“Yeah.”
“Talk about invasion of privacy.”
“We were worried about you. Or at least, I was. Carl just wanted to know what you were up to. You really should think twice about getting involved in this, Valentine.”
“Too late,” I said. “I’m already involved.”
“You were asking about Dwayne,” Carter said from the front seat. “I just got the update. No sign so far. They’ve shut down the hotel and are doing a room-by-room sweep, and, of course, the cops put out a BOLO. But he might just have given them the slip.”
“What about the woman you saw in the lobby?” Rico asked.
“What woman?” Carl turned to look at me.
“It’s someone I saw standing with the gawkers outside Elizabeth’s apartment while I was sitting in the police car. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I saw her outside the police station the next day, when I met up with Phil.”
“Wait a minute,” Carter said. “You caught a glimpse of this woman twice before, and you say you recognized her today?”
“The first time I watched her for quite a while. Most of the people came and went, but five stayed until the cops took me into the building. Two of them—a man and a woman—were still there when I came out again.”
“That right, DiSera?” Carter asked.
“There were people across the street, but I didn’t pay attention. What was that you called her?”
“Lies-About-Her-Age. You know, hair, makeup, and clothes too young for the face. The first time I saw her she was a blonde. Today, it was red hair. I think it was a wig. It was like she was waiting for me. But how did she know I was going to be at the hotel? She couldn’t have followed my GPS signal, too, could she?”
“Possible, but not likely,” Carter said. “We’re thinking a leak in the police department.”
“And Dwayne? He even knew what room I was in.”
“We don’t know. Our best guess is that he was sent by the black market gang Kroy dealt with before. Rico gave him a better deal, and Kroy dumped them. Maybe they’re unhappy about it. Give me a minute to call this in. You should’ve told me about her right away.”
While Carl murmured on his phone, I turned to Rico. “So that’s what you do? Sell things on the black market?”
“It’s not really my line of work, but I’m playing it that way for Kroy.”
Carl turned to look at us. “I think we caught a break. They have cameras in the hotel lobby and elevators. They’re checking them now. See if she shows up.”
“Shouldn’t be hard,” I said. “There wasn’t anyone else in the lobby.”
“You know, Carl,” Rico said. “I’m about to close the deal with Kroy. If he agrees to contract with i-systems for the drop shipment, we’ll get a link to the fake pharmaceutical company. So there’s really nothing for Valentine to do.”
“He hasn’t agreed to use i-systems yet, and the clock is ticking,” Carl said. “Kroy’s big fund-raiser is in two days. From his past pattern, we know he’ll arrange the shipments right after that. What if he changes his mind about dealing with you because the crew who sent Dwayne is threatening his life? Besides, you told me Kroy sent you to bring her back, right? You bring her back, that makes you look even better to him. You’re resourceful. You’re the go-to guy.”
“Carter’s right,” I said to Rico. “You know it. I know it. So please just tell me where to look for the information you need and take me to Kroy’s.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Carter said. He lifted a chauffeur’s hat from the passenger seat and put it on. He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “My cover.” He gestured to the hat. “I’m DiSera’s driver. That way we don’t have to sneak around to meet. Easier that way.” He started the car and steered slowly down the alley.
“You haven’t told me anything yet,” I said.
“Wait till tomorrow. DiSera will brief you in the morning.”
I had to be satisfied with that. No one said anything on the ride to Kroy’s. I leaned back in my seat and looked out the window at the dark streets. I felt weary right through to my bones. At least Kroy had surveillance, alarms, and a bodyguard so I could sleep tonight without worrying about Dwayne. No bodyguard would be able to protect me from my dreams. I still had the memory of Phil’s broken body in the back of my head and now, thanks to Rico, the image of a bound man with his tongue cut out.
Chapter Fourteen
I was wrong about the bad dreams. I slept without a single image appearing, bad or good. And when I woke up, I felt as if I’d been hibernating. The bright sunlight bounced off the stark white walls like a laser beam and made me squint when I tried to open my eyes. Something wasn’t quite right. I turned my head on the pillow. Rico lay stretched out next to me, hands behind his head.
“How’d you get in here?” I asked.
He rolled over on his side and propped his head up on his elbow. “Good morning, Sunshine.”
I didn’t feel sunny. More like a mole yanked out of her burrow. “I asked you a question.”
He waited a beat before answering and let his eyes rest on my mouth. “Remember I told you that if I didn’t want you to know I was here, you wouldn’t?”
I remembered. He’d done that looking at my mouth thing then, too, and I’d thought he was going to kiss me. Again. And I’d wanted him to. But I couldn’t want that. Not now. I frowned at him. “We did this thing with me waking up in bed next to you once before. I didn’t care for it then. I like it even less now. So let’s agree you’ll stop before it becomes a habit.”
“Can’t do that. Sorry.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to talk, and this is the best time and place.”
“Kroy has cameras all over the place. Connie might be listening in and watching right now.”
“Kroy’s security system is just to keep intruders out, not to monitor people he’s let in. Besides, I checked. No bugs.”
“You think of everything, don’t you? So talk.”
“First, I have a present for you from Carl.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.
“Thanks, but tell him I already have one of those.”
“Not like this one, you don’t. It has everything—not only all the bells and whistles, but beepers and sirens and party noise-makers, too.”
“And I assume a tracking device, like the one you used to find me yesterday.”
“Of course. And there’s a hot button. Just press the pound sign repeatedly. It’ll send an emergency call straight to the FBI office. Even if the phone’s turned off. It has a camera, of course. Only this one’s very high-resolution in case you come across something like documents. You can even take your own picture. Like this.” He moved close to me and put his head on the pillow next to mine. He held the phone above our heads. I could see our faces in the little screen, like a tiny television, then the image froze.
“That’s it,” he said. “Your first compromising photo. Then there’s this other feature where you can email it to anyone. Want to send ours to the tabloids?” I watched as Rico pushed sequential buttons until a little message appeared on the screen that said, “Send?” He clicked yes.
“Where did you send it?” I asked.
“To myself. Something to remember you by.”
I felt a twitch in my chest. “You’re going away?”
“As soon as this deal wraps up, I am. Why? Going to miss me?”
There was a knock on the door as it simultaneously opened. Elizabeth appeared in the doorway and stared at us. Surprised. Or acting surprised. “What are you doing in here, Rico?” she demanded.
Rico propped his head up on his elbow and gave me his lazy smile, the one that made warmth unfold in my belly. He didn’t as much as glance at Elizabeth. “What am I doing?” With one finger, he traced a gentle line on my cheek. “Anything Valentine wants me to
.”
“Valentine,” Elizabeth said, “I thought you knew better. You don’t want to get involved with his type. Low level gangsters are just errand boys in expensive clothes.”
“Go away, Elizabeth.” I took my cue from Rico and didn’t even look at her when I spoke.
“No. You need to get up. The gala’s tomorrow night and you don’t have one decent thing to wear. Bobby wants you to perform. Do your little magic act or something. He needs to talk to you about it.”
I turned to gaze at her. “I’m busy.”
“Too bad. You’ll have to be busy later.”
I pulled the arm closest to her out from the covers and held it out palm up so she could see the white circular scarred indents on the inside of my upper arm. “Guess what, Elizabeth? I do what I want now. And no one forces me anymore. No one. So you go. And close the door behind you.”
She swung around and strode out. She tried to slam the door, but it dragged on the plush carpet and she couldn’t get enough momentum for a satisfactory bang. I stared at the ceiling, not wanting to meet Rico’s gaze.
“Feel better?”
“Not really.”
“First time you stood up to her?”
“First time with no consequences. At least so far.”
Rico reached across my body and stroked the scars on my arm. “I wondered about those that first night.”
I jammed my arm under the covers. “They’re not up for discussion.”
“Fine. But what about your rib and your bruises? How are they doing?”
“Just fine, thank you. And don’t think you’re going to get any free peeks. You had your one and only chance to ogle me.”
“No need to be so touchy. I’m just the babysitter here, you know. I don’t think you should do this spying on Kroy thing if you’re not fit.”
“I’m perfectly fit, and I don’t need a babysitter. I can take care of myself.”
“Glad to hear it.” He rolled onto his back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Hope you can take care of me, too, when the shooting starts. You know, this was a quiet deal, until you showed up and people started getting killed.”
I flashed on the image of Phil’s body and swallowed hard. “That’s just coincidence. It’s Kroy they’re after and you know it.”
“That’s one possibility.”
“So tell me what I need to find out, and I’ll do it. Then you can go off to…wherever you’re going.” I hesitated, then asked. “Are you going to jail?”
Rico barked a laugh. “No. I’m in the clear with the law. Let’s get back to you. We need a reason for me to take you out of the house so Carl can talk to you. How about shopping for something to wear to the fund-raiser?”
I made a face. “I hate shopping. For clothes anyway. But if Kroy wants me to do my act, I’ll have to go to a magic shop and get supplies.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“You’ll see when I do my act. You’re going to be there, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m supposed to keep an eye on you. So where you go, I go.”
“What about your deal with Kroy? Aren’t you still working on that?”
“I think we’ve just about sealed that deal. We talked some last night. He said he was on board with it. When he signs on for my money-laundering service and for using i-systems as an anonymous front to drop ship the drugs, we’ll have the evidence we need.”
“Evidence?”
“We need the real and the fake drugs to make a case against him, but the fake drugs don’t come with a return address. Carl still needs a way to find the supplier.”
“I guess that’s where I come in.”
“You don’t have to do this, Valentine.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I absolutely have to do it.” Time to change the subject. Phil’s death wasn’t a topic I wanted to go into with Rico. “If I’m going to talk to Kroy and get to the magic shop, I need to get dressed.”
“Don’t let me stop you.”
I clutched the covers up to my chin. “I already told you, the ogling is over. Time for you to leave.”
“Right now, we’re supposed to be an item. And we need to look like we’ve been doing more in this bed than talk, so you need to get comfortable with me and PDAs.”
“What’s that?”
“What high school did you go to that didn’t have a rule against PDAs…public displays of affection?”
“I was home-schooled. And I’ll do fine with your PDAs, but only in public.”
“Home-schooled? No way did your mom home-school you. Unless it was special courses in larceny and grand theft.”
“Not Elizabeth, my Aunt June. When I got here, I hadn’t seen Elizabeth in nine years, hadn’t lived with her for four years before that.”
“Nine years? So that would make you what—twenty-two, twenty-three?”
“Let’s talk about PDAs, because I have ground rules.”
“First, tell me how old you are.”
“Ground rule number one: hands at waist or back, no copping a feel.”
“Valentine, I’m serious. Are you twenty-one?”
“Ground rule number two…”
“Holy shit.” He rolled off the bed onto his feet. “You’re not even twenty-one?” He ran his hand through his hair. “Okay. Get up. We’re getting out of here now. Carl will have a coronary when he hears this.”
I pushed into a sitting position, my back against the headboard, the covers firmly in place under my chin. “Stop being so dramatic. I’m over twenty-one. I just don’t know exactly how much over because I could never get Elizabeth to tell me where and when I was born. And when I was living with her, she changed my age depending on the con. When I got to go live with Aunt June because Elizabeth was in jail, Aunt June tried to find a way to get a birth certificate for me, but she couldn’t.”
“Have you tried asking Elizabeth?”
“Don’t be stupid. That would give her leverage over me, and she’d hold out. I have to wait until I have something she wants. Then I’ll make a deal. Now, can we talk about the ground rules?”
“Rules? What rules?” He frowned at me.
“For PDAs. Ground rule number two…”
“Hold it right there. I know you like to have rules. We went through this before, remember? No lying, and so on? I’m pretty sure you’ve broken that rule several times over in the past few days. So just forget about rules.”
“These aren’t rules for me. They’re for you. So you don’t—you know.”
He came around the bed and sat down next to me. His weight pulled at the covers and made it hard for me to keep them in place. “I don’t think you get it. This isn’t a game. This is real life, and real death.”
“Don’t lecture me. I saw the bodies. It’s more real to me than it could ever be to you.”
He hesitated for a beat. “We need to be convincing to everyone who sees us. No dropping our guard, because we won’t know who’s watching. As far as Bobby’s concerned, he thinks that I went after you and brought you back because he wanted you here. And I gave him the idea that you came back because of me.”
“So you’re supposed to be the irresistible Rico, and I’m putty in your hands.”
“Something like that.”
A loud knocking on the door. I rolled my eyes. “Go away Elizabeth.”
“It’s me, Ashley.” She opened the door and stood with her arms folded. “I want my book back.”
“Sure,” I said. “Let me get it. Hand me my robe, will you Rico?”
Rico crossed to the bathroom and tossed the terrycloth robe to me. I pulled it on without dropping the covers. Rico gazed at me with a raised eyebrow and a half smile.
I pulled the book from my duffle and held it out to her. “I haven’t had time to read it yet, but I still want to.”
I crossed to her and she snatched the book from my hand. “Do we have a problem?” I asked.
Her gaze slipped over to Rico and back to me. “No problem. I wasn’t sure you were coming back, and I don’t like it when people take off with my things.”
I sighed. I’d just become another person who flaked on Ashley, and right at this moment, there was nothing I could do about it. “I’m really sorry.”
“Whatever.” She turned away. “I’m supposed to tell you that Dad wants to see you like right now,” she added over her shoulder.
“Thanks—I guess,” I said under my breath. I closed the door and leaned against it. “What’s up with Kroy? Do you know?”
Rico shrugged. “No idea, except that when you took off yesterday, he asked me to find you and bring you back.”
“He wants to use me for something, right?”
“That’s what Carl is hoping.”
“Okay, let’s find out.” I went into the bathroom and quickly got ready. Rico walked with me down the stairs. When we reached the foyer, Kroy hailed us from the living room.
“Valentine, it’s about time. Get in here.”
We crossed into the living room. Elizabeth sat next to Kroy on the wide white sofa.
“Not you Rico,” Kroy said. “Val and I have some business to discuss.”
Rico turned to me, and before I could say anything, he bent and kissed me on the mouth. Not a lingering kiss, but long enough and thorough enough to make me unsteady on my feet. I had to put both hands on his chest to keep my balance. He drew away and gave me an ironic smile. So much for my rules about public displays of affection. “I’ll wait for you outside,” he said. “I need a cigarette anyway.”
I glanced at Elizabeth, who raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She’d already expressed her disapproval of Rico.
Kroy waited until Rico had closed the front door behind him. “He didn’t waste any time, did he?”
“What makes you think that it was Rico who didn’t waste time?”
Kroy laughed. “Touché.” He waved toward an easy chair facing the couch. “Have a seat, Miss Magic.”
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