Page 65 of In the Arms of a Hero

Aaron sighed and nodded, running his hand over his beard. “I can’t even pretend otherwise. I feel like we’re getting nowhere with William Gaston, and right under our nose is a crime against the woman I’m in love with.”

He looked at Sam, seeing the other man’s brows lift to his forehead. “Love? I haven’t heard you use that word before.”

Sheepishly, he shook his head. “Honestly, I haven’t used that word before. It slipped out, but not untrue. I haven’t said anything to her yet, and I think it might be too soon.”

“Don’t worry about the right time. My two cents are it’s never the wrong time to tell someone how much you care for them.”

“Listen to you. We’ll have to start calling you the detective guru of relationships!”

“Fuck off, and keep looking at the records,” Sam chuckled.

“Bergstrom!”

Aaron jerked his head around at the sound of his name. Detectives Colby Sullivan and Sheila Fordham were walking into the room. Knowing they had processed Belinda’s apartment and were now stopping at his desk, he waited, sure they had news for him.

“We got a partial print from Belinda’s place. The only prints we found were hers and her sister’s. But on the edge of her computer monitor sitting on her kitchen table was another print,” Sheila said.

“Tell me they’re in the system,” he begged, leaning forward, his gaze darting between her face and Colby’s.

Colby grinned and leaned down to tap on Aaron’s computer. Sam rose from his chair and hovered over Aaron’s shoulder, looking at what was coming up on the screen.

“James Bellini. Truck driver for Bellini Transports. Thirty-seven years old. And a rap sheet in Baltimore for numerous petty crimes.”

Aaron was antsy, barely able to stand still. As though summoned by Aaron’s thoughts, Colt walked into the room, and Aaron immediately asked, “Do you have anybody you know with the Baltimore Police Department who I could speak to aboutJames Bellini and Bellini transport? His fingerprints were lifted from Belinda’s apartment.”

Colt grinned. “One of the perks of going to some of the law enforcement conferences is to meet people I can call upon later.” He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and then grabbed the phone on Aaron’s desk.

“Detective Marley? This is Sheriff Colt Hudson from North Heron County on Eastern Shore, Virginia. We’ve got fingerprints of one of your friends down here. They were found at the scene of a robbery, and we’re looking at him for some more serious crimes. Have you got a minute?” Colt nodded and said, “I have several detectives with me, and I’m going to put you on speaker if that’s okay.”

Another nod, and he pressed the speaker button on Aaron’s phone. “You’re here with a group of my detectives. Sam Shackley, Aaron Bergstrom, Hunter Simmons, Brad Stowe, Colby Sullivan, and Sheila Fordham. This is Detective Terrence Marley from the Baltimore Police Department.”

“Good to speak to all of you,” Terrence said. “Now I’m curious. Which one of our Baltimore lovelies do you have?”

“We’re interested in James Bellini. Got a match on a partial print from a robbery, and he’s now a person of interest in a murder attempt.”

“Well, didn’t you just hit the jackpot?” Terrence said. “If you want to know about Bellini Transport, I can tell you that they are a small operation transport company with mob ties. They’re not big-time players, but they’d like to be. The man you’re interested in, James, is the nephew of the man who owns the company. James does a lot of petty things, making a name for himself. They’re also into loans and enforcing in the area around their part of the docks. James is often suspected to be the muscle when they need someone taken out. If you’re wondering why he’s never been convicted, it’s because he’s a slick shit.”

“Have you ever known him to use a rifle?”

Terrence scoffed. “Here’s the thing with James. He might not have ever been a sniper in the military, but his uncle made sure James knew exactly how to use almost every weapon. He’s known on the streets as Jesse James because he’s such a good shooter. Personally, I’ve always found him to be a risk-taker and a dumb shit. I could never figure out why Arnold Bellini kept James around other than the fact that he was good at doing whatever his uncle needed him to do, but believe me, he’s more of a follower and not a leader. If you’ve got him down there for a crime, somebody else was yanking his chain and calling the shots.”

“Can you think of a reason he would be down here? Usually the only reason people come flying through here is simply as a way to avoid highway traffic getting from north to south. Were they drug-running?”

“Curious thing about the Bellini family. I’ve never heard them to be into drugs. So I’d be surprised if he was down there running drugs.”

“We have an eyewitness to whoever fired a long-range rifle into a wedding party, hitting a woman. It didn’t kill her, but we really want to get the son of a bitch who did this. And we think the same person was tied into the death of a financial adviser from Richmond who was visiting here.”

“Sounds like you guys have got some cases that are mind fucks. Tell you what, I’ll talk to some of our officers who are used to seeing the Bellinis around. I’ll ask if anyone has seen him for the past week.”

Colt said, “You’ve got our gratitude. Anything you need, let us know.”

Terrence added, “No problem. If you can nail him for what you think he might be guilty of, that just takes one more off our streets. Of course, we take down one Bellini, and there’s another.There are nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins… there’s always another one of those fuckers around, and they are thick as thieves. Hopefully, you guys will get lucky.”

After thank-yous and goodbyes, Aaron disconnected the call and looked at the others. “I want car registration info on him and to get that out to our people and the state police. I want that fucker, Colt.”

“Agreed.” Colt turned to Colby and Sheila. “You two dig into him more and get the word out we’re looking for him.”

They nodded, turned, and walked over to their desks. Brad and Hunter did the same.

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