The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

  Joey shrugged.

  “Why else was he riding around the block at the exact time Lucie was there?”

  Stepping closer, Joey glanced around at the pedestrians scattered along the sidewalk and, in a low voice said, “I didn’t say he wasn’t working for someone else. I’m saying he doesn’t have the cojones to do it himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mickey is behind this. He’s always resented my dad.”

  “Why?” Lucie asked. They both looked at her. They’d probably forgotten she was there. Joey and her father never talked business around her and this definitely fell under the business category.

  Joey remained silent.

  “No way,” Lucie said. “You are not clamming up now. You’re talking about something that involves me and I’m entitled to know.”

  Frankie and Joey exchanged a ‘we’re-stuck-humoring-her’ look.

  “Mickey wanted to be underboss. Dad gave it to Frankie’s dad after the other guy…uh...”

  “Lambed it?” she added. She wasn’t stupid; she paid attention to the news. Three years ago, the supposed underboss of the family took off for parts unknown to avoid a RICO conviction. The FBI continued to search for him, but he was doing a fine job of staying unfindable.

  “Yeah. Anyway, Mickey’s been pissed off about it.”

  “Enough to do this?” she asked.

  Joey shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he hid the diamond in the house hoping the feds would find it.”

  Could be. Ro always said the guy was crazy. Rumor was he’d killed twenty-two people. Lucie didn’t want to mess with him.

  Or the statistic.

  ***

  Lucie walked through her mother’s back door and heard a male voice coming from the living room. She spun to Joey. “Were you expecting someone?”

  He cocked his head to listen. “No.”

  He pushed by her and right on his heels followed him into the living room, where their mother entertained none other than Detective O’Brien.

  An immediate sickness slammed into Lucie as she locked eyes with O’Brien. He stood to greet them, his smile fast and loose. A man merely stopping by for a chat.

  “Ms. Rizzo.”

  “Detective.” Lucie slid her gaze to her mother, who remained seated and completely unruffled. Maybe this wasn’t bad.

  “I wanted to check on you,” O’Brien said. “Make sure everything’s been quiet.”

  God, don’t let him spill the beans in front of Mom. To her left, Lucie was aware of her mother’s eyes on her. The woman, after years of being surrounded by law enforcement, knew this detective sitting in her living room might as well have been a neon sign signaling a problem. Lucie would have to fess up. Partially. She shifted to her mother. “I had a problem with one of the dogs. Detective O’Brien helped me.”

  “Un-huh,” her mother said, and the tension in the room swelled. With no other options, Lucie faced O’Brien. “This is my brother, Joey.”

  Joey nodded, but didn’t offer his hand. He hated cops.

  “Okay, then. Detective O’Brien and I will talk outside.”

  Once on the sidewalk, she spun to O’Brien. “I never told my mother about the dognappings. I didn’t want her to worry.”

  “I gathered that. I didn’t say anything. We’ve been making small talk for ten minutes.”

  Lucie snorted. “She didn’t offer you any cake?”

  “Actually, she did. I declined. She said she’d wrap a piece for me.”

  “That sounds like her. Is there an update on the case?”

  “No. Sorry. I was working another case on the South Side and figured I’d jump over here and check on you.”

  “You could have called.”

  One side of his mouth hitched up. “I could have.”

  She’d bet this man was a charmer when he wanted—or needed—to be.

  A car horn beeped and Lucie turned to see Ro’s Escalade come to a stop in the middle of the road. She lowered the passenger window. “Who’s the hunk?”

  Welcome to Franklin, Detective. But O’Brien apparently liked being called a hunk by a beautiful woman because he cracked up.

  “I love this town.”

  “This is Detective O’Brien from the Chicago P.D.”

  “Oh.” The word came slowly.

  “I know,” Lucie said. “Hard to believe. He helped with the dogs and came to check on me.”

  A car pulled behind Ro and honked. She opened her window and stuck her head out. “Slap yourself!”

  Lucie grinned at O’Brien. “In case you were wondering, her husband is president of the town council.”

  With the honking driver sufficiently reprimanded, Ro spun back to them. “I need to go, but I have an idea for a coat. I’ll call you later.”

  Lucie waved as Ro sped off. “That was my best friend. As you can see, this town has its own set of rules. You either work with them or you get out.”

  “Which do you do?”

  “I’m straddling the line.”

  The front door opened and Joey stuck his head out. “You need anything?”

  Her brother wanted nothing more than to be rid of the detective. “I’m fine.”

  Joey threw the door closed and the thwack tensed Lucie’s shoulders. O’Brien shifted and Lucie saw his sidearm tucked under his jacket. Maybe she could borrow that? Whack her brother over the head with it?

  “I should go,” he said. “Let me know if you have any more problems.”

  “I will.”

  He headed for the battered Crown Vic at the curb.

  Between him and that nice Officer Lindstrom, Lucie was starting to like cops. Her father would have a heart attack. The front door opened again and, thinking it was Joey, Lucie whirled. Her mother. Darn. Lucie, you have some ‘splainin to do. She drew in a long breath and took the first step toward the house.

  “What’s going on?” Mom wanted to know.

  Lucie pushed by her. “Come inside and I’ll tell you.”

  After parking at the dining room table and giving her mother the diluted version of random dogjackings, Mom stayed silent, her eyes focused on Lucie. She didn’t look convinced. She’d known about the first one from the dinner with Frankie’s family, but Lucie had kept the others to herself.

  “Mom?”

  “That detective is the one working the case?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he thinks this is part of a show dog ring?”

  “Maybe.”

  After a long moment of staring at each other, Mom’s face hardened. Her mother worried, always, but this was something else. This stone exterior was anger that ran hot and deep and something inside Lucie’s head snapped.

  All this time she’d been avoiding telling her mother about the dognappings and diamond, but what if, by some insanity, her mother knew something? Could her mother somehow be involved in this? No. Couldn’t be.

  Lucie rubbed her fingers against her temples.

  She forced herself to look at her mother, the woman who had always been so supportive and consistent in all the ways that mattered. Then fear took hold and Lucie’s resolve collapsed. “Mom? Do you know something about this?”

  Please let her say no. Let her be the person I’ve always thought she was and not be involved in one of Dad’s harebrained schemes. The clock kerplunked on the hour and her mother shuddered from the sound. She cleared her throat and her eyes got a little droopy. Lucie’s heart slammed, the pressure expanding, more, more, more, until her chest got tight enough to blow apart.

  “I think so.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The pain in Lucie’s chest felt like an ax whacking at her. Her mother, the moral compass of the family, might be involved in this diamond mess.

  “You know about the dognappings?”

  Her mother gasped. “Absolutely not. I would never have allowed that.”

  Lucie slapped both hands over her face. I don’t understand. They had to start at the beginning. It was the only way. She pulled her hands away and focused o
n her mother’s eyes. “Did you know I found a diamond in my craft stuff?”

  Mom’s gaze held. “You used one?”

  Cripes. “I used it on a test coat, but disregarded it because it was too big. We’ve been assuming there’s more since the dognappings haven’t stopped. I guess, since you asked if I had used one, we were right.”

  Her mother nodded. Two and a half weeks of trying to outsmart dognappers and keep it from her mother and the woman knew all along. Worse, she’d allowed Lucie to be put in danger. How could she do this?

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through. Three of my dogs were kidnapped and two others had attempts made. Then there was the theft at Sammy’s and Frankie’s concussion.”

  Her mother flew out of her chair, ran to Lucie and threw her arms around her. “I didn’t know. If I’d known, I would have stopped it.”

  The agony in Lucie’s chest grew. “Please, tell me about the diamond. Frankie, Joey and I have been insane over this.”

  Pulling back, Mom drew a long breath and held it for a minute. “There are more. I don’t know how they got into your supplies. I spotted them a few weeks back when I brought laundry into your room.”

  “How did you know they were real?”

  Mom put her head down, cupped her hands over her eyes. “I’ve seen them before.”

  Oh, no.

  “Are they Dad’s?”

  “No.”

  “Then whose?”

  A loud clomping sounded on the stairs and Joey swung around the banister wearing a fresh set of clothes. He combed his fingers through his damp hair. Must have showered.

  “That cop leave?” he asked.

  “He’s gone.” Then wondering if she should clue Joey in on this conversation, Lucie glanced at her mother, who inched her head back and forth. Lucie looked back at Joey. “Are you going out?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be back later.” He smacked a kiss on Mom’s cheek and left.

  “Thank you. I’m not ready for him yet.”

  “But you’re ready for me?”

  “I don’t have a choice. Not with the dogs being stolen and Frankie getting hurt. That’s gone too far.”

  This didn’t sound good. None of it. Lucie sat back, settled herself in for a ride she wasn’t sure she wanted. “Tell me.”

  Mom pressed her hands as if in prayer, holding them in front of a tight mouth. She closed her eyes, made a humming noise. “It’ll change everything. Maybe it’s selfish, but I want you to see me the way you always have.”

  And Lucie wanted to die. Maybe, just maybe, she’d idolized her mother to impossible standards.

  Mom held her head higher. “I like being the dependable parent.”

  “You think that will change?”

  She smiled in that pitiful way people did when they knew they’d reached an impasse. “I know it will.”

  A spool of navy thread sat on the table and Lucie reached for it, unwound and rewound it. She could leave right now and never know what her mother had done. Not knowing would probably be much easier.

  But that wasn’t Lucie’s way. She needed to analyze facts. She needed to absorb those facts. She needed to understand.

  “Mom, it can’t be any worse than what Dad has done.”

  Her mother nodded and slid her shoulders back. “The beginning goes back twenty years.”

  Twenty years. How could that be? “The diamonds have been here twenty years? How did the feds not find them when they searched the house?”

  “They weren’t here for twenty years. They must have been put here after your father was arrested.”

  “Do you know who put them here?”

  “I believe I do.”

  “And?”

  Mom closed her eyes again and the sight sent a stabbing pain up Lucie’s spine. This would be bad. “Mom, please.”

  “Al Falcone.” The words came in a rush, as if she hated the taste of them and needed to spit them out.

  Lucie sunk into her chair while a vision of Frankie’s face flashed in her mind. “That can’t be.” Tears filled her eyes.

  All this time Frankie had been going to his father, asking for help and his father was already involved? How? Why?

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “Are you holding the diamonds for him? Why didn’t he just ask you for them back rather than steal my dogs?”

  “He doesn’t know I have them. He obviously thinks you have them.”

  Frankie had told his father they had one diamond. Mr. Falcone must think she used the others and didn’t know it.

  My God. “Are they stolen?”

  “I believe so.”

  Lucie slammed both hands on the table. “Tell me the truth.”

  “Twenty years ago, your father and I went through a rough patch. He was gone all the time, doing who knew what. People started to gossip. I knew what he was, but I hated the snickering. I know you understand that.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “You and Joey were six and nine. You wanted your father to be like the other dads. The ones who went to parent-teacher conferences and school functions. Particularly, Joey. He needed his father. Plus, the two of you were fighting all the time and I was tired and lonely. I wanted some peace. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but one day a man started paying attention to me and, well, I liked it. He complimented me and wanted to spend time with me where my husband didn’t.”

  Oh, no.

  Mom’s shoulders collapsed. “Please don’t hate me.”

  “You cheated on Dad?” Holy smokes. That took a set of brass ones.

  “I’m certainly not proud of it, but yes, I had an affair. The guilt was horrible, but the love that man had for me was remarkable. It sustained me.”

  And suddenly, Lucie saw her mother through the haze. Somehow, she understood. She understood her father had not been easy to live with. She’d experienced it herself and couldn’t imagine being married to the man.

  She reached for Mom’s hand and squeezed. “I could never hate you. I love you. Who was the affair with?”

  “Bob Martin.”

  The only Bob Martin Lucie knew was the goofy guy who owned the meat store on Franklin Avenue. “Butcher Bob?”

  “Yes.”

  Her mom had done the nasty with a guy in a bloody apron. “Wow.”

  “It started out innocent enough. I’d go into the store and we’d get to talking. Before I knew it, we were having coffee and then…well…”

  Lucie held up a hand. “Got it. Skip the details.”

  “We used to meet at the motel off of Janes Avenue.”

  “Oh, Mom, not the love-thy-neighbor-here place.” What a cliché.

  “It was the only place we wouldn’t be seen. None of our friends would be caught dead in that place.”

  “For good reason.”

  “Anyway, somehow Al found out about us. I don’t know how. Bob certainly wouldn’t have told and I was too terrified of what your father would do. To this day, I don’t know how Al knew. He stopped by the house one afternoon during the summer. Your father was out and I was in the yard with you. Al told me he knew about Bob, and I was terrified he’d tell your father. I knew I was betraying your father, but I couldn’t help it. Bob had a normal life, wanted someone to live that normal life with him. I had your father and his carousing and the police knocking on my door at all hours.”

  Lucie took a second, let it all seep in. Every disgusting detail. Her father obviously didn’t know about this because Bob would most likely not be among the living. Or he’d be in a wheelchair.

  Which he was not.

  How many times had Lucie walked into that butcher shop and made small talk with the man who’d done a horizontal mambo with her mother?

  Mom let out a long breath. “Al told me he’d keep my secret, but I had to help him. He and your father weren’t close back then and I never saw the Falcones much.”

  “What did he ask you to do?”

  “I had to accept a package he’d send from England.”


  “England?”

  “You probably don’t remember, but the Falcones went on a family trip to London that summer.”

  “Did you ask him what the package would be?”

  “No. I didn’t care. All I wanted was to make sure my children grew up with their mother. At the very least, your father would have made sure I never saw you and Joey. I couldn’t live with that. At that moment, I knew I’d do whatever necessary to keep you.”

  “So, you accepted the package?”

  “Yes. It was a shoebox, but it had some weight to it. I wanted to see what was so important that he’d threaten me with it.”

  “You opened it?”

  Mom nodded. “Yes.”

  “Let me guess. The diamonds.”

  “The box was filled with jewels. I panicked. I don’t know what I expected to see, but it wasn’t that. I should have known better than to open that damned package. It’s haunted me for years. Anyway, I sealed the box and turned it over to Al. He asked me if I’d opened it and I said no. I lied.”

  “And that was the end of it? He took them out of the house?”

  “Yes. Until three weeks ago when I saw them sitting on your work table.”

  Lucie sat in a stunned state of hyper-analysis. Questions warped her mind. How did they get there? When did they get there? Why now? She mentally sorted the possibilities into manageable piles. That would be the only way to attack this. One element at a time. The diamonds had to be first.

  “We can assume the diamonds are stolen,” she said. “Do you know from where?”

  “No. Obviously England. I wasn’t supposed to know what was in the box. I never asked questions. Nor did I want answers. All I knew was my children were with me.”

  “I don’t understand why, after all these years, Frankie’s father hid the stones here? Could Dad be involved? Maybe Mr. Falcone was hoping the feds would find them and blame him?”

  Mom shook her head. “I doubt it. The FBI tore this house apart when your father was arrested. All the boxes in the attic had been overturned.”

  Lucie remembered it. The place looked like a war zone after a bombing.

  “I had to clean that mess. There were no diamonds. I think if the FBI had seen the stones they would have known they were real.”