I grabbed his chin in a death grip. “Listen closely, my friend, you don’t know shit about me. Change your life, your perspective, your bucket list… I don’t care. If anything happens to Jadie, I will hunt your ass down. I want Jadie to be happy, have kids, and go to PTA meetings with someone she can count on. If that’s not you, walk the fuck away or die! Is that plain enough for you?”
Ken got it. The eyes never lie, and his eyes told the story of getting it. “Yeah… yeah Rick, I get it.”
Mother of God! I didn’t know what was going on in that head of his. It’s one of those moments where you know what you do may mean life or death for people you care about. I added something special to calm the dark waters in my soul. “If I have to come get you, no force on earth will stop me. I will take you to the desert somewhere. I can make it so you won’t die for at least three days. I can be your friend or I can be the worst nightmare you ever dreamed of.”
I let him loose as a group of guys from the gym came into the locker room. I didn’t say anything else. Ken left without another word. I had a wavering feeling of relief I hadn’t snapped his neck, and an opposite chill I should have. Bone came in from his security duty at the front desk, all smiles, and he’s pointing at me. Damn it! Bone comes right up to me and grabs my right wrist, examining my hand. If I wasn’t so damn tired, I might have thrown a left hook right up under his damn ribcage. I endured his chuckling inspection instead.
“Guess what, Rick. Jadie’s big squeeze, Ken doll, was stumbling past the desk like a fighter that just got clocked. I, being the compassionate guy I am now, went around to help him since Lois and Temple had already left. He told me you knocked him out while I helped him out to his car. You know… I think I’m getting this no physical confrontation down, Rick. That’s two demonstrations of restraint in a couple days.”
I watched Bone chortle away at my expense. “Good one, Bone. Let’s get the hell out of here, and go get ready to have some fun.”
“Now you’re talkin’, brother.” Bone put that Volkswagen he has for a right arm around my shoulders as we leave the locker room. “Is Ken doll on our list, Rick?”
“I’m afraid so. I’m hoping not, but my hand hurts, and it’s affecting my judgment.”
Bone patted my shoulder. “Ice the hand while you put on your Bogart suit, and we’ll ice Ken if he keeps screwing up our good karma. Did doing penance in the tank help any?”
“Nope. I did hire a new busboy for the restaurant out of the tank.”
“I think you need a new employee recruitment office, Rick.”
“Agreed.”
Chapter Four
Night on the Town
I took another nap, with my fist encased in ice. It was a solid, tight fisted strike, so the damage was negligible. When I woke up, I could flex the hand real well, and the swelling wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I dressed in my ice cream suit for playing Bogart on our Casablanca Night at the restaurant. Since my expenditures lately were practically zip, I had hired a limo for me, Bone and Carlene. My deal after hiring Bone included escorting him and the lovely Carlene to Casablanca Night. They were married now, and living in a nice starter home. Bone had revamped our computer systems and kept us up to date as our IT guy in charge. He had updated his skills from the service, attending classes and seminars to the point Lo and I let him have all tech upgrade work. With losing Steve because of too many emergency room visits, we were a little pressed for field operatives.
As my driver arrived at Bone’s house, his face lit up, with Carlene giggling next to him. The driver ran around to open the door for the happy couple. Carlene slid in next to me, patting my hand. Bone entered, pointing at me.
“You needed a designated driver tonight, huh?”
“Yep. We’re arriving early because I plan to have a couple of cocktails before the crowd arrives.”
“Thanks for keeping Timothy out of trouble the other night, Rick,” Carlene said. “He only has a few more months before he’s free and clear of his last arrest complication.”
Carlene’s the only one allowed to call T-bone Griffin by his real name, Timothy. “We need him as our IT specialist. I can’t have him locked up with Lois putting my butt back into tech maintenance. Besides, it all worked out. That guy I had made the mistake of taking down hard was wanted for murder in San Francisco. Detective Staley got me off as his CI working undercover to nab a murderer.”
“That Staley sure comes up with some nice tie-ins, Rick.”
“Don’t shortchange our guy, Bill Staley. We need him, especially with all the damn trouble I’ve been getting into.”
“Timothy says until the Pernel pickup, you’ve had months without getting into trouble,” Carlene said. “Maybe you’ll be back in the no trouble zone after this, Rick.”
Boy, do I love an optimist. “That’s my plan, Carlene, but I have a few ants in the sugar bowl of my life happening in the near future. We’re all trying to make sure there isn’t a return to the normal Cantelli Land of darkness and despair.”
Carlene laughed, even clapping her hands a little. “You two are so funny with the Cantelli Land jokes.”
I leaned around Carlene, shaking my head at Bone. “She doubts the darkness, Bone.”
Bone shrugged. “I’ve tried to make her a believer, brother. She just laughs.”
“We’re doomed.”
Carlene laughed harder.
* * *
Our piano player Vince hadn’t arrived yet as I sat at the bar, sipping my second double Bushmills. Man, I was feeling good. Bone was entertaining Frank and Lois, Bill Staley and his wife, and Karen and Danny with his I’m sure terrific minute by minute replay of our Pernel takedown. I could hear the Harpy cackle from here. I knew he was doing a great rendition of the magic moment, because that prick Staley was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. Bone is without doubt the most entertaining employee we’d ever had. If he hung around with you for a while, Bone picked up on all human idiosyncrasies in anyone’s tone, manner, or gesture. As I glanced back at the table, I could see him doing me after the police arrived at the bar to raucous laughter.
“Bone can really do you, Rick,” Jerry, the bartender noted.
I grinned, and sipped. “He sure can, Jer.”
Jerry got a surprised look on his face. I didn’t glance around. “Please tell me you are not seeing Ms. Wentworth’s boyfriend.”
“Nope, it’s Ms. Wentworth, and she’s dressed rather fashionably.”
“Good.”
“She’s heading here, Rick.”
Damn it! Jadie arrived next to me in a slinky black off the shoulder and well above the knee dress that would have cured a man of impotence in a heartbeat. Oh, good Lord in heaven.
“Hi Rick. I’ll have a martini, Jer, very dry.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Jerry had the drink in front of Jadie in less than twenty seconds.
“Hi, kid. You look lovely tonight.”
“Ken and I talked after he returned from the knockout.”
Uh oh. “I didn’t kill him, and I thought about it.”
“He asked me to marry him.”
I like it… I think. I toasted her with my Bushmills. “Congratulations, Jadie, Ken makes good money, and he loves you.”
“He told me you threatened him.”
“I didn’t threaten him for the purpose of getting him to propose.”
Jadie gulped her martini, and pointed at the empty for Jerry’s notice. He replenished it immediately. “Ken told me about the threat you made regarding anything bad happening to me. I think he was more pissed off about that than the threat.”
“Ken needs time to process some facts. He asked you to marry him. That’s a pretty damn big step as far as commitment goes.” I sipped, knowing I could have a third double with no problem because of the cold water Jadie drenched me with concerning Ken.
“Then you don’t care if I marry him?” Jadie chugged the second martini.
“First off, slow the hell down on those
martinis. He loves you. He asked you to marry him. What does that have to do with my input? I want you to be happy, have kids, make a life with someone you can grow old with. Is that a bad thing?”
Jadie got a startled look as she glanced over at me. She covered my hand with hers. “No… no way is that a bad thing. He shocked the shit out of me. Ken told me to have a good time tonight, and think about his proposal.”
“Sounds like a plan. What’s your objection to it?”
“I’m in love with you, Rick.”
“I’m in love with you too, Jadie. You’re family to me. It will never be anything other than that though. We’ve been over this before. That Ken told you to come here and have a good time is a positive sign. You’ve been with him for months. You must care for him.”
Jadie looked down at her empty martini glass and waved it at Jerry, who did a rapid refill. “I… I only dated him to make you jealous.”
Shit! “Are you out of your ever lovin’ mind?!” I took a deep breath, finished off my Bushmills and Jerry refilled it without asking, because he’d heard my interaction with Jadie. “For God’s sake, you have everything in your grasp: a man who loves you, same age group, good income, and intellectually sound! I can’t be with you, kid. I’m too old, too used up, and way too close to the other side. Jadie? What is it with you? You had me convinced you were committed to Ken and I’m not an easy sell. Think of it this way. We’re good friends. We can talk, interact, even go shopping together if that’s what you want. All that’s left out is a sexual component that will be out of my grasp soon without a pill. Get a life! If not with Ken, then someone else.”
I saw the tears trickling down her cheeks. Why, is what I cannot understand for the life of me. There’s only one answer. I’m cursed. Just as I think I’m clear of all women, one I know and love as a friend pops in with a statement beyond any grasp on reality. “Okay, kid, you’re going to have to deal with this personally.”
I started to get up, but Jadie grabbed my hand. “Sometimes love doesn’t have to do with sex, or anything else for that matter.”
I patted her hand. “Exactly what I already told you. We’re friends and partners. All the sweetness and light you see happening between us can happen while you’re raising a family with Ken. I’m sixty for the love of heaven!”
I noticed Vince walking to our central piano man area in his matching suit to mine. I grabbed Jadie’s hand. “Come with me. We’ll warm up our ‘Sam’ with a few old favorites.”
Jadie nodded as she patted at her eyes with a tissue. She allowed me to pull her over toward Vince, who had begun tickling the ivories in old style fashion. He glanced up at me with a big smile.
“Hey Rick, you ready for our chorus?”
“You bet I am. Want to warm up the crowd with a trio? How about ‘House of the Rising Sun’.”
Vince nodded, his fingers darting over the keys in a preamble to ‘House’.
Everything quieted in the restaurant as the piano strains flowed out. After the preamble, Jadie launched into a torrid beginning with Vince and I voicing it in a lower down octave. We owned it. For a brief moment ‘House of the Rising Sun’ enveloped everything in the restaurant. Vince and I let Jadie carry the last stanza by herself, with only a blending of our bass voices. The crowd loved it, clapping with enthusiastic abandon. Vince smiled at me.
“What the hell was that all about, Rick?”
I met his gaze. “Good karma, good music, and an ace, thanks to you. Jadie, do you know that old Dinah Washington tune ‘Since I Fell for You’?”
Jadie blushed. “Yeah… yeah I know that one.”
Karen had ambled down to us by then amidst applause. “I know that one too.”
Vince started it with a long rippling intro on the keys, as I sat down next to him. He and I hummed that opening in harmony until Jadie launched into the opening. When she finished the first stanza, Karen rocked the house with the second. They finished together to a standing ovation. Temple arrived in a shimmering blue gown striding down to join us. Vince began the strains of ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’. Man, did we all nail it. When the last note of that one ended, I doubt there was a dry eye in the house. I shook hands with Vince and stood up.
“You’re the best, Vince.”
“That was a damn treat, Rick. I’ll keep it going.”
We shook hands, and the real stars signed things on our way back to the table. I did my Bogart impersonation while Jadie played off her Ilsa part for the crowd with me. We were a hit for our own group too when we returned to the table. I noticed Jadie continuing her Ilsa act at the table too, giving me the cold shoulder. That was okay, because I figured she knew I wasn’t going to get caught up in anything with her, especially after the run in with Ken. Everyone else, including Detective Captain Staley and his wife were enjoying themselves. Bone’s performance earlier had been a hit, because they were still talking about it.
Then a minor surprise happened. Donald, the gangbanger I’d helped out stopped by the table in his busboy duds. We shook hands, and I introduced him to everyone. He was in shock as he interacted with Karen and Temple. I walked him back to the rear.
“How’d it go today?”
“Excellent, Rick. The Collinswoods are great people to work for. My Grandma’s happy as hell to have me with her too. I’m going to pay you back quick. Mr. Collinswood is even talking about training me in bartending and managing.”
Well, damn, something went right. Maybe it was a sign the karma fairy decided to leave me the hell alone for a while. “That is good news. My advice is don’t drift back over in the ‘banger area even for a visit. They don’t like it when someone makes it in the real world.”
Donald’s face took on a grim cast. He knew what I was talking about. “I’ll stay far away from there, Rick. They’d kill me. I’ve already ditched my cellphone. I’m dropping off their radar for good. You really have a great gig here. I’ll have to make sure I work all the Friday nights. See ya’.”
“Call me if you have trouble.”
He waved without turning, and I went back to the table. Our meals had been served, but there was an ominous silence, and Jadie was glancing up at me with murder in her eyes. I saw Lois trying not to grin, but failing. That could only mean one thing, Lo dropped a bomb, and she liked the crater size it made. I sat down. There was no use in guessing, so I began eating my meal. Thankfully, I did get to finish before Jadie couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Lois told us all about your prison lady friend, a thirty something contract killer, soon to be released.” Icy frost hung all over every word. “You never mentioned having a pen-pal you visit regularly at the Federal pen.”
“In Rick’s defense, I asked him to speak with Rocha,” Staley said. “She wanted to talk with him, but the information didn’t amount to much other than a person of interest we already suspected.”
Jadie never looked away from me. “So, why would you feel obligated to write and see her, Rick?”
I glared at Lois for all the good it would do me. “Oh, because it’s stupid to make enemies out of deadly killers when you can avoid it, even when they’re in prison. Some idiot judge may release them in spite of all logic.”
“Rick’s going to clear things up,” Lois decided to throw gasoline on the flames. “He’s going to Victorville tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll have more information after he meets with Trish then. I wonder if they’ll release her tomorrow. Maybe you could give her a ride home, Rick.”
Karen saw Jadie was about to explode. She hurried around and leaned down to whisper in Jadie’s ear. Jadie began to pull away, but then nodded. The two women left the table. Lois of course didn’t like that maneuver at all by her sister. I was very grateful for it. Temple pointed at Lois.
“You’re mean, Lo! You knew telling Jadie that would make her mental after everything else that’s happened today.”
“If you don’t want to end up dropping down, and giving me twenty-five in that gown, you better keep your little wussy comments to
yourself.”
Temple gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
“Want to bet, Strawberry Shortcake?”
“Ah… no.”
Without Jadie there, Bone wanted some clarification. “You really going up to Victorville tomorrow, Rick?”
“Yeah, I need to figure out what’s on Rocha’s agenda. Bill’s interested in what I can find out from her too. Trish Rocha is not to be messed with.”
“Do you have a plan for when they do let her out?” Bone and Carlene were exchanging concerned looks.
“Actually… no. I figured to know more about what our next move should be after meeting with her. Hell, maybe she’s a born again Christian now. Maybe they converted her in prison for all I know. We don’t talk about much of anything else other than funny stuff. She loves hearing about how I screw up on a daily basis, like in the bar the other night, Bone regaled all of you with earlier. Any smartass remark Lois makes to me, or I manage to get in on her, Trish eats it up. She doesn’t talk about prison, her legal escapades, or problems she’s having. I don’t psychoanalyze her. I just write some funny notes, answer her mail, and stop in once a month. Jadie arrived tonight, raw about her personal goings on, and Lois steamrolled her with Cantelli tales.”
“She’s out of control, brother,” Frank spoke up, and he normally stays silent through everything. He broke the ‘Thou Shalt Not Agree With Cantelli’ commandment to the undiscovered country. “Lo’s like a shark dumped into the tropical fish tank lately.”
“What?!” The laughter at Frank’s unexpected remark, and the fact he simply stared at her without blinking, a slight smile on his face, gave the Gorgon pause. “Did you just say I was out of control?”
“I didn’t stutter, Lo. Is English your second language? That crap you dropped on Jadie was uncalled for and you know it. Rick’s our brother. You’ve taken this penchant you have for stirring up trouble to an uncomfortable level.”
The Gorgon tried to turn him into stone, but her horrific glare of ghastly gaze only provoked a slight chuckle out of my brother by another mother, Frank. I could tell Danny watched the proceedings with interest. “Turn off the retribution eye daggers, hon. I’m immune. When and if Karen and Jadie come back to the table, try and consider their feelings for a moment.”
Rick Cantelli, P.I. Deadly Liaisons (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 2) Page 5