Shadows of Doubt

Shadows of Doubt Page 30

by Corcoran, Mell

  “You sure it doesn’t look funny?” She asked, as he nearly walked right into her.

  Vinny threw up his hands. “Lou, for Christ’s sake you look like a blueberry with perfect teeth. How’s that?”

  She closed her mouth and pouted. “Well, there’s no need to get nasty about it!”

  As they rounded the bend they were met by Gabriel Lincoln, the Watch Commander in charge for the shift. He gave them an eyeball and directed them to an unoccupied office.

  “What’s up, Gabe?” Lou asked, knowing the man very well, as did Vinny.

  “Look guys, this really sucks but I got a call from your captain over at Homicide Bureau about ten minutes ago.” He sighed and looked really uncomfortable with the situation. “Lou, he wants you back at the Bureau since you’re on desk duty unless I can give you busy work here.”

  “Are you shitting me?!” Lou could feel the hot molten lava of blood flood into her brain.

  “No, I wish I were. Vinny, you’re supposed to grab one of the guys here to assist you but Lou is prohibited from working the case with you due to her recent reprimand. But I’m going to lunch and will be gone at least an hour and a half so this conversation will not have taken place until at least three. Follow me?

  Lou couldn’t speak. The anger was swirling around her so fast that she couldn’t find a solid word to grab on to.

  “Thanks Gabe, we appreciate it.” Vinny shook the Watch Commander’s hand then turned Lou toward the door so they could utilize the time wisely. “Get your ass moving, kiddo.”

  By quarter after three they had been able to compile a list of known acquaintances to question, addresses, last known place of business and current residence as well as a rough preliminary time line before her captain called her directly at the desk. She had tried to get a word in edgewise but only managed to say ‘sir’ about four times through the entire conversation. He flat didn’t care and wasn’t budging. By the time he hung up on her she was so livid that her head was pounding due to her blood pressure being through the roof, which only made her face throb more.

  “He’s not letting up is he?” Vinny asked as she slammed the phone back into it’s cradle.

  “Freaking protocol and departmental procedure.” She huffed as she leaned back in the rickety chair. “This whole crap about my damaging interdepartmental relationships and lack of regard for politics is going to make me vomit!”

  “Look kiddo, you know I am going to keep you in the loop on this regardless. So don’t sweat it!” He tried tossing a bone to console her.

  “That’s not the point!” She was literally pouting.

  “Listen...” He sighed, not liking what he was going to say. “I don’t mean to salt the wound but I’m going to have to arrange for a uniform to get you home.”

  Lou’s anger was tamped instantly remembering that Max said he was going to have a car waiting for her. She looked at her watch and realized it was almost four already. “Don’t worry about it. I have a ride.” In a moment that made Vinny wonder if Lou was bi-polar she sat up and smiled at him wide. “Are you sure it doesn’t look funny?” She said through her teeth.

  The black town car had been waiting as promised and the apparently mute driver had taken her to the hotel without uttering a single word the entire ride. Lou had instantly recognized the man that was waiting for her in the lobby as the same man who had been with Max on the morgue security tape. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Max and a bit overbuilt for Lou’s tastes which made him feel even more mean despite his extremely jovial and warm greeting. He had introduced himself as Frank Sullivan and was more than happy to meet her as he carefully herded her into the elevator and pushed the button to take them to the penthouse floor. When the lift doors opened she noted the doors to all the suites on the floor were propped open. The elevator was flanked by two enormous men who were dressed in black suits and were obviously armed to the teeth. Lou was apprehensive about getting out of the car until she saw Abby peek her head out one of the doors down the hall and wave at her with a huge smile. This was really odd but curiosity won out over caution.

  Frank directed her down the hall to the opened door across from the room Abby was in. When she stepped in, four more hulking men were seated all around the living area reading papers, working on their laptops or other such busy things. All four of them paused and looked up at her, then each flashed a brilliant smile with hi’s and hello’s followed by ‘Detective Donovan’. It was more than odd, it was flat weird and Lou had no idea what to make of it. There was equipment spread out that made the living area of the suite look like an FBI of Secret Service operation. When that thought occurred to her, Lou’s eyes went wide with the possibilities. Frank escorted her out onto the terrace where she barely felt the cold due to all the patio heaters that were set up sporadically. When she spotted Max and Caroline, of all people, seated at the round garden table, she nearly fell over.

  “What the hell is going on?!” She charged up and glared accusingly at both of them.

  “Can I get you a drink, Detective?” Frank asked from behind her and she simply scowled at him. “Right. Maybe later then.”

  “No, get her a drink Frankie...” Caroline told him. “...something like a mojito. She’s going to need it. Maybe a pitcher even? Please?” She batted her eyelashes at the man and he grinned at her before he went inside to accommodate the request.

  “Frankie?!” She gawked at Caroline. “What the hell? What the hell?!”

  Max rose and pulled out a chair for Lou, trying to contain his grin. “Please sit Detective.” He gestured with his hand in a gentlemanly manner but she only gawked at him too. “Sit? Or would you prefer to stand there gaping for an hour or so?”

  This was the Max she had had so much fun bantering back and forth with on the golf course two days ago and despite the fact that she was livid and in shock over everything, she couldn’t help but notice her heart flutter as he continued grinning at her in that smugly adorable way that he did. She sat with a ‘humph’.

  Caroline knew Lou so well that she could practically hear what was going on in her head and had to stifle a giggle. The chemistry between Max and Lou was intensely palpable and Caroline knew there was no way Lou would be able to walk away from this.

  “Alright Caroline, this is your show, so let’s get it on the road.” Max sat back down next to Lou.

  “Can’t we wait for the cocktails? Loosen things up a bit first?” She tried batting her eyelashes like she had with Frank and to Lou’s surprise, it annoyed her when she tried it with Max.

  “No, we cannot.” He scolded her. “Time is of the essence here and you know it. Besides, Joe is probably talking to Shevaun as we speak so lets get on with it.”

  “Wait a minute here!” Lou wanted to get out of her chair and stomp. “Joe is talking to my mother about what?” She nearly got whiplash looking from Caroline to Max and back again. Max placed his hand over hers in a calming gesture which she normally would have ripped away and quite possibly popped him in the nose, but she didn’t.

  “It’s all fine, please don’t panic, Please listen to what Caroline has to say then we will get to everything, I promise.” He looked her tenderly in the eyes as he spoke and gently squeezed her hand to reassure her. She didn’t know why it helped her to not freak out, but it did. He did. He nodded to Caroline to start.

  “Okay sweetie, well, you remember how I had dinner with my uncle and my parents the other night and how I told you I had food poisoning?” When Lou nodded at her s
he continued. “Well, I didn’t really have food poisoning and I am so sorry I lied! But I had some seriously heavy shit laid on me by and about my family that I had to deal with and couldn’t talk to you about it until now.” Caroline looked at Max and he nodded to her with a smile. “What I need to tell you is pretty heavy duty but it involves you similarly to how it involved me. But it also has stuff to do with these cases and all kinds of things that I just know you will be glad for afterward. But I need you to have an open mind and remember it’s me that’s talking to you and telling you all this. Can you do that for me?” Caroline took the same tactic that her uncle had in explaining the Sanguinostri to her and when Lou said okay, she told her the whole story. The same story her uncle had told her with a few minor modifications here and there that suited Lou’s logic better.

  When Frank came with the pitcher of mojitos, Lou barely noticed he was there and sat staring at Caroline, absolutely rapt with interest. She hadn’t noticed when he poured them, when Max slid a glass into her hand or when she had drunk half of it. In fact, she hadn’t noticed much of anything as every word Caroline uttered sank in and made connections in her head. It was only after Caroline had explained that Joe’s family had been Sanguinostri since well, forever, that Lou finally spoke up.

  “So Joe opted not to turn or tell my mother any of this to protect her and me? For all these years?” She looked at Max when she asked and he simply nodded. “So this is what he is talking to her about right now? Is that what you meant earlier?” Max nodded again and remained quiet. “Go on.” She said as she looked back to Caroline. The implications of everything slowly sinking in. It was then that Caroline started a cursory explanation of the vast infrastructure of the Sanguinostri and how mucked up the West Coast had gotten, thus Max and the Aegis Council shifting bases. She explained how they all worked as a single unit regardless of what actual agency they worked for in the normal world, as it were. That they all held justice in the highest regard without political bureaucracy or red tape of any sort. When Lou raised her right hand to drink from her freshly refilled glass, she realized that Max had been holding her other hand, and she his, but for how long she really couldn’t say. She started to think when it was they had started holding hands but something Caroline had just said snapped her back to the real situation at hand.

  “Wait a minute!” Lou pulled her hand away from Max and looked at them. “Did you just say that the LAPD detectives that are handling all three of those cases are your people? Sanguinostri people?”

  Max leaned back in his chair now and looked at Caroline. “This is where it might be best if I take over, Caroline.” She nodded at him, then gulped her drink nervously. “Yes Detective, we arranged for Sanguinostri officers to take charge of the cases. Due to ineffective management, which I am in the process of rectifying, we do not have such a solid presence within your agency. Only a few select people who have risen in rank to more administrative positions.”

  “Then why the hell can’t I work on the cases? If you’re the grand poohbah with all your higher standard, black and white justice without loopholes and red tape and all that other crap that I am sick to death of! You’re obviously telling me all this for a reason, so fix it!” She actually poked him in the shoulder in a demanding gesture and heard someone snort and laugh inside the suite.

  “Well, it isn’t all that simple now, is it?” He cocked his head sideways and smiled at her.

  “Well it should be! Just make it be!” She mocked him and cocked her head in the same manner he had at her.

  “Lou, we are talking about my people here...” He placed his hand gently on her knee as he leaned in to speak carefully to her. “...an entire genus of people that I must protect and keep secret from the masses at all costs. I need you to understand that and be clear about exactly why it is we are telling you all of this.”

  “Lou, sweetie.” Caroline interrupted for a minute. “These are my people too. My family. That was why my parents came into town. I had to learn and accept that and vow to hold them above all others. I couldn’t do that, even though it’s my parents we are talking here, unless it included you, too.”

  “We hold humankind in the highest regard. We are all intrinsically linked, but our people...” Max gestured to Caroline and himself. “... must come first for the sake of our most basic survival. The secret must be kept and protected. We must be kept and protected and in turn a great part of that is the protection of the average person as well.”

  “So you want me to swear my life for the protection of the Sanguinostri? Above all other oaths including as a police officer?” She looked at him intently.

  “It’s not necessarily one or the other. It’s in addition to. Of course with ours being the first priority.” He made it sound so simple.

  “So I would have to lie to Vinny.” Her partner sprang to mind instantly and she got up to pace.

  Max sighed. “We need good people but that is something you need to consider carefully before you ask me to involve him. It’s a domino effect so to speak.”

  Lou thought about her partner, his wife and their baby on the way. When she thought about him she understood Joe’s reasoning for keeping it all from her mother and her for so long. She understood it all, oddly enough, and it made perfect sense to her.

  “I need to talk to my mother. Now.” She spun towards Max and demanded.

  Max nodded, understanding. “She and Joe are on their way as we speak. She demanded the exact same thing of him before she would make a decision.”

  “What about my uncle? My cousins?” She hated the thought of ever lying to her uncle.

  Max had thought of all this before Caroline had come up with her plan, which he had to admit was working out brilliantly. But he had come to terms with himself, and admitted to Frank, Abby and the others that he would pretty much agree to whatever terms Lou set for him in order to have her agree to be indoctrinated. “That will be for your mother and you to discuss and decide. But I am open to whatever you need to be true to you’re heart in all of this.” He stood up and walked to her, taking her hands in his. “I want you to be happy, Lou. I don’t want to make your life miserable or more complicated than it already has been. I am not going to force you to live a life you cannot be content with. That is the exact opposite of what I want for you.”

  She looked up into his eyes and knew without a shadow of a doubt that he meant every word he was saying. God help her, she trusted him completely.

  “Tallulah.” The sound of Lou’s mother’s voice had her spinning around so fast she got dizzy, but she saw Abby leading her out onto the terrace.

  “Momma!” She ran to her mother and threw her arms around her.

  “Are you okay, sweet pea? I know this is all a bit hard to take in.” Shevaun smoothed Lou’s hair back and tucked a few stray strands behind her ear, looking at her with great concern. “Joe is so worried that you hate him now!”

  “What? That is ridiculous!” If anything, Lou had a greater love and respect for Joe given everything he sacrificed to protect her mother and her.

  “Let me give you ladies some time to yourselves and I’ll see to Joe and perhaps some dinner.” Max brushed his hand across Lou’s back ever so lightly as he walked past her and smiled softly to Shevaun as he turned for the door.

  Lou grabbed his hand before he could go and he whipped around, wide eyed at her gesture. “Please make sure Joe knows I love him? And don’t go too far away, please?”

  His heart skipped several beats at her requests and he flashed her such a smile that he felt like the sky wouldn’t be able t
o contain it. He nodded and squeezed her hand before she let go. He caught a glimpse of Caroline before he crossed the threshold and she was bouncing in her chair, grinning from ear to ear.

  Shevaun dragged Lou to the table, holding her hand tight as they sat, then she took Caroline’s hand in her other. Are you girls alright? Caroline, Joe told me you took the Oath, are you okay? Your parents must be so relieved!”

  “I am wonderful, truly Mrs. McAllister. Especially now that you and Lou are here. You two were my only deal breakers on this.” She pulled her chair in to sit closer to them.

  Lou pushed her glass in front of her mother then took Max’s and drank deeply.

  “So I guess we need to make a decision here, don’t we?” Shevaun spoke up after taking a healthy sip from her drink. “Quite an intense whammy we got tossed in our laps. The funny thing is, it’s not as overwhelming as it probably should be, ya know what I mean? The truth is, and I don’t mean this to put any pressure on you baby but, you’re the only hitch in the giddy-up here.”

  “What do you mean me?” Lou goggled at her mother.

  “Well its your willingness to put this above your job and all. Even thought it’s the whole ‘protect and serve’ thing but on such a more ginormous scale now, isn’t it?” Shevaun looked over at Caroline. “Who knew? But anyway, for me its simple if you’re taken out of the equation.” She shrugged her shoulders then took another sip of her drink.

  “Again I ask, what do you mean, Momma?”

  “Sweetheart, Joe has been carrying this around with him as a secret to protect us for over twenty-five years. He loves us that much and has sacrificed for my sake and the sake of my daughter. You and I know what a good man he is and if he holds the Sanguinostri in such high regard, well it’s just a no-brainer for me. Bring it on I say! Plus all the good they do, protecting us from them and ourselves. I think we could learn a lot from them if you ask me.”

 

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