by Tracy Sharp
“Sure. Do you remember the name of the dancer?”
“She was just passing through. I think it was Brandy. Yeah. Brandy. Long, blonde hair. I never saw her again.”
“Okay, thanks, Trisha.”
“No problem.” She paused. “I hope you find her. I really do.”
“So do I.”
And I shivered as I thought of how easy it was for a naïve, pretty girl, who thought all she had to offer were her looks, to get swallowed up in the dark side of the city.
When I pushed the door open and walked out of the diner I pulled my leather blazer tight and crossed my arms to keep it closed. The sun was sinking and the air had chilled in the short time I’d been in the diner. As I began to cross the street I glanced up and froze.
There was a man leaning against my Jeep with his arms crossed. I’d never seen him before. He was tall and wore a black, pinstriped suit, and he looked professional. A professional what, I could only guess, but he didn’t look like the sort who worked on the right side of the law.
We stared at each other for a moment. Then I strode up to him, keys in hand, and stopped about three feet from him. I looked him in the eye. I was almost as tall as he was, and I knew the worst thing that I could do was to show fear.
“Can I help you?” I hoped my voice sounded strong, though to me it sounded too shrill, fearful.
He stared at me with dark eyes. His nose had been broken several times, and his jaw didn’t seem to sit quite right on his face. “I’ve got a message for you.”
“From who?” I kept my voice firm, my face tilted, prepared to fight if I had to. I leaned my weight on one leg, bending the other, and felt the assurance of my knife strapped to it.
“Doesn’t matter who. What matters is that you listen. This is a warning, as a courtesy, because we’ve had no beef with you before. We know all about you, Ms. Ryan. We know about what happened with you last year, all those women you helped. That was very nice of you. This is a different situation. A situation in which you’ve got no business. It’s not always wise to be poking around where you’ve got no business.” He paused, watching me with those dead eyes. “We know about your house, your brother, even your dog. Nice dog, by the way.” He pushed himself off my Jeep and took a step toward me.
I wasn’t almost as tall as him anymore. He had a good five inches on me now.
“You want to mind your business, now. You don’t want to get into something you can’t get out of. You understand?”
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t break eye contact. I didn’t step back.
“This is a courtesy call,” he said, walking away. I could hear his dress shoes clicking against the pavement.
And I knew that the next contact they made with me wouldn’t be a courtesy warning.
They wouldn’t be so nice next time.
Chapter Four
My heart swelled as I watched Jesse work on the motorcycle. He’d had a tough time of it the last few years. He’d gotten out of prison last autumn after doing a stint for hacking into some government files. Jack gave him a job right away and Jesse loved it. For the first time in years he seemed happy. At that moment the tank wasn’t fitting quite right, and it was pissing him off. I smiled as he swore under his breath.
“It’s okay, bud. We’ll make it fit,” Jack said as he walked across the shop toward Jesse.
Jackson Quick is a perfectionist, but he’s patient and easy-going. This is not an easy combination to find in a person. Jack is a rare creature.
I marveled at the muscle moving under his dirty T-shirt as he bent over to pull the tank off the motorcycle. Jack is massive. He stands six-foot-six and he’s two hundred and forty pounds of solid muscle. He keeps himself in good shape because he considers letting himself go to fat as a personal affront to himself. I guess he’s got a point.
When he straightened up he noticed me standing in the doorway. One look and he knew that something was wrong. He could always read me. Jack and I had developed a strong bond during our days in juvenile detention. He’d taken care of me back then. Taught me how to fight off the creeps, and how to make sure they stayed down for awhile. He showed me how to kick-box, and I became damned good at it. So he started calling me Kicks, and it stuck. After many years of no contact, having drifted apart, he’d just started calling me Kicks again.
He was the big brother I never had. And he was still taking care of me.
He stretched out his arm and waved me over with just his hand. “Come on in, Kicks. I’ll buy you a beer.”
We sat outside on his deck at the back of the building. Jack lived on a less desirable street than most would want to live on, but the view from his backyard was gorgeous. The building sat just off the Hudson River, and sitting back there, watching the sun sink like a blazing peach into the horizon, was nothing less than spectacular.
“So where’s your shadow?”
I’d known this question was coming. For the last year, Callahan had stuck close to me, first because of the nature of repossessing cars, then for fear that there’d still be some retribution for our part in making Brent Woodard, a disgusting waste of oxygen, disappear. Woodard was the reason for several people dying last year. One of them being Sean, a close friend of Jack and I.
“We broke up.” I didn’t look directly at Jack but I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
He leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs as he crossed his long legs and stretched them out in front of him. “He cut you loose, huh?”
“Yeah. He did.” I tried not to sound bitter.
“Well, we knew that would happen sooner or later. You’re not exactly the commitment type, Kicks.”
“Yeah. Funny. I get him shot and almost killed, and that was all very well and good. He dumps me because I won’t let him move in. Go figure.”
He chuckled low in his throat.
“Well, that and the fact that I agreed to look into the disappearance of Chloe Nolan.”
He nodded his head slowly. “Not too keen on getting shot again, I guess, is he?”
“No. Who could blame the guy, right?” I drained my beer.
“Right.” He kept his sharp green eyes on me. “So you’re on your own in this.”
I kept my eyes on the horizon as I spoke. “I’m smartening up a little. I’m realizing that I can’t always go it alone.”
“Well, thank Christ for small favors.” His gravelly voice held a hint of amusement as he tipped his beer and took a long swallow. “Maybe I can help before things turn critical this time.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. So what do you make of Mr. Pinstripe?”
“Mr. Pinstripe clearly works for somebody who’s got a lot of power, and who keeps it by running a very smooth ship in terms of criminal activities.”
I stuck a finger in my empty bottle and amused myself by moving it back and forth. “Somebody who never gets their hands dirty.”
“Yep. That’s what people like Mr. Pinstripe are for.”
“Who the hell does Pinstripe work for? Shanahan?” Darcy Shanahan had taken over as head of the Irish mob when his predecessor, Andrew Fergus, vanished suddenly, five years ago.
“That’s what I’m thinking. He’s somewhere down the ladder of Shanahan employees.” Jack pulled the bottle off my finger and it made a hollow popping sound. When he turned to go back into the house his thick red braid swung behind him.
I sat back watching the dusk gather around the yard, feeling so comfortable and at peace that I knew if I closed my eyes for just a moment I’d fall asleep. Jack has always been my home. If I ever need to feel grounded, I just go out and find him.
After a moment he came back out with another couple of beers. He handed one to me. “Very interesting. Sounds like he’s got his panties all in a bunch.”
“So why would he care about a missing stripper? She was a nobody.”
Jack shrugged, then grinned. It was a devilish grin that had quickened the beat of many a female heart. “Where does a
married man go when he wants a little excitement?”
I understood what he was getting at. “To a strip club with lots of pretty little nobodys. And it doesn’t hurt that Shanahan owns several of them.”
“Strip clubs or nobody’s?”
“Both.”
He pointed a thick finger at me. “Bingo.”
It had gotten dark and the mosquitoes were getting bad, so we moved inside. Jesse was sitting at the computer playing a shoot ‘em up game. It always made me nervous to see him at a computer. He really shouldn’t have been anywhere near one. I didn’t want him getting into trouble again. Computers are such a huge part of who he is that it would be akin to murdering him to never let him touch one again. Plus, he was twenty-one years old. What was I going to do? Spank him?
He is actually almost twenty-two years old. I’m still his older sister and always will be. And although I’d decided to back off and give him some space, faith and trust, I felt myself wanting to hover over him. He’d almost been killed because of my involvement in helping the Chinese women escape from their hellish life of forced prostitution. They and their families had given up life savings, sold businesses, to pay their “fare” to America where they’d have so many opportunities. Their dreams were crushed when they were told their money hadn’t been enough. They would have to work off the rest of their debt.
Now there had been a not-so-veiled threat made against Jesse by the thug of one of the most dangerous criminals in the city. It seemed that the harder I tried to protect him, the more danger I put him into.
I glanced over at Jack, who was in the kitchen making pizza, and caught him watching me. Jack’s home is very open concept. It’s like one huge room because it used to be a warehouse. There were four bedrooms upstairs, where Jack often allowed battered women to stay. He knew people who worked at the women’s shelter and when the shelter got full they called Jack, knowing the women would be safe with him. Nobody can keep a secret like Jack can. He motioned me over by tilting his head because his hands were busy.
I walked into the kitchen area and opened the fridge, trying to decide if I wanted another beer.
“Go for it.” He was spreading his homemade sauce onto the pizza dough, which he’d made in his bread maker.
Sighing, I reached for a can of diet coke. “I’ve already had two. I need to be somewhat lucid.”
He began carefully placing pepperoni slices onto the pizza. “Nothing’s going to happen to Jesse. You want sausage and ham?”
“Sure. I’m a carnivore.” I watched his hands for a moment. He moved gracefully for such a big man. His movements flowed, like he was constantly doing some variation of Tai Chi. This wouldn’t surprise me, knowing Jack. He was always trying to keep his body, spirit and mind in harmony. It worked for him.
“That’s what you said last time. And he ended up buried up to his neck and left for dead.” I kept my voice low, even though I knew Jesse was oblivious to anything outside of his computer game at that moment.
Jack glanced at me and I caught something like hurt flicker in his eyes.
“No, Jack. You know I’m not blaming you. It was entirely my fault, what happened last time.”
“Don’t start that shit again.” He began dropping onions onto the pizza.
We had been through it so many times. Him telling me that it wasn’t my fault. He also knew I’d never believe it. So we stayed silent for awhile, both deciding to let that one go.
“You sure you wanna do this?” He asked me this knowing what my answer would be. “You want cheddar and mozzarella, or just mozzarella?”
“Cheddar, too. Makes it tangier.”
“Yeah it does. Good call.”
“You know I can’t turn my back on this. I’m scared as hell about what can happen to me, you and Jesse. I still can’t let it go.”
“I know you can’t. I just wanted you to say it out loud so you’ll stop torturing yourself about it. You either do this, or you don’t. And we’ll take steps to make sure nobody gets to Jesse this time. Okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
I watched his fingers move over the pizza as cheddar fell through them like a small snowstorm. “What happened to this girl, Jack? Where is she?”
“Scooch over, Kicks. Time to put this baby into the oven.”
I moved away from the stove and Jack carefully placed his masterpiece onto the pizza stone he had sitting on the top rack of the oven. After he closed the oven door he turned and looked me in the eyes. “I don’t know. At least one person doesn’t want her found. We find out who that person is, we’ll find out where Chloe is.”
After we ate Jack’s incredible pizza, Jesse went back to the computer and I gathered the dishes and placed them in the sink. I’m not very domestic, but doing the dishes was the least I could do after Jack made pizza. That, and the fact that he was willing to place his ass in danger yet again to help me find a woman that neither of us had ever met.
Jack leaned against the counter, grinning, watching me wrestle with suds.
“I can do this,” I said, indignant. “I won’t break any of your dishes.”
“I’m just getting a kick out of watching you wash dishes. It’s a hell of a funny image.”
“Ha!”
“Just not something you see every day. That’s all.”
Of course he was right. Before Jesse came to live with me I usually used paper plates, and I basically lived off a brick of cheese and a box of wheat crackers. Jesse has since moved into his own place but I still rarely use dishes.
“So what’s Martin Nolan’s story?”
“It’s some weird shit, Jack. I get the feeling he’s not telling me everything. His son drives out into the woods, eats a nut-laden chocolate bar when he’s deathly allergic to nuts, and nobody knows why.” I shook my head and rinsed the suds off a plate.
Jack shrugged. “It happens. Lots of times the people who commit suicide are the ones you’d never even dream would do it.”
“Yeah, but there’s a real air of secrecy to that family. There’s shit going on there that they don’t want anyone to know about.”
“Isn’t there in every family?”
“His son was a city alderman. Do you remember any news reports about Michael Nolan?”
Jack narrowed his eyes, thinking. “Yeah. There was something about misappropriation of funds. It didn’t stick.”
“Of course it didn’t stick. His father is a prominent judge.”
“So he ends up dead. Then Chloe, his sister, vanishes.”
“You think it might be linked?”
“It could be. Sounds like Michael Nolan might’ve made some enemies.”
“Why go after his sister when he’s already dead?”
Jack shrugged. “Hard to say. Chloe’s disappearance might’ve had more to do with Martin.”
“What we know about the Nolan family is probably only the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what they might be hiding.”
“Sounds like we need to take a closer look at Martin’s family.”
“Yeah. Find out what he’s hiding.” The third and last plate slipped from my hand and fell onto the concrete floor, breaking into pieces. “Damn.”
Jack shook his head and laughed. “Kicks, do me a favor, don’t do my dishes anymore.”
“You need some paper plates.”
“With you around, yes, I do.”
I dried my hands and snapped the dish towel at his leg. He yelped, making me giggle. It was a strange sound coming from such a big man. “Let’s go, smart ass.”
* * *
Everclear was blasting in the Jeep as we made our way to Saratoga Springs. It was dark now, but it was a fairly warm evening. I kept the top rolled down, and Jack didn’t seem to mind. I didn’t think he was really affected by changes in temperature. Even extreme changes didn’t really seem to bother him much.
He said something to me but I couldn’t hear him over the music. I turned the car stereo down. “What?”
“You miss him
?”
I felt mildly annoyed by the question. “Yes, I miss him, Jack. Why are you asking me that?”
He shrugged. “I just wondered. You guys were together for a year. That’s a record for you.”
I sighed heavily. Then it occurred to me why he was dwelling on my break-up with Callahan. “You miss Sharon?”
He turned his head away from me and watched the silhouettes of trees as we drove down the Northway. “Yeah. I miss her.”
His girlfriend, Sharon, had decided that she needed a change. A pretty drastic one, in fact. She moved to Toronto, Ontario to get a degree in computer science. Jack paid for her tuition. With the exchange rate, it wasn’t all that expensive, and the University of Toronto had a fantastic computer science program.
“Do you hear from her?”
“She sends me emails.” He chuckled. “The only purpose for phone lines in her eyes is for hooking up modems. And not even that, with cable modems being so much faster.” He smiled a little wistfully. “She always did prefer machines to people.”
“Yeah. Same with Jesse.”
“She needs time to herself, to do her thing, you know?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. I think it’s great that she’s going to school. And that you give her the space she needs.” I patted his leg. “She’ll be back. You know that, right?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Sure. Yeah.”
Jack and Sharon had been together since high school. I could see why she needed to try something new. I’d have been going snaky if it had been me in a relationship for over a decade. Of course, it never would’ve been me. I could barely make it a year with somebody, never mind a decade. We were all from the same neighborhood. Me, Jack, Sharon and Sean. Sean wasn’t around anymore. I felt a twinge in my chest as I thought of him, long ago, during warm spring nights like this one.
“So you think this Susan woman will talk to us?” Jack said. “She slammed the door in your face last time you went to see her.”
“I don’t know. Maybe if we tell her that Martin hired us.”