Down the Rabbit Hole

by F J messina

  That feeling was strengthened when she heard Jet’s voice sing out across the room from behind her desk. “Wellll, hello there! Didn’t think you’d be coming in, it being Saturday and all. And look how bright and shiny you look, darlin’.” Her southern accent kicked up a notch. “Bless your heart.”

  “Okay, wiseass, enough.”

  Jet snorted. “Oh, now I’m the wiseass?”

  “If the shoe fits . . . .” Sonia walked into Jet’s office and took her customary seat across from Jet’s desk. She offered Jet half of her sticky bun, which Jet accepted gladly. “Listen, the only reason I’m here is to see how yesterday went with Detective Sergeant Johnny Adams and little Ralphie McCormick.”

  “Is that the only reason?” Jet looked at her over her invisible glasses. “Really?”

  Sonia squirmed a bit in the chair. “Well, no. I do want to tell you about my day, but you first. How did things go?”

  Jet’s eyes lit up. “Splendid. Splendid all the way around.”

  “How so?”

  “Well,” said Jet, returning to the quasi-southern accent she often used when telling a funny story, “first, DSA─that’s what I call Detective Sergeant Adams─he was disappointed that it was me waitin’ for him and not you. Each time you and I talked and put off your arrival, he got just a little more agitated. By the time you told me that you wouldn’t be makin’ it at all, he was hoppin’ mad, though he tried not to show it.”

  “And you were loving that, weren’t you?”

  “Oh, yes, I was, girl.” She wore a big smile.

  “And Ralphie? Did he play his part for us?” Sonia popped the last bite of her pastry into her mouth. She was surprised how much she was enjoying the sticky bun, but it wasn’t just the bun that was sticky─she licked the sugar off her fingertips.

  “Oh yes, he did, and in a very big way. We watched from the parking lot and saw him enter the restaurant early, before the other employees showed up for work. He was in there quite a while, doing what he does, I suppose. But then, just about lunchtime─and by then we’d moved around to the front entrance─here comes Ralphie.” Jet moved forward in her chair and leaned her elbows on her desk, pushing away a stack of miscellaneous notes. She was obviously enjoying telling the story. “Now you know that yesterday was a pretty decent day, but ol’ Ralphie, he’s got his winter coat on and it’s all zipped up like he’s off to Alaska or something. That’s when DSA slowly steps out of the car and walks up to Ralphie all nice and pleasant, takin’ his sweet time.”

  Sonia cleared a spot on the corner of Jet’s desk and put down her coffee. “Does Ralphie panic?”

  The grin on Jet’s face got even bigger. “Not at first. In fact, ol’ DSA takes his time, tellin’ Ralphie how much he likes the restaurant, how he likes to take his mother there for special occasions.”

  “And Ralphie?” Sonia used her napkin, trying to wipe her sticky fingers clean.

  “Sweatin’ like a pig lookin’ down at a fire pit on the fourth of July.”

  “Nice.” Sonia gave up on the wiping and threw her napkin in Jet’s trash.

  “And that’s not all. Then ol’ DSA, he starts talkin’ about how his favorite things to eat there are the steaks, or is it the fish? ‘No,’ he says, ‘I think it’s the steak.’ Then he goes on to say that next time he’ll probably order the surf and turf and get both.”

  Jet picked up the pace. “By then Ralphie must know for sure that he’s been caught. He starts fidgetin’ and squirmin’, so much so that all of sudden this huge piece of fish slides down his pant leg and lands on his shoe, just as nice as you please. You know what DSA says then?”

  Sonia shook her head. “I can only imagine.”

  Jet got up and walked to her armoire, laughing as she spoke. “He says, ‘I guess we can call that probable cause unless, of course, that’s some new kind of deodorant you’re usin’.’ ”

  Jet returned to her desk with a small flask of something Sonia assumed was bourbon. She poured some into her coffee and held the flask out to Sonia. Sonia begged off.

  Jet put the flask down on her desk. “Right then ol’ Ralphie starts bawlin’ and says that he didn’t mean to steal nothin’, he just needed a little bit of extra cash to take care of his sick wife.” Jet sat back down, still smiling. “Of course, DSA, and everyone else in town, knows that Ralphie’s wife left him two years ago. So DSA makes him open his coat and there’s another big fish and several beautiful pieces of beef all stuck down in the top of Ralphie’s pants.” Jet smiled and smacked her hands together. “Right there, DSA reads him his rights while he’s pulling Ralphie’s hands behind his back and cuffin’ him.” Jet wagged her head, “I got to tell you, sweetheart, it was one of the highlights of my short but noteworthy career as a PI.”

  Sonia rethought Jet’s offer and reached out for the flask. “And Clay McCormick? Did Johnny get him involved right away?” She poured a little of the amber liquid into her coffee.

  “No. He said this would all seem a lot more official if Clay didn’t see the boy ‘til he was sittin’ in an interrogation room downtown. So DSA just put Ralphie up against his car and called in a cruiser. It wasn’t five minutes later that three of ‘em showed up, and one of ‘em took Ralphie downtown.”

  Jet reached out with her coffee cup, obviously wanting to toast with Sonia. “Top to bottom, girl, it was a great plan, and it was all yours. You figured it out from the videos, you made the plan. I guess on TV they would have said, ‘The collar’s yours, Sonia.’”

  Sonia smiled, appreciating the compliment, touched her paper cup to Jet’s ceramic mug and took a sip. “Well, I’m glad everything worked out. Another case wrapped up and filed away. And one that pays, as well.” Then she took another long sip of her coffee and gave her fingertips one last lick for good measure.

  Jet sighed contentedly. “Is that all you want to know about?”

  Sonia cocked her head. “What do you mean?” She noted that Jet’s accent was gone. Did that mean something?

  Jet gave Sonia another sly look. “Don’t you want to know what was bothering ol’ DSA all day?”

  Sonia shrugged her shoulders. “The fact that he couldn’t be out there following me around as I was working the Hensley case?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Jet savoring the smell of the bourbon in her coffee. “It seemed to me that he was mostly disappointed because he wasn’t going to get to spend the day with you.”

  A tiny charge went through Sonia’s body. Jet lowered her chin again, and Sonia could tell that she was trying to gauge Sonia’s reaction. “Really?” Sonia tried to her best to look unimpressed.

  Jet rolled her chair back and crossed her long legs on her desk. “Really. Once we settled in, and he knew you weren’t going to join him, ol’ DSA started talking about you. Slowly at first, a little here, a little there. But after a while, while we were still waiting for Ralphie to show, he starts telling me how special he thinks you are. That you’re smart as a whip, and persistent too. Aaand, the way you look, well, how did he put it?” She tapped her fingernails on her ceramic mug. “He said he wished he could be part of our company because then he’d be able to keep an eye on you.” Jet stuck her finger in her mouth. “Gack. It was almost more than I could take.”

  “Get outta here,” said Sonia, trying to find someplace other than Jet’s face to look.

  “Seriously, girl. This boy’s got it bad for you.” Jet took a deep breath. “Are you sure you’re reading him right? Didn’t he make it pretty clear the other night that he wanted to, what would you call it, slide between the sheets with you?”

  “Oh, that.” Sonia pursed her lips and shook her head quickly. “We were both just a little drunk.” She was doing her very best to keep Jet from making a mountain out of this molehill.

  Another big grin crossed Jet’s face. “I’m not so sure, girl. I really think you’ve got to give him another look. He’s a nice guy. Attractive, polite, nice.”

  Sonia sighed, her shoulders falling. “Oh,
I don’t know. Maybe, but, well . . .” Sonia put her cup down. “Brad. Something happened with Brad last night.”

  “Girlfriend.” Jet pulled her legs off her desk and sat up tall in her chair. “Come on. Spill it.”

  Sonia took a deep breath. “Okay, so you know that Brad and I were following one of the pickups while he was delivering drugs.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “In fact, we went all the way down I-75 to Tennessee.”

  Jet simply nodded.

  “So, on the last stop, I kind of got caught parked behind the guy on a dead-end street. I was sure he’d figured out I was following him, especially when he just stood there for a while staring at my car.”

  Jet furrowed her brows. “Ouch.”

  “Then Brad tells me to just stay still and let the guy pass─that it’ll be alright. But I know he’s seen me. I know he’s going to come and get me, hurt me─maybe kill me.”

  “And Brad didn’t do anything to help you?” Jet’s voice was clearly accusatory.

  Sonia’s hand was trembling as she picked her cup up again. “Not at first. Or at least I didn’t think so.”

  Jet shook her head slowly back and forth. “Bastard.”

  Sonia’s voice rose. “No, you don’t understand. While the guy was in his truck right by me, and I was crouched down under the steering wheel, hiding, Brad was down the block. He had the guy in the sights of his army rifle.”

  “He was aiming at the guy?” Jet’s eyes opened wide.

  “He was.” Tears began running down Sonia’s checks. “He told me later he was ready to kill the guy if he hurt me. Ready to shoot him right there.”

  “From down the block?”

  Sonia’s voice reflected a combination of re-experienced fear and pride. “Oh, he could have done it. No question. He could have done it.”

  Jet’s face softened as she spoke. “Oh Sonia, I’m so sorry.” She reached her hand across her desk and touched Sonia’s for a brief moment.

  Sonia reached for the box of tissues lying sideways on Jet’s desk and blotted her tears. Her voice was very soft. “It’s okay. Really, I’m okay.”

  There was a long silence in the room, only the muffled sound of the cars on the street below their office filled the room.

  Then Sonia spoke again. “There’s more.”

  Jet’s eyes asked the question, more?

  Sonia took another deep breath. “Yeah. After the guy left. After Brad explained how he’d been trained to watch out for people when he was in the Marines. Then he . . . well . . . he kissed me.”

  “He kissed you? For real kissed you?” Jet’s face came alive.

  Sonia sat forward in her chair, her hands crossed in her lap. “Well actually, I kissed him, but he kissed me back, and he meant it; I could tell. He took me in his arms. He just pulled me to him. He kissed me and it lasted a long time. I felt like . . . I don’t know, but it was strong. But then he stopped. He just held me close and calmed things down.”

  “Why? Why did he stop?”

  “I don’t know.” Sonia slumped back and sighed, tears forming in her eyes again. “Well, it is true that we were just sitting there on a curb. But still, it felt more like he was afraid. That he felt like we couldn’t, or shouldn’t, really go there.”

  “What do you think that’s all about?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is that he’s so . . . so strong, so brave, so honorable . . . and so distant” Her voice faded. “So, so distant.”

  At that moment, Sonia’s cell phone rang. She reached into her purse and took out her phone. She swallowed. “Bluegrass Confidential Investigations. This is Sonia Vitale . . . . Oh, hi, Johnny.” Her voice was less than enthusiastic.

  Jet leaned back in her chair shaking her head.

  “I don’t know, I just had a cup . . . . You’re right downstairs? Oh, okay. I guess just for a little while. I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.” Sonia’s phone chirped, indicating that its battery had just died. She realized Johnny might not have gotten those final words.

  “Lover boy?”

  Sonia took a deep breath, looking down at the phone in her hand. She wiped a single tear away and tried to pull herself together. “I guess.” She stood up and looked out the front window at the white house across the street. She sighed. “One wants to be with me, and I’m not sure I want to be with him. The other . . . well, I just don’t know.”

  34

  Sonia was feeling less than enthusiastic as she walked down the steps and turned into Magee’s. Standing just inside the door, she searched the room for Johnny Adams. She found him sitting at the most intimate table in the place, stuck back in a corner. Of course.

  Johnny stood as Sonia approached the table. “Well, don’t you look nice?”

  Sonia thought about how tired she was, how little time she had spent getting ready that morning, how puffy her eyes must be after she’d kind of lost it with Jet. That’s a crock. Still, it was nice to hear the compliment. “Thanks,” she said and took a seat.

  “I know you already had some coffee, but I took the liberty of getting you a fresh cup. I hope that’s all right.”

  The sound of his voice was just a bit too upbeat for Sonia at the moment. She gave him an acquiescent smile. “Sure, that’s fine. It appears to be a coffee kind of day.”

  “Hey, I wanted to thank you for helping me hook up Ralph McCormick.” Johnny’s eyes were bright and his smile genuine. “Easy day’s work, and every collar looks good in the old jacket. So, thanks.”

  “Of course. Honestly, it was you who was helping us out.” Sonia emptied the sugar packet Johnny had brought with the coffee. “We really didn’t want to be the ones who tried to tell Clay McCormick that his son was the one who’s been ripping him off. You took care of that for us, and we still got the credit for having solved the case. Good news all the way around.” She took her first sip.

  There was a lull in the conversation and then Johnny asked, “So how was your day yesterday?”

  Sonia stirred her coffee absentmindedly. Her calm, everyday actions belied the doubts about his intentions that were worming their way around in her mind. “Busy. Long and busy.”

  “I have to tell you that I was disappointed that I wound up working with Jet instead of you.” He took a quick breath. “Not that there’s anything wrong with Jet. She’s great. It’s just that I was hoping to get to spend some time with you.” A subtle smile crossed his face. “Nothing like a stakeout to give you the time to build a relationship, you know.” The message was far from subtle.

  Sonia took a quick sip. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Something came up at the last minute, and I just had to deal with it. Maybe next time.” She hoped her smile wasn’t lacking something in the veracity department.

  “Speaking of next time,” Johnny continued brightly, “I was hoping that we could get together sometime early next week. Are you still planning on being out of town?”

  Sonia was caught off guard by the question. She sucked in a breath and forced a wider smile. “My plans are just a bit up in the air right now.” She knew that there was every chance that she and Brad might be chasing the feed and hay truck next week, and part of her still feared that Johnny was somehow checking up on her. If she told him she was going out of town, that might alert him to be ready to follow her. On the other hand, if she told him the trip was off, she would have to come up with some other excuse for not being able to go out with him. Sonia took a closer look at Johnny. What is it that I have against this guy? He’s as nice as can be to me. He obviously does want to see me. And according to Jet, he seems to have real feelings for me. Oh, damn, I don’t know. The thoughts flew through her mind in a millisecond. “Well, we’ll just have to see.”

  “Oh yeah, sure.” Johnny shrugged and swirled the coffee in his paper cup. “Maybe you can just let me know how things develop.”

  Sonia was about to respond when she caught sight of bright, bright blue eyes staring at her and moving quickly toward the table. Her eyes f
lashed to Johnny and back. By that time, Brad had crossed the room in a few long strides and was looming over the table. “Brad, what are you doing here?”

  “Trying to get in touch with you.” Brad’s voice was terse. “I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes.”

  “Sorry . . . my phone . . . the battery’s dead.”

  “Well, this is important, we need to talk right now. Things could be happening.” Brad’s tone was anything but friendly.

  Embarrassed, Sonia didn’t know what to say. The tension was broken momentarily as Johnny stood up to greet Brad. Still seated, Sonia started. “Brad, this is Detective Sergeant Johnny Adams. Johnny, this is Captain—”

  “Brad. Brad Dunham.” Brad’s eyes flicked over to Johnny.

  The two men shook hands, but the feeling at the table was anything but cordial. Brad looked down at Sonia “I’m going back to my office. I hope you can join me there as soon as possible.” Then he turned to Johnny. “Nice to meet you, Sergeant.” He was outside Magee’s in a moment. The whole episode had taken less than a minute.

  Sonia could feel the warmth in her cheeks. She looked at Johnny. “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to hear that.” Sonia thought about the lifeless phone in her purse. It’s not my fault the damn battery in my phone went dead.

  Johnny sat back down. “Wow, he’s pretty intense. Is he always like that?”

  “Not always,” Sonia responded, still looking in the direction Brad had gone. Not always.

  There was a long, awkward silence at the table. Finally, Johnny spoke tentatively. “Listen, I should let you go. You obviously need to go meet with . . . uh, Brad? Why don’t you just give me a call when you know what next week is going to look like for you? Maybe we can find time to catch a drink after work or something.”

  Johnny smiled and stood up. Touching his fingers to his forehead, he gently saluted Sonia and took his leave.

  Sonia sat and wondered. Here’s this good-looking guy falling all over himself to be nice to me, and I’m fixated on a guy who sometimes sweeps me off my feet, and sometimes treats me like crap. What the hell am I doing, anyway? A few minutes later, she stood, braced herself, and left as well, dropping her half-consumed coffee in the trash. And into the lion’s den, we go. This was not the same feeling she had experienced on the long trip home last night.