''Actually, the other guy doesn't look like anything, which is how your mother was able to get me out of there. He can't prove that I even touched him.''
''Did you?''
''Did I what?''
''Touch him? Hit him, you know.''
My mother shot me a look that said I should shut up, but it was too late.
Vinny shrugged. ''I tried.''
''So what about the charges?''
Vinny gave me a wan smile and indicated my mother. ''She's good. She's really good. Hector decided not to pursue it after all. My record remains squeaky clean.''
My mother pursed her lips into a thin, tight line but she didn't say anything.
Within minutes we were careening back to Wooster Square, holding onto the seats to make sure we didn't go flying out the window as my mother cluelessly put our lives in danger. We were back in front of my brownstone in no time. I opened my door to get out at the same time Vinny did. My mother kept the car running.
''You're leaving?'' I asked her, now out of the car and leaning down through the open passenger door.
She nodded, glanced at Vinny, and said, ''Stay away from there.''
Vinny shut the back door and I shut the front, and my mother shot out of there like a fucking rocket. I raised my eyebrows at Vinny. ''What'd we say?''
He shook his head.
''So what happened?'' I asked as we climbed the steps to my apartment.
''I went over there. I knew it was him; he's the one who hit you yesterday. I was pissed.'' He said it so matter-of-factly. ''I banged on the door, he came out, I tried to hit him, but he was too fast for me. He ducked and then slugged me. I had no idea he'd be that fast.''
I turned on the light as we got into my living room; Vinny shut the door behind me. ''Marisol called the cops, they came, Hector said I hit him, even though I was fucking bleeding and he didn't have a goddamn scratch on him.'' His voice got louder; he was getting pissed again. ''Said I was trespassing, assaulted him, so the cops carted me away. End of story.''
He had been pacing in front of my couch and sud
denly stopped, staring at me. ''We have to go back over there.''
I frowned. ''Do you think that's a good idea? I mean, he already had you arrested.''
''No, I have to get my Explorer.''
It wasn't until after we called Rocco for a ride that I realized Vinny had mentioned Marisol. By name.
''You know, you shouldn't go over there,'' I reminded him again. ''Rocco and I can go.''
''I'm not going to go bust up Hector or his house. I'm just going to get my SUV. It's parked in the street. Last I looked, that was public property,'' he said. I couldn't argue with that.
Rocco's BMW pulled up against the curb. Vinny opened the back door, and I ducked inside, again breathing in the scent of fine leather. Vinny got into the front passenger seat.
''Want heat back there?'' Rocco asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
''Sure.'' And, within seconds, I could feel the heat through my thighs in a very intimate way. I looked at Vinny and felt myself go even warmer. This wouldn't do. It wasn't the time or the place for me to get frisky. ''No, you should turn it off,'' I said. Rocco turned a knob and I settled back, hoping that Hector wasn't home and that there wasn't going to be another altercation.
Again it was bugging me: How did Vinny know Marisol? I'd told him about Marisol and Rocco, but never said where Marisol lived or that Hector was her brother and lived with her. All I knew for sure was that he had been going to meet her in Rocco's stead at the Laundromat. Which raised another question: How had he known whom to look for that day?
I started asking him questions when we were still at my place, but he'd managed to evade answering by asking for an ibuprofen, and by the time I'd gotten him the bottle and some water, Rocco was laying on the horn downstairs like there was no tomorrow.
A newspaper was on the seat next to me, and I picked it up. Today's Herald. I scanned the front page and the city pages to see about the warehouse raid, but nothing. Maybe they didn't do it.
My stomach growled. Loud enough for those in the front to hear.
Vinny twisted around a little to look at me. ''Once we get the Explorer, we'll go get something to eat, okay?''
''Sure.'' I paused. ''Vinny, how did you know who Marisol is?''
''Marisol?'' he asked innocently.
''Jesus, Vinny, you said she called nine-one-one. How do you know her? I know Rocco knows her.''
But in an instant, with just one look from Rocco to Vinny, I knew. It wasn't Rocco. Vinny knew Marisol, and because they looked so much alike, she must have gotten them confused from a distance when Rocco and I had been there on Saturday.
''Jesus, why didn't you tell me?'' I demanded. ''Why did you let me think she knew Rocco and not you?''
The brothers shrugged at the same time. Sort of like those annoying Doublemint gum commercials with the twins.
''Assholes,'' I muttered.
They both snickered, and I ignored them, looking out the window but not really seeing anything. My hand had started hurting again, interrupting the throbbing pain that followed my spine from my neck down to my ass. I looked at my thumb and saw it was even redder now than it had been this morning. Somehow I didn't think that was a good thing.
We turned onto Blatchley Avenue and I saw Marisol's house up the block. I glanced around for Vinny's Explorer, but didn't see it.
''Where's your SUV?'' I asked.
''Shit,'' Vinny muttered.
Chapter 26
While I'd lost two vehicles within the last couple of days, now Vinny had lost one. Rocco nervously patted his steering wheel.
Before any of us could say anything, however, Marisol stepped out onto the stoop and made her way down the stairs.
A car pulled up, a green Honda that was a little too familiar and a little banged up, with a long white streak along the side. It had scalped the Kia and was wearing its war paint proudly.
Marisol opened the door and climbed inside. We were too far away to see who was driving, but I was willing to bet it was Hector.
''Do we follow them?'' I asked as the car did a Uturn and headed in the opposite direction.
Vinny nodded. ''But slowly,'' he told his brother. ''We can't let them know we're here.''
We were in Fair Haven in a bright white, brandnew BMW. We were goddamn targets as far as I could see, but who was looking?
Something caught my eye, and I leaned forward a little more. Vinny's hand was clutching his gun.
''Do you think you'll need that?'' I asked, uncertain what he thought we were going up against.
''Never know.'' His eyes remained on the Honda, which now turned and disappeared to the right.
We were nearing the water and the warehouse that housed the sweatshop. I squinted ahead, looking for signs that the cops had been there, but didn't see anything.
''Damn,'' Rocco muttered. ''I don't know where they went.''
Vinny and I looked down the couple of streets we were passing, but the car had vanished. Now we were right next to the warehouse and the lot where I'd last seen my Honda Accord. It was gone, but something familiar was lurking there.
''Stop,'' I said. ''Stop right here.''
The car screeched to a halt, with both brothers watching me. ''What's up?'' Rocco asked.
I pointed.
Dick Whitfield was squatting in the middle of the lot, touching something on the ground.
Rocco backed up a little, and I rolled down my window.
''Hey, Dick, what did you find?'' I called out.
He looked up, waved, and got to his feet. The three of us were out of the car already and jogging toward him.
Dick frowned at Vinny. ''What happened to you?''
''Did you find something?'' Vinny asked, ignoring his question.
Dick shrugged. ''I don't know.'' He held out his hand. ''What do you think?''
It was an ID card, with an official-looking insignia that indicated Carmen Per
ez—the picture looked like the same Carmen I'd talked to in the mailroom at the Herald—was in the U.S. legally.
Vinny took it from Dick and held it close, inspecting it with his good eye. ''Fake,'' he said flatly.
''How do you know?'' Dick asked.
I didn't want to admit it, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it, either. I'd seen some pretty piss-poor fake IDs in the past, but this looked legit, down to the holograms and fingerprint.
Vinny shrugged and stuck it in his jacket pocket, looking at the ground. ''Do you see any others?''
We walked around, our heads bowed as we searched, but didn't see any more. When we congregated back near the fence, that's when we noticed Dick was no longer with us.
''Where the hell did he go?'' I asked no one in particular.
Vinny was one step ahead of me. He was already to the spot where I'd fallen the other day, and Rocco and I followed him around the back of the building. A door stood ajar.
There were a lot of words to describe what it was like inside, but cavernous was the first that leaped to mind.
It was empty. Not a stick of furniture, not a scrap of paper, no signs of life anywhere. The electricity was still pumping its way inside, however, because when Vinny hit the switch, the lights illuminated the space and cast weird shadows across the floor.
The ceiling was high, and I spotted stairs leading up toward the back. Vinny bounded across the room and up the stairs before any of us could move. I took a couple of steps and heard him shout, ''Nothing up here, either.''
''Something was going on here just two days ago,'' I insisted when Vinny joined us downstairs again. ''Hector was keeping watch.''
''They probably caught wind of the raid,'' Vinny said. ''They moved it somewhere else.''
I thought about the card in Vinny's pocket. ''What do you think they were doing here?'' I asked. ''Was it really a sweatshop, or were they making fake green cards here?''
Vinny shrugged, but he didn't say anything. I thought I saw something cross his face, like he knew but wasn't going to tell. He flicked the light switch off.
Dick was standing in the doorway, his skinny frame a dark silhouette against the gray sky outside. ''Annie, I thought you were in a car accident,'' he said.
''Yesterday, Dick. I'm okay today.'' Although my back was screaming that it wasn't okay. I ignored it. ''Why are you here?''
''Marty told me to come check out the warehouse. Wesley and I came by last night, but no one was here. There was no raid. I figured maybe they'd just moved it to another time. I didn't know there wouldn't be anything here.''
Vinny put his hand in between my shoulder blades and nudged me toward the door. ''Well, since nothing's happening here, we've got some stuff to do. Nice to see you, Dick,'' he said as we squeezed past, with Rocco on our heels.
Dick scampered out after us. ''Where are you going?''
''We're taking Annie home so she can get some rest,'' Vinny said as Rocco unlocked the car doors. ''You might want to get out of here. Considering the body in Annie's car and all.''
Dick's head swiveled as he checked out the environs. I spotted his Prius parked just outside the fence.
''Tell Marty I'll call him later,'' I said. ''I have to get myself a car.'' And as I said it, I knew I was going to have to go back to the rental place and report the accident. I'd need the police report, so when we were settled back in the BMW, I asked Rocco to take me to the station so I could get it.
He nodded, glancing in the rearview mirror. ''You know, he's watching us.''
I turned around to look out the back window and immediately regretted it. My back felt like it was going to split in two like a goddamn twig. But Rocco was right. Dick was moving around the fence, heading toward his car, but still staring at the back of the BMW, looking like an idiot.
Suddenly, at the next intersection, a car whooshed past us without even stopping.
It was as if it were in slow motion, the back of a green Honda, as it moved away from us and closer and closer to Dick.
It didn't slow down.
Chapter 27
Rocco slammed on the brakes as I screamed, seeing Dick's body bounce against the chain-link fence, the green car speeding up, careening up a side street, and disappearing.
I don't remember running to Dick, but suddenly I was there, with Vinny and Rocco next to me.
Dick had slumped down against the fence, his head hanging between his knees, which were pressed against his chest.
Vinny stooped down next to him and patted his back. ''Dick, Dick, are you okay?''
Dick raised his head, his eyes glassy as he looked from Vinny to me to Rocco and back to Vinny. ''Yeah,'' he whispered. ''What the fuck?''
My sentiments exactly.
Vinny was standing now, his hand out to Rocco. ''Give me the keys.''
Rocco didn't want to give Vinny his keys. There had already been three vehicle casualties and I didn't really blame him for not wanting to see his pristine Beemer in any shape except perfect. But Vinny was the older brother, and the look on his face told Rocco that he'd beat the crap out of him if he didn't do as he was told.
The keys fell into Vinny's hand, and he raced back to the car. Rocco stared after it wistfully as it followed the same route as the Honda.
I looked at the Prius. Rocco and I were going to have to get Dick out of there. Dick had started hyperventilating.
I wanted to tell him to buck up. But I'd probably be a wreck, too, after being almost sideswiped by a car. So I couldn't really fault him.
''Come on, Dick, let's get out of here,'' I said as Rocco helped him up. ''Where are your keys?''
Dick sobered up pretty quickly at that. ''I can drive.''
Rocco smiled condescendingly. ''No, Dick. You're too shaken up. We'll give you a ride. We shouldn't stick around here, just in case the guy comes back to finish the job.''
I was glad Rocco said that and not me.
Dick's eyes narrowed as he studied Rocco. ''Okay,'' he said finally, pulling the keys out of his pocket and handing them to Rocco.
''Are you sure you're okay?'' I asked Dick. ''Do you need to go to the emergency room or anything?''
Dick rolled his shoulders and stretched out his neck. ''No. He didn't hit me. I'm okay. Do you know who it was?''
Rocco and I exchanged a look.
''We're not sure,'' I said slowly.
We climbed into the Prius, which was a pretty damn nice car. It was almost as spotless as Vinny's Explorer, and it still had that new-car smell. How much were they paying him?
A few CDs were on the backseat, and I picked them up so I could sit down. No Rolling Stones or White Stripes here. No, Dick had Norah Jones and Josh Groban. Figured. I was surprised he didn't have the CD by the latest American Idol. But then, it might be in the glove box up front.
Rocco was having a hard time with the fact that the Prius didn't make any noise when you turned on the ignition, it being an electric/gasoline hybrid. He kept turning the key, until Dick pointed out that the car was on and he should just start driving.
Rocco turned carefully up a side street, heading back downtown. ''Annie needs to stop at the police station for her police report,'' he explained to Dick. ''From there, we'll go to the airport for a new rental car, and you can head back to the paper. Is that a plan?''
I could see Dick was starting to figure out that we needed transportation, and that was why we'd commandeered his Prius.
I wondered where Vinny had gone, if he'd managed to find the green Honda. I hoped he wasn't going to get himself arrested again.
Dick was trying to figure out what was going on.
''So who was in that car that almost hit me?'' he asked as we pulled up to the police station.
I opened the door and got out, leaving Rocco to deal with Dick. I went inside and told the dispatcher what I was there for. Fortunately, the report was waiting for me—with a note from Tom.
''When you get the car thing straightened out, go home and stay there. I'll come by
this afternoon.''
I glanced at my watch. It was this afternoon already, and I wasn't sure just when Tom thought he was going to find me home. I took the report and went back to the Prius, where Rocco was trying not to answer Dick's questions. He knew, like I did, that the less Dick knew, the better.
Dead of the Day (2007) Page 19