50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Ninety-Eight

    Latino. Caramel complexion. Dark curly hair, similar to Carlos's...but the man lying on the bed wasn't Carlos. So then...where was Carlos? Was he safe? Was he okay?

    All Aubrey knew was that the strong smell of coppery blood was starting to make his stomach turn.

    "Not Carlos?" the police officer repeated in a thick Canadian-French accent.

    "Carlos...he was visiting my girlfriend. He lives in D.C. but recently came to Toronto. And I thought that it was him, from your description, but...it's not. It's not him." Aubrey's brows drew together. "I know him, though. It's Rafael. He's the new guy that handles the landscaping around the building and helps out with the fumigation a few times a month. He fixes things when they break...I guess you could say he's the handyman of the building." Aubrey ran a hand over his head, the wheels in his head turning. "George wasn't able to identify him? He's the building manager. Rafael works for him."

    "Your building manager claims that he saw the blood, followed the trail to the hallway, and saw a body in the bed. He says that he stayed at the hall entrance and didn't venture any further. He claims not to have set foot inside of the room. From where he stood at the hallway entrance, he saw a body covered in blood on the bed, called us, and stayed in the kitchen until we got here and the entire time we've been here."

    "Wow...I don't understand why Rafael would have been..." Aubrey narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to work out the scene in his mind. "He wouldn't have been in this unit, not without my permission or George's permission. So...maybe he saw something he wasn't supposed to? Or maybe he interrupted Palmer in the middle of-"

    The officer withdrew a notepad from his pocket. "Do you have Rafael's last name? And who is Palmer?"

    "Destiny. I need to tell Destiny." He whirled around and strode out of the bedroom. He returned to the door of the condo unit and opened it.

    Destiny stood in the hall, nervously biting her nails. She straightened her posture when she saw him. "Did you see him?"

    "I saw...someone," he said.

    Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

    "It wasn't Carlos. It was someone else. Rafael. A guy who does work in and around the building."

    Relief filled her face. "So...then..." She scratched her head. "I don't understand. Does that mean Carlos is okay? I tried calling him earlier today and he didn't pick up."

    "I can't answer that." He glanced at the officer standing beside her. "They have some questions for me in there. You don't have to come in."

    "But I want to," she said, grabbing his hand.

    They went inside of the condo. She gasped at the blood on the floor and moved closer to him as he led the way to the kitchen where his building manager was standing.

    George Imryan had a muddy complexion and short, jet-black hair. He was portly, dressed in a button down shirt that was a few sizes too small and black dress slacks that were a size too large.

    The officer who'd talked to Aubrey was standing beside George. He introduced himself as Officer Larrieu. His light brown hair was thinning at the top, and he had a thick moustache above his upper lip.

    George looked up as Aubrey entered the kitchen. "Rafael? It was Rafael?"

    Aubrey nodded.

    "My God," George muttered, shaking his head sadly. "Why didn't I recognize him? I have to call Marisa. She's going to be devastated."

    "He had blood smeared all over his face, which is probably why you didn't recognize him," Officer Larrieu said. "Shot in the chest at point-blank range. And we'll make the call to his family. No need for you to make that call."

    George rubbed his temples. "This is such a mess."

    "Did Rafael have any enemies, anyone who could have done something like this?" Officer Larrieu asked, glancing at George, then Aubrey, then Destiny. His gaze returned to Aubrey. "In the bedroom, you mentioned someone named Palmer. Who is Palmer?"

    Destiny's hand clenched around Aubrey's again.

    "That's...a long story," Aubrey hedged.

    "I'm all ears," Officer Larrieu told him.

~~~~~~

    The questions were endless. The officer wanted to know everything about the Palmer situation, wanted more information about Rafael and whether or not he acted strangely the past several days, and wanted to know who Destiny was. He took down Destiny's name and had a few questions for her as well.

    After the questions, the officer handed a business card to both Aubrey and Destiny, instructing them to contact him if they remembered anything else, or if anything else strange happened. The officer stated he would be in touch with Aubrey if needed.

    Aubrey led Destiny to the parking garage and opened the car door for her. He didn't understand what he'd just seen. His brain was trying to make sense of it. Carlos being murdered in the condo made some sort of sense. It would have been tragic, but it would have made sense. Rafael lying in a bed nearly naked and covered in blood? That didn't make sense. Aubrey walked around the car, opened the driver side door, and lowered himself into the driver seat.

    "So this means that Carlos is okay...right?" Destiny asked him.

    "I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't know what this means," he said honestly. "I'm trying to make sense of it...but I can't. I rarely ever saw Rafael. Ever. I mean...I saw him in passing sometimes..."

    "Maybe he walked in on Palmer trying to attack Carlos," she suggested.

    "He wouldn't have had reason to walk into that condo," Aubrey said, shooting that theory down.

    She ran a hand through her hair and stared out of the front windshield of his Bugatti. "Could Rafael have been working for Palmer?"

    Aubrey squinted his eyes. "I don't know. I mean...I guess he could have been, but...I never really saw him. He wouldn't have had anything to tell Palmer."

    "But he has access to everyone's units, right?" she asked him.

    A chill ran through him and his brows furrowed.

    "I mean...he does, right? Or, I mean, did. He would have had access to keys for every unit in the building."

    "He would have," Aubrey said softly, trying to shake the chill but unable to.

    "If that's the case, he would have been invaluable to Palmer," she said. "If this were some mystery thriller that I was writing, then that's what I would write. Rafael was working for Palmer. He has probably snuck into your condo without you even knowing about it. He could have rigged the place with cameras or microphones or who knows what. Or maybe looked through your files."

    Aubrey shuddered, his frown deepening. "Please stop. Stop talking."

    She pursed her lips shut.

    The thought of someone sneaking into his home and rifling through his possessions chilled him to the bone. But Destiny was right. It made sense. "Even if you're right...that doesn't explain why he would be killed there, and left in the condo."

    "Yeah, I don't get that," she mumbled. "Maybe Palmer went there for Carlos? But saw Rafael instead?"

    "And if you have someone who has access to condo unit keys, why would you kill him?" Aubrey went on. "Wouldn't it make more sense for Palmer to keep Rafael alive, if that were the case? So he could dig up more dirt on me?"

    "Unless there are already cameras in your unit spying on you - then Palmer wouldn't need Rafael," she said.

    "I was thinking more along the lines of: unless Palmer is no longer trying to dig up dirt on me," he said, staring out of the windshield. "And if he's no longer trying to dig up dirt on me, it could because he's considering doing something to me that is a lot more final."