CHAPTER 19: ANDREAS HAUNTS LAWRENCE

Gina POV

“I’ll be back this afternoon okay. But if you need anything then you can just go those guys to get you something.” I say to Marcus as I point to the car that is standing before his house. “Those are my people. Carrie and David.” I say. “And who are they?” Marcus says as he points to some people working on some power lines down the street. “No idea.” I say. I also notice that there’s more than one cop car parked in this street as well. “So many cops in this street today.” Marcus says. “I guess Captain Baldwin is looking out for you.” I say.

“He’s still at the precinct?” Marcus asks me. “Yes as far as I know.” I say. “Oh.” Marcus says. “Hey thank you for letting me go with you to the precinct. My car should be fixed tomorrow. I need to be there when they question Lawrence Smith.” Mateo says as he takes his bag. “No problem.” I say I take my bag as well. “Don’t be away for too long.” Marcus says as he kisses me on the forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I say before I turn to leave through the front door.

Mateo gets into the passenger seat while I get in the driver’s seat.”You won’t mind if we stop by the Freemont Hotel after we come back from the precinct?” I ask Mateo. “No. Not at all.” Mateo says.
“Okay so what can you tell me about yourself?” I ask him. “There’s not much to tell. I’m an only child. My mom died when I was 7 years old and it’s only been me and my dad since then.” Mateo says. “I’m sorry to hear about your mom. How did she die?” I ask him. “Cancer. She had cancer.” Mateo replies. “I’m sorry.” I say. “Thanks. So how about you? What can you tell me that Marcus hasn’t told me about you yet?” Mateo says. “Marcus told you about me?” I ask.

“Yeah when I first met him at university. He wouldn’t shut up about you.” Mateo says making me smile. “Well I moved to New York after finishing high school, got my degree at the New York Fashion Institute and then I started my own company called Rossi Designs.” I say. “Wait you’re the owner of Rossi Designs?” Mateo asks.”Jip. And nobody knows that I am except for my mom, Marcus, my best friend Glenda and now you so you better shut up about that or else…” I say. “Or else you’ll skin me alive? Yes I know. My mouth is sealed. You don’t have to worry about that.” Mateo says as he puts on the stereo.

The radio is now playing some country music. “Oh hell no. I’m not listening to this shit.” Mateo says as he searches his bag for something. He takes out his USB memory stick. “You don’t like country music?” I ask. “No. Not at all. We’re going back to the 80’s today.” Mateo says as he plugs the stick in. Summer of ’69 from Bryan Adams starts playing. “Turn it up.” I say to Mateo and he turns the volume up. We listen and sing along to Bryan Adams songs all the way to the precinct. “Have you ever met Marcus’s mom Veronica?” I ask Mateo as I park the car in front of the precinct. “No. I’ve only heard of her from Marcus and Mr. Castellano. She’s some psycho bitch from what they told me.” Mateo says as he gets out of the car. “She is. She didn’t like me very much.” I say. “Why?” Mateo asks. “Honestly. I don’t know.” I reply as we walk up the stairs towards the precinct’s front door.
“Marcus told me last night that he hasn’t seen her since his parents got divorced.” I say. “Yeah I think Mr. Castellano told me that she moved to Utah after they got divorced.” Mateo says as we reach the front desk. “Hi I’m here to see Detective Luke Hanson?” I say to the officer behind the desk. “And I’m here to see Lawrence Smith.” Mateo says. “Alright.” The officer says. She picks up the phone and makes a call.

“They’re both on the third floor. Lawrence Smith is in interrogation room 1. Detectives Hanson and Saunders are about to interrogate him.” The officer says. “Thanks.” I say as I turn around to go the elevator. Mateo presses nr 3 and we go up to the third floor. Just as we get out of the elevator someone bumps into Mateo and her basket spills all over the floor.

“I’m so sorry.” Mateo says to the woman who bumped into him. Mateo and I bend down to pick everything up from the floor. The woman also bends down to pick the stuff up. I look at her wrist and I see that she has a tattoo of a rose on there. The tattoo seems familiar to me but I can’t remember where I saw it. “You should watch where you’re going boy.” The woman yells at him.

“Hey you bumped into me.” Mateo says as he puts everything back into the basket. I look up to see who she is and I immediately recognize her. Veronica Castellano. “Don’t you ever come back here Veronica. I mean it.” Someone yells from across the room. “Here’s your basket.” Mateo says as he gives her the basket. She looks at him like he just disgusted her or something but her face turns to shock as she looks at me.

“Hello Veronica. Long time no see.” I say to her. Her shock look turns to anger as she turns around and storms towards the elevator while bumping Mateo on his shoulder. She doesn’t even apologize. “Is she…” Mateo says. “Marcus’s mom? Yeah.” I say. “Bitch.” Mateo says.

“Gina Rossi is that you?” Someone says from behind me. I turn around to see that Captain Baldwin is standing behind me. “Hi Mr. Baldwin.” I say. He wraps his arms around me and picks me up as he greets me. “I haven’t seen you since your father died. How have you been?” Captain Baldwin says as he puts me down. “I’ve been good. I went to college, opened my own company and I took over the firm from my mom as well. How’s Aunt Christine?” I ask her.

I’ve known Captain Baldwin since I was a kid. He and my dad used to work together on some cases and they were friends. “Good. We just heard that we are going to be grandparents for the first time. How’s your mom?” He replies. “Congratulations. My mom’s doing great. She’s in Italy right now visiting family.” I say. “Thank you. You should come by sometime. I’m sure Christine would love to see you. And send my regards to your mom.” He says. “I will.” I reply.

“Good. You’re just in time. Lawrence is in this room.” Luke says as he points to a door that says interrogation room one. “You must be Constantine’s son?” Captains Baldwin asks Mateo. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you.” Mateo says as they exchange greetings. “Okay I won’t keep you guys any longer.” Captain Baldwin says before he turns around and walks away.

“You can wait in here.” Luke says as he opens a door for me. I walk in and I see that Lawrence is sitting in the other room. This must be the room behind the two way mirror. “Enjoy the show.” Luke says as he closes the door. Mateo, Luke and Garrett walk into the room where Lawrence is sitting. “You! You’re supposed to be dead.”Lawrence says as he looks at Mateo.

“Well I’m not.” Mateo says to him sarcastically as he sits down on a chair. Luke sits next to Mateo with Garrett next to Luke. “I’m just going to get straight to the point. You already know about the charges against you, now what I need you to do is to confess to everything.” Mateo says. “Okay.” Lawrence says was hired to kill those girls.” Lawrence says. “By whom?” Luke asks him. “By Marcus Castellano.” Lawrence says.

Just then Andreas appears next to me. He looks at Lawrence with an angry look on his face. “I know that you’re lying so tell me the truth. Why did you kill my sister?” Luke growls at him. “Who is your sister again?” Lawrence asks him. “Don’t play fucking dumb with me.” Luke says. Lawrence starts laughing at him. “You piece of shit.” Luke says as he jumps up and he grabs Lawrence’s head before he slams it on the table. “Do you remember her now asshole?” Luke asks him.

“Yes. Her name’s Amanda right? Well she was a pretty little thing and I’ll have to tell you this. I fucked her real good.” Lawrence says as he laughs at Luke. “Motherfucker!” Luke yells as he jumps over the table and then he punches Lawrence in the face. Garrett jumps up and grabs Luke’s shirt to pull him off of Lawrence. “Don’t do this. He’s not worth it.” Garrett says. “He’s the reason why Amanda is dead.” Luke says to Garrett.

“I only wanted her money. That’s all.” Lawrence says. “So what you’re saying is that Marcus never had anything to do with that?” Mateo asks him. “No. I lied about that. I only wanted to get back at Marcus because he didn’t listen to me.” Lawrence says.

“Then who are these people that you’re talking to yesterday?” Mateo says he shows a picture of Lawrence to the two masked people. “I don’t know who they are. I swear I’ve always met with them when they’re wearing their masks.” Lawrence says just as the door to the interrogation room bursts open and someone else walks in.

“Jacob what the hell are you doing here?” Mateo asks the man who just walked in. “I’m here to defend my client and I say my client doesn’t have to tell you anything.” Jacob says as he points at Lawrence. “Now if you’ll excuse us. I have some things to discuss with my client.” Jacob says as he looks at Mateo, Garrett and Luke. “This is not over with.” Mateo says as he looks at Lawrence.

Luke, Garrett and Mateo walk out of the room and they join me. We all look at Lawrence and Jacob talking. “You better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s best for you. The King isn’t done with you yet.” Jacob says to Lawrence.

“Who is that guy?” I ask Mateo. “Jacob Bartolli. He works for another law firm. Tabloids call him the hound because he’s never lost a case.” Mateo says. “There’s something off about him.” I say. “Yeah he’s an egotistical jerk that’s what.” Garrett says just as we see Jacob leaving the interrogation room. I look over towards Andreas and then I look back at Lawrence. An idea pops in my head.

“I’m quite thirsty. Could you please get me a glass of water?” I ask Garrett and he nods at me before he leaves the room. I turn towards Andreas. “Can you please go and smack him around for a bit?” I ask him. He nods before disappearing. “Wait. Who is in here with us?” Luke asks me. “Andreas Castellano. Now ssshh! Enjoy the show.” I reply. Mateo just shakes his head at me.

I look at Lawrence and I see that Andreas is standing right next to him. Andreas smacks Lawrence on the back of his head. Lawrence falls forward. “Who did that?” Lawrence asks as he looks behind him but he doesn’t see anyone so he turns around again. Andreas smacks him again. Lawrence turns around again. “I must be losing my fucking mind.” Lawrence.

Luke, Mateo and I burst out laughing. Andreas looks up at the light and makes it flicker. Lawrence sees it and he cowers in fear. Andreas grabs one of the chairs and he moves it to the other side. He does the same with the other two chairs. Lawrence starts screaming.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts! There’s no such thing as ghosts!” Lawrence starts chanting to himself. Andreas puts his hands under the table and he starts shaking it making Lawrence scream aaahhh. “Well there goes the table.” Luke says. We are still laughing at what Andreas is doing to Lawrence in there.

Andreas stops and then he looks Lawrence in the eyes. “BOO!” Andreas says to him with a smile on his face. “AAHH! Who are you and why are you doing this to me?” Lawrence says as he gets up and tries to run to the other side of the room but he can’t because he’s shackled to the table. Instead he drags the table to the corner.

“Can ghosts do that? Appear to some random person at will?” Mateo asks me. “I don’t know. That’s the first time I’ve seen a ghost do it.” I reply.

“This place is haunted! Help me!” Lawrence yells just as some officers rush into the room. “Get up.” One of the officers says. He grabs Lawrence and pulls him to his feet. “This ghost is out to get me. Please you have to help me.” Lawrence says to the officers. “Shut up. There’s no such thing as ghosts.” The other officer says. “There is. I just saw him.” Lawrence says.

“We were watching you on the cameras. There was no one else with you in there. You’re going crazy.” The first officer says as he drags Lawrence out of the room. “The chairs moved!” Lawrence says. “Nothing moved you moron. We have it all on camera.” The officer says.
Andreas must have manipulated the camera somehow.
“Where are you taking me?” Lawrence asks. “To your cell. Now shut up.” The other officer says. “No! You’ve got to get me out of here. This place is haunted!” Lawrence yells as they drag him down the hall.
Mateo, Luke and I walk out of the room while we are still laughing at Lawrence. Some of the other officers are laughing at him as well including Captain Baldwin.
“Can you believe that guy? Ghosts? Pfft!” Garrett says as he approaches us. He hands me a cup of water.“Yeah, he belongs in the loony bin.” Mateo says.
“Anyway. Are you ready to go?” Luke asks me. “Yeah. Can Mateo come with us?” I ask him. “Yes but he stays in the car the whole time.” Luke says as he looks at Mateo.
“Sure.” Mateo says and Luke glares at him. “This isn’t going to be a problem?” I ask them. “No.” Luke and Mateo reply in unison.
“What about me?” Garrett asks Luke. “You stay here. I’ll be back soon.” Luke replies.

Luke, Mateo and I walk down to the parking lot. “Are we taking my car or yours?” I ask Luke. “We can take my car.” Luke says as he takes us to a Land Rover. “A land rover? On a cop salary?” Mateo says. “My parents left me some money. Now stop staring and get in.” Luke says as he gets into the driver’s seat. I get in the passenger seat and Mateo gets into the back.

“So where we going?” I ask Luke.
He takes out a paper with some addresses written on it.
“First stop Beverly Hills.”