Del couldn’t keep his eyes off it as all the spittle left his mouth, as his muscles began to seize. To the point he waved a few people ahead of him as he tried to frantically figure out what to do, how to handle what was going on.
Fucking Anton!
Determined to get his letter sent, Del moved forward. Did his thing in buying an envelope and posting his missive as registered, with a certified receipt. But he performed all of it in fits and starts, in grunts and almost incoherent mutterings, his mind whirling about how much the cops knew about him, about all he’d done.
On what they’d discovered or Anton disclosed.
Going to his truck, Del placed the call. The one call he’d sworn never to make again but it went to voicemail. Just as it did another seventy-four times he’d hit the redial button.
Fucking Anton!
He couldn’t stay yet couldn’t leave. Not until he discovered the hows and whys of the poster.
Holing up at a diner on the outskirts of town didn’t help, not with all the coffee he’d consumed. The cups that’d found him shuffling his way to the bathroom again and again as he waited for Anton to either fucking return his calls or pick up.
But the black plastic of his phone never signaled a response. And as the sun made its way down the sky, Del realized he had no other choice. There was nothing he could do except confront the demon in his life face-to-face.
Take the piece of shit on, in order to find freedom.
So he left the diner and finagled his truck into the streams of after-work traffic, making his way to the courthouse where Anton had an office. But he made sure to use one of the other side entrances, avoiding the main portion of the building with its metal detectors. Because there was no way in hell he was confronting Anton unarmed.
It was gonna be resolved today.
Or Del was gonna die trying.
Which became a real possibility as he busted through the door marked with Avram’s phony name done up in gold as if to gild the tainted person the man was on the inside. Luckily the secretary had long since gone, but Del could hear Anton’s voice on the other side of the closed door.
Good.
At least, he’d be able to get this over with once and for all.
Ridding himself of the stench of Avram and his family in a way that would leave no doubt Del was his own man after all.
Crashing through the second door had his ankle screaming its objections, but Del was more than satisfied when he heard Anton saying, “Let me call you back. Something just came up I’ve got to take care of.”
As soon as the receiver hit the base unit, Del was moving. “Who’d you tell?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why didn’t you return my calls, Manny?” Del didn’t like the satisfied air Avram adopted as he placed his forearms against the edge of his desk. “So we had a disagreement about the length of your employment. It’s over and I’m willing to forgive and forget. Let bygones be bygones.”
Oh he was, was he?
Well, Del damn-sure wasn’t and reached into his coat pocket for his handgun in order to drive that point home. “Fuck you, Avram! You’ve made my life a living hell from the moment your ol’ man appointed me as your watch dog. But you turned me into much more than that, didn’t you?”
Anton/Avram’s eyes went to the weapon and stayed there. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh yeah, you do. You damn well do, you sick son of a bitch.” Del was spitting in his fury but didn’t give a fuck as the tiny flecks of his wrath began to sprinkle the pristine wood of the councilman’s desk. “The products? The people we had to take out in order to keep everything copasetic? And then this last thing, the shit with that little photographer gal?
“You turned me in, Anton, admit it. Saw the poster at the post office naming me as a Person of Interest which only means the cops are lying in wait.” Del took in another deep breath while shoving the handgun closer to his target. “So what’d you tell them? Huh? What’d you tell them?”
“I’ve had no dealing with the police,” Anton/Avram averred, but Del knew when he was lying, because he’d always helped cover-up of the man’s untruths before. “If they’re looking for you, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Liar!” Del’s veins thrummed with the need to obtain the truth, which was vital, necessary before beginning the next leg of his life. “You sold me out and I wanna know how and why, you suck-worthy waste of space.”
The other man’s hands moved and Del quickly pulled back the weapon’s hammer, chambering a bullet in response. “Wouldn’t move too fast there, councilman, if I were you. Except for your mouth. Yeah, if you’re thinking to do something, I’d suggest confessing to what you did. And I’d do it soon, since my finger’s getting tired.”
“As the brains behind everything we’ve done, why would you question me, Del? Yes, you’ve played a part but only the part I’ve allowed you,” Anton said in his ‘politician’ voice, the slimy bastard. And, as if to add insult to injury, the man shrugged. “Enough so, if you’re picked up by the authorities, our names won’t be linked at all.”
Wait, what?
The man was the one who’d set everything up, who directed Del’s movements day-to-day and now he had the balls to say…that he was admitting to throwing Del to the fucking wolves? “I’ll see you in hell first.”
“Your call, Manny,” Anton/Avram shot back, yanking out a drawer. But Del’s first round hit dead center, the .22 caliber bullet bisecting younger man’s forehead in such a way even Del knew was a kill shot. But he continued to fire as the body behind the desk slowly slumped, bending toward its surface.
But Del hadn’t emptied the gun completely.
No, he deliberately saved one last round, one that had a special purpose.
The one Del sent into his own brain in order to resolve everything once and for all.
Chapter Thirty
I don’t know how but I managed the impossible that next morning, which was to get up before Rio. Although I will admit to wearing his fine ass out the night before, while I’d remained wide awake reliving the events of the day.
He’d said it right when he claimed our playtime just kept getting better and better. And I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d always done the one-night-stand thing or if it was just evidence of the trust we’d built between us, but I was a helluva lot more free with Rio than I ever had been before. Was willing to experiment and try new things, delighting in the doings instead of just racing to the goal.
To say I liked uncovering this new wanton side of me didn’t even begin to describe the half of it. And he was totally on board with helping in that endeavor.
Oh hell yeah, he was—energetically so.
To the point of falling asleep first and staying that way even after I eased myself out of bed.
So I left him and Pookie to their beauty sleep, taking my shower before making coffee, only noticing we’d received the first snow of the season overnight when I glanced out the kitchen window. The first snowfall was always a big deal to me, covering everything with its pristine white blanket which seemed to muffle and subdue everything in a chilly cocoon. Yet I knew it wouldn’t be long and I’d be sick of the stuff…turning up my nose at the dirty slush, the ice on the roads and the need for heavy coats, hats and gloves.
But that first snow was always one of my favorite things.
As I stood and admired it, a pair of arms came over my shoulders and pulled me back into his hard chest. “Shit. Should’ve known the weather was changing when PK asked to be let out for a midnight pee.”
Twisting to look up at him, I tried to make sense of Rio’s words while biting back a smile at the hot mess of his hair and sleepy-eyed face. “She can predict the weather?”
Dropping a quick but sweet kiss to my forehead, he moved to the cupboard and began to pour the coffee. “Yep. Didn’t believe Aunt Alma until I saw PK in action during tornado season. She’s better than any warning siren, letting you kn
ow shit’s a-coming well in advance.”
“Did you get snow in Oklahoma?”
He nodded and handed me my cup. “Some. Not like what happens here.” His eyes moved to the little pooch at his feet. “Fair warning. She’s not a fan of the stuff.”
A soft knock later and Zee joined us in the kitchen. I liked the way my brother did that, not just barreling into my place simply because he had a key and the codes, but taking a moment to respectfully give notice of his arrival. “Morning, darlin’. Boss man. Fucking freezin’ outside.”
So it began, the morning routine we’d created between us. One made up of soft talk, breakfast makings and gentle camaraderie. Somewhere along the way, we’d become friends as well as brother and sister, boss and employee, or just two lovers thrown together by exigent circumstance. And the easy way we moved around each other in my small kitchen (made even smaller by the two big men), showed it. Climbing up onto one of the barstools, I again bit back a smile of happiness, content in what was happening in my kitchen. Comfortable with all the changes a break-in had caused in my life. And pretty damned satisfied with how life’s cause-and-effects had, for once, landed me on the awesome side of its road.
That was until our peaceful morning was shattered by another knock on the door which Rio attended to pretty fast. Peering through the spy-thingy, he looked back to me a Zee with a frown before opening the door. “How can I help you, officer?”
“Gianetta. I’m Officer Gianetta, Mr. Ironcloud,” the voice stated. “Can I come in for a minute?”
Holding the door open, Rio waved the policeman in. He’d been one of the cops who’d responded to my 911 call on the night where my life had taken a sharp turn—one lucky turn in more ways than one. “Sorry to interrupt your morning—”
“Reggie,” Zee called from his place behind the counter. “What’s up, amigo?”
“Oh hey, Zion,” the uniformed man replied, before shifting his eyes to me. “Miss James.” He came further into the room and glanced down at Pookie who was doing a happy dance of greeting. “Just clocked out and wanted to give you an update. I’m sure the detectives will be by later with more info, but I just wanted to give you a head’s up.”
“Regarding the break-in?” I was confused. As far as I knew, there was no way I’d ever see my old laptop again so to have him show up at oh-dark-early with an update seemed kind of weird.
He nodded and accepted a cup of coffee from Zee. “That and the other.”
“The other?” Rio appeared just as confounded by Officer Gianetta’s words as I was, and wasn’t afraid to show it in either tone or expression. “What other?”
But Zee was the one whose brain was firing on all cylinders, because he immediately answered Rio’s question. “The break-in and the murders.”
Wait, what?
“They’re linked?” Had I missed something somewhere? But before the policeman could answer, knuckles again rapped on my busy front door.
Zee muttered something along the lines of ‘Grand Central Station at your place, darlin’’ as Rio opened the door to Detectives Bell and Trusdale. After greetings were made, I made haste to put on another pot of coffee before going to join everyone in front room.
“Okay, here’s what we know,” Bell started, pulling out his phone and pushing a few buttons. “The fingerprints lifted here matched one taken from the scene when your folks were discovered. This led us to believe both had been perpetrated by one Manfred Delmar Jones. We also believe it was Manfred who tried to pull you into his van,” he continued with a nod my direction.
“But it was the evidence from your parent’s safety deposit box which gave us his accomplice in the child-trafficking ring.” Trusdale too was reading from some document on his smart-phone. “Best thing that ever landed in our lap and enabled us to get the Feds involved.”
“Who was the other guy?” I sunk my butt down to balance on the arm of Rio’s chair while he asked the question which was on my mind too.
Bell and Trusdale glanced at each other before Bell spoke. “One of Grantham’s own. Anton Novak, aka Avram Milosevic.”
“The councilman?” Gianetta’s eyebrows were up around his hairline as he took in and made sense of what the detectives said.
I shook my head as if to deny the coincidence. “He called me. Councilman Novak called me the other day demanding a meeting to discuss setting up the website for his re-election campaign. I refused.”
Nobody said anything for a moment, but I got the impression they all thought I’d done right in not taking the suggested meet.
“We were already on the move to build our case in order to get an indictment,” Trusdale started. “Patel was working on getting signatures for the search warrants when we got news of last night.”
“What happened last night?” Zee looked to Reggie with a frown before turning back to the other men.
“As near as we can figure, Novak and Jones had some sort of falling out.” Bell replied. “And ended up as a murder/suicide yesterday evening.”
“In Novak’s office at City Hall,” Gianetta added.
I blinked as Rio’s hand snuck around my waist. I didn’t know what to do or think about all the detectives related. About what it meant to me or my brother.
But Rio did and wasted no time in summing everything up. “So what you’re saying is...its over.”
Both detectives nodded, but Trusdale was the one who spoke. “In a word? Yes. The Feds will be working the rest, putting together the pieces of the missing kids and working to break up and arrest the rest of the suspects involved.”
“All because of the tapes our folks made?” Zee’s voice lacked any sort of volume, but in the silence of the room it didn’t need any.
“You bet,” Bell replied, standing. “They’ve made copies of both the videos and your father’s journal and said they’ll return them as soon as they can. Especially since both contain personal stuff we know are important to you and your sister.”
Yeah, they were. Those snippets of my and Zee’s real childhood meant the world to me and I knew could be parsed from the other icky crap they’d recorded. “So what happens now?”
Trusdale paused at the door and turned back to me with a shrug and a grin. “Guess you can all go back to your regularly scheduled lives.”
As Zee let them out, I looked to Rio for some kind of clue as to what I should be feeling in the miasma of emotions swirling within me. But he was no help. Not with the way he was staring off into space while wearing a blank expression.
My brother though had no problem expressing his delight and showed it by coming to me and grabbing my hands to pull me up for a hug. One that squashed my face into his chest as he swung me from side to side while laughingly chanting, “It’s over. It’s fucking finally over, baby sister.”
When he was done, I glanced at Rio to gauge his reaction. And while his eyes were on me and Zee, it was as if my man had turned back into a stranger, one who looked like my lover, but without any of his usual warmth and humor. “Are you okay, honey?”
Staring into my face with dead eyes, I saw him swallow thickly before he answered. “Yeah, Vonnie. Need to shower and get ready for work.”
Zee and I stilled as we watched him rise and step down the hall. But before turning off into the bathroom, Rio threw one more sentence out. “Follow me to Black Ice, Zee, and I’ll give you your new assignment.”
“What crawled up his ass and died,” Zee wondered out loud. The truth of it was, I didn’t know. In all my time in Rio’s company, I’d never seen him behave that way. But I knew whatever was going through my man’s head wasn’t good. Wasn’t anything even near the good side of the road.
“So you’re off babysitting duty,” I answered, trying for a light tone which didn’t quite pan out. “How are you gonna fill your days without me?”
Zee smiled and went to refill his cup, waving the carafe my way in question. “Probably get to do the same with someone else who won’t be half as cute or persnickety. But more to
the point, what the hell are you gonna get up to without me and Rio dogging your steps?”
Oh shit.
I got it. Totally understood what Rio had realized long before Zee gave voice to the next part of what was gonna happen. Had actually said the words.
Rio and Zee’s work was done.
Without the threat of impending harm, I could fall off their radar and allow them to move onto the next person who needed protecting.
Which meant Rio could leave.
Would leave me.
And with that realization, my heart began to break.
One slow crack at a time.
And continued to do as he and my brother left for work, an act which wasn’t accompanied by the now routine kisses and hugs I’d gotten so used to, counted on as a part of our greetings and partings.
Splintering even as I tried to get Pookie to go outside for our walk, which she more than let me know wasn’t going to happen as she dug her tiny claws into the sidewalk in protest. And remained steadfast in her refusal even though I pulled at her leash while cooing encouragement. Nope, she wasn’t going for it but then, I wasn’t all that keen on hitting the park either.
What I wanted to do, yearned for, was to crawl back into bed with the covers over my head in order to give my heart the space to completely shatter or my brain the room to come up with the words to convince Rio to stay.
But I rejected the idea as Pookie and I went back inside. That was the ‘old’ me, the Vonnie I used to be before he’d come into my life. A girl who used to hide away her feelings, wants and fears.
I was a different woman now.
One who I considered better, more open and willing to accept both myself and other people. A female who might still screw things up, but someone at least willing to put herself out there and be an active participant in her own life.
All because of a pretty little dog and her daddy.
After shucking out of my coat, I opened the sliding glass door. “If you’re gonna be all picky and shit, this will be your bathroom for the next six or seven months. Better get used to it, baby girl.”
Vonnie: Book Two of Broken Girls Series Page 26