Page 30 of Craving Vengeance
“Yep.”
Shannon leaned forward. Her mouth fell open. “Is that Mike...” her voice trailed off.
Spinelli, Walker, and Marsh fixed their gazes on her.
“You know Mike Carter?” Spinelli questioned.
Shannon’s gaze shifted between the detectives. Several beats passed. “Shannon, did you know Mr. Carter?” Walker asked in a tone a bit more controlled than the one Spinelli used seconds earlier.
She nodded.
“How did you know him?” Walker followed up.
She shifted her teary eyes to Spinelli. “We dated in high school,” she whispered.
Spinelli looked at Walker and Marsh, “What in the hell?”
Walker stepped toward the crime board and pulled a photo of Tony Rosso, a clothed photo, not the one of him sprawled out on his boss’ desk naked but for his wings. He held the photo up for Shannon to see. “Do you know who this is?” he asked.
Shannon nodded. “Tony Rosso.”
“How did you know Mr. Rosso?” Walker asked.
This time she kept her gaze fixed on Walker. “My Uncle Bernie owns a bar downtown. Tony used to bartend for him. My uncle set us up, and we went out a few times.”
Walker pulled another photo from the folder. “Do you know who this is?” he asked as he held the photo of the third cupid for her to see.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath.
“Shannon?”
Her eyes fluttered open. “It’s Chad Williams.”
“Did you go out with him as well?” Walker asked.
She nodded and used the back of her hand to swipe the moisture from her cheeks.
Spinelli stood in disbelief.
Walker cleared his throat. “Let’s take a step back here. In what order did you go out with these men?”
Shannon twisted off the top of the bottle of water Walker had given her earlier. She drank nearly half the bottle in one shot. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment as if pausing to get her thoughts in order. She set the bottle on Spinelli’s desk and expelled a breath. “I dated Mike Carter during the second half of my senior year in high school. I started dating Joshua in my senior year of college; he was already in medical school. We dated for a couple of years and got engaged. It seemed like the next step.” She glanced at Spinelli. “Right before he left for Nicaragua, I broke it off, but he obviously didn’t take me seriously.”
Shannon paused, closed her eyes, and sucked in a weighty breath. She opened her eyes and continued. “After a while of not dating, everyone seems to want to set you up. Uncle Bernie set me up with Tony Rosso a few months after Joshua left. We only went out three or four times. Tony was nice enough but not my type. A few months or so after that a friend of mine set me up with Chad Williams. We only went out twice. I guess I wasn’t his type.”
“Were there any others?” Walker asked.
Shannon shifted her gaze to Spinelli then back to Walker. “Just Nick.”
All eyes shifted to Spinelli.
“How ya feeling there, pal?” Marsh teased. He had no couth at times.
“Not funny! You’re such an asshole!”
Silence filled the room. They all shifted their gazes back and forth.
Adrenaline rushed through Spinelli’s veins. Was someone going to try to kill him today? Could he have been poisoned? Reality punched him in the gut, knocking the wind right out of him. Sweat beaded on his temples. His sweaty hands hadn’t stopped shaking since he entered the precinct with Shannon. Was it just nerves or something more? His pulse pounded in his ears. Would this be the last time he’d hear his own pulse or the sweet sound of Shannon’s soft feminine voice singing in his ears? He inhaled. The aroma of bitter coffee and stale pastries wafted through his nostrils but was quickly replaced by the pleasant refreshing scent of a fresh spring morning; Shannon’s tantalizing scent. Would this be the last time he’d smell the confines of the precinct or her glorious heavenly scent? Would he ever get the opportunity to taste her sweet flavor again or feel her soft milky white skin under his fingertips? Confusion filled every cell in his body.
