He glanced toward Burroughs. “We located Chico,” Burroughs said.
Something in his tone suggested that she wasn’t going to like the next part.
“Some fishermen found his body early this morning in Lake Lewisville.”
Jenny swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. Chico had seemed like such a decent guy – if drug dealers could be considered decent. Under his tough-guy performances, she had always suspected there was a kid who’d simply taken a wrong turn somewhere in his life, and perhaps even regretted it. When she’d looked into his eyes she’d never seen the same hard edge that was in Frank’s. She swallowed again. Maybe it was that core of decency that had been Chico’s downfall.
“We think the two guys from Denton are probably floaters somewhere, too. And we’re pretty sure why they were taken out. That place has reeked with internal trouble for a long time.” Burroughs rubbed the back of his neck. “What we can’t figure is why this Chico guy was whacked.”
Gonzales poured a glass of water from the pitcher in the middle of the table and pushed it across to Jenny. “You have any ideas?”
On one hand it was nice to be asked for an opinion; almost made her feel like one of the guys. But it also made her realize how little she did know of this whole underworld of drugs. “To tell you the truth, I was so busy making sure I came across credible I wouldn’t have spotted anything wrong even if I knew what to look for.”
“Did you have a rapport with Chico?” Burroughs asked.
Jenny nodded and took a swallow of water.
“What about this other guy, Frank? You okay with him?”
“He gives me the creeps more than—”
“He try anything else since your midnight ride?” Gonzales asked.
“No. Been pretty much business as usual. But he’s still the silent type. Leon does most of the talking.”
“Has he said anything about the big buy?”
Jenny shook her head, and Gonzales wiped a hand across his cheek. Then he looked to Burroughs. “Think we ought to scrap the whole operation?”
“Do I have a vote?” Jenny asked before the other man even opened his mouth.
“This isn’t a democracy,” Gonzales said.
“I think she knows that,” Steve said. “But she has a right to some input.”
The support was unexpected, and Jenny shot him a quick glance, sending a silent message of thanks. Gonzales watched the exchange and sat silent for a moment.
“Steve’s right,” Burroughs said. “She’s had the most contact and probably knows the temperature better than any of us.”
“We still decide,” Gonzales said.
After waiting for nods of acknowledgement, he gestured to Jenny to go ahead.
“I think I’ve earned their respect.” She glanced quickly at Steve, hoping he wouldn’t mention how exactly she’d done that. “Way I see it, the ride that night was a test. See if I’d scare off.”
She was glad to see a nod of agreement from Burroughs. The support gave her confidence. “So even though Frank doesn’t say much, I think I’m still credible. I’d like to at least make the approach again.”
Gonzales glanced from Steve to Burroughs, one eyebrow raised in question. Burroughs seemed to consider for a moment while he twirled a pen on the table, then he abruptly stopped the motion with the flat of his hand. “It’s worth a try. We can always bail out later if we need to.”
“What do you think?” Gonzales directed that question to Steve.
“She’s got the most on the line,” he said, nodding in Jenny’s direction.
“That’s true,” Gonzales said. “And that’s one reason I’m leery. She’s not a professional, and how do we know revenge isn’t clouding her reason?”
“Because I’m not doing it for revenge.” Jenny could feel a distinct chill permeate the room after that statement, but she didn’t care. She continued in the same controlled tone. “And you’re a sorry son of a bitch if you don’t know my motive by now.”
The chill turned glacial as Gonzales sucked in a quick breath. Jenny held up one hand to deter what she knew was going to be an angry response. “If I only wanted revenge, I would have simply bought a gun and shot the bastards.”
She ignored the slight rustle of movement she heard from Steve and focused on the Chief. As the seconds ticked by, the red in his face slowly gave way to the natural olive color. “You’ve got a point,” he said.
Jenny didn’t risk any more words.
“But any new wrinkle comes along, we shut down.”
“That seems like a good plan,” Burroughs said.
Gonzales kept his dark, cold eyes on Jenny. “We clear on that?”
She nodded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
When Jenny opened the door, she almost fainted. “Ralph? What are you doing here?”
“I came to see what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Carol called—”
“Carol? My friend?”
“Yeah. She got my number from Scott.”
Jenny leaned her head against the edge of the door, her mind in a whirl. Is every fuckin’ thing spinning out of control?
“Are you going to let me in?”
She nodded and stepped away from the door. When he entered, Alicia saw him and bounded up from the sofa. “Daddy!”
She threw herself at him, and Jenny stilled the wild beating of her heart. There had to be a way out. There just had to be.
Ralph put his bag down and drew Alicia into an embrace. “How’s my girl?”
How’s my girl? He can just barge in here and act like it’s just a friendly father visit?
“This isn’t a good time, Ralph.”
He released Alicia and turned to her. “You’re right. We’ll talk after dinner.”
“I’ve got plans.”
“Oh? Something more important than the family?”
Jenny bit her lip hard. How dare he take that tone?
Forcing a calmness she didn’t feel inside, Jenny turned to Alicia. “Why don’t you hang up Daddy’s coat.”
Ralph shrugged out of his overcoat and handed it over. Alicia took it to the front closet then headed down the hall. “I’m going to tell Scott that Daddy’s here.”
Jenny faced Ralph, her voice a low hiss. “Don’t think you can just come in here and take over. You haven’t given a good goddam for too many years to pull this shit.”
“Let’s save it for later. For the kids’ sake.”
“Of course. We’re so concerned...” She let the rest of her thought fade as Scott walked in.
“Hello, Dad.” He gave Ralph an awkward embrace, then stepped back. “I didn’t believe Alicia when she said you were here.”
“Guess I shocked everyone,” Ralph said. “Took a few days off work. Thought it would be a nice surprise.”
Some surprise. But I’d hardly call it nice. Jenny forced a tight smile.
“It’s cool,” Alicia said, snuggling up to the other side of her father. “I like surprises.”
“So how is everything?”
Ralph directed the question to Scott, and in the few seconds it took for him to glance at her, then back to Ralph, Jenny held her breath.
After what seemed like forever, Scott shrugged. “Same ol’ same ol’.”
Jenny didn’t miss the significant pause as Ralph studied their son’s face. Then he put on a broad smile. “How about I take you all out for dinner?”
“Goody. I want McDonald’s,” Alicia said.
“How about some place nicer?” Ralph turned to Jenny. “Is there a family restaurant in town?”
“There’s Randy’s Steakhouse on Main. Scott knows where it is.”
“You’re not coming?”
It was as much challenge as question, but Jenny held her temper. “No. You and the kids can have some time together. It’ll be good.”
His lips worked for a second. Like he was trying to find the right thing to say, then he nodded. “We’l
l talk later.”
It seemed to take forever for Ralph and the kids to get out the door. Alicia decided that she wanted to dress up and scooted off to her room before Jenny could assure her she was fine in her jeans.
Jenny didn’t want to be too obvious about checking her watch, but time was getting critical. She was supposed to meet Leon and Frank in half an hour. It would be a real hassle to try to leave first.
It was only five minutes, but it seemed like forever, before Alicia reappeared. At first glance, she didn’t look much different, but she’d traded rumpled jeans for ones with creases and a t-shirt for a peasant blouse; and her hair was freshly brushed.
“We won’t be long,” Ralph said as he herded the kids out the door.
Jenny almost told him to take his time, but held it back. She smiled at Scott and Alicia. “Have fun.”
After she saw the taillights of Ralph’s rental car round the corner, Jenny ran to her room and changed into one of her “tart” outfits. On the way out she grabbed a jacket, locked the door and raced to her car.
One benefit of small town living was it didn’t take long to get from one place to another. Thank God. She drove to within a block of the high school, found a parking space, and got out. Walking toward the edge of the sport field she heard the hoot of an owl from the stand of trees that bordered the fence. The sound jangled nerves that were already stretched to a breaking point, and sweat pooled in the small of her back despite the cold night air.
A rustle of movement commanded her attention and she saw Leon step out of the trees into the light provided by a moon that was almost full. Frank was a dark silhouette behind him.
“You’re late,” Leon said. “We were about to boogie.”
“Well, I’m here now.” Jenny fought to keep an air of nonchalance in her stance and her voice.
She dug in the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. Leon glanced at it, then at her. “Business drying up?”
“Just a little light this week. You know how it goes.”
“Yeah.” Leon took the money and passed her a bag.
After stashing it inside her jacket, Jenny turned to Frank who hadn’t moved during the entire exchange. “What’s the word on my other deal?”
“What? We don’t even get a little foreplay first?” Leon cast a quick glance at the other man as if seeking his approval for the clever line.
“Sorry,” Jenny said. “It’d be different if we were someplace warm.”
Frank stepped out of the shadows, and Jenny suppressed a shudder when the moonlight touched the ugly scar on his face. “Friday night.”
She was about to ask, Friday night, what? when it hit her. That’s when we make the buy. Despite a surge of excitement and apprehension, she kept her voice steady. “Sure.”
“You’ll have the money?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Three days. That only gave them three days.
“Come here at eight. We’ll take you to the stuff.”
When Jenny got back to her car, her hands shook so bad she dropped the keys twice before she got the door open. Then she sat behind the wheel for a full minute, taking deep breaths to settle the rush of adrenaline. How were they going to pull this together in three days? And what on earth was she to do about Ralph?
A finger of icy air crawled up her leg and reminded her she wasn’t going to solve any of those problems sitting here in a cold car. She brought the engine to life and drove home. If she was lucky, she’d have time to call Steve before Ralph and the kids got back. She had to tell him about the buy. And the complication of Ralph showing up.
As she expected, Steve was as juiced as she was about the buy, but he didn’t share her doubts about pulling things together in time. “We’re pros, remember?”
The little joke eased her tension, and they talked a bit about the logistics of setting up for Friday. Then he asked what he could do to help her handle the situation with Ralph.
“I don’t know. I’m just not sure I can bullshit my way through.”
“Maybe we should talk to him.”
“I thought that was verboten.”
“It is. And I’d rather not. But let me run it by the Chief. Call me later if you need to.”
“Okay.” Jenny kicked off the stiletto heels and rubbed her foot. She would be so glad when she didn’t have to be ‘Connie the tart.’ “I’ll see what I can do when Ralph gets back.”
She heard the front door slam. “They’re home. Gotta go.”
Jenny hung up the phone, stripped off the sleazy clothes and pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt. She took a swipe at the makeup with a tissue, then went out to the living room.
“You stayed home?” Scott’s tone implied the question, but his expression held a hint of challenge.
Jenny considered just letting it go, but her perverse side took over before she could stop it. “I did run up to the store for juice. But I came straight home.”
The minute she saw the look of confusion on Alicia’s face, Jenny regretted taking Scott’s bait. He said nothing, and for a moment they were all caught in a moment so fragile Jenny thought it might break if someone didn’t say something. She went to Alicia and put an arm around her. “That was just way too hateful for me to say,” she said. “I’m sorry.” She directed the final comment to Scott. He gave her nothing in return, standing rigid with his hands deep in his pockets.
The silence was still painful, and Jenny mentally scrambled for something to lower the emotional temperature. Scott finally broke the mood, shifting and making a vague gesture down the hall. “I’ve got to call Caitlin.” He moved toward the darkened hallway. “Thanks for dinner, Dad.”
Jenny let out her breath in a soft whoosh as Scott disappeared into the shadows. Ralph sat down on the overstuffed chair across from the sofa, and Alicia balanced on the arm.
It’s like she’s Velcroed to him. Jenny fought a surge of resentment. It had been weeks since Alicia had snuggled with her. And who’s fault it that?
Oh, shut up.
Noting the contented smile on Alicia’s face, Jenny pushed the resentment aside. It wasn’t productive. For her or her daughter. Better to just let the girl have this time and hope like hell she could go to sleep tonight with a smile.
“You want anything? Coffee?” Jenny asked Ralph.
“Got anything stronger?”
She had to think a minute. It had been so long since she’d entertained – the funeral definitely didn’t count – she couldn’t remember if she had anything besides cooking sherry. Wait. Carol had brought that bottle of Jack Daniels. “Strictly for medicinal purposes,” she’d said. “Beats the hell out of sleepless nights.”
That had been before the funeral, and Jenny had stashed the bottle high above the refrigerator, too afraid to take the first dose.
She pulled herself away from the pain that memory caused. “I might be able to scare up some bourbon.”
“I like it neat.”
“I remember."
Jenny went into the kitchen and dragged the bottle down. She found a reasonably clean small drink glass and poured a couple of inches of amber liquid. She set the bottle down, then thought, what the hell, grabbed another glass and splashed some bourbon in it. Maybe some medicine would help the rest of the evening go down a little easier.
She stepped back into the living room in time to hear Alicia telling Ralph about the recent school trip to the Dallas Art Museum. He appeared to be listening with rapt attention. Does that mean he really cares?
She handed him his drink and nudged Alicia. “Time for bed, Punkin.”
“Aw, Mom.”
“Mom’s right,” Ralph said. “You’ve got school tomorrow.”
The reasonableness of his tone took Jenny by surprise. She’d seldom known him to be reasonable. And back when they’d ‘shared’ responsibility for the kids, he’d seldom backed her in anything. There were times when she’d thought she was raising four kids.
Ralph hoisted Alicia off the arm of the chair. �
�You go get into your PJs and I’ll come look at your painting in a minute.”
He sounded so domestic, Jenny choked on a swallow of bourbon. Who is this man sitting here and what has he done with the real Ralph?
Or was this all part of some plan. Had he come here to take the kids? Was he trying to make it easier by winning them over first?
Jenny studied him, searching for a clue, some indication that he was merely acting. But there was nothing devious in his actions or expression as he kissed their daughter. Alicia came over to Jenny and she gave her a quick hug before sending her down the hallway.
ONE SMALL VICTORY Page 19