Double Espresso (A Loretta Kovacs thriller)

by Anthony Bruno

  Annette gripped Marvelli’s forearm. “No, Frank,” she commanded as if she were telling a dog to sit.

  Yes, Loretta thought. Say yes!

  Marvelli looked at Jennifer and let out a long sigh. “All right, do it,” he finally said to Alan.

  “No!” Annette yelled. “I’ll turn you in. I’ll turn all of you in.”

  “Mom!”

  Marvelli covered Annette’s hand with his. “Listen,” he said softly as he pointed at Sammy. “I never believed this mook was capable of murder. I mean, look at him. He’s an English major, for chrissake.”

  “I don’t care,” Annette said. “I don’t want him near—”

  “No, no, don’t talk. Just listen to me. Sammy’s like a boomerang. Even if we take him back to Jersey, eventually he’ll show up here again looking for Jennifer. And if he does go back to Jersey, he’ll probably go back to hanging out with his mob pals. Better to let him stay here with Jennifer and start a new life.” He turned to Sammy. “You are planning on turning over a new leaf, aren’t you, Sammy?”

  He raised his hand as if he were swearing on the Bible. “Swear to God, Frankie. I was thinking maybe I could teach high-school English or something.”

  “There you go,” Marvelli said.

  Annette didn’t seem totally convinced, but she wasn’t squawking.

  Loretta suddenly noticed that Alan was hovering over her. She looked up at him and saw his puppy-dog eyes gazing down on her. He obviously still had a crush on her, and she felt for him, so she stood up and gave him a hug. “Thank you for doing this,” she said. Then she took him by the elbow and hustled him back toward the computer. “Come on, let’s take care of Sammy’s file before there’s a thunderstorm or something. The weather’s very unpredictable in Seattle.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Alan said, stopping short. He pulled out two diskettes from his shirt pocket. “I was doing a little hacking at home, and I got into this guy Tino’s computer in New Jersey. I remembered you and Marvelli talking about him. Well, I downloaded all his files. I didn’t read very much of it, but from what I saw, he seems to be in the medical-supply business.”

  Marvelli overhead him, and his jaw dropped. He stared at the diskettes in Alan’s hand as if they were the Holy Grail. “Tino must’ve kept the books for Taffy. Bingo!” Marvelli was smiling like the sun.

  “So do you want these?” Alan asked.

  “Oh, by all means,” Marvelli said, taking the diskettes. He held them like playing cards. They were his winning hand. “Say good night, Taffy.”

  “Alan.” Loretta tugged on his sleeve.

  “Hmmm?”

  “Sammy’s file. Come on, let’s go.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Alan lumbered back to the computer.

  Loretta went with him to make sure he didn’t get distracted.

  Later that night, Marvelli, Annette, and Loretta were at the airport, sitting in the waiting area of their terminal, waiting for their plane to board. They were taking the red-eye, but there was going to be a forty-minute delay before takeoff. Loretta was trying to doze, but Annette’s nonstop complaining and the uncomfortable molded plastic chair conspired to keep Loretta from getting any rest.

  “This is ridiculous,” Annette said to anyone who was listening. She was sitting in the middle between Loretta and Marvelli. “First of all, I don’t know why we have to take this midnight flight. Second, I want to know why planes always have to be late. I mean, what’s the problem now? They got a traffic jam up there?”

  Marvelli mumbled something consoling, and Loretta closed her eyes, trying to tune Annette out. She wanted to tune everything out. She felt a little foolish having made a big deal about deleting Sammy’s records from the Bureau of Parole’s computers. Maybe she was being a little too obvious. And for what? Nothing was ever going to happen with her and Marvelli. Even without Jennifer in the mix, the cards were still stacked against them. Annette was one hurdle; the fact that they worked together was another; and then there was Marvelli himself. He wasn’t interested in her, not that way. Loretta was embarrassed for ever thinking she could make something happen. Maybe she should go to law school in Chicago, she thought.

  “These airlines should be sued when they pull this kind of crap,” Annette carried on. “What do they expect us to do? Just sit here and twiddle our thumbs?”

  “You know, I just thought of something,” Marvelli said. “We didn’t buy anything for Nina. I always get her a souvenir whenever I’m away.”

  “Your own daughter you forget,” Annette scolded. “You ought to be ashamed.”

  “There’s a gift shop down the corridor,” Marvelli said. “Why don’t you go get her something, Annette? I don’t know what she likes.”

  “And why don’t you know what she likes?”

  Marvelli took a twenty-dollar bill out of his wallet. “Here. Get her something she’ll like. I know I’ll buy the wrong thing if I go.”

  Annette snatched the twenty out of his hand and struggled out of her seat. “This won’t be enough,” she said, waving the twenty at him.

  He gave her another twenty. “Get her something nice,” he said with a nod and a smile.

  She sniffed at him and stalked off. Annette wasn’t that big, but there was something about her walk that reminded Loretta of a mountain gorilla.

  Finally I can get a little rest, she thought as she closed her eyes and propped her cheek on her fist.

  “You sleeping?” Marvelli asked softly.

  Loretta thought about pretending. “No,” she finally said. “I’m awake.”

  He got out of his seat and took Annette’s. His shoulder was pressing against Loretta’s.

  “You know, I didn’t tell you the other night. You looked pretty good all dolled up.”

  She frowned at him. “I looked like a hooker.”

  “Maybe a little, but you still looked good. I was jealous.”

  She shifted in her seat to face him. “Jealous of what?”

  “You being with Taffy.”

  She just looked at him. She didn’t know what to say.

  “I was thinking,” he said, “when we get back maybe you’ll let me take you out to dinner sometime. What do you think?” His eyes were so dark they were almost black. They shined like polished onyx.

  He shrugged. “If you don’t want to, that’s okay.”

  “No, no. I want to.” His face was less than a ruler’s length from hers.

  He shifted his position, turning sideways as best he could, then reached over and found her hand lying on her thigh. He ran his index finger gently down the length of hers, which relayed a parallel tingle down her spine.

  A ruler, she thought. Twelve inches and closing in fast.

  She swallowed hard, her breath getting ragged. She could feel his breath on her chin.

  “Marvelli?” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “Do you think this is a good idea?” “Yes,” he said without hesitation.

  Suddenly she was soaring. Her heart was a spinning gyroscope in the nose of a rocket.

  He moved closer, and his nose touched hers. She closed her eyes and parted her lips slightly. She felt limp and wired at the same time. His hand covered hers, closing over her fingers.

  “Loretta, I—”

  “I can’t find it!”

  Loretta’s eyes shot open, and she abruptly jerked her head away. Annette was charging across the carpeting, coming toward them, mad again.

  “There’s no shop down there,” she said accusingly, standing over them with her arms crossed over her chest.

  Marvelli had let go of Loretta’s hand as soon as they’d heard Annette’s voice. Loretta’s nerves were jangling, and she felt moist all over.

  “I said I can’t find it, Frank,” Annette repeated. “What’re we gonna do? We gotta get something for Nina.”

  “Ah … I’ll show you where it is,” Marvelli said. “Come on.”

  Marvelli got out of his seat, but his eyes were on Loretta as he straig
htened the collar of his jacket.

  “Later,” he mouthed silently.

  Loretta watched them walk back down the corridor, the mountain gorilla and her hunky son-in-law. She grinned to herself, wishing the plane would hurry up and take them home.

  Never has anyone wanted to be in New Jersey so much, she thought.

  She was feeling electric, as if she’d just had a whole pot of espresso.