Tom chuckled. ''She'd been cleaning houses for a long time before she started this up. But, lately, she was only cleaning your mother's house and Lin's. She talked her way into Lin's because she wanted to find out more about the bees, see if they'd screw things up. The FBI had been hanging around the port, and Hartley told her what was up. As for your mother, Lourdes had heard around—but not from Hector— that your mother was asking questions. She also heard that she was looking for help. It was a great way to get inside, so to speak.''
''But didn't Hector know Lourdes was the elusive Lucille? Wouldn't he have told my mother?''
''Hector was afraid of Lourdes. He knew what she was up to, but he wanted all the evidence first before he spilled the beans. That day you cut yourself? Hector was staking out the warehouse for us. But he wasn't in on moving everything out. Sam tipped Lourdes on that.''
''So who broke into my mother's house? That seems like a silly thing to do, just for a fax.''
Tom sighed. ''Lourdes wanted to know who was talking to your mother. Hector said she'd seen the fax, but you showed up before she could copy any names down. She saw you go in and look at it and put it in the basket, so she knew it was important. But she didn't want you thinking she had anything to do with it. If the fax disappeared after you saw it, who else would've taken it? Who else had a key to the house? So she had Hector break in. He admits it, but he also admits to telling your mother when he spoke to her next. Lourdes told him to take other stuff, make it really look like a burglary, but he couldn't do it.''
I thought for a second. ''Who put the bees in Vinny's SUV?''
Tom grinned. ''Sam took one of the hives. He wanted to warn you both off. He should've known it would take more than a few bees to get you off the scent of a story.''
''So Garrett Poore had nothing to do with any of this?''
Tom chuckled. ''Besides being an asshole who hires illegals? No.'' He stood up. ''I guess that's it.''
I nodded, following him to the door, but he didn't open it. He turned to me, his face close, and I could see the bright blue of his eyes as he smiled.
''If it doesn't work out with DeLucia, well, you know . . .'' His voice trailed off, and I felt his lips brush my cheek.
But when the door opened, he was all business, shaking my hand at the elevator and thanking me for coming in.
The elevator doors shut and I felt my stomach drop as I went down.
No one was waiting for me when I stepped out and through the glass doors into the lobby. I hadn't asked Tom where Vinny was, or if they were done with him yet.
My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out of my bag. Marty.
''Yeah, I'm on my way,'' I said. ''But I may have to walk. I don't have wheels. So it'll take about half an hour.''
''Sure.'' Marty paused. ''Listen, Annie, I've worked it out with Charlie that you're going to stay on your beat. You and Tom aren't dating anymore, so it shouldn't be an issue, right?''
I felt my heart jump up into my throat. But in a good way. ''Hell, no.''
''Dick needs your help with this story. You can write some, but for obvious reasons, it'll have his byline on it. Okay?''
I didn't have a problem with that. I thought about Tom looking for my notebook. Old habits die hard, on both our parts.
As I ended the call, dropping my phone back in my bag, I pushed open the door and went outside.
Rocco DeLucia was leaning against the side of his Beemer in front of the station.
''My brother's still in there,'' he said, indicating the building behind me, ''but he said I should bring you over to get that piece-of-shit car you rented so you can go to work.''
He opened the door, and I got into the car. I may have still had those damn stitches in my hand, and my body felt like a fucking truck ran over it, but I was in a BMW with heated seats.
Too bad it wasn't mine.
''Do you have enough material for your book now?'' I asked as I settled in.
He nodded as he turned the ignition and the engine started to purr. ''I might want to talk to you about how you got into journalism. I need some backstory for my reporter character.''
A memory nudged me, and I took a deep breath. ''Yeah, sure, I guess so.'' What did I have to lose?
We were quiet for a few minutes. As we reached State Street, Rocco glanced at me. ''Vinny was saying that next weekend we should all go kayaking. You up for that?''
Okay, so maybe Vinny and I would never talk about what had happened four months ago. Maybe we wouldn't talk about what happened on that freighter or what happened afterward.
But who wanted to do all that navel-gazing shit?
We were making plans.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Dead of the Day (2007) Page 29