｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
An hour came and went and Delancey never came back to pick Luca up. After two hours, he’d checked his phone at least ten times before he realized that no emergency shy of the man being in the hospital or dead would excuse him for not calling. Not even to say, “Hey, I’m not going to make it to bingo.” Luca swallowed hard around the lump in his throat as he stepped out of the store and waved to Marilyn and Chris who were working the night shift, taking the place of him and Sebastian—who’d gone home an hour ago.
He felt sick to his stomach as he plopped himself down on the bus stop bench and waited, really wishing he hadn’t let Kane kiss him the way he had. He knew the detective was deeply in the closet and he’d ignored that fact because their chemistry was so good. Unfortunately, Kane’s kiss had brought back memories of a time it had happened before.
When he’d had his first fling with a guy, he’d fallen hard for him, making their relationship emotional when all the kid had wanted was a warm body to fuck. Luca had traded a lot of hand jobs and even more blowjobs prior to that so at fifteen, fucking felt like a full-on commitment to him. Unfortunately, his partner hadn’t had the same idea. They’d played around for six months and when Luca had discovered that Andy was cheating on him with more than one other guy, he had been shattered.
Luca refused to let that happen again. By the time he got to Hamburger Mary’s the place was packed with a standing room only crowd. He let his gaze travel around the bar as he looked for familiar faces, anyone who would make him laugh and take his mind off things. In one booth he saw a group of girls whom he’d hung out with before. All of them were single ladies searching for their own lady loves and they were all funny as hell. He paid the entrance fee and was handed a bingo card and a big fat stamping sponge pen and then moved through the crowd toward the booth where the women were already howling with laughter. As soon as they spotted him, the tallest of the bunch jumped up and threw herself at Luca.
“Baby, I’ve missed you!” Angie shouted over the noise in the place. He laughed as he clutched her broad shoulders and hugged her tightly. She let him go and turned to the other women. “Scoot your asses over, hens! Luca’s here.” The other three women laughed and scooted around, making space for Luca to sit beside Angie who pulled him down into the booth. He smiled at all the others. Patrice, Selena, and Claudia were all good friends with Angie and as far as Luca knew, none of them dated each other.
A waitress appeared at Luca’s side and he looked up and ordered a round of tequila shots for the table before telling her he needed a couple more for himself to catch up. The women were laughing loudly and he could tell they’d been there a while. They had eaten already so Luca ordered the chicken fried steak with homemade garlic mashed potatoes for himself and the waitress walked away to place his order.
“How are you, girls?” Luca asked.
“Selena was telling us about her teenagers,” Patrice said, looking almost sympathetic.
“Is nahthing. They’re teenayshers,” Selena said with her thick Mexican accent. She was a beautiful fortyish woman with long curling dark hair and liquid brown eyes. She had a motherly presence that drew Luca like a magnet and he adored her every time he ran into her at a club. If she hadn’t been sitting in the middle flanked by Patrice and Claudia, Luca knew she would have been up and out of the booth, hugging the crap out of him. She was the touchy-feely type of person he loved. He had the fleeting thought that it would have been fun to introduce Kane to all of them since they brought him such joy. He put those thoughts right out of his head, refusing to be upset by the way the cop had blown him off.
“So, tell me about your kids, Selena,” Luca said, leaning back as the waitress returned with their shots. He thanked her and then distributed the glasses around the table before shooting all three of his shots back. The first shot of Patron burned going down but the others were smooth. He grabbed a slice of lime and bit into it, loving the way the tart juice burst out of the tiny little sacs inside. He swallowed as he watched his girls throw back their shots, laughing as Selena began telling her story.
“Ju know there’s a spider called the black lace weaver spider?”
Luca laughed at her accent. “Okay, what about it?”
“Well, the mama—after all her eggs hatch and grow up a leetle—she taps her web and all those leetle shits come running to her,” Selena went on, talking with her hands as the other women giggled. “So, then they stab her with these leetle stingers like straws—ju know—hallow straws.”
“Hollow straws?” Claudia asked, laughing.
“Jes. Anyway, those leetle shits stab their mama and then she liquifies. After that, those leetle shits suck her up like a milk shake.”
Luca burst out laughing, just picturing it. The other women roared with laughter as Selena flashed a bright smile. She waved her hand over the table and sat forward, pointing her finger at Luca as he picked up a glass of water to swallow down the chortle in his throat.
“And do ju know, all thaas left of the mama… she’s a empty husk. Thaas all. Jus a hallow empty husk. Thas what teenayshers do.”
Luca choked, almost spitting the water across the table as his girls laughed their asses off. The rest of the night proceeded in much the same way. He loved these women. Most of all, he was among people who knew who he was and loved him regardless. He drank and ate and had the best time hanging out with his friends. Better still, by the time Claudia drove him home, he was drunk enough to forget how badly Kane Delancey had fucked up for the last time.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Kane lay in bed staring at the ceiling and hating the fact that he was a coward. He’d blown Luca off, not even bothering to call and tell him he wasn’t going to pick him up. Kelly was right. Luca was an amazing man. Everything about him was beautiful and kind and sweet just like his partner said. Kane really couldn’t understand why he was afraid to do what he so desperately wanted to do. No one would have looked twice at his actions if he wanted to date a man. Luca wasn’t a suspect in the LAPD robbery case so he wouldn’t be breaking any rules if he dated him. And Kane wasn’t even on the police force, not really.
He thought about why he was in the situation he was in, trying his best to draw strength from the fact that he had a job to do and telling himself he had no business trying to date anyone—male or female. He had to concentrate on his job. Enoch Moore had killed his father. Brandon Moore had taken his father’s place in the Boston mob when he’d gone to jail but no one had been able to pin anything on him yet. Until he and Kelly had gone in as dirty cops, the FBI hadn’t gotten close enough to make a case. Like John Gotti, years back, Brandon Moore didn’t carry on conversations about his business where he could be heard… until now. With the listening device planted and the FBI pouring over every word said in that apartment, hopefully, they’d build a case soon and Kane could put all of this behind him. He needed to put space between him and Luca and get back to his real job.
“Will you put Luca behind you?” he asked out loud. He stared up at the ceiling and then turned his head to look at the untouched pillow beside his. Luca could be curled up there right now if Kane weren’t such a stubborn asshole. He glanced at the clock and had to force himself to stop from sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed to get dressed and seek him out. Kane shut his eyes tightly but even that didn’t block out the memories of having Luca in his arms, his mouth pressed against his, panting with desperate little breaths as he writhed against his body.
He forced away all thoughts of it and tried to recall the image of his father’s body crumpling onto the dirty back room floor of their pub. His eyes suddenly welled as the familiar pain of that moment returned like a comforting old friend. Once that snapshot was there to replace Luca’s smile, the sick feeling of knowing he’d never be held in his father’s arms again returned. Taking Brandon away from Enoch and putting him behind bars would have to be his revenge on Enoch Moore, though
putting a bullet through his head would be much simpler. As he pictured his father, his resolve hardened and he reached up and hastily brushed away the tear that dared to run out of the corner of his eye.
Chapter Fourteen
Kane ground his teeth as he watched a black town car pull up to Moore’s pub, Lance and Shield. It stopped at the curb at the front of the bar. He and Kelly watched the car out a window from their perch in a vacant apartment across from the pub, using binoculars to observe comings and goings. Kane was feeling raw. Just knowing that his father’s killer was free to go about living the remaining days of his life with his family had his teeth on edge. A minute after the car came to a stop, a pug-nosed driver stepped out and walked around the car to open the rear passenger door.
From Kane’s vantage point, he couldn’t see the passenger until he straightened from the vehicle. He was gray-haired just like the man in the photo Marshal Brady had shown him. He stood at the side of the car and after a minute, Brandon Moore stepped out of the pub. He smiled at his father and walked over to hug him. Enoch reached up and patted his son on the shoulder as he leaned down. Kane noted how the man stooped and when Brandon and the driver flanked the old man on either side, walking slowly into the bar, that’s when he realized they were helping him by holding on to his elbows. Clearly, his illness was as critical as Kane had been told. He pulled the binoculars away from his eyes as the three disappeared into the pub and he glanced over at Kelly. She shrugged.
“Well, that’s him,” Kelly said, looking at her watch before glancing back at Kane. “Why don’t you let the FBI know and then we’ll go grab an early lunch at the pub. If we’re lucky, maybe Brandon will talk about his father’s arrival. At the very least, our presence will remind him that he has cops on the payroll.”
Kane was already pulling his phone out of his pocket. He called up Lincoln Snow’s number and dialed, putting it on speaker. It rang and Snow picked up almost immediately.
“Snow.”
“Hey, Lincoln, it’s Delancey and Murphy. Enoch Moore just got home. Brandon came out to meet him and the driver on the curb a few minutes ago. Maybe you’ll be able to pick up something worthwhile now,” he said.
“Jesus, I hope so,” Lincoln said. “We’ve been listening for three days and we haven’t picked up anything more exciting than the fact that Brandon Moore likes watching the Red Sox and ripping out mind-blowing farts in his living room. I mean everyone’s amused by the sound of deafening flatulence now and again but this guy… Christ. I have no idea what he eats.”
Kane laughed as he looked at Kelly. She was grinning and scrunching up her nose in a really cute way that he found fascinating. For some reason, Luca’s smile popped into his head. He had been doing his best to forget the man over the last three days. They’d gone to a lot of pawn shops but had come up empty on the jewelry store robbery and the trail to the robbers was growing cold. The shop in Canoga Park that had bought some diamonds on the list couldn’t identify the sellers from the sketches Luca had given. They were running into dead ends with this case everywhere. Kelly had checked in with Luca every day and she’d gone to meet Mr. Auerbach alone. Kane hadn’t shown his face in the store again, though he had gone out to clubs every night, maybe subconsciously searching for Luca.
“Delancey and I are going to have lunch at the pub. We’ll let you know what we learn, if anything,” Kelly said, shaking Kane out of his daydreaming.
“Good. Mac and I will check in with you by the end of the day, Murphy. If anything happens before that, you’ll be our first call. Delancey, take care.”
“Will do, Snow,” Kane said, swiping the phone to end the call. He looked up to find Kelly standing and grabbing the light cardigan she’d brought with her to the stakeout. When their eyes met, she smiled.
“Well, let’s go, then. I want to sit at the bar and see if I can talk to Brandon. Who knows, maybe he’ll tell me something about his father coming home. It would be good to see if he confides in me just a little bit, don’t you think so?”
Kane stood up and set his binoculars on the table. He adjusted the holster on his waist, out of habit more than anything. He liked the feel of the weight against his hip. The Glock he carried in that holster was only one of two others, his Sig Sauer in a left shoulder holster and a small revolver in his boot. He also carried a small knife hidden inside a sheath in his belt. He didn’t feel like himself until he strapped up each morning, used to the plethora of weapons on his body after years of wearing them. Kelly was strapped in a similar fashion and after joining her at the shooting range, he knew she was at ease using them the same way he was. Kelly Murphy was a damned good shot and he admired that about her.
After slipping his black leather jacket over the navy polo shirt he’d put on that morning, he adjusted the badge on his belt to make sure it was visible just like Kelly’s. No one would be able to mistake them for anything but what they were—two cops out to grab some lunch. Kane locked up the vacant apartment, leaving their minimal stash of equipment in the room, and pocketed the key.
They took up stools side by side at the bar when they walked in and waited for someone to come over and take their order. It was only a little after one in the afternoon but Kane ordered a Guinness anyway, watching Kelly order the same. After the bartender walked away to get them their pints, Kane picked up a menu and perused it, deciding on a Cobb salad and buffalo wings. When the bartender came back with their Guinness, he set it down and they placed their orders. Kelly turned to him with a grin on her face as he walked away.
“A salad?” she asked.
“What? I like salads. At least the Cobb has other stuff on it besides the usual weeds that just taste like the ground regardless of how much dressing you put on it,” Kane quipped.
Kelly laughed. “You surprise me all the time, Delancey.” She’d ordered a double bacon cheeseburger, telling the bartender to hurry up with the wings since she was starving. Kane reflected on past stakeouts he’d participated in. In San Diego when he was a detective, they’d staked out a lot of dealers, sometimes parking themselves in a car close to an alley where the action went down.
One of Kane’s old partners loved nothing more than liverwurst and deviled egg sandwiches on Wonder Bread which always managed to stink up the car like an old sweat sock. The guy carried around a tiny cooler stuffed with the offensive sandwiches, peppered beef jerky that always left Kane searching for a toothpick, and Mountain Dew which tasted like rocket fuel to Kane. At least this time, if they wanted real food, all they had to do was walk across the street and order it. Lance and Shield had a good cook even though the owner was a criminal.
Kane wondered absently how many people they were going to put out of work when Enoch died and Brandon was rotting away in jail. The pub would surely close. He put those thoughts aside and drank his Guinness, waiting for the bastard to show his face downstairs. What else could they do? They had no other leads to go on at this point. Hopefully, the FBI would pick up something useful. He really had no idea.
They were almost finished with their meals when movement at the stairs caught Kane’s eye. He elbowed Kelly and when she turned to look at him, he nodded toward the bouncer they’d seen guarding the stairs before. By the time she turned her attention to the bouncer, Brandon was also there, having clomped down the stairs, making a lot of noise on the planks with the heavy boots he wore. He stopped and talked to the bouncer for a minute or two and then spotted them at the bar. A minute later, he was walking behind the bar toward them. He stopped in front of Kelly and leered at her.
“Good to see you, officers,” Moore said, dragging his gaze off Kelly and sticking out a hand to Kane. Kane shook it, staring at the man whose reptilian eyes reminded him of his father. He held the man’s gaze almost like a challenge.
“We need our check,” Kane said. He knew he should sound more friendly but he couldn’t possibly look this man in the eye and crack a smile.
“Let me take care of it for you,” Moore offered.
“Yeah, no problem.”
Kane watched him turn to the register right in front of them. It was one of those old-fashioned manual cash registers made with shiny brass and large keys, white like an old typewriter. Moore punched a couple keys and the drawer sprang open. Kane wasn’t surprised to see a small .22 caliber handgun lying in the tray in front of the money. Lincoln Snow told him that they’d found a small handgun during their search of the bar but it had been purchased legally and registered to Brandon Moore. That was all they’d found but… he made a mental note to check to see how many and what type of weapons might be registered in Brandon Moore’s name.
The FBI had never been able to pin anything on the son since Enoch had gone away, but they were positive the Boston mob’s West Coast operation was being run out of this place. Kane and Kelly had to collect the evidence. Illegal guns would be a great find. Since Shawn Manning—a known associate of the gun runner Mills Lang—had been an integral part of the operation until they’d put him away, Kane was positive there were more guns here. He had to find a way to collect the evidence they needed without raising Moore’s suspicions and blowing their cover. As Moore was fiddling around in the register, Kane spoke up.
“Quite the little pea shooter you have there,” he said, weighing his words with as much sarcasm as he could. When Brandon spun around, he was glaring at Kane.
“It gets the job done when necessary,” he said, making a half turn and fingering the barrel of the gun, still in the drawer.
Kane forced a laugh, narrowing his eyes. “If it’s close quarters, I’d agree. For example, if someone were to put it to the back of a man’s head and pull the trigger, it would get the job done,” Kane said, tossing Brandon’s words right back at him. He knew the moment his words hit home with Brandon because he slammed the cash drawer and walked up to him with only the bar in between. Brandon Moore was nearly as tall as Kane with an intimidating fury in his eyes meant to scare the hell out of people. Kane wasn’t going to let it affect him.
Stay with Me (The WITSEC series Book 1) Page 19
