The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

  “What’d he look like?”

  “Tall, dark hair, square head. Big guy.”

  “Square head?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Had to be Neil. He’s on Mickey’s crew.”

  “How would I know him?”

  “Couldn’t tell ya. He doesn’t come around Petey’s much. They have their own place on the west side.”

  Frankie reached his house, stopped in front and grazed his sneaker over the patch of lawn. Why was Neil talking to his father? The crews generally stayed within ranks. “Why would he be meeting with my dad?”

  “Couldn’t tell ya,” Joey repeated.

  Could Lucie’s father have something to do with it? Frankie knew his father typically discussed business with Joe during his visits. They had been forced to work out their own coding system due to the constant recording of conversations, but they still managed to do business. “When are you seeing your dad?”

  Joey sighed. “Well, Princess Puff-Puff, if you can get out of bed and play bodyguard to my sister, I’ll go tomorrow.”

  Princess Puff Puff? Frankie should kick his ass. “I’ll be ready to roll tomorrow. Ask your dad about Neil. Don’t make him suspicious.”

  “What is it with you and Neil?”

  “I don’t know. He kept turning away from me like he didn’t want me to see his face.”

  “Dude, he’s probably in a jackpot and wants to keep it quiet.”

  “No. It’s me he’s got a problem with. Everyone in Petey’s saw him, but he avoided me.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t like your pretty boy looks?”

  “Or maybe he doesn’t like my connection to these dognappings?”

  ***

  The following evening, Frankie, Joey and Lucie sat huddled around the dining room table anticipating Mom’s return from her poker game. Yes, her mother had a weekly poker game. No real money exchanged hands. Bingo chips only and Mom had a knack for raking those babies in.

  “We don’t have a lot of time,” Joey said. “What’s up?”

  Mom usually got home between nine-thirty and ten and the clock hovered at nine-forty-five.

  Of course, Lucie and Frankie had to wait for Joey to join them at the house and now he was moaning about being short on time. Typical.

  “How’d you do you with your dad today?” Frankie asked.

  “Good and not so good. He’s not pissed at Lucie anymore.” Joey turned to her. “You need to get up there this weekend. He’s done lecturing you about finding a job, but if you don’t get your skinny butt up to see him, he’s gonna blow.”

  She hated visiting her father in prison. No one wanted to think of their parent as a caged animal. “Fine. I’ll get on the list.” She looked at Frankie.

  He backed away. “Me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll go if you want me to, but that’ll lead to him asking if we’re back together.”

  “Are you back together?”

  “We’re dating,” Lucie said. Frankie nodded.

  Joey scrunched his face. “Dating? Is that like a friends-with-benefits thing?”

  Imbecile. “Don’t be a jerk,” she said. “Tell us about dad.”

  “Right.” Joey flicked his eyes to Frankie. “He doesn’t know about any deals Neil and your dad might be involved in. Neil is a good earner though.”

  “Didn’t he want to know why you were asking?”

  “No. I told him I saw him having lunch at Petey’s with a couple of guys.”

  Holy cow, Lucie thought. “You lied to Dad?”

  Joey looked at her with a bored expression that telepathed he thought she was cow dung. “I didn’t lie. The guy was at Petey’s. He could have had lunch there.”

  “And he wasn’t surprised by that?” Frankie wanted to know.

  Joey stuck out his bottom lip. “Not really. Mickey likes the pepper-and-egg sandwiches at Petey’s and sometimes makes Neil the delivery boy.”

  “Crap. I got all stoked thinking he was involved in the dognapping thing, and I’ve probably just seen him at Petey’s buying a sandwich.”

  Lucie reached for Frankie’s hand. “You’re thinking too much.”

  “Dammit.”

  She understood though, because she’d lost plenty of sleep worrying about the dogs and the diamond and the ongoing search of the attic that had turned up nothing. For Frankie, it was worse. He’d promised her father she’d be safe. If he broke that promise, he’d hear about it for the rest of her father’s life. And her father was a healthy guy.

  “Who is this Neil? Do I know him?”

  “I don’t think so. He’s not from the neighborhood. He’s part of Mickey’s crew and doesn’t come around much.”

  “He’s a big, tall dude.” Frankie held his hands next to his head. “Square head.”

  She didn’t know anyone with a square head. “I should get a look at him. See if I recognize him.”

  Joey sat back and blew his cheeks out. “Here we go with the conspiracy theories.”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” Frankie said. “Where does he hang out?”

  “For Christ sakes. Let it go.”

  When Joey swung his gaze to Lucie, she said, “We should at least check this Neil guy out. If Frankie is this worried, there might be something to it.”

  Joey snorted. “You two have fun schlepping around Jasper to find this guy.”

  “No. It’ll look suspicious if Frankie goes. You’ll have to take me.”

  “Hell no. I’m not following Neil.”

  Frankie flung a hand out. “She’s right. If he sees me with Lucie, it’ll look strange. All you need to do is ask around, see where he hangs out and take Lucie there. In fact, you may not even have to get out of the car. Do a role reversal and pretend you’re the feds. For a change, you’ll be the one sitting in the car.”

  Joey grinned. “Nice.”

  Frankie leaned forward on his elbows, made eye contact with Joey. “I’ll take your shift with the dogs next week.”

  “Now we’re talking.”

  “Both shifts.”

  That lit up Joey’s face. “Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. You walk the mutts with Luce and I’ll find Neil. Piece of cake.”

  “Well, I’m glad you boys figured that out.” Nothing like feeling completely useless.

  Frankie didn’t miss the implied comment and grabbed Lucie’s hand. “Your turn comes when he finds Neil. Something about that guy rubs me wrong. I feel like I’ve seen him recently. Maybe you’ll recognize him.”

  Lucie shifted toward Frankie. “Do you think he’s involved with stealing the accessories?”

  He ran a finger over her cheek and the heat shot right to her lower core. God, she loved him.

  “I don’t know, but we’ve pretty much run out of ideas.”

  Joey shook his head. “This guy would have to be plain stupid to dogjack Lucie. My father would put his head on a stick.”

  Lucie sucked in a breath, felt the burn all the way to her lungs. On rare occasions, she heard about her father’s business, but it never sat well with her.

  “Oh, relax.” Joey shook his head at her. “It was a figure of speech.”

  Right. Figure of speech.

  Sure it was.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Late Tuesday afternoon, a sunny day that made Lucie anticipate warmer weather and ice cream cones by the lake, she and Joey sat in his SUV across the street from the Hubbard Bar & Grill. They had completed the dog walks for the day and, despite her exhaustion, she’d pushed herself and Joey to track down this Neil character.

  Supposedly Neil frequented this place, but they’d been here an hour already with no sightings of a blockhead. She pulled a nail file from her purse and began sawing.

  The waning sun shined through the windshield, the meager heat radiating off the dashboard. Such a nice day.

  Joey focused on Hubbard’s and Lucie followed his gaze. Nothing. “What is it? Did you see him go in?”

  “No. I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”<
br />
  Eat. Was he insane? They were on a stakeout and he wanted to march right into the place so he could feed his insatiable stomach. “We can’t leave the car. What if he shows up while we’re eating?”

  Joey pointed at Hubbard’s. “We’ll eat there.”

  “What?”

  “Why not? They serve food. We can eat and spy at the same time.”

  “What if someone recognizes us?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll tell them we were in the neighborhood and got hungry. I ate here with Dad a couple of times. Everyone knows I know the place. If Neil comes in, you’ll get an up close look at him. Think about it, Luce. This is a great plan.”

  Before she could protest, he stepped out of the car and waved at her to hurry up. Nothing came between Joey and a meal.

  “Jiminy Crickets. Give me a second.”

  She hesitated a minute longer, ran the plan through her mental strategizer. It could work. Finally, she scooted out of the car and followed him.

  If the place wasn’t a throwback, she didn’t know what was. The lack of windows made it impossible to know whether it was day or night outside. Minimal can lights didn’t help. An L-shaped bar sat to the right and a handful of unoccupied captain’s tables and wooden swivel chairs filled the remaining space. The only sound came from a wall-mounted television tuned to SportsCenter.

  The four men at the bar turned toward them then quickly looked away. Apparently, not anyone Joey knew, because he pointed to an empty table with vinyl upholstered chairs that reminded Lucie of ones her mother had back in the seventies. Still though, the place was clean and the scent of grilling meat hung in the air. Maybe she was a tad famished herself.

  Upon finishing their meal, Joey lingered over a beer. His second. “I’m driving home,” Lucie said.

  “You think I’m loaded on two beers?”

  “I don’t care. I’m not taking a chance on you getting pulled over. That’s all we need. The cop would take one look at the name on your license and he’d throw you in lockup.”

  Joey didn’t argue. It could happen.

  The door opened and two male voices boomed. “I banged the hell out of Gonzo’s sister last night,” one guy said.

  Ignoring her better judgment, Lucie turned to look at the two men. If her father were here, he’d be up and beating the heck out of the guy who dared to talk that way with women present.

  “Turn around,” Joey said, his voice sharp, biting even. “That’s Neil.”

  A gush of excitement left a metallic taste in her mouth and she spun back. This was it. Finally.

  “Take a casual look,” Joey said.

  She pretended the voices drew her attention and glanced toward the door. Well, Frankie was right about one thing. The guy had a square head. Truly fascinating.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t recognize said squareness. That wouldn’t make Frankie very happy. If she’d seen that head before, she’d remember it.

  An older man followed Neil and the other guy through the door. Lucie turned back to Joey. “Mickey just walked in.”

  “Got it.” Joey smiled big, maybe a little too big, and held his hand up in greeting. Mickey walked to the table, shook Joey’s hand and kissed Lucie on the cheek. Ick.

  “Good to see you, Joe. What’re you doing here?”

  Joe. Nobody that mattered called him that.

  “We were doing errands for my ma and I got hungry.”

  Mickey nodded. “How’s your father?”

  “He’s good.”

  “Glad to hear it. Give him my best.”

  Gag.

  Mickey turned to Lucie, stared at her a minute and hit her with a slow moving, grease drip of a smile. “Lucia, I heard you got laid off. You let me know if you need anything.”

  That’d be the day. But because she was on a mission here, she smiled. Not too big, not too small. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  No sense being rude to a serial killer. At least that’s what Ro called him.

  Neil took a seat at the bar and turned to see where Mickey had gone. Lucie made eye contact and Neil, with the speed of a man running from a grizzly, turned front again. No wonder Frankie was obsessed. Neil’s behavior didn’t lend itself to innocence.

  Still though, he wasn’t anyone she recognized. Too bad. The glimmer of we’re-gonna-fix-this-mess hope went bye-bye.

  Lucie checked her watch. “Joey, we should go.”

  “Right.” He stood and held his hand to Mickey. “Take it easy, Mick. I’ll tell my father you were asking for him.”

  “Thanks, Joe. And Lucia, remember what I said. Anything you need.”

  Don’t hold your breath. But Lucie nodded her thanks and they left the bar.

  When they reached the sidewalk, Joey halted. “Well?”

  The fading sunlight, in contrast to the darkened bar, seemed an instant relief and Lucie tilted her head skyward. “Nada. I’ve never seen that guy before. And with the shape of that head, I’d remember.”

  “Say goodbye to your boyfriend then, because we’re gonna have to commit him.”

  Lucie snorted, but she wasn’t sure Joey was kidding. Frankie was becoming a bit compulsive about this. “Back to searching the house, I guess.”

  “Did you finish in the attic?”

  “No. I have another seven boxes. No diamonds so far, but I did find grandma’s coffee grinder. The wooden one we used to play with when we were kids?”

  “Holy crap. Mom still has that?”

  “You should see some of the stuff up there.”

  They reached the car and Joey turned to her. “Maybe you should think about not selling any accessories for a while. Let this blow over.”

  Fat chance. “Believe me, I’ve thought about shutting down, but I don’t want to give in to these people. I don’t get it, Joey. I can’t find any more diamonds. We know none of the dogs are wearing them and we’ve been through my entire inventory, including what I’ve sold. There are no other diamonds. It’s just the one in my safe deposit box and, according to Frankie, his father already spread the word that we hid that one. Why, if these people are so bent on getting that one back, aren’t they coming straight to me?”

  Joey, clearly remembering she expected to drive home, held his keys to her. “Whoever is doing this doesn’t want Dad to find out who they are. Even with him behind bars, nobody will screw with him.”

  She took the keys, flipped to the thick black fob and pointed it at Joey. “Unless they had a darn good reason.”

  ***

  Lucie slipped in the back door just after dawn the next morning, wearing last night’s clothes. It wasn’t her fault. She’d been conned into going to Frankie’s to report on Neil and had been seduced by the master. For a good long time.

  She gently closed the door behind her and winced when the lock snicked. Please don’t let anyone be up.

  “No sense sneaking.” Her mother’s voice severed the quiet air and Lucie shot upright.

  Mom wasn’t naïve enough to think Lucie was a virgin—not after three years with Frankie—but she didn’t want her daughter sneaking around like a ho either.

  The aroma of freshly ground coffee melted into Lucie making her mouth water, and she turned to find her mother dressed in her yoga gear, sitting at the kitchen table, having her morning wake-me-up. A magazine sat open in front of her.

  “I’m sorry,” Lucie said. “I was at Frankie’s and fell asleep. He didn’t want to wake me.”

  Not a lie. Totally. She did fall asleep. After a few rounds of marathon sex. Hot, slick sex that made her skin come alive and left her body limp.

  Mom watched her with those expressive hazel eyes, and Lucie, expecting to see disappointment, saw nothing. No anger, no disappointment, no judgment. She curled her toes. How humiliating.

  “You’re a grown-up,” Mom said. “Do you want breakfast?”

  Not in last night’s clothes. “No. Thanks. I need to get ready for work.”

  Mom closed her magazine and ran her hand over the cover, her
movements slow and intentional. A prickle cruised up Lucie’s neck.

  “Are you happy?” Mom asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I feel like I’m being selfish with Coco Barknell.”

  Only her mother could think that. The woman had been literally working her fingers until they bled and she feared she was being selfish.

  Lucie slid into the chair next to Mom and linked fingers with her. “How could you think that? I owe you so much.”

  A moment, maybe two, fell away with Mom gazing at their entwined hands. Finally, she brought her damp gaze to Lucie’s. What’s going on?

  Lucie scooted a bit closer. “Why are you upset?”

  “Because I’m enjoying being part of something. With your father gone, I’ve been on my own and, well, bored. The sewing gives me something to look forward to. But I want you to be happy.”

  “Even if it means you being unhappy?”

  “Of course.” Her mother smiled at her. “Welcome to the world of parenting, honey.”

  “You don’t have to sacrifice for me anymore.”

  “When you’re a parent, you’ll understand. It doesn’t matter how old you and Joey are, you’re still my babies. I’ll do whatever necessary to protect you.”

  Lucie shook her head. “You’re amazing. After all these years, putting up with Dad and his antics—not to mention Joey—and you still have the energy to take care of us.”

  How the heck did Lucie get lucky enough to have a mother like this? One who put her life on hold for her family. Particularly when her father was…well…who he was. It seemed unfair, yet, her mother carried the weight of all their burdens on her sturdy shoulders, never allowing outsiders to see her falter. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you, and you never answered my question about being happy.”

  Caught that, did ya? Lucie shrugged. “I’m happy about certain things. I hate that I lost my job, but the dog walking has its advantages. I’m not cooped up in an office all day and Coco Barknell lets me use my creative energy. My old job was all numbers and proofreading.”

  Mom looked toward the back door. “And what about Frankie? I take it you’ve reunited.”

  Sticky business here. She couldn’t say they were dating. Her mother wouldn’t understand that after she’d just busted her doing the ultimate walk of shame. Or would she?