by Allyn Lesley
She felt puckered lips—beyond soft lips that made her sigh—kiss her lower belly.
Followed by another that lingered near her navel.
“Oh, Jesus...”
She parted her thighs. His long fingers pushed into her then pulled out of her body, but not all the way. They both heard the slickness of her body’s reaction to him. His fingers disappeared again.
“Only me.” Noah’s warm breath washed over her and sent tingles of arousal where she needed his attention the most.
Ring.
His head popped up.
Avi sat up, blinking and focusing on Noah, who looked around in confusion.
He backed away from between her legs.
Avi lay there pliant and ready.
Ring.
He stood and swiped a hand down his face in frustration, smelling her in the process. He could kill whoever was calling right now.
“Of all the fucking times...” he grumbled, walking away. “Stay there, Avi,” he called over his shoulder, expecting her to follow his order. Reaching the far corner of the room, where a dark colored dresser stood, he grabbed the disposable cell phone from it. “What?”
“Hello?” The voice was out of breath.
Facing the wall, he whispered as low as he could, “Speak to me.”
Noah turned back to Avi, who was busy picking up clothing from the floor. He sighed.
“I’ve got a name,” Harry said.
“Uh huh.” Noah snapped his fingers.
Avi’s head sprang up.
Noah held up a finger.
She continued gathering her clothes.
This damn woman—
“Got it earlier from a CI.”
Noah’s thoughts were no longer on Avi. He walked toward the bathroom for some privacy.
Harry rushed down the sidewalk. “I swear somebody is following me.”
He walked to his car parked two blocks from the police station, hitting the key-fob and hustling inside. He took out his badge, displaying it, then went for his department-issued gun.
Harry blew out a noisy breath, placing his key in the ignition. “Ido. Ido from Queens. Look, I have to go.” Harry chuckled nervously. Whipping his head around to check for oncoming traffic, he turned forward then started the car and was about to reverse when a figure loomed near.
His hand covered his weapon he’d laid on his legs. Whoever was back there would have a fight on their hands. His growing family needed him more than ever.
“Look into that name,” Harry requested, ending the call.
The shadow approached, but Frank’s familiar face was illuminated by the streetlight.
Harry placed the gun in his holster then swung his door open. “What the hell are you doing lurking about? You almost gave me a damn heart attack.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry. You booked it out of there pretty fast.” Frank’s chest heaved from exertion. “That toxicology report finally came back.”
Harry left the car. “And?”
“Fentanyl was found in the chef’s system.”
With one hand on the door handle, Noah rested his head on the door.
He walked back into an empty bedroom.
She gave a final wave to Sofie and watched as the chauffeured car drove away.
I still can’t believe Jayson left me, knowing he was my ride home. He didn’t owe her anything, because it wasn’t like they were in a relationship, but he still could have been a gentleman and told her he wasn’t staying.
Oh, well. Another reason she was glad she decided they would only be friends. Avi walked up the front steps and through the security door. Once inside, she considered bypassing the metal mailboxes in the lobby, but decided against it. Dropping her bag near the steps that led to the hallway, she walked over. Her keys jingled with each step she took.
When she grabbed the few letters from the box, something fluttered to the floor. Avi picked up a white card with numbers scrawled across it in a handwriting that rivaled her students’ amateur penmanship. Her fingers ran over the thick embossing. Her heart hammered away when she spied the New York Police department logo.
Her brief interactions with law enforcement agencies were behind her. She was trying to move on. What the hell was this about? Hadn’t her weekend been crappy enough? The two lines of text printed on the cardstock brought beads of perspiration along her upper lip.
“Harry Manning.”
Avi replayed the tongue-twister names of the men and women who had inserted themselves into her life three years ago.
Manning? Manning?
The name didn’t ring a bell.
The names of all the cops and FBI agents who had made Avi feel like a common criminal were forever etched in her brain, but this Harry Manning was nowhere in her memory bank.
A shiver ran down her spine.
Her skin prickled.
Did any of her neighbors see this Harry Manning leave his card? She was a law-abiding citizen and made sure all her T’s were crossed and I’s dotted. She was meticulous about remaining on the straight and narrow.
So why would a New York City detective be looking for me?
Two weeks had passed, and she still had no answers.
Avi had no answers, because she was too much of a coward to call the number.
The card sat on her dining table, mocking her along with the most recent letters she needed to return to their sender. She blew out a breath and moved away from the kitchen window. She prayed the business card had nothing to do with Ellie. The card glared at her. She had been ambushed once and promised herself she would never be caught unawares again.
Sitting down, she grabbed her cell from the table and dialed the unfamiliar number. She sent up a silent prayer. She didn’t need any bad news.
“Speak to me,” the voice answered in a rush.
“Hello?” Avi said. “This is Avianna Linton. A business card was left—”
“A-Avi...”
Avi raised a skeptical brow. His use of her nickname stiffened her back and solidified her distrust. “This is Avianna Linton. I don’t know who you are, but—”
His deep chuckles halted her tongue-lashing. She drummed her fingers on the table.
“Avi. I mean Avianna.” Harry laughed again. “You sound so much like her,” he said wistfully.
“I don’t know you or whoever this her is.” Avi shook her head, reminding herself to be courteous. “I’m calling to speak with Detective Manning.”
She heard rustling and movement on the other end of the line, but the man said nothing more.
“Hello? Can you connect me to the detective?” She swallowed down the ‘please’ tickling her throat.
“This is he.” His voice quivered and his words came out garbled.
“Huh? Listen, I don’t—”
Harry cleared his throat. “I mean I’m Detective Manning, Avi. I mean Avianna.”
Avi rolled her eyes, silently asking the Man above for patience. She’d already had a tiresome day at work.
“Oh, okay then. Well?” Avi prompted, crossing all her fingers, toes, and eyes hoping his little gift had nothing to do with her mother.
“Right,” Harry began. “The thing is, I got a letter from Ellie Linton.”
A cold sweat broke out over Avi’s body. If her blood could, it would have congealed. It became difficult to breathe. Her eyes misted in anticipation.
What has Mommy done now?
“What happened to my mother, detective?” She stood from her chair and paced her small kitchen.
“What? No, nothing. I mean nothing that I know about. This call is nothing bad, Avianna,” Harry rushed out his reassurances. “M-may I call you Avi?”
His uncertainty and stammering touched her. She wanted to say yes, but she was raised by Ellie after all. The breath she was holding quickly left her lungs, even though her heart still galloped. “Uh, no.” Who is this man? “How do you know my mother?” She repeated her question when he didn’t respond.
“Well, uh,
that’s the reason I left my card.”
How would she even know a New York City cop?
“You see, your mother and I, well, we had a relationship.”
Avi shook her head, the web of confusion crowding her already cramped brain. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Can we meet?”
“What?” No. No, she wouldn’t meet with this quack. She flung herself onto the couch, one arm covering her eyes. “I’m meeting you nowhere anytime soon. As a matter of fact, I’ll be hang—”
“No,” Harry yelled. He lowered his voice. “No. Please. I-I...you’re my daughter.”
The phone slipped from Avi’s grip.
She sat up in a haste.
I must have heard him wrong. Yes, that’s it.
My father is dead.
Disbelief cramped her small living room.
Her hand fluttered up to her forehead and passed through her curls.
A weight landed hard on her chest.
Thump.
Thump.
The beat of her heart rang in her ears. Her gaze drifted over her sparse furnishings, but remained unseeing.
“Avi. Avianna,” Harry called out. “You answer me right now or you’ll find a squad car at your apartment building.”
The cloud cleared only a little. Harry’s voice bombarded her confused mind and she picked her phone up.
“I-I, this, this...” Her thoughts were all over the place. Her brain couldn’t keep up with the questions circulating that all demanded answers right away. A tear escaped onto her cheek.
“Fa-father?” Can’t be. “She told me you died,” Avi shared. The words came out soft.
She wouldn’t lie about this, or would she?
“Please, can we meet?” Harry begged.
Despite herself and her better judgment, she said, “Yes.”
Neither said anything else.
Avi shook her head with the intention to take back her hasty acceptance.
“Thank you. Thank you. I had no idea...”
It was his yearning that kept her cradling the phone to her ear. It was his palpable desperation that warmed her heart. Her grip on the cell phone was bone-crushing. Seconds ticked by before she found the ability to speak.
“O-okay.” She breathed deeply.
His laugh was rich, warm, and tinged with an undercurrent of ache. “Okay she says.”
Avi didn’t feel ridiculed. Her lips curled at one corner. Just the tiniest of grins. But it was there and wasn’t forced. “I-I guess I get my weird sense of humor from you?” She meant to make a statement, but instead, it came out as a question.
She didn’t know him...not at all. Her grin left her face. She was served a pack of lies from the person who raised her and claimed to have her best interest at heart. Avi’s head dropped backward as she looked up at her ceiling.
“Look, I won’t go back on my word...” That’s not who I am. Aloud she said, “We can meet somewhere that’s public and in the daytime. That’s all I ask.”
“Are you free this Sunday? There’s a place I know.”
Harry hung up the phone with a wide smile on his face.
He walked back to his desk with his head held high and his chest puffed out.
“What’s up with your shit-eating grin?” Frank asked, head bent while he typed on the computer. “Don’t you meet with IA in a few?”
Not even the infernal Internal Affairs and their ass-backward inquiry would get him down. I’m meeting Avi, my flesh and blood, in six days. He felt as weightless as air and floated as he sat on his chair. He kicked his feet up on top of the desk and leaned back in the chair.
Frank raised his head. “Listen, I didn’t throw you under the bus or nothing.”
Harry’s brow wrinkled, his smile disappearing.
“All I’m saying is I answered their questions and only those.”
Harry’s feet dropped to the ground.
“They had a lot of damn questions, too.”
Harry was tempted to ask for more information, but Frank always played by the book and probably wouldn’t reveal anything.
“IA can kiss my ass. They’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“That’s what I told ‘em.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Harry said.
“Who’s the woman who put you in such a good mood?”
Harry’s hands became busy with folders on his desk. “No one you’d know.”
For now, his main goal was meeting his daughter and introducing her to the rest of his family. IA had nothing on him, so he wasn’t going to worry about the investigators, not when he had a bigger fish to catch, whose name was Ido.
I just hope Noah can come back with a solid lead.
A loud handclap helped settled the rambunctious voices vying for attention from their peers and the one adult in the room.
“Children, remember to take home your pictures to show your moms and dads how well we’re doing with our numbers,” Avi said with a smile.
The end of day bell rang just as hands shot up in the air.
God knows I’m beat.
Avi ushered the students through the door and outside, where she was grateful for the parents who picked up their children on time. Amidst the many ‘see you laters’ from little squeaky voices and ‘have a great weekend’ from mature ones who understood another adult’s pleasure at the end of a Friday afternoon, Avi walked back to her classroom, looking forward to a relaxing evening.
“Hey, you,” Sofie peeked around Avi’s room door.
Nestling farther into the leather chair Sofie had gifted her with last week, Avi didn’t open her eyes.
She felt a nudge on her knee. “So you’re just going to sit there and pretend today isn’t the day?”
Avi opened her eyelids to Sofie’s raised brow and folded arms. “You’re so nosey.” Avi’s head shook. “Can’t you throw an old woman a bone?” she continued, putting as much pretend annoyance in her tone as she could muster.
Sofie, much to Avi’s chagrin, mimed playing a small air violin. “Give me the deets. You’ve been dodging me all week.” She smiled.
Avi rolled her eyes.
“Come on. Inquiring minds want to know,” Sofie said. “Have you spoken to Jayson? What did you say to Noah? I’ve got all the time in the world.” She pulled up a chair and placed her feet up on Avi’s desk.
Avi exhale loudly. “No, I haven’t spoken to Jayson, and I don’t know if I ever will. And, I gave Noah a piece of my mind.” Well, not for long, but...
“I’m kind of glad about Jayson.” She gave Avi a thumbs up. “But what did Noah say? Did this ‘piece of mind’ involve a lot of shouting, or maybe...?” Sofie wiggled her brows.
“Get your mind out of the gutter.” One of Avi’s shoulders lifted then fell. “We spoke.” Maybe if I don’t look at her, she’ll take my word.
“Avi...” Sofie’s tone hinted she knew more.
“Sofie,” she replied.
“Avi...”
She picked her head up.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me,” Sofie shot back, pointing an accusing finger at her. “What the hell went down in that bedroom, because I’m not buying your ‘we spoke’ line.”
Her lips parted to tell her to mind her business, but different words flew off her tongue. As Avi spoke, Sofie’s emotions were clearly displayed on her face, which ran the gamut: curious, impatient, and finally settling on concerned.
Avi paused for a breath. “Thank God for that phone call.”
Even now, she was relieved for the interruption that allowed sanity to come back to her. However, at nights, haunted by dreams of her and Noah, she wondered if leaving was a mistake.
“Who was on the phone?” Sofie asked.
“I don’t know. I hightailed it out of that room as fast as I could. Then my weekend continued on its high roll,” she continued sarcastically. “I came home to a detective’s card in my mailbox. Scared the hell out of me.” She became somber,
remembering the revelations during the call. “Seems my father isn’t dead after all.”
“What? Really?”
“And, I’m meeting him in two days.” She took a breath.
The rest of her life’s story weighed her down, but her friend voiced a question, stumping Avi.
“Why would your mother lie?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Growing up, she never considered her mother to be a liar, but then again, Avi only saw her through the rose-colored lenses through which all children viewed their parents.
“Will you ask her?”
It took Avi a while to answer, then she said low, “I don’t know.”
A dark sedan rolled to a stop at the traffic light near a newsstand on a busy SoHo street corner. The driver and passenger wore dark clothing and leather gloves. The passenger’s hair was hidden under a black knit hat. A foot tapped in anticipation on the floor mat of the car. The light turned green and they both glowered when the car made a right onto the street where a few pedestrians walked about.
Their mission was simple: shoot to kill.
The passenger lifted the gun and lowered the window. A cool breeze wafted inside the warm interior.
Avi was nervous.
Since her talk with Harry, she’d been a jittery mess. She was knotted so tightly she was sure her nerves would never unwind. Spending an hour choosing the right outfit had left her closet empty and her bedroom in a shambles. In the end, she chose her favorite top and paired it with jeans.
As her foot landed on the last subway stair, a gust of cool autumn breeze hit her cheeks with such force that Avi began to rethink the lightweight coat she had chosen to wear. Tucking her face into her jacket, she tugged down the multicolored beanie she had told Harry she’d wear so he would be able to recognize her.
Avi approached a newsstand at the corner. Harry said he’d be in front of the restaurant across the street. With each step she took, her mind was chaotic.
Would she know him upon sight?
Was this even a good idea?
She kept her eyes downcast, too afraid to look at the restaurant. What if he didn’t show? Avi strolled past the newsstand. Large, colored print on the front page caught her eye and stopped her progression.