by Debbie Mason
It took everything she had not to let her fear show after what he’d said. Her gut was telling her this was most likely the reason Charlie had gone missing. “The cops don’t have a clue who I am. But I didn’t have a choice about coming back. My uncle’s missing. There isn’t any talk about him on the street, is there?”
“Not that I’ve heard. Then again, I didn’t even know he was missing. I’ll keep my ears open. Let you know if I hear anything.”
“I’d appreciate it. And if I were you, I’d start looking for another profession, Gerry. From what I hear, people don’t live long doing what you do.”
He swallowed audibly and slid off the barstool. “Are you telling me I’m dead unless I stop selling?”
“Pretty much.”
“I…I don’t understand. I’m just trying to help. Why would you threaten to kill me?”
“I…” She trailed off when a tall, silver-haired man entered the bar. He wore a black wool coat over a black suit, his bearing regal. She hadn’t seen him in years. He worked for the Gallaghers, though Michael had always spoken about him as if he were more family than employee. And like the rest of the Gallagher clan, Jasper hadn’t approved of her relationship with the heir apparent to his father’s political career.
“Look, I’ll do whatever you want me to, just…please don’t kill me,” Gerry pleaded, his voice rising above a frantic whisper.
At the quirk of Jasper’s silver eyebrow, Shay briefly closed her eyes and counted to ten. It didn’t help as much as the reminder that she no longer cared what the Gallaghers thought about her. She refocused on Gerry, who looked like he planned to go down on his knees to beg for her mercy. She leaned over the bar and fisted her hands in the front of his jacket, holding him in an upright position. “Don’t be so dramatic. We’re square. All I want you to do is keep your eyes and ears open.”
“Okay, okay, I can do that. And I’ll stay out of your territory. I’ll cover for you with Costello. You can sell your dope wherever you want.”
Great. No doubt Jasper was giving himself a mental high five at the proof they’d been right about her. And she couldn’t defend herself without blowing her previous cover. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she and Michael were getting back together.
“I’m lying low, remember?” she said to Gerry as she let him go. “I’d advise you to do the same. Now get out of here.” He gave a jerky nod and reached in his back pocket. “Don’t worry about it. Your beer is on the house.”
“Eric’s right. You’re like the bad guys’ superhero. Glad you’re on our side. Sorry,” he said, bumping into Jasper as he turned to leave.
“What can I get for you?” Shay asked the older man as he approached, working to swallow a groan when she heard a familiar click, click, click coming their way.
As Cherry closed in on the bar, he said, “I was hoping to have a word with you, Ms. Angel.”
Shay had to give him credit. There was no visible reaction on his face when he got an up-close-and-personal look at Cherry. “Sure, shoot.” While holding his gaze, she covertly waved off Cherry. Tried to, she amended when the woman sidled up beside Jasper.
Cherry fluffed her hair, doing so in such a way that she thrust out her triple Ds. Then she fluttered her eyelashes while running the tip of her tongue over her lips—very, very slowly. “Well, hello, handsome,” she said in a Marilyn Monroe voice.
Oh good God, Cherry thought Jasper was her tea-leaf suitor. Shay had to figure out a way to get rid of her.
Despite having a great poker face, she picked up on a definite hint of nerves in the quick uptick of Jasper’s lips. “Miss.” He nodded.
Cherry wrinkled her nose. “Oh, you’re just so cute with that accent. Are you really as prim and proper as you sound?”
“Quite.”
He had no idea what he’d just done. Converting him from prim and proper to wild and fun would be a challenge her friend couldn’t resist. “Cherry, this is Jasper. He works for the Gallaghers at Greystone Manor,” she stressed the two things that should give her friend pause since Shay had shared at least some of what had gone on in the past.
“Oh, nice,” Cherry said, obviously not hearing a word Shay had said, her entire focus on Jasper. Smiling, Cherry pressed her body against his side and played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Has anyone ever told you that you have the most amazing hair and eyes?”
Shay made a mental note to throw out every tea bag in the house, and in the pub.
“No.” Jasper’s voice came out an octave higher, and he cleared his throat. “No, I can’t say that they have.”
“Well you absolutely do, and I—”
Shay could see it happening right before her eyes. Jasper was going to have a coronary, and the Gallaghers would blame her. “Cherry,” she snapped.
“What?” she snapped back, clearly perturbed at being interrupted.
“I need to speak with Jasper alone for a minute. It’s probably time for you to take Roxy out for a walk anyway." She nudged her head in the direction of the office.
“No, I just took her out. But you go ahead and chat with Jaspy,” she purred his name and hefted herself onto the barstool beside him. “I could listen to him talk all day.”
Jasper quickly averted his gaze from Cherry.
Shay glanced at her friend to see why the older man’s face had flushed. “Cherry.” She gestured at her friend’s sweater and mouthed, Put on some pants.
“You’re such a prude. I’ll be right back, and we’ll get better acquainted, Jasper.” She gave the older man a lascivious wink before strutting away, hips swinging.
“Sorry about that,” Shay said as she turned to take a bottle of Johnnie Walker off the glass shelf.
“You have nothing to apologize for, miss. But I’m afraid I do.”
She poured two fingers of whiskey in a shot glass and placed it in front of the older man. “What do you have to apologize for?”
“Thank you,” he said as he lifted the drink to his lips, surprising Shay by tossing it back. “Your uncle. I don’t know if Master Michael told you or not, but I believe you have the right to know. I’m the one who gave Charlie the news about your sisters. I should have handled it better.”
Gerry had basically confirmed her fears that Charlie hadn’t gone in search of her sisters but was hiding (hopefully) from Danny Costello, so she wasn’t quite sure how to respond to Jasper. But she appreciated he had the courage to face her and apologize. Still…“It’s too bad no one thought to tell him years before. Or that Mrs. Gallagher didn’t go to him with her concerns before turning us in to social services.”
“Madame didn’t intend for events to unfold as they did. She was concerned for your well-being. She didn’t mean you harm. Am I correct in assuming you haven’t read the papers I gave to your uncle?”
She nodded. “Charlie must have taken them with him. I’ve searched the house and his office and haven’t found any evidence as to where or why he disappeared.”
He angled his head, a silver eyebrow quirked as he studied her. “You don’t believe he’s gone in search of your sisters, do you?”
“I don’t know why you’d think that. Right now it’s the only lead I have.
He turned the shot glass between his long fingers. “No, I don’t believe that’s true. I think you have a very good idea what’s happened to your uncle, Ms. Angel. And if that’s the case, you should talk to Master Michael.” He held her gaze with his piercing blue eyes. “You remind me of myself when I was younger, so trust me when I tell you that this is one battle you don’t want to fight on your own.”
Shay wondered if Jasper was suffering from some form of dementia. There was no way the dignified man sitting before her with his proper manners and sedate job had ever done or witnessed half of what she had.
His mouth twitched as though he knew what she was thinking. “Your judgments are colored by your own misconceptions and experiences, Ms. Angel. Rarely will someone allow you to see who they truly are. Whet
her you believe me or not, we are much more alike than you will ever know.” He stood and reached in his back pocket, frowning as he began searching his other pockets for what she assumed was his wallet.
She was just about to tell him his drink was on the house when he gave her an amused smile. “It seems I should take my own advice.”
Unsure what he was talking about, and worried he might actually be having cognitive problems, she was somewhat relieved when she looked up at a blast of cool, damp air from the open door to see Michael. He met her gaze over the heads of the older men he held the door open for.
“Exactly the point I’ve been trying to make,” Jasper said when he caught Shay looking at Michael. “Give him a second chance. He deserves it, and so do you.”
“Sorry, Jasper, but I’m beginning to question your judgment,” she said, glancing over at the familiar click, click, click as Cherry walked over wearing a serving wench costume that had been altered to reveal a wide expanse of cleavage and leg. “That’s not what I had in mind,” Shay said.
Michael approached, hiding a smile behind his hand before nodding. “Shay. Nice costume, Cherry. What are you up to, Jeeves?”
“I stopped by for a libation. But I must be on my way now. Master Michael, Ms. Angel.” He nodded and then turned to Cherry. “My wallet, miss.”
Chapter Nine
With her long hair pulled up in a high ponytail, Shay had her temper clearly on display. There was no concealing the angry flush coloring her gorgeous face or the glint of fire in her steel-gray eyes. So much for Michael’s hope that she’d be in a better mood this afternoon than she had been this morning.
The irony didn’t escape him. The only reason he wanted her in a good mood was so that he could question her and no doubt put her in a worse one. As if that made any sense at all. Only, when it came to Shay, it kind of did.
Judging by the way her arms were crossed over her black thermal Henley and the way she tapped the sexy high-heeled boot on the planked floor, she was definitely ticked off at her friend. In fact, he’d go so far as to say she’d crossed to the dark side of ticked.
Michael’s hope that she wouldn’t storm off before he got out half a sentence had just been obliterated. It didn’t seem Shay could go a day without a Gallagher messing with her life.
But for her sake, and for his own, Michael really needed her to answer each and every one of his questions. Further investigation into the most recent victim’s cell phone had revealed a threatening text sent by Charlie a few days before. A text that some might say—his partner for one—implicated Shay in the murder.
“So what you’re trying to tell me is that you weren’t all over Jasper because you thought he was your tea-leaf suitor; you were stealing his wallet to pay him back for”—Shay glanced at Michael and then averted her gaze—“the stuff we talked about last night?”
“Of course I didn’t think he was my tea-leaf suitor. He’s too ol—” Cherry pressed her lips together and opened her eyes wide, looking like she’d just stepped in something Roxy left behind. “Cute and…wiry to be my tea-leaf suitor. The pattern in my cup indicated a big man with muscles the size of my…” Her hands went to her chest.
Obviously knowing exactly where her friend was going with the comparison, Shay cut her off. “Whatever the reason you stole his wallet doesn’t matter anymore, just that you won’t do it again. You owe him an apology.”
“Not until he apologizes to you first. You were very mean to my BFF when she was younger, Jaspy.”
“Oh God, Cherry, no, don’t—”
Cherry ignored Shay’s frantic attempt to cut her off. “All you Gallaghers were, and it’s time for you to own up to what you’ve done to the Angels, especially my Shaybae. Even you, Mikey. I know you’ve been trying to make amends, but have you said sorry? Like a heartfelt, down-on-your-knees apology said with feeling and—”
Michael glanced at Shay and winced. She’d gone from the dark side of ticked to apoplectic.
“That’s it. You’re done. I’m taking you home. Go. Now,” she ordered her friend.
Cherry gasped. “I was just trying to stand up for you. Everyone thinks you’re all tough and…Well, you are tough, but they don’t understand you have feelings too.”
“Ms. Cherry is right. We owe you an apology for the part—” Jasper broke off when he noticed the other woman shaking her head.
“It’s not Ms. Cherry. It’s Ms. Blossom. My name’s Cherry Blossom.”
Michael looked down at the planked floor in an effort to keep from laughing.
“It’s a charming name,” Jasper said with a straight face.
Barely able to contain the laughter rumbling in his chest, Michael thought he could take a few lessons from Jasper. The old man was good.
“Thank you. It’s my stage name. My real name is Ethel Buckhead. I had it changed legally to Cherry Blossom ten years ago. My mother cried. But come on, do I look like an Ethel Buckhead to you?” She put out her hands and pushed out her chest.
“No, you most definitely do not,” Jasper said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
At the heavy thud of a bottle landing on the bar, Michael glanced at Shay, who was now pouring herself a shot. She caught his eye as she tossed it back. He smiled at the thought of her friendship with Cherry. Shay was a loner who’d never gone out of her way to make friends. She wasn’t a girly girl. She was strong, street smart, and driven. His smile faded as he thought about what Cherry said. No one knew better than Michael that she was right. Underneath Shay’s hardass demeanor was a loyal, generous, and thoughtful woman.
He wondered if Cherry was right about something else. In all these years, had he apologized to Shay? He was pretty sure that he had but was just as sure that he may have qualified it with “but you stole my car” or if he hadn’t verbalized it there’d no doubt been a hint of defensiveness attached to the apology.
Holding Shay’s gaze, he placed his hand over his heart and mouthed, I’m sorry. For everything.
As he mouthed the words, he knew that moments from now she’d wonder if he’d meant them for the past or the present. She rolled her eyes as if he were an idiot, but a second before she did, he thought he caught a hint of pleasure before she covered it with derision.
“Ms. Angel, on behalf of all of us at Greystone Manor, may I offer our sincerest apologies. I hope one day you come to understand why Madame did what she did and are able to forgive her. I know it would mean a lot to her if you did.” Jasper gave his head a slight shake. “Your forgiveness would have meant a lot to her. But it would mean as much to both Kitty and myself, as we were the ones who decided your family were owed the truth. So perhaps you would accept an invitation to join us for tea one day. Just let us know which day works for—”
Cherry clapped. “How about tomorrow? Tomorrow would work for us, wouldn’t it, Shaybae?”
Shay didn’t answer her friend because she was staring at Michael, who’d blurted out a panicked, “No, that’s not a good idea.”
Cherry and Jasper frowned at him.
“It’s just—” He rubbed the back of his neck that all of a sudden felt hot and sweaty. “Look, my mother’s here for a few days, so it might be better to pick another time.”
Shay poured herself another shot. Which wouldn’t have been a big deal if the woman drank, but she didn’t.
Jasper frowned. “I didn’t see your mother. When did she arrive?”
“Early. She, uh, she’s left my father.” Who Michael had finally managed to get a hold of two hours before. His dad had no idea what was going on, nor did he seem inclined to beg his wife to come home. Logan and Connor had yet to return Michael’s calls.
“Perhaps later in the week, then,” Jasper said as he opened his wallet.
“Shot’s on the house, Jasper. And thank you for the apology and invitation, but until Charlie is found…”
“I completely understand. And rest assured, I will do my part in finding your uncle.”
A couple days befo
re, Michael would’ve found the suggestion that Jasper had something to offer to the search amusing. He didn’t anymore. Interestingly enough, Shay didn’t laugh off his offer either.
Jasper said goodbye to the women and then took Michael by the arm. “A moment of your time, Master Michael.”
“Sure,” he said, curious as to what Jasper had to say. He followed the older man out the door and onto the sidewalk. They stood under the overhang, out of the icy drizzle. “What’s up?”
“I have reason to believe Charlie hasn’t gone looking for his nieces after all.”
Michael had reached the same conclusion yesterday but hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself. If Charlie had been searching for Shay’s sisters, he would’ve taken her calls. There had to be a reason he wasn’t, and the only reason Michael had come up with wasn’t good.
“Why’s that?” he asked Jasper, keeping his suspicions to himself.
“A conversation I heard earlier. Are you aware that the East Coast mob under the direction of Danny Costello has been trying to make inroads into Harmony Harbor?”
“I was aware Costello had been expanding his operations, but no, I wasn’t aware they were making a move here.”
“Well, as I understand it, Charlie had been spearheading the initiative to keep them out of town, and he wasn’t quiet about it.”
“You haven’t had any problems at the manor, have you?”
“No, and I don’t expect we shall,” he said, giving Michael a chilling smile.
“There’s more to you than any of us know, isn’t there, Jeeves?”
“We all have our secrets, Master Michael.” He glanced in the window of the Salty Dog. Shay, standing behind the bar with her hands on her narrow hips, appeared to be trying to give Cherry hell. Trying being the operative word. Cherry would go for a spin on the barstool every time Shay opened her mouth. Jasper smiled. “I believe Ms. Blossom will be good for Ms. Angel.” He refocused on Michael. “You need to watch her closely.”
