Driftwood Cove--Two stories for the price of one

by Debbie Mason

  Sadly for the investigation, that’s pretty much all the information Michael got from him. Except a name that he hoped would end up being the break they needed. “Sounds good, my man. Thanks again.”

  They shared a manly handshake. “Anytime.”

  In the mirror behind the glasses shelves, Michael watched Luigi join his buddies as his boss air-kissed Freddie Kozack goodbye. Danny Costello wore his thinning brown hair pulled back. His mustache was longer than his ponytail. The thirty-year-old Costello stood about five-ten and weighed just shy of two hundred pounds. No doubt some of that weight could be attributed to the gold chains he wore. Like Michael’s partner, Costello was a fan of the flash. Like Michael’s mother, he favored fur.

  Michael lowered his eyes to his drink when the group of men passed behind him on their way to the exit. He held his breath as they stood and chatted for a moment more, praying they didn’t head downstairs. He didn’t want Costello anywhere near Shay. As Michael paid his tab, the mob boss and his crew took their leave, and Kozack headed down the curved staircase.

  Michael followed behind at a respectable distance, searching the lower level for Shay as soon as he reached the stairs. She wasn’t there, but his partner was. James had a prime seat, right at the front. He was currently taking advantage of the position to stuff some bills down a well-endowed woman’s G-string.

  Keeping an eye on Kozack, who was talking to one of the bouncers, Michael pulled out his cell phone. James sat near the speakers that were currently blasting Christina Aguilera’s “Dirty” for the dancers onstage. He hoped his partner had his phone on vibrate, but Michael doubted he’d notice as engrossed as he was in the ladies’ performance.

  Through all three tries, James continued dancing in his seat while cheering the women on. Just once, Michael would like to be wrong. And what he really wanted to be wrong about was a nagging feeling that Shay was up to something. The only reason for her to be here was to investigate the murders and Charlie’s disappearance. It spoke to his level of concern he supposed that he wished he had an excuse to throw her in jail until this was over.

  After a fourth attempt to reach his partner, Michael had no choice but to make his way through the rows of chairs to the stage. He needed someone to distract the bouncers while he went in search of Shay.

  “Get out of the way! You’re ruining the show.”

  “Buddy, take a seat!”

  “Not cool, dude. Not cool.”

  “Sorry, I just have to get my friend.” Michael bowed his head and then called out, “Friend! Friend! It’s time to go.” Okay, he knew he sounded like an idiot, but he couldn’t risk calling his partner by name. They hadn’t thought that far ahead.

  Along with the men swearing, someone threw a fistful of peanuts at him and an ice cube. As a last resort, Michael picked up the peanuts and tossed one at his partner’s head, hitting the dancer instead. “Sorry, ma’am, I—”

  Before Michael knew what was happening, a bouncer had him in a chokehold while jerking his arm behind his back. “Wait, you got it all wrong. I wasn’t throwing the peanuts at the dancer. I was just trying to get my friend’s—” His voice was strained as he tried to explain.

  “Save it for Mr. Kozack.”

  Not surprisingly, the commotion drew Michael’s partner’s attention. James came to his feet. “What’s going on?”

  “Stay out of it,” the bouncer said to James, and then waved over another man. “Benji, handle that guy.”

  The fortysomething, muscle-bound guy with a blond crew cut walked over to deal with a loudly protesting James while Michael was roughly shoved back the way he’d come.

  “It’s okay, bro. I’m fine. Sit back down and enjoy the show,” Michael called to his partner. To his way of thinking, the less attention they drew to themselves the better. James must have gotten the point he was trying to make because he settled down. Either that or he didn’t want to miss the next performance.

  “I’m not going to cause you any trouble, but legally you and your buddy are on shaky ground for using excessive force. So I’d suggest you let me go, and I’ll be on my way,” Michael said as the bouncer manhandled him down a hallway. The strong smell of perfume and cigars wafted through half-open doors. He caught a glimpse of Freddie Kozack in one of the rooms with two scantily clad women.

  “Take it up with my boss,” the bouncer said, tapping on the doorframe with his knuckles. “Mr. Kozack, sir, this is the guy who was throwing peanuts at the dancers. Do you want to talk to him here or in your office?”

  “What’s your problem? You don’t like women? You like to hurt women?” Kozack, his hair obviously dyed black to match his handlebar mustache, asked as he joined them in the hall.

  “No, I don’t like to hurt women. The only person who was injured is me. Members of the audience were throwing peanuts and ice cubes. I went to throw one at the back of my friend’s head to get his…” Michael trailed off.

  At the other end of the hall, he spotted Cherry jumping up and down at the bottom of the stairs that led to Kozack’s office. She was waving at him in a way that seemed to indicate, on threat of death, he wasn’t supposed to let Kozack go to his office. Which meant Michael had discovered exactly what Shay was up to and where she was.

  So in order to protect Shay, Michael did a one-eighty and went the suck-up route. “But these things happen, right? It was an innocent mistake, an accident. This is my favorite club. Tell me what you need me to do to make it right, and I’ll fix it right here.” He reached for his wallet. “Right on the spot. Then you can get back to the ladies.”

  “That’s better. I like a reasonable man. Come on. We’ll go to my office and have a drink. Work things out.”

  * * *

  Michael crossed the club’s parking lot with Shay yelling at him in a furious whisper, “You can apologize all you want. It doesn’t change the outcome. You lost me the only opportunity I had to find information that might possibly save Charlie’s life. Five more minutes and I would’ve found the files I was looking for. And not only did you blow my chance of getting information today, but you also blew my chance of getting back in that office. Kozack didn’t buy my story that I wanted some one-on-one time with him to talk about my routine.”

  “You’re damn lucky he didn’t, Shay. You have no idea what that man’s capable of,” he whispered just as furiously back at her. Positive he was even more furious than she was and had even more reason to be.

  She whipped around. “You don’t have a clue, do you? I know better than you what that man’s capable of. You’re in over your head, Michael.”

  “What do you think I’ve been doing for the past eight years, Shay? Do you have any idea how many guys like Kozack and Costello I’ve put behind bars?”

  “Well maybe you should’ve stuck with what you know. Because from what I saw tonight, you are going to get yourself killed.”

  “Okay, boys and girls, let’s tone this down before you completely blow our covers,” his partner cut in, angling his head at a man and woman who were leaving the club. “Listen, it’s kinda cute how worried you two are about each other, but how about we all get a good night’s sleep and talk about this tomorrow?” He glanced from Shay to Michael and shrugged. “All right, then. Catch you in the a.m., partner. Shay.” He nodded and strolled over to his car.

  Michael looked at her, really looked at her for the first time since the bouncers had hauled him into the manager’s office. “He’s right, isn’t he? You’re worried about me.”

  “No,” she scoffed, and walked to a rusted-out white Ford Fiesta. She struggled for a minute to get the door open and then looked over at him and gave her head a slight, annoyed shake. “Fine. I’m worried about you. But really, what do you expect? I mean, I looked over from—”

  “From where you were hanging half naked on a pole, in front of at least sixty men yelling what they wanted you to take off next and what they wanted to do to you?” he said, walking to where she stood.

  “I’m not half
naked.”

  He reached over and zipped up her leather jacket. “Maybe not now, but close enough before to be incredibly distracting.”

  “You weren’t the only one who was distracted. I nearly fell off the pole when Costello’s hired henchman started shaking you like a bottle of ketchup.”

  “What an attractive visual that is, thank you.”

  She rolled her eyes and got into the car before looking up at him. “You put yourself on Costello’s and Kozack’s radar tonight, Michael. This time tomorrow, they’ll know who you are. They won’t be happy you were snooping around without identifying yourself as a fed.”

  “Okay, I want you to think about what you just said. I’m a federal agent, and you are the niece of the man they’re hunting and maybe even trying to frame for these murders. You were here tonight pretending to be someone you aren’t and were also found alone in the manager’s office. So tell me, Shay, which one of us would you go after first if you were Costello and Kozack?”

  “They don’t know who I am.”

  “You don’t think they’ve been to the Salty Dog and seen the photograph of you? It’s a little hard to miss.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I barely recognized myself tonight.”

  “I’d recognize you anywhere. You’re beautiful.”

  “Don’t.” She looked away, beeping the horn at Cherry, who was talking to one of the bouncers, and then turned the key to start the engine. Nothing happened. She did it again, and then again. It was completely dead. Shay must have figured out the same thing because when James pulled alongside them and rolled down the car window and offered a jump, she shook her head. “Thanks, but this car isn’t going anywhere tonight, or any time after that.”

  “Lock it up, and I’ll drive you home,” Michael said.

  “She should probably drive you, partner. Those Blue Hawaiians can hit you when you least expect it, and you had a couple.”

  What James didn’t know was that Michael had asked the bartender to hold off on the rum, curaçao, and vodka on the last two. But he didn’t intend to share that information with either of them. There were things he wanted to ask Shay, and alone with nowhere for her to go presented the perfect opportunity to do so.

  Shay leaned on the horn.

  “Coming! Don’t leave without me!” Cherry called, running across the parking lot.

  He had no idea how, but he’d managed to forget that Cherry would need a ride, too. Still, the opportunity was too good to pass up, so he had to think of something…“Hey, James, you mind driving Cherry to Shay’s place? I only have room for one.” The three of them looked at him. “Of course, I normally have room for more, but Atticus was sick in the backseat this morning, and I didn’t have time to clean it up.”

  Cherry didn’t wait for an invitation from his partner. She opened the passenger door and got into James’s car. He noticed his partner didn’t complain about adding another hour to his drive. He’d been looking at Shay’s friend differently since her performance. Shay locked up the Ford Fiesta and then went to open the back door of his partner’s car.

  “What? You’re going to leave me stranded? I can’t drive myself home.”

  “You’ve got money. Call a cab,” Shay said.

  He leaned into her. “And you’re wearing my engagement ring. So you either come with me and talk to me about it alone or I talk to you about it here, with an audience.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about me wearing the engagement ring,” Shay said to Michael from behind the wheel of his Range Rover. Before he had a chance to respond, she shifted from reverse to drive and shot out of the parking lot. Straight into oncoming traffic.

  “Shay, watch out for…” He trailed off, his heart in his throat as she expertly avoided being creamed by another speeding SUV.

  With his hand still gripping the door and his foot pressed on the floor as if he could somehow miraculously slow the vehicle down, Michael said, “Obviously the ring is a big deal to you or you wouldn’t be trying to kill me.”

  “Being aggressive will save you. Being cautious, that’s what’ll kill you.”

  “No doubt you’ll live to be a hundred and ten, then.” He relaxed when the speedometer needle inched down toward a more reasonable speed. “I’m taking it that your life lesson only refers to driving; otherwise you would’ve been applauding my efforts at the club.”

  She glanced at him, a smile tipping up the corner of her mouth. “So, you actually choked on purpose to cozy up to Costello’s hired henchman and disrupted the dancer’s performance so the bouncers would haul you to Kozack’s office?”

  He ignored everything else but the part that would get him an answer to his earlier question. “I choked because you took my breath away, and—”

  She laughed. “Either you’re easily impressed or you don’t get out to many strip clubs. Kozack was going to fire me even before he found me in his office.”

  “Neither is true, but you didn’t let me finish. As incredible as you looked doing what you were doing on that pole, I choked because I saw the engagement ring on the chain around your neck.”

  He leaned across the console and slid his hand beneath her leather jacket. Her skin was like satin, and he could smell her warm, floral scent. The temptation to press his face to the tender spot between her shoulder and neck almost overwhelmed him. It was one of his favorite places to kiss her. One of her favorite places to be kissed. Her breath caught on a quick inhalation as he hooked a finger around the white gold chain and gently tugged until the diamond ring appeared.

  She glanced at the ring now lying on his palm, lifted her gaze to his, and then refocused on the road with a shrug. “I haven’t found an honest dealer yet. And it’s not like I can leave it in my dresser drawer. It’s safer on me.”

  “There’s a thing called a safe-deposit box. And if you’re afraid the bank will get held up, you could put it in the safe at the Salty Dog. No one in their right mind would try to hold up the pub with you there. Please tell me you have it insured at least.” He caught the wince just before she blanked her expression. “Are you kidding me?” he groaned. “That ring is worth—”

  “You know what? It’s mine now, not yours. So stop worrying about it.” She tugged the ring from his hand, rubbing the stone between her fingers before tucking it beneath her jacket.

  The action proved what he’d already known—the ring meant something to her. No matter how much he wanted to believe it had to do with her feelings for him, he didn’t understand how that could be. He’d given it to another woman after all. But something told him he needed to push her to get to the truth. “You’ve had the ring for more than a year, Shay. I can’t believe you haven’t found someone to sell it to in all that time. Why are you really keeping it? I wouldn’t have given you a diamond like that, you know. If I’d asked you to marry me, that’s not the ring I would’ve chosen.”

  Bethany had picked out the ring on a shopping trip with her girlfriends. All he’d done was pay the exorbitant price. He’d balked at first. The idea of buying a ring that could feed at least ten families for a year rankled. But like he’d done with Bethany from almost the beginning, he’d given in.

  “I know. That’s why I keep it. I keep it to remind me of the woman you were going to marry. A woman from your world, not mine.”

  It was an old argument, one he’d grown tired of. But the fact that she’d made it gave him hope. She must feel something for him if she kept the ring as a reminder of why she shouldn’t. He wanted to take her left hand in his and rub his thumb over the finger he once wanted his ring to sit upon. Instead, he said, “I have your ring, Shay. I’ve had it since the night we made love at the inn at Driftwood Cove.”

  “Don’t. You’re supposed to be a straight arrow, honest to a fault. Yet you’re lying to me now. You have to be. We’d only been together a few weeks before we went to the inn.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “As crazy and maybe a little pathetic
as it sounds, it’s true.”

  “You bought me a ring?”

  “No, it was given to me by GG.” He imagined Shay’s opinion of his great-grandmother hadn’t changed since they last spoke, so he quickly moved on to the next part of the story. “It was her mother’s, who’d been given it by her mother. I knew the moment I saw the ring that it was meant to be yours. GG said her mother was strong, like the warriors of old. She’d suffered the loss of a child, and their farm when her husband, GG’s father, broke his back, yet she never gave up or let herself become bitter.”

  “Please. Don’t say any more.”

  There was a small break in her voice, her fingers clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel. But in case they were wrong about Charlie and Michael was put in the unforgivable position of arresting her uncle, he couldn’t do as Shay asked. She had to know just how much she meant…how much she’d once meant to him. “The ring’s still beautiful after generations of wear. If anything, it’s grown more so with age. It’s solid and true, and steeped in history. It represents family, love, loyalty, and ties that bind forever. It represents everything I wanted to give to you.”

  Her eyes didn’t stray from the road, her lips pressed in a firm line that looked almost painful. He now understood what the saying the silence was deafening meant. It was heavy, weighted with memories and sadness. It felt like a funeral, the final death knell of their once relationship.

  He took her hand, brought it to his mouth, and gently pressed his lips to her palm. “I’m sorry I never got that chance. I thought we might get another one at Christmas, but you never showed. I waited for you at the bandstand, you know? Even after you didn’t take my calls for months, I still went there and waited, for hours.” He gave a self-conscious laugh. “I never did know when to give up, did I?”