Love is a Many Splintered Thing

by Jamie Lee Scott

  “Know about what?” I had no idea which part of this mess she referred to.

  The wind in her sails losing steam, she slumped against the counter next to me. “Dominic. Did you know about Dominic?”

  Now the question was how to proceed without giving up my hand. I had a pretty good idea my name wasn’t mentioned in the conversation. And after Mimi yelled, “Tell me,” there was a long time where I couldn’t hear anything.

  “By the time you arrived, I knew plenty.” Perfectly evasive.

  “So you didn’t know it was his car, or him, in the news?”

  The story of the explosion had been all over the news for days after it happened. Sure, drive-by shootings and stabbings were a part of life in Salinas and rarely made the news anymore, but a car exploding in front of a prominent produce grower/shipper’s office, that was news.

  “I didn’t see the news. You know I don’t watch TV. But I did know Nick was working the investigation, because the police didn’t think the explosion was a manufacturer’s defect.”

  “Yeah, Nick’s been working a lot of overtime,” she almost whispered. Then she stood ramrod straight. “How much does he know?”

  She put her hands on the side of her head and pulled at her hair. I could see the rage growing in her expression. And as luck would have it for husbands, Nick walked in the back door.

  Nick smiled. “Good morning.” When his gaze met Mimi’s, the smile faded into something akin to dread.

  “How long have you known?” Mimi rushed forward and shoved Nick.

  Backed up against the wall, Nick looked sincerely puzzled.

  “She just found out about the explosion,” I said.

  Nick grimaced. “Why would you care about my case? It was some guy from the Midwest in a rental car.”

  Mimi stepped back, but the rage turning her face crimson didn’t lessen. “Some guy? You really see it that way?”

  Nick held his hands up, expecting another shove. “Did you know the guy?”

  That’s when I realized: he knew the victim as Michael Ricci. “Could you please just tell Mimi the victim’s name?”

  Nick’s face wrinkled in thought. “Well, according to the DNA from the few bits of flesh we found, his name was Michael Ricci.”

  Mimi stepped back. “Are you kidding me?” She turned to me. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  I reached out to pull Mimi away from Nick. “That’s how much he knows at this point.”

  “Why are you here?” Mimi snapped at Nick.

  “Max called me,” Nick said, looking at his watch. “I’m a little late because I had a homicide to attend to. I’d have been later if I’d known this was going to be my reception.”

  Mimi sucked in a deep breath. I saw the dam release and tears poured down her face. I’d never seen her like this. Angry, sure, but completely overwhelmed, never.

  Max came through the door from Mimi’s office. “You’re late.”

  Nick pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I texted you.”

  Max pulled his cell phone out. “Yeah, I guess you did.”

  “Now that we have that straightened out, what’s going on?” I asked.

  “I wanted Nick to be here when we talked to Mimi. He has the right to know.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. “Just get to the point. I have a murder scene I need to get back to.”

  “Speaking of murders, I know you’ve been working the car bomb case. The one outside Monroe’s.”

  “I’m not on it anymore, it’s gone federal. Your boys are working it now.”

  “That’s why we’re here. The murder victim was Mimi’s husband, Dominic Capurro.”

  Nick slumped against the wall. “No, that’s not what the lab said.”

  Mimi looked at Max, who said, “Dominic went into witness protection. The name you were given was his new identity.”

  Mimi pushed past Nick to the door. “I can’t do this anymore today.” She whipped the door open and ran from the house.

  Nick held the door to keep it from slamming, then started after Mimi. I lunged forward to stop him.

  “No. You stay here and talk to Max. I’ll go talk to Mimi.”

  Nick stepped back. “Don’t let her drive anywhere. She’s in no state of mind to be driving.”

  “I won’t.” I didn’t say anything more, because Mimi was steps from her car.

  I reached her just as she closed the door. Putting my precious fingers in danger, I reached out to keep the door from closing.

  “Stop.”

  Mimi looked up at me, then grabbed for the door and pulled. When will she ever learn she’s no match for me?

  “I’m not kidding. You’re not driving in this state of agitation. So either get out and go for a walk, or get in the passenger’s seat and I’ll drive you wherever you want to go.”

  “I want to be alone.” She leaned forward and rested her forehead on the steering wheel.

  “Just pretend I’m not here. You’ve been doing it for years, so you’ll be good at it.” I reached in and grabbed her arm to help her out of the car. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight me. “Walk or let me drive?”

  Mimi got out of the car, jerked her arm from me and walked around to the passenger side. “Keys are in it. Just put your foot on the brake and push the button.”

  I folded myself into the cramped driver side and adjusted the seat. “Thanks, I’ve never driven a newfangled car, ma’am. Much obliged for the help.”

  I didn’t expect a response from her, and I didn’t get one as she walked around and got in on the passenger side. She stared out her window as I started the car and backed out of the parking lot.

  “Toro Park, please.” She opened the glovebox, reached in for a packet of tissues she kept there, and ripped one out. She folded it over her nose and blew so hard, she put a gaping hole in the tissue.

  “Yeah, that’s not gross. I hope you have hand sanitizer in that glovebox, too.”

  She didn’t reply, just grabbed another tissue and blew her nose again.

  I’d driven up to Main Street and turned right, to head out to Toro before she spoke.

  “Right now, I hate everyone.”

  Knowing better, I said, “Even me?”

  She shoved my shoulder hard. “Especially you.”

  I laughed a little, but inside. I didn’t want to set her off. She’d had a rough morning.

  “What are you thinking, other than you hate everyone?” I wanted her to talk about Dominic, but didn’t want to come right out and say it.

  She stared out the passenger window for a moment, and without turning around to look at me, she said, “You know, I think I saw him awhile back.”

  This took me by surprise. “Do tell.”

  “Remember when we went to Anthony’s trade show?”

  “Don’t remind me about Anthony. I try to block out bad things.”

  “Well, on the way home, or to the hotel, I don’t remember exactly which, I could have sworn that a guy in a car next to us looked just like Dominic. At the time, I chalked it up to being so tired.” She turned to look at me. “But now, I think maybe it really was him.”

  I shrugged.

  “And I’m sitting here wondering, did he see me, too? Was he following me? Did he know about Nick all this time?”

  “All good questions. But he wasn’t living in California.”

  “How do you know?” she asked as if I’d been holding out.

  Well, that was stupid. I was usually so much better about keeping my mouth shut.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it was something that marshal guy said.”

  She slapped her thigh hard. “And that’s another thing. Why did they tell you before me? That’s bullshit. I should have been the first to know.”

  “Max?” It was the only explanation I could give without giving myself away. I really wanted all this to go away, so I didn’t have to tell her the truth. It was a truth she’d never forgive me for.

  She cocked her head, then blew her nose again.
“But that’s still bogus. I should have been first. And back to seeing him. So what if he didn’t live here? Was he stalking me? It’s like he decided to return after I got remarried.”

  Was it just a coincidence his dad died and he decided to come out of witness protection just as Mimi and Nick got married? It had to be. The entire thing was a surprise. No one but close family knew, and even then, it was last minute.

  “It’s not like there was a long engagement, months of wedding plans, and three hundred invitations sent out.”

  She rocked her head side to side, as if considering. “Okay, you win that one.”

  “At least you know for sure now. They have his DNA from the explosion.”

  “That’s another thing. I can almost literally feel my blood boiling. What a horrible thing to do to a person. And his parents, did they know?”

  “Did they know what?” I asked.

  “Any of it. All of it. Did they know he wasn’t really dead, and that he was in witness protection? Do they know he’s now dead for real?”

  With what I knew, I was pretty sure Dominic’s family had a lot to do with the bomb attached to his car. I didn’t know for sure, but in the end, I also didn’t think the bomb would be traced back to anyone. The Capurro family was Teflon, nothing seemed to stick to them. Being mobbed up can be good or bad, depending on what side of the family you fell on at any given time.

  How to approach this without seeming like I knew too much? “From what Max said, they thought he was dead, too. He’d turned on his own family, for God’s sake, to save his own ass.”

  “Yeah.” Tears rolled down her cheeks again.

  “Mimi, he left you. He chose himself over you. He could easily have taken you with him, and he chose not to.”

  She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “Maybe it wasn’t a choice.”

  Now it was time to give her the cold, hard facts. “Look, Jared and Max were talking, and Jared said he asked why Dominic wanted to go to the funeral and lose his protective status. He said he wanted his family back.”

  “That’s why he was in Salinas.”

  “When Jared asked him why he didn’t bring his family into the program with him, he said he couldn’t trust you. He said you’d call your mom or sister and blow the protection.” I reached across and put my hand on Mimi’s knee. “In other words, Mimi, he didn’t give a shit about you. He only wanted to save himself. For all he knew, his family could have had you killed to retaliate.”

  She sucked in a deep, ragged breath, then blew it out. “All these years. All this time, I kept the flame for him. Even when I married Nick, I had guilt. And now, even though I know he’s dead this time, I feel like I should get my marriage to Nick annulled.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “No, don’t do something so stupid. You don’t owe Dominic a thing. That bastard ran out on you and broke your heart. Do you think he’s gone all these years without sex? If you do, you’re an idiot.”

  “It’s not that.” More sniffing, and now she had her finger up to the first knuckle with the tissue over it. Trying to dry her nostrils?

  “Whatever it is, you’re not thinking straight.”

  She didn’t respond, and I didn’t say anything else until we reached Toro Park.

  “The slide.”

  There was a huge slide at the park. It was a round tube and you had to climb the side of the hill to get up to the top.

  “You’re going to go down the slide?” I drove up to the lot near the slide and parked Mimi’s car.

  “No, I’m just going to go sit at the picnic table and try to decide what to do next.” She pushed open the car door and stepped out. She didn’t even close the door behind her, so I knew how distracted she was.

  I got out and went around to shut the door, then followed her across the grass.

  “I’ll tell you what, Max and I have tickets for a cruise to Mexico. Why don’t you join us? That way, you can get away and think for a few days and not do anything stupid.”

  We were flying to Los Angeles in two hours to take a three-day cruise. We both needed to escape the real world. No reason Mimi couldn’t come along. I’m sure we could avoid her on a ship that big. Just kidding.

  “That’s today? I completely forgot.”

  “Yep, because that was the first thing on your mind this morning,” I said as I sat down next to her.

  “I think it’s probably too late to get tickets. Besides, you and Max don’t want me and my sorrow tagging along.”

  “Sorrow? This should be a celebration. You finally got rid of the dead weight, and you have the most incredible husband in the world. And I can damn sure guarantee you, if Nick had to go into WITSEC, he’d not only take you, he’d take your family, too.”

  Mimi’s head turned so quick, I thought I was in for a tongue lashing.

  That’s when my phone vibrated, giving me a reprieve from whatever she planned to say. I put my finger up. “Hold that thought.” I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Hey, Max.” Somehow, when Max calls me, it’s never good news. After talking to him for a couple of minutes, I put my phone back in my pocket.

  “You’re right,” Mimi said as I put my phone away. “He left me behind. Now it’s my turn to leave Dominic behind and finally get on with my life.”

  “So you liked the idea of Mexico?” I didn’t know how to break it to her that Max had just canceled the trip. Damn Dominic was still ruining our lives.

  “Yes, but I’m sure Max will not enjoy me coming along. Maybe I’ll just get away for a few days. I don’t really want to talk to Nick about this until I get my head straight.”

  “Max just called to cancel. He has to fly out to Illinois tonight.”

  “I thought he had vacation time?”

  “I thought so too, but they have a lead, and now Max has been assigned to Dominic’s case.”

  Mimi chewed on her lip, then said, “Still want to go? Just to get away?”

  3

  Mimi

  I sat in the seat next to Charles on the small plane. From Monterey to LAX, we flew in a puddle jumper with no first-class seats, though Charles was smart enough to purchase tickets at the back of the plane. The last row had more room.

  About an hour before landing, Charles leaned over and showed me his phone.

  “Read this thread,” he said. “It’s hilarious.”

  I took his phone and looked at the screen. “Twitter?”

  “Yes, you have a problem with that?”

  “You just don’t seem like the type.”

  “Notice my name isn’t on the account. That way I can spout off about whatever I want, including politics, and it can’t come back on me.” He pointed to the screen. “Now read.”

  “What exactly am I reading?”

  “It’s a thread from a girl who is hooking up at thirty-thousand feet.”

  “Say no more.”

  I had to scroll quite a bit to get to the beginning of the thread. @emilyxyz decided to tell all 678 of her followers about the man she met on her flight from Chicago O’Hare to LAX, photos and all. It wasn’t apparent by the first tweets whether he was aware of the “love at first sight” affair. But by the time I got to the photos of them in the lavatory, there was no way he didn’t know what was going on.

  I turned the phone to Charles. “Does he look totally drunk? Or is it just my swollen, bloodshot eyes?”

  “Oh, he’s totally drunk. Look at the span of time. These tweets cover five hours on the plane. The further into the thread, the more he loosens up.”

  “I wonder if they’ll get married. What a story that would be. ‘Yeah, your mom and I hooked up in first class on a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles. You were conceived in the bathroom of that plane.” I smirked a little. “And then he’ll destroy her life by pretending to die in a plane crash.”

  Charles yanked the phone out of my hand. “Fun hater!”

  “You were the one who invited me, remember?”

  “Was I on drugs at t
he time?”

  “You better not have been. You were driving my car!”

  * * *

  I couldn’t believe I was running. From Dominic’s memory and betrayal. From having to face Nick. From life. But there I was, passport, ticket, and paperwork in hand, along with a carry-on bag, standing in line to board the ship.

  It had only taken thirty minutes to get back to the house, grab my passport and pack an overnight bag. The look on Lola’s face nearly made me change my mind, but I could barely face her, and I knew she’d listen to me carry on and cry without judgement.

  I totally chickened out and made Charles break the news to Nick. Piper, Lydia, and Uta could run the agency for a few days. Besides, Charles had his cell phone. I deliberately left mine sitting on the kitchen counter when I left. I didn’t want any phone calls from Nick, the FBI agents, or that U.S. Marshal.

  “Am I being stupid?” I asked Charles as we walked up the ramp to the ship.

  “Do you really want me to answer that?” He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me forward. “Look.”

  I looked around but didn’t see anything remotely interesting.

  Charles pointed. “Look familiar?”

  I grabbed his hand. “Don’t point. It’s rude.”

  “Well, if you could see worth a damn, I wouldn’t have to. Are you gonna need glasses, maybe bifocals or progressives soon?”

  I still didn’t see what he was pointing at.

  Trying to keep the irritation from my tone, I said, “Just tell me what I’m looking for.”

  “Anyone around you look familiar?”

  For a split second, I thought he was going to say Dominic hadn’t really been in that car and was on the ship. I stood on my tiptoes and looked around. I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t want to tell Charles that, so when I went back to standing normal, I looked at my watch.

  “You silly girl, it’s the Twitter guy.” He pointed again. “What was his name?”

  “I don’t think she ever gave his name.”

  Charles grabbed for his phone. As he scrolled, the guy he pointed to walked away and our porter arrived to escort us to our stateroom.

  Charles continued to scroll through his Twitter feed as we walked. “What was that chick’s name?”