe pushed the lieutenant’s hand aside and started down the hall. Both the lieutenant and the officer grabbed one of Gabe’s arms, but before any kind of fight broke out, Kate stepped in.

  “That’s really not necessary, Lieutenant. Gabe, I’m sure Ms. Angelino expects you to cooperate fully with the police. I think she has enough problems here without seeing you go to jail. Can you point Alex and I to where she is?” As she spoke, she pulled two pair of gloves out of her jacket pocket. She handed one pair to me and we both tugged them on.

  “She said she didn’t want nobody but Alex.”

  Relief flooded through me when I heard him say that. If Gia was giving orders it meant she was still alive. Both Kate and I looked at the lieutenant, waiting to hear what he wanted to do. He let go of Gabe’s arm and motioned for the officer to do the same. “You two go on up. The fewer people in the crime scene the better. We’ll wait here with…”

  He glanced at Kate who supplied him with the name he was looking for. “Gabe.”

  Kate and I started down the hallway. I leaned into her and whispered. “What about the captain? He looked like he wanted to come in too.”

  “Let him wait. They mostly just get in the way anyway. Let’s go see what we have.”

  I raised my eyebrows in surprise. That definitely didn’t sound like the Kate I knew. Unless someone was unprofessional, crooked, or an idiot, Kate was a rules and procedures kind of gal the entire way. She respected the rank if not always the person and expected the same from the people who worked for her.

  She motioned with a sweep of her hand. “After you.”

  Gabe called after us. “Ms. A’s at the top of the stairs.”

  I nodded thanks and made my way to the end of the hall. Bullet holes tracked across the wall where someone had shot a sweeping pattern straight through one of Gia’s priceless masterpieces. I could only hope it was a copy and she had the original stashed away in a museum somewhere like the Da Vinci hanging at the end of the hall. She’d once laughed at me when I’d recognized the name Leonardo at the bottom the painting and had jumped away because I was afraid I'd accidentally destroy a priceless antique.

  Judging by the pattern of the bullet holes, I assumed that someone had fired through the window, but when I checked, none of the hall windows were broken. Kate saw my puzzled look and tapped on the window with her fingernail. “Bulletproof. Would you expect anything less?” She was right, I should have realized that. Normally I would have studied the angle of entry on the holes in the drywall, but today I just wanted to make sure Gia was all right.

  I continued down the hall, careful not to step on any evidence as I went. Kate mimicked my steps exactly so as not to contaminate an already very messed up crime scene. Another uniformed officer stood at the corner where the hallway opened up into the family room. He pointed to a set of stairs to my left. I’d been in Gia’s home many times, but this was the first time I’d ever been invited upstairs. That was her father’s domain and I guessed it was also where Gia and Shelley had their respective bedrooms.

  The officer was guarding two of Gia’s bodyguards who were seated on the sofa in the middle of the room. As Kate and I passed, I leaned close to one I recognized and spoke quietly. “I see bullet holes and blood spatter on the wall, but no bodies. Why aren’t there any bodies in the house?”

  His answer was quiet as well. “Only two made it inside. Once the shooting stopped, we picked ‘em up and tossed ‘em out the back door.” He shrugged. “Didn’t want ‘em bleedin’ all over the place.”

  Kate groaned. I was pretty sure she was contemplating the destroyed crime scene the homicide detectives were going to have to deal with. We started up the stairs and followed them around to the right where they took a ninety-degree turn at the top. When I climbed the last three steps, I saw Gia sitting with her back against the wall holding the hand of a very old, very dead man whom I could only assume was her father. The front of his striped pajama shirt was riddled with bloody holes. He’d fallen straight back, and the hand Gia held had been flung up and over his head. His other arm was thrown out to the side and his fingers were wrapped around what looked like a Thompson submachine gun.

  I turned around and saw a bloody pattern of holes in the panels of dark wood that graced the semicircular walls of the stairwell. There was also a large smear where someone had bounced into the wall and slid down onto the landing. Mr. Angelino had obviously hit whoever had been coming up the stairs. Unfortunately, the other guy had hit his target as well.

  I stepped over to Gia who didn’t seem to know I was there. Her head rested against the wall and her eyes were closed, giving a frighteningly dead appearance herself. She held a Sig Sauer P-229 .40 caliber semi automatic handgun in her lap. The slide was locked back, most likely meaning the weapon had been fired until empty. The ground around the body was littered with spent .45 caliber casings, which had probably been fired from Mr. Angelino’s Tommy Gun. I didn’t see any .40 caliber casings near where Gia sat propped against the wall. Kate must have been looking for them as well because after a few seconds she pointed to a spot near the stair railing. “There.” Several .40 caliber casings lay scattered about. Two had come to rest on the wide flat baluster running along the top of the landing.

  I knelt next to Gia and slipped my arm around her shoulders. “Gia, it’s Alex.” When she didn’t move, I gave her shoulder a slight squeeze. “I am so, so sorry.” With my free hand, I carefully picked up the .40 caliber and handed it back towards Kate who took it and then stood to go look around the rest of the upstairs rooms.

  On the way, she handed the pistol to a uniformed officer standing quietly in the middle of the hallway. “Here, secure this until the homicide dicks arrive.” He pulled out a pair of rubber gloves and after he’d wrestled his hands into them, took the pistol from her. She nodded at him and continued down the hallway.

  When I’d first knelt down beside her, Gia hadn’t moved, but after a few minutes she brought her father’s hand up to her cheek and held it there. Her face slowly crumpled as she leaned forward and put her forehead onto her father’s shoulder. She began sobbing quietly and I rubbed her back, thinking about all the inane things a person is supposed to say at a time like this.

  I’ve always had a difficult time coming up with the right platitudes to say to someone who has lost a member of their family, and this particular case was especially vexing. I couldn’t say what a great guy he’d been because from everything I’d heard, he’d been a ruthless, megalomaniac bastard. I finally settled on some mind-numbing clichés. “I know you’re going to miss him. I’m here to help you any way I can.”

  Kate came back and knelt beside me. She touched my back to get my attention. When I looked over at her, she pointed first to Gia, then to an open door off to our right. I nodded that I understood and leaned down close to speak directly into Gia’s ear. “Gia. I’m very sorry for your loss.” I paused to gather my thoughts. “Unfortunately, pretty soon the detectives are going to have to come in here and begin their investigations. I think it’d be better if we went into one of the bedrooms and let them do what they have to do.”

  She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, obviously gathering herself to say goodbye to her father one last time. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve as she sat up, she reached out to caress her father’s cheek and whispered, “I love you, Daddy.”

  Leaning back against the wall again, she finally made eye contact, first with me, and then with Kate who waited patiently for me to get her into the bedroom. Gia visibly straightened before pushing herself to a standing position. Resolutely, she took in the bloody stairwell and sighed. “Believe it or not, Alex, I would rather he go out with his Tommy Gun in his hands than from that bloody Alzheimer’s that was stealing him away from me one memory at a time.” Her face crumpled once more before she regained her composure.

  I took her arm and led her into the bedroom Kate had indicated. As I started to close the door, Kate braced it open for a second. “Ms. Angelino. I’m going to have the crime scene people come and look at your father. You’ll be hearing quite a bit of noise as they move about the stairwell.”

  Gia pointed a shaky hand at the bureau. “Would you bring a cigar over for me, Alex? They’re in the top drawer.”

  Kate cleared her throat. “Ms. Angelino?”

  “Yes, yes, do what you have to do. Please ask Gabe to come up as well.” To me she said. “I need to get out of here. I need to pack some clothes and leave, now.”

  Kate had just stepped out into the hallway and was pulling the door shut behind her when she heard Gia’s plans. She stopped and pushed the door open again. “I’m sorry Ms. Angelino, but I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here until we get your statement.”

  Gia’s gray eyes flashed. “I said I’m leaving, immediately.”

  Kate stepped into the room and shut the door. “Ms. Angelino. I’m going to go down now and get my tape recorder. I promise you that Alex and I and one other detective will be the only ones to take your statement, and we’ll do it right now so that you can leave… immediately.” Kate’s steel matched Gia’s perfectly as the two women glared at one another. Kate finally continued. “But—you will stay here until we’re through.” The two women’s faces could have been carved in granite. I honestly had no clue which one was stronger or more powerful and I just stood back and watched these two immutable forces collide.

  The horror of the past hour had taken a lot out of Gia. Her stiff spine and erect posture began to flag, and she reached back to pull a chair close enough so that she could sit. As Gia wearily lowered herself onto the cushion, Kate nodded and left the room. Soon after she left, I could hear people ascending the stairs. Cameras began to whir as picture after picture was taken of the macabre scene. We sat silently waiting for Kate to return. When the door finally opened and she stepped inside, we could see the ever-faithful Gabe standing guard with his back toward us, his hands clasped in front ready for anything.

  Kate pulled up a chair next to Gia and sat while I stepped over to the window to see what was happening outside. The window opened onto the backyard where two tarps covered what I assumed were the bodies of the men the Angelino bodyguards had tossed out into the dirt. Crime scene techs and detectives were busy taking measurements, photographing the scene, and collecting evidence. Casey walked out the back door and knelt next to one of the bodies. She lifted the tarp and studied the man’s face, then carefully lowered it again. She repeated her inspection of the second dead guy. As she stood, her gaze traveled up to the second-floor window where I was standing. She pointedly looked at me for a second, then reached up and swiped at her ear. She let the hand holding her notebook casually drop and point at one of the bodies.

  Just to make sure I understood, I reached up and covered my right ear, then made a slashing motion down my cheek to the edge of my mouth. She nodded. So, one of the men was the guy who was missing an ear. That didn’t make much sense. He was apparently friends with the Lithuanians, and yet Bill Silverton, Gia’s attorney, had bonded out the Lithuanians.

  The door opened and Ruthanne stepped into the room. The fact that she was the homicide detective interviewing Gia was great, but I wasn’t sure why she was here. “I thought you were temporarily reassigned from homicide to Jason’s case with Gail.

  Ruthanne pulled a rolling desk chair over next to Kate. “They pulled me in to help with the interviews on this case.” She set the tape recorder on her knee. “Ms. Angelino, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Detective Stahl. We met at Alex’s house once, and then one other time when Alex was in the hospital. I wonder if we could go ahead and take your statement.”

  Gia shook her head. “No. You’ll have to contact my attorney, Mr. Silverton and bring him upstairs.”

  Kate pursed her lips and stood. “I’m sorry, Ms. Angelino, but we’ve already broken just about every rule in the book on this case and I’m not willing to contaminate the crime scene any more by bringing another set of footprints and fingerprints into the house. I noticed some back stairs behind a door in the third bedroom on the left.”

  Anger flashed in Gia’s eyes, but as she rose and began to speak, Kate held up her hand to silence her. “Like it or not, this is a crime scene Ms. Angelino. I wasn’t snooping through your private living quarters like some petty voyeur. I was thinking we could meet Mr. Silverton downstairs and then go somewhere quiet for the interview.”

  The two women glared at one another while Ruthanne and I watched. I finally decided to break the gridlock. “Where do the stairs lead?”

  The two women answered simultaneously. “Down to the garage.”

  I glanced out the window. “The news media’s at the perimeter tape in the back yard. It looks like about fifteen or twenty of them standing around gawking and waiting for a story.”

  Ruthanne confirmed what I suspected. “There’s a ton of them out front too. Is there a limo in the garage where we can sit and do the interview?”

  Kate nodded. “It didn’t look like anyone got into that part of the house. Let’s go.” She opened the door and elbowed Gabe to the side so we could leave. Gia narrowed her eyes and stayed rooted to the spot. When Kate realized we hadn’t followed, she turned, allowing no hint of her frustration to show on her face. “Ms. Angelino, do you have a better idea?”

  A headache had begun throbbing in my left temple. I reached up and massaged the area hoping these two could somehow come to a consensus so we could get on with our investigation.

  Ruthanne’s boss, Sergeant Logan, stood at the top of the stairs and watched as his detectives processed the scene. Mr. Angelino’s body had been covered by a tarp, I assumed so that Gia could exit the scene without having to look at it again. When Kate glanced at Logan, he motioned her over to where he was standing. She must have been having the same type of headache I was because she mirrored my movements exactly.

  As soon as Kate walked over to Logan, Gia regally swept down the hall and entered the third door on the left. Ruthanne, Gabe, and I quickly followed.

  Gabe passed all of us and hurried to open what I assumed was the door leading to the back stairwell.

  Gia strode through the door and I called after her. “Gia, wait.”

  She stopped on the top step without turning towards me.

  I slipped past her and drew my Glock. “I know Kate has already been down here, but I can only assume you and your father were targeted for assassination and I really don’t want to run into any surprises with you leading the way.”

  Gabe reached to a holster hanging on the back of the railing and pulled out a weapon as well. Ruthanne turned and put her hand on his chest. “Whoa there. If we run into other cops and you have that gun out, there’ll be major problems.” She unholstered her weapon. “Put it away and I’ll cover the rear, not that I think it needs covered, but like Alex says, no surprises. Besides,” She tapped the barrel of his gun with a manicured fingernail. “Now that I know about that little gem, it’s evidence.” I watched her, once again thinking this entire crime scene had been contaminated way before the police ever arrived and it was getting progressively worse as we went along.

  Gabe stared at Gia’s back, probably hoping she’d give him some kind of direction. The pulse in my temple ramped up a notch. “Gia. Tell him to put his gun away.”

  I wasn’t sure she’d even heard me until she nodded slightly and barely waved her hand back in Gabe’s direction. He holstered his weapon and we began our descent. When we were half way down, the door at the top of the stairs opened once more and Kate joined the procession. “I told Nate to bring Mr. Silverton around to the garage. He’s going to meet us there.”

  When we reached the garage, I did a quick circuit around the perimeter checking in cars and closets for anyone hiding where they shouldn’t be.

  Once I’d finished, Kate pulled Ruthanne and I aside. “Apparently no one from the Angelino household are talking, and my guess is neither Gia nor Gabe are going to say anything either. Alex, you stay here while Ruthanne and I interview them in the limo one at a time.” She held an evidence box out to Ruthanne. “Here. If that new bulge under Gabe’s jacket is any indication, he’s rearmed himself. Take his weapon into custody.”