by F J messina
Unfortunately, just below the surface, Sonia was feeling like one very tired puppy. For all intents and purposes, Sonia had been up since two-thirty in the morning. After her meeting with Brad, she had tried to get a little sleep, but thoughts of John Hensley, The Mid-West Feed and Hay Company, hacking a sophisticated communications system, and Brad Dunham, had kept her from sleeping more than a few minutes. In addition, she was a bit apprehensive about going to dinner with Johnny Adams. Yes, he was attractive, polite, attentive. But she was still a little put-off by the way he had handled his first meeting with her, and the warnings he had given her at the recent press conference. All in all, she had no idea what to expect from tonight’s date.
She opened the door and looked up into the eyes of the much taller Johnny Adams. Sonia could tell that her primping for the evening was having the desired effect. Johnny’s eyes looked her over from head to toe, apparently drinking in how beautiful she was. No one could have missed the fact that Detective Sergeant Johnny Adams seemed quite taken by Sonia.
“You look . . . lovely.”
Sonia smiled. “I’m ready.”
“Well then, let’s get going.”
Sonia slipped on her pea coat and her beige cloche hat. They walked down the steps to his car, a one-year-old Honda Accord. It was a nice car, a dark red, modern, well kept, and not ostentatious, as was another car in which Sonia had ridden recently.“You know,” Sonia said as Johnny opened the door for her, “I’ve been in town for over two years now and I’ve heard about Joe Bologna’s a bunch of times, but I’ve never been there. I’m really looking forward to this.”
“Oh, I promise, Joe’s will not disappoint.” Johnny slid into the car. “Just wait until you’ve had one of his breadsticks, it’s like a whole loaf of bread: hot and delicious and drowning in a sea of garlic butter.”
“Sounds great.” As they drove, Sonia looked out the window. Downtown Lexington─always so clean, so nice, so comfortable. She was more comfortable with it than she was with the near-stranger sitting next to her.
After a few moments of silence, Johnny asked, “How was your day?”
“Fine. Just fine.” It was the most normal question a person might ask in a situation such as this, and it really bothered Sonia that she couldn’t help but attach to it some sinister motive. Is he trying to get something out of me, keeping tabs on me? Goodness girl, just drop it. He’s just a guy taking a girl out to dinner, making small talk. Still, it was hard for her to shake the feeling that there was something behind his questioning. “And yours? How was your day?”
“Same old, same old. That’s pretty much what it is for a cop. Sounds like an exciting career, but mostly it’s the same thing every day.”
Sonia noted the new floral hangings the city had put up along Main Street. “Uh huh.”
They crossed over to Maxwell Street, then stopped in the parking lot of a building that had, at one time, served as a Jewish synagogue, an unusual history for an Italian restaurant. It was full, as she’d heard it always was at dinnertime.
A hostess seated them and then their server arrived. “Hi, I’m Nathan, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water with lemon,” said Sonia.
“Oh, come on. We’re out to dinner. Let’s have some wine.” Johnny turned to Nathan. “What kind of wine do you have?”
“We have a nice red table wine, a pinot grigio, and a delicious rosé.”
“Two glasses of the red,” Johnny said, without asking Sonia. Then he turned to her as if looking for approval.
“Yes, that’ll be fine.” She wasn’t really sure she should be drinking wine when she was so tired.
They spent the next few moments in silence, each looking over the menu. When she had made her decision, Sonia looked around, taking in the ambiance. The highly-polished, yet well-worn, wooden floors created a striking contrast with the intricate stained-glass windows─a remnant of the religious history of the building. “This really is a nice place. It’s comfortable. It feels right.”
“Joe’s got to have been running this place for thirty years or more now. It’s a real Lexington icon.”
“Well, thanks for bringing me here. I like it.”
Just then Nathan returned. “What can I get you folks tonight?” He turned, of course, to Sonia first.
“I’ll have the cannelloni and manicotti combination.”
Nathan seemed a bit taken aback by her proper pronunciation of the Italian dish─mahn-uh-gaw-tah. “Oh, I guess you’re Italian?”
“Uh huh.”
“Excellent. Would you like me to have them put a little extra spinach on the cannelloni for you?”
“Sounds great.”
Johnny ordered the lasagna and Nathan scooted off to put in the order.
The next few minutes were spent exchanging pleasantries until Nathan showed up with the salads and breadsticks.
“Oh, my goodness,” Sonia’s eyes widened. “The breadsticks. They’re huge.” She touched hers carefully with her fingertip. “And obviously right out of the oven.”
Together, they oohed and ahhed over the breadsticks and salad. By the time Nathan appeared with the main dishes, Sonia was certain that she’d never be able to eat the cannelloni and the manicotti. Sonia eyed the cannelloni, deciding she would start there. I’ll just bring the manicotti into the office tomorrow. I’ll bet Jet would love it for lunch.
Before she could pick up her fork, however, Johnny said to Nathan, “Bring us two more red wines, okay?”
“Oh, no,” said Sonia. “I really shouldn’t.”
“No, no, no. It’ll be fine. Let’s really enjoy tonight.”
Sonia shook her head tentatively. “Okay,” she said, promising herself she absolutely wouldn’t finish her second glass. Forty minutes later, however, having finished her salad, her breadstick, and her cannelloni, Sonia also found herself putting down her empty wine glass. Much to her surprise, the table came up to meet the glass faster than she expected.
“Listen, Johnny, this has been great, but I think it’s time you take me home. I’ve got a big day in front of me tomorrow.” She chose not to mention the fact that she was feeling pretty lightheaded.
“Sure, sure.” Motioning to Nathan, Johnny got the check, left a hefty tip, and walked Sonia out to his car. As they walked, Sonia’s ankles seemed to keep buckling inward. These damn heels.
Minutes later, when they had climbed the stairs to her apartment and were standing on the tiny porch outside her front door, Sonia could feel Johnny looking deeply into her eyes. He had a broad smile on his face, and she had a feeling that her own smile was warmer than it had been when he had picked her up. Her mind was racing. She desperately wanted him to pull her close and kiss her lips, but somehow it didn’t feel right. Still, she couldn’t deny that she wanted to feel her body pressed against his.
Right in the middle of their small-talk goodbye, something seemed to change for Johnny. It was as if he couldn’t resist. He reached out and put his arms around Sonia, almost lifting her off the ground as he pulled her close to him. No talking, no excuses, no explanations, he just kissed her. And she kissed him back, her Italian blood beginning to stir.
Sonia felt like a teenaged girl, standing outside her front door, passionately kissing this attractive man. He was turning her on more deeply than she had been for, well, literally, for almost three years. But this was like making out on the front porch with the captain of the basketball team after the championship game. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she got the feeling that her father, like so many Italian fathers, was going to flash the front porch lights─indicating to her and her horny boyfriend that it was time to call it a night.
Instead, Johnny asked, “May I come in?”
Sonia froze. She had not been holding anything back as she was kissing him. She could feel her body pressing against his, tighter and tighter. Her thighs were telling her that there was no question whatsoever that Johnny Adams was all man and rea
dy to go as well. Still, in her now slightly drunken haze, there were alarms going off.
Fighting every sexual urge that was coursing through her body, Sonia pulled herself away. “No, Johnny. Not tonight. Please. Please understand. Not tonight.”
Sonia watched as Johnny’s manners kicked in. “Sure. Sure. I understand. I’m sorry. It’s just that . . .”
Sonia reached up and touched her fingers to his lips. “Shhhhh. It’s alright. Just not tonight. Okay?” She heard the slight slurring of her own words.
Johnny stood there for a long few moments, staring into her eyes. “Absolutely. Listen, I’ve got to go. Thank you so much for a great evening. I’ve got to go. I’ll call you, okay?”
Sonia nodded. And with that, Johnny turned, went quickly down the steps, and left. Sonia simply leaned against her front door, pulling herself together, catching her breath. Finally, she turned, unlocked the door, walked into the apartment, and went straight into her bedroom. Without even taking off her clothes, she fell onto the bed and was asleep in moments. It wasn’t a restful sleep.
24
Just before eleven on Wednesday morning, Sonia walked into BCI and headed straight into Jet’s office.
Jet looked up. “Look what the cat drug in.”
Sonia plopped down in the red chair across from Jet’s desk.
Jet sat up a little taller and looked down at Sonia’s hands. “I see you’ve gotten your coffee from downstairs. No croissant?”
Sonia gave her a look that clearly indicated the thought of eating a croissant right now would make her puke.
“That must have been some date last night. Are you okay, sweetie?”
Sonia’s eyes dropped to her lap. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Well . . . c’mon girl, spill.”
Sonia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, so he picks me up promptly at six. Nicely dressed, we get in his nice middle-class car, he takes me to Joe Bologna’s, where I’ve never been before. We have a lovely dinner, some wine . . . .”
“Aaand?”
“And then he takes me home and we make out like two horny teenagers, right outside the door to my apartment.”
“Are you kidding me? Right outside? You didn’t go in?”
“No. He asks, but I say, ‘No.’ ”
“Why? Was he groping you? Was he all hands and tongue?” Jet seemed excited.
“No, he was great. He was hot and sexy, but he was still a perfect gentleman. I know he wanted to go inside and, you know. But as soon as I said, ‘No,’ he dropped it right away. He just said, ‘Goodnight’ and left.”
Jet rocked back in her chair, tapping her chin with her thumb. “Was he pissed?”
“No, that’s the thing.” Sonia put her coffee on Jet’s desk. “He was all revved up, but as soon as I asked him to stop he did. He was a real gentleman about it.”
Jet squinted at Sonia. “Are you going to see him again?”
“He said he’d call and I’m sure he will.”
“Yeah, but will you see him? You look wrecked.”
Sonia rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. “Well, part of it is that I’m so damn hung over. I never should’ve been drinking wine when I was that tired. It just wiped me out.”
“And the other part of it?” A snarky little smile crept across Jet’s face.
“I don’t know. He’s nice. He’s pleasant, he’s polite, he’s very good looking, and he’s just . . . nice.”
Jet raised her eyebrows and leaned forward, resting her arms on her desk. “And the problem is?”
“Somehow it just doesn’t feel right.”
“And when was the last time it did feel right?”
Sonia’s eyes lowered. “A long time ago.” She took a sip of her coffee and looked into the cup she held with both hands. “With John Eckel, back in Cincinnati, I guess.”
“The guy who broke your heart? The son-of-a-bitch who left you standing at the altar?”
“Yeah, that’s the guy.”
Jet’s face and voice softened. “Honey, you can’t judge every man by what that jerk did. Maybe you just don’t remember how it’s supposed to feel anymore. Couldn’t it be that you’re just gun shy?”
Sonia looked up. “Do you blame me? Standing there in the narthex, dressed in my wedding gown, and my uncle comes up to me and tells me John’s a no-show. I’m absolutely clueless as to what happened. And now you expect me to know what it’s supposed to feel like?”
Sonia rolled the cup in her hands. This was a memory she had been keeping locked away as much as possible for a long time. Just saying the words narthex and wedding gown, she wanted to groan. Aspirin would eventually take care of the pain in her head, but no amount of pain reliever would touch the ache in her heart.
“Well,” said Jet after a few moments. “You know what they say in Kentucky. First thing you do after you fall off a horse . . .”
“Yeah, I know, get back on. It’s just not that easy.” Sonia put her coffee down on Jet’s desk.
Jet smiled, turned her chair around, and stared out the window. “And what about the other one?”
“What other one?
Jet spun back around and nodded her head toward the white house. “Mr. Hotshot, ex-Marine, ex-NCIS.”
Sonia sat straighter. “What about him?”
“Now don’t tell me that you weren’t all hot and bothered for him when you got back from your mission the other night.”
“Oh, geez.” Sonia thought back to how she felt when she first crawled back into Brad’s Corvette after sneaking onto Dahlia Farm. “Yeah, he’s hot, but he can be such a jerk, too.”
“Well, you seemed ready to let that slide the other day. C’mon, don’t you really have it for him too?”
“No, no. Sure he’s hot but . . .”
Jet stood up and reached for her purse. “Look, let’s go downstairs and get you some soup. I’ll bet you haven’t eaten a morsel this morning, and that’s the last thing your body needs. C’mon.”
Sonia lifted her hand. “Wait, I’ll go, but first I have to tell you something.”
“There’s more?” Jet paused and looked closely at her friend. “Wow, that must have been some date.”
“No, it has nothing to do with last night. It’s about work.”
Jet sat back down in her chair. “What about work?”
“Well, first, we now have Marcos Torres on video, doing his thing with the prostitutes.”
“Do tell.” A big smile spread across Jet’s face.
“Yeah, we picked it up and recorded it from the feeds out at the farm.”
“Ka-ching!” Jet bent her arm and pulled it downward. “At least now we can get paid for that one.”
“Not so fast.”
Jet’s head bobbed backward. “Not so fast? Why?”
Sonia paused and looked right into Jet’s eyes. “Well . . . it turns out that if we tell Teresa Torres that we have Marcos on tape with a prostitute, she’ll be happy, but we’ll have blown our investigation of the Hensley thing. I mean, she’s certainly not going to keep that to herself.” Sonia got a momentary vision of Teresa beating the living daylights out of a very cowardly Marcos. “And what’s worse, we have to make certain that she doesn’t go poking around there herself.”
Jet scrunched her brow. “Which means?”
Sonia shook her head slowly. “Which means we actually have to tell Teresa that we’re sure Marco isn’t fooling around. That he’s being a damn boy scout.”
Jet moved to the front of her seat. “Really?”
“Really.”
It was Jet’s turn to shake her head slowly. “I’ll be damned. That sucks.”
Sonia lightened the tone of her voice and picked up the pace. “I know. But trust me, as soon as we get this whole thing wrapped up we’re going to go back and burn ol’ Marcos Torres so badly he’ll wish that Teresa had cut his balls off a long time ago.”
Jet cocked her head, surprised at Sonia’s language. Then Sonia saw her b
righten up and stand. “Okay, let’s go get you that soup.”
“Wait, there’s more.”
“What the . . . .” Jet plopped back down. “Come on, spit it out. Just know you’re killin’ me here, Vitale. You’re killin’ me.”
Sonia’s eyes dropped to her lap. That wisp of hair fell in front of her face. “We need help.” She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Who needs help? You and I?”
“No, Brad and I. We need help?”
“Oh, so it’s Brad and I now, is it?” She gave Sonia another snarky smile. “With what?”
Sonia looked back up. “Well, not only do we have Marcos on tape, we also have the Mid-West Feed and Hay Company truck on tape. They’re back at it.”
Jet rocked back in her chair and drummed her fingers on its arms. “Back at what?”
“You know how I’ve been watching that Mid-West Feed and Hay company truck come and go on the farm.”
Jet nodded.
“Well, it turns out that there’s no such thing as the Mid-West Feed and Hay Company.”
Jet looked out over glasses that weren’t on her nose.
“It’s just a cover for some guys who’ve developed an elaborate system for delivering drugs. And now that we know that, we have to switch from checking tape to live monitoring. Bottom line, we have to have someone monitoring that feed from eight in the morning ‘til at least five or six in the evening. And we’ve got to be ready to roll. As soon as we see the truck pull in, we’ve got to get out to the castle and be ready to follow one of those pickup trucks as it goes on a delivery.”
“And what kind of help do you need?”
Sonia moved forward in her seat, her eyes pleading just slightly. “Help monitoring the feed. We can do it from here, as well as from Brad’s office, but we need at least three people to trade off watching the computer.”
“Just watching the computer?”
“Yeah, just watching the computer . . . I guess.”
Jet’s cocked her head again. “You guess?”
