“First and last are enough,” Stacy told him, nodding to the orderly on the other side of the glass.
Steve walked with him to the waiting area, sitting with him in the plastic chairs. “Are you okay?”
“Nah, but I will be.”
“We can’t stay in the city, and around here, it’s dangerous, Matt. I don’t want to rush you, but…”
“Then don’t, okay? Let me have a minute.”
Stacy spoke to the men in the morgue, getting the papers together. As soon as the investigation was over in Dean’s death, the body was going to be released to them, to be sent to a funeral parlor they’d spoken to earlier that morning.
Steve was set to pay for the funeral, not that it would be much of one. No one but the three of them would even know about it. Stacy asked that the authorities not release his name.
“We should go,” she said when she came to them, but Steve held up his hand and she understood that Matt needed a minute.
Matt stood, letting them know he was ready, and Steve could see that Stacy was ready to jump at the slightest noise. It did nothing to calm him down, not that anyone could. If those compound thugs were still after Matt, and there was no reason to believe they weren’t, they were all in danger.
As they headed home, Matt’s jaw was popping, he was deep in thought, his eyes steel and unblinking. It frightened Steve, wondering what could be going through his head. He knew that if it was him, he’d want to rush to the compound and seek revenge. He doubted Matt’s thoughts were much different.
“The new agent will be here this afternoon,” Stacy told them as they pulled into the drive. Matt nodded once then exited the car and Steve watched from the front seat as Matt walked away from the car and the house, moving to the woods where they’d had their picnic.
“Let him go,” Stacy warned. “He needs some time to sort through this.”
“What if he takes off or something?”
“If he was going to do that, he would have back in town. He had the backseat to himself and could have bolted any time.”
He watched until Matt had disappeared in the trees before he got out of the car. They went inside together, Stacy seeming totally drained. “Why don’t you go catch a nap. Once the agent gets here, we’ll likely not have much time to rest.”
“I can’t sleep. I spoke to Mac and Leo this morning. They want to come. Even if Dean wasn’t his blood relative, Mac’s upset about his death.”
“We can’t have more people here to worry about,” Steve said, his own training coming back to him. “They’re not professional and would likely be more worry than help.”
“That’s what I told them. That didn’t sit well with Mac, but Leo understands and will chill him out about it.”
The urge to follow Matt was still strong, but he knew Stacy was right. Every man needed to figure things out on their own at times, the solitude helping with that. He’d bought a home in the middle of nowhere to do a lot of that after he’d been shot and nearly killed. He knew that better than just about anyone.
He made tea and they each sipped at their respective cups while the quiet took over the home. Seeing Dean beaten in much the same way that Matt had been, knowing how close Matt had come to being laid out on a table that way, it made Steve want to run off with him. Take him far from there and never let him return.
Not that Matt would stand for that.
A knock came to the door and Steve jumped to his feet. “What if it’s…?”
“Knocking? I doubt it.” She stopped her rush to the front door, relenting, “Stay here and be ready to shoot out the back if need be.”
Not that he was settled with letting her open the door, he nodded, and she went into the living room, him listening at the doorway.
It took no time to establish there was no danger, as he heard the man at the door introduce himself to her. Steve left his place and went into the room, seeing a tall, broad man wearing a perfunctory federal agent dark suit and red tie.
“Steve, this is Special Agent Castaldo. Agent, this is Steve Ricci. He owns the home.”
Steve shook the man’s hand and felt his totally engulfed in the man’s huge paw. “Welcome to my home, Special Agent Castaldo.”
He had dark eyes and hair, but his smile was bright and pleasant. “Call me Pat, please.”
“Please, sit down.”
He was carrying a briefcase, which he sat on the coffee table and opened as he told the two, “SA DeSoto told me all he knew about this case. He’s quite concerned with what’s happening here.”
Stacy explained, “He wanted to be lead on this, but with nothing happening before he was reassigned, he wanted the best to come in on it. He speaks highly of you.”
“And you, Ms. Woo. Very highly,” he informed her, smirking.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She had her hackles up, but to his credit, Pat didn’t get ruffled.
“Only that Charlie and I are friends, and he’s very happy you’re back together. That’s off the official record, of course.”
Deflating, she mumbled, “Does he have to advertise it?”
Steve gestured to her to hold it in for the moment. “So, Pat, if he’s told you everything, what do you need from us, besides what’s happened recently?”
“That’s mostly it, the death of,” he started, then took the top folder from his briefcase and finished, “Dean Handler. Charlie said he was related by marriage to the man you’re both protecting here. Where is he?”
Steve explained, “He’s in mourning. He took a short walk to be alone.”
“Is that wise?”
“My property is secluded. I assured we weren’t followed from the city.”
His eyes locked with Steve’s and they shined like bright headlights were pointed in them. “I guess I’ll have to trust you, then. I’ve never been to this part of the country. I’m sure you know your business.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, the man was flirting with him, with a flutter of lashes and the sexy smile crossing his lips, but Steve was so out of sorts, he was probably way off the mark.
“Ricci…Italian of course. Where are you from?”
“Brooklyn, but my parents are from Naples. With your last name, I’m guessing you come from there, somewhere up the line?”
“My father’s parents, yes. Napolitano. And I’m from Brooklyn as well!”
Steve felt like he’d gone home for a visit without leaving his living room. “That’s amazing, where?”
****
Matt came in the backdoor, leaning on it while he steeled himself to deal with the two mother hens watching over him like he was a child. If he was asked once more if he was okay, he’d scream.
Voices caught his attention, and he figured he was being spoken about, the two conspiring to keep him safe and pampered when all he wanted to do was take off in the car with a couple guns and kill his father and all the goons who’d killed Dean.
Sneaking into the kitchen, the voices got a little louder, and that was when he heard one that he didn’t recognize. He crept closer to the living room, listening in on the conversation that was happening there, the guilt of eavesdropping leaving him the minute he heard the man’s voice gushing over Steve.
“I can’t believe your family is right down the street from where I grew up! My parents moved to Florida, now, so our house is not ours any longer. So cliché, retiring in Florida.”
“My parents have been thinking of doing the same. I think it’s just a natural progression with the old timers,” Steve laughed, the other man chuckling along with him.
His heroine, Stacy, stopped their clever banter. “Guys, can we get back to the case?”
They both chuckled like they’d been caught smoking in the boy’s bathroom by a teacher.
“Isn’t that cute?” he whispered to himself.
“Right, right,” the new man said. “Now, will he be joining us soon?”
“We know most of what he can tell you,” Steve offered.
; Straightening his back, Matt wanted to bust into the room and scream at Steve, ask him why the hell he was speaking for him, but instead, he kept listening.
“I’d rather hear it from him, but you can give me any background Charlie couldn’t provide. Now, the father and grandfather are the prophets of the sect. We’ve dealt with prophets before, so I know what that’s all about. They’ve apparently been trafficking some of the girls that they don’t give in marriage to the members. How is this known?”
“Dean and Matt had both overheard things and saw proof. They couldn’t take the proof without being caught, however, and by the time they tried again, everything was moved.”
“That’s too bad,” the agent said. “That’s why Charlie couldn’t manage to get a clear case going. I see, I see.”
“With Dean’s death, however, it may give you reason to investigate all of it, right?” Stacy’s voice sounded irritated, while the other two were a little too casual.
“It does. I’ll have to contact the local authorities, as the murder isn’t our jurisdiction unless we’ve officially taken on the trafficking case. That’s to be seen, but if we can get two people corroborating the trafficking, I can start the case as soon as today.”
“That would be great, really,” Steve gushed. He wouldn’t be surprised if Steve was sitting on his lap.
Matt decided it was time to show himself and remind Steve that he existed. He went into the room, Steve sitting on the sofa next to a man that could have walked out of the Tom of Finland pictures in the master bedroom.
He was broad, and even with the suit, it was obvious he was solid muscle. Wide, squared jaw on his masculine, handsome face. And, the topping on the cake, a cleft chin. He could have been Tom’s model for every picture that he drew.
Stacy was the one to notice him first, which annoyed him tremendously. “Matt, hey,” she said as she got up and went to him. The agent was standing, holding out his hand for Matt.
“I’m Pat Castaldo, Special Agent in charge of this case, when it gets started, anyway.”
Matt shook it, challenging him with a cold stare and ignoring Steve completely. “I heard.”
“Oh! Oh, well, good.”
Steve was by his side then, asking, “Are you okay?”
There was the question again. “I’m fine,” he gritted through his teeth.
Stacy took his hand and sat with him on the couch, near Pat, so Steve had to take the chair across from them.
“They’ve filled me in on a little, and Charlie told me quite a bit. I’d like to hear some from you, though.”
“You sure? Steve didn’t satisfy you?”
Though he wasn’t looking directly at Steve, he saw him from the corner of his eye, and his face screwed up in confusion. “Uh, sure, he told me some too, but I’d like to hear from you.”
Stacy interrupted, “He’s just gone to see his stepbrother and identify him. He may need some space.”
“I’m fine, Stacy,” he snapped. To Pat, he said, “My brother-in-law, Aaron, he’s the only one on the inside that I trust. He’s trying to stay clear of my Daddy right now, to not raise any suspicions. There’ve been no marriages at all lately. He did say a couple of the old men were divorcing their newest wives, likely getting set to marry the next, but other than that, real quiet.”
Pat glanced at him then jotted some notes on the corner of one of the pages in the folder he was holding. “It seems kind of risky to kill a man if they’re trying to stay low.”
Matt’s hackles rose and he felt himself ready to pounce on the man. “Do you think I’m lying?”
“No, Matt, that’s not what he’s saying,” Steve tried to soothe, but that simply angered him more.
He was about to blow up, and Stacy was the one to see that, standing and bringing Matt to his feet with her. “Excuse me, gentlemen. I’d like to speak to my client.”
Before he could say another word, she was whisking him down the hall and pushing him into the master bedroom, so he could glare at the drawings on the walls. Every single one of them looked like the man in the other room. These were the pictures that Steve had used to tell Matt all about himself. The examples of his perfect man. He had the urge to take them all and have a bonfire in the yard with them.
“What the hell was that about?”
He didn’t answer, turning his eyes from the picture of the man kneeling for his dominant. He sat on the edge of the bed without a word.
Stacy sat beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “This has been a lot for one day. Why don’t I send Pat away until tomorrow?”
“Steve would be disappointed.”
Forcing him to face her, she accused, “You think Steve’s interested in him?”
Pointing his thumb behind him, he said, “His perfect guy just walked into the house and now they can’t get enough of each other.”
She looked to the picture behind them, then the others around the room. “Damn, he does resemble those drawings, huh?”
“Resemble? He could have posed for them. And they’re both Italian, both from the same neighborhood. They have everything in common.”
“Except one thing, honey. Steve is crazy about you.”
Matt saw her eyes, her little smile, and there was no lie there. She wasn’t saying it to make him feel better. He realized he was probably overreacting. “Are you sure?”
“I’m more sure of his feelings for you than I’m sure of my feelings for Charlie. He’d walk on glass for you, open a vein for you, anything. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, honey, and he’s deeply in love, even if he hasn’t said it yet.”
“How do you know he hasn’t said it?”
She shrugged one shoulder as she reasoned, “Well, he’s got that submissive thing, and he kept insisting that to start anything with you, you’d have to make the first move. I told him he was crazy. You had never had a real relationship, and probably didn’t know how to do that, no offense.”
“No, no, none taken.” He was as much in awe of her as he was of Steve thinking that Matt could have known to do that. “You? You were why he finally kissed me?”
“I doubt that. I just told him that you might never make that move and it wasn’t because you didn’t like him. I saw that you did. I just figured that you needed to know it was okay, and then most of all the next moves would probably be yours.”
“I guess you were right.”
“I usually am,” she laughed. “So? Stop being a jealous ape and give this guy a chance. I get a good feeling about him. Charlie said he was on the ground with the human trafficking task forces that were stepped up five or six years ago. They’ve done a great job of stopping a lot of the worst of the rings in the country. Plus, they’ve just pulled him over to cults and sects. That’s a rough job for an agent. This case is combining both of his specialties.”
His heart was still sore about Dean. His stepbrother hadn’t been far from his mind all day, looming there, haunting him. He knew the only way Dean would be at peace was to save the other girls and stop Gabriel.
“Can you do me a favor and not tell Steve why I was acting like a crazy person?”
“You’re my client. What is said between us, stays between us. But I may hold it over your head, in case I need a favor later.”
He really liked her, maybe loved her, for the true and good friend she was turning out to be. He laughed at her teasing and hugged her close, glad he had a friend besides the man he was falling in love with. “So…you think he loves me but he’s waiting for me to say it first?”
She pulled back from the hug, giving him a wink. “The ball is in your court, Matt. Don’t say it until you’re ready, even with the jealousy or what’s happening right now. Don’t hurt him.”
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t, Stacy.”
They went back into the living room, and Matt was happy to see Steve in the same seat, across from Pat instead of moving right next to him again. Steve rose from it, though, and went to him, asking, “Are you okay?”
They sat together again, and Pat dove right back in, after giving Matt his sympathies. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more delicate. I’ve been doing this for years now, and I’ve seen a lot of deaths and believe it or not, the deaths are some of the better results I’ve seen.”
He thought about the girls that they hadn’t been able to rescue, agreeing, “I’m pretty sure I can imagine.”
“Being they’ve been on edge, waiting for law enforcement, the best thing we can do is set their minds at ease. I’ll speak to the local authorities, and I’ll make them think it’s a cursory investigation, to ease the worries of some relatives who were worried for their family inside the compound. I’ll go and ask around, and I’ll let them convince me that you all are just angry you were forced out, due to whatever indiscretion they’ve made up about you. Not saying they’ll believe me one hundred percent, but when no one else is snooping around for a week or two, they’ll feel more at ease.”
Matt hated to admit it, but that was a good idea. “If it takes longer, will you give up?”
“I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy leaving me here for this. Plus, I’d love to have more agents, but until we get more evidence, I’m afraid I’m it, and I’m technically investigating the death associated with the allegations.”
Stacy explained to Matt, “He’s here, though, and that means that Charlie got through to them that this is real. Dean’s death, while horrible, gave the bureau the least bit of prodding they needed. No judge is going to grant subpoenas, search warrants, or anything like that on less. In fact, we’ll need more.”
“She’s right,” Pat said.
Steve offered, “If someone from completely outside called and commiserated with Gabriel, Matt’s father, would that help?”
“What do you mean?”
Matt repeated Pat’s question, “Yeah, what does that mean?”
“Well, if Mac called. Told Gabriel that he did go against his wishes and helped you, Matt. And somehow, you came up with this wild accusation, then when he didn’t believe you, you took money from him or something like that, and took off. He’ll want to get a heads up from your father if anyone sees you again.”
The Principle (Legacy Book 2) Page 15