Maggie Lee | Book 27 |The Hitwoman and the Body

by Lynn, JB

  She blinked, taken aback by my question.

  “I invited Zeke,” I told her. “What time is dinner?”

  While she’d been frowning, the mention of Zeke brought a smile to her face. “Tell him 6:30.”

  Nodding, I pulled out my phone and tapped on the keys to send the time to Zeke. When I was done with that, I said, “What’s up?”

  “I’m worried about Loretta,” Susan revealed in a low voice. “She seems…depressed.”

  I looked at her quizzically. In my entire life, I don’t think I’d ever seen Aunt Loretta look depressed. Not when she’d split up with any of her husbands, not when her sister had gone to the looney bin. The only time I’d ever seen her sad, was when Teresa had died. “I invited Zeke, thinking he could help with the Loretta situation,” I admitted.

  Susan beamed. “Oh, Margaret, that was so thoughtful of you,” she gushed. “I’m so impressed that you thought of that.”

  “I do think, occasionally,” I told her flatly. “And if you keep a plate aside for Griswald, I’ll take it to him later. He’s working a stakeout right now.”

  She nodded. “I know. He called. He said that someone he wants to question got away from him.”

  I waited to see whether or not he’d revealed that the person that he wanted to question had gotten away from me, but she didn’t add anything else. I felt a surge of gratitude toward Griswald for not blaming me for Derek’s flight.

  “I’m going to make a great dessert,” Susan declared. “Zeke always loves my desserts.”

  “He does,” I agreed.

  I watched her hurry into the house, and then went back to check on the girls, who I found were still in their classroom. After I’d checked on them, apologized again to Irma for forgetting an apple, and feeding the animals, I took a nap.

  A couple of hours later, Piss kneaded on my chest with her claws, waking me. “My Zeke just got here,” she purred excitedly.

  “Dinner!” DeeDee barked with equal enthusiasm.

  “Oh yay,” God said sarcastically from his enclosure.

  I got out of bed, splashed some water on my face, double-checked to make sure that my fake smile was hanging correctly, and walked out to deal with the chaos that is my family.

  “We were just going to sit down,” Herschel told me as I strode down the hall. “Dinner’s ready.”

  “Fantastic,” I said.

  “Your friend is here,” he revealed.

  “Even better,” I murmured.

  He tilted his head to the side. “Do you really think it was a good idea to invite company, when Loretta and Templeton are at odds?”

  I nodded. “Zeke’s not really a guest. We all consider him family.”

  Herschel nodded. “I guess that’s what happens, when you’re not part of the family for a long time. You don’t know who is considered family.” The sadness in his voice tugged at my heart.

  “But you’re part of our family now,” I assured him, realizing it must be hard for him, knowing that by staying away from his daughters for so long, he’d missed out on a large part of their lives.

  “Let’s go have a family dinner,” he said with a wink.

  I tried not to wince. Armani called from down the hall, “Hurry up, the food’s getting cold.”

  Together, Herschel and I walked into the dining room where almost everyone was seated. Armani was carefully lowering herself into her chair that was being steadied by Templeton. Loretta sat at the opposite end of the table.

  “It’s been a while since we’ve had so many people at once,” Susan said happily.

  Zeke waved to me, and then said, “I really appreciate the invitation.”

  “You’re always welcome here, Zeke,” Leslie said. I noticed that Miss Lassalan was sitting beside her. She was quickly becoming family, too.

  Templeton cut up Katie’s meat, while Marlene worked on Alicia’s. Everyone else began to chat and eat. It felt almost normal, until a great heart-wrenching sob filled the air. We all stared at Loretta.

  “Here we go,” Marlene muttered under her breath.

  22

  When I showed up alongside Griswald’s car carrying a loaded plate of food and a bottle of water, he actually gave me a genuine smile. Then, I walked in front of the car, climbed into the passenger seat, and handed over the feast.

  “You’re a lifesaver, Maggie,” he said gratefully.

  “She’s the opposite end of the spectrum from that,” God said from his hiding place in my bra.

  Griswald, as he pulled the foil off the plate, eyed me curiously. “Something wrong?”

  I let out a heavy sigh and proceeded to tell him about how Loretta claimed that Templeton was ruining her entire life. Templeton had responded by saying that she had chosen to throw away their future and Zeke had tried to save the day by introducing the subject of forgiveness, which had turned into a whole other problem because, apparently, Miss Lassalan disagrees about that particular subject.

  “Glad I missed it,” Griswald said, unwrapping the silverware that Susan had thoughtfully included in the food package. “Have you heard anything new about Delveccio?” he asked as he shoveled a forkful of meatloaf into his mouth.

  I shook my head. Technically, I wasn’t lying. I hadn’t heard anything. I’d learned something important, but I had not heard it anywhere.

  “It’s not his style,” Griswald mused as he chewed.

  He might not be a fan of the mob boss, but he was a fair man who believed in the truth.

  “So you don’t think that he chopped off some guy’s head and hands?” I asked.

  Griswald gave me a sidelong look. “You do know it’s not public knowledge about the head and hands bit, don’t you?”

  I swallowed hard. I’d forgotten to pay attention to the news reports about the story.

  Shrugging, he shook his head. “No, I don’t think that he did. And he certainly wouldn’t have been stupid enough to get pulled over and caught with it.”

  “So who do you think it was?”

  “Somebody with a grudge,” he said. “People do crazy things when they have grudges.”

  I thought about Daphne. About how she wanted to destroy me and kill my entire family. She may have had the worst grudge I’d ever heard of.

  I considered confiding to Griswald about what I had discovered about the identity of the body found in Delveccio’s car, and what Gino had done to identify the relationship between Nelson and my father. But at that moment, just as Griswald had finished eating, Derek came back to his store. We watched as he glanced around nervously and then slipped inside the deli.

  “Do you want me to wait here?” I asked. After all, it had been me who had spooked him the last time.

  Griswald shook his head. “No, I’ll go around the back, and in about twenty seconds, you walk in the front door of the store.”

  “He’s probably locked it by now,” I pointed out.

  “Then bang on it,” Griswald said drily. He used the napkin that Susan had packed, wiped his mouth, and climbed out of the car.

  “Count to twenty like you do when you play hide and seek with Katie,” he instructed. Then, he took off at a jog, running around toward the back of the building.

  “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi,” I began.

  “It’s interesting that Griswald doesn’t consider Delveccio to be a viable subject,” the lizard interjected.

  “Four Mississippi.”

  “And it’s interesting that he still wants your help with this Derek fellow,” God added.

  I gave up counting. “Well, he probably thinks that we need two bodies to pull this off. I’m the best he’s got.”

  “I don’t think so,” God argued. “I think he thinks you’re going to be of genuine assistance.”

  “If he thought that, he wouldn’t have sent me to the funeral home,” I pointed out.

  “Maybe it was just a division of labor,” he countered. “After all, he did bring you along for this.”

  I nodded grudgingly. I s
aw the light in the deli switch off.

  “He’s leaving the store,” I said worriedly. I reached for the door handle.

  “There’s no way you’re up to twenty Mississippi yet,” God said. He ran all the way down my arm and slapped at my hand with his tail.

  “What am I supposed to do, just wait here while he leaves?”

  “Do we see him leaving?” the lizard asked.

  I had to admit that we didn’t. “So why did he turn the lights off?”

  “Probably because he suspects somebody might be looking for him. Probably the same crazy woman who walked into the deli asking questions earlier.”

  “Well, then he’s not going to react well when I go back in,” I muttered.

  “Maybe he’ll throw something other than pickles at you this time,” God said hopefully.

  “Gee, thanks,” I said. “I appreciate all your support.”

  “Twenty Mississippi,” he said.

  I got out of the car, closed my door, and slowly began to walk toward the deli. I curled my hands into fists as I fought the sense of anxiety that was churning in my gut. I didn’t want to mess this up again. I also didn’t want to get attacked by a man in a dark space that I was unfamiliar with.

  Sure enough, when I reached the door, it was locked. I jiggled the handle, but it didn’t budge. I took a deep breath, hoping that Griswald’s plan would work. I banged on the door as hard as I could. “Let me in,” I added for good measure.

  It was too dark to see inside, but I could hear a crash, and the sound of something falling. “What do I do?” I muttered.

  “You’re asking me?” the lizard sounded alarmed.

  “No,” I told him. “It was a rhetorical question, but if you have any suggestions...”

  The lizard remained silent.

  I stood, straining to hear whatever noises I could, trying to figure out what Griswald would expect of me. A moment later, the lights in the deli flickered on, and I saw Derek walking toward me. I realized that Griswald was marching him toward the front door of the shop.

  Derek unlocked it, and I pulled it open and stepped inside.

  “You’re not in trouble,” Griswald told him.

  He gave me a look, and I didn’t know if that meant he expected me to play bad cop to his good cop, even though neither of us is technically a cop, or if he was unhappy with the fact that I had stayed by the front door.

  “We just want to talk to you about your uncle,” Griswald continued.

  “I’m sorry I threw the pickles at you,” Derek apologized to me.

  “I’ve faced worse,” I told him. That wasn’t an exaggeration. At least he hadn’t been trying to kill me, he’d just been trying to get away.

  “Hallangen,” Griswald reminded him gruffly.

  “Look,” Derek said. “Uncle Bob was a good guy, but he wasn’t a perfect guy.”

  “What does that mean?” Griswald asked.

  “I think maybe his lover took his ashes,” Derek blurted out.

  I blinked. Was the whole world cheating right now?

  “Do you know his mistress’s name?” Griswald asked.

  Derek shook his head. “I only have the address. They would place a special order when they were rendezvousing.”

  “What was the order?” I asked curiously. I knew from the look Griswald gave me, that that had not been the right question to ask.

  Still, Derek answered me. “Olive loaf sandwiches.”

  “I love olive loaf!” I sighed enthusiastically.

  I’m pretty sure Griswald rolled his eyes.

  “Uncle Bob did, too. It was his favorite. I kept it stocked just for him.” Derek got choked up at the end of the revelation and let out a shaky sigh of sadness.

  “And you’re telling us you weren’t the one to take the ashes,” Griswald said, trying to take control of the interrogation again.

  “What would I do with them?” Derek asked. “They’re useless.”

  “Why would somebody steal ashes?” I asked.

  Griswald, again, gave me a look that said that I was asking the wrong questions.

  “I don’t know,” Derek said. “But if you figure that out, you’ll probably figure out whoever stole them.”

  23

  Griswald said that he had to do some digging into Robert Hallangen’s mysterious lover and he wouldn’t be returning to the compound until late. I headed back, taking the long way. I really didn’t want to get there and see more of Loretta and Templeton’s drama playing out.

  I was almost home when a car beeped at me.

  I’m so used to being pulled over by people who want me to do them favors, that I didn’t even flip the driver the bird. I just pulled off the road and waited to see who would pull up alongside me. Would it be Ms. Whitehat? Patrick Mulligan? Or Gino?

  The passenger window of the mysterious car lowered and Gino waved for me to follow him without saying a word.

  I followed him, this time much further than usual, into a neighborhood I’d never been in before. Finally, we stopped in front of a log cabin that looked out of place on the suburban New Jersey street.

  Gino was out of his car, practically before he put it into park. He strode over to me with such a sense of purpose that my heart dropped. Something had happened. Something was wrong.

  I opened my driver’s door with a shaking hand, but hadn’t swung my legs out yet, when he arrived in front of me. “What--?” I began.

  He lifted a finger quickly to his lips, signaling that I should be quiet.

  He motioned for me to follow him. Then, holding a strange electronic device in his hand, he began to run it up and down the length of my body, keeping it a couple inches away from me. Finally satisfied by whatever it revealed, he held out his hand to me. I slipped my palm into his, and followed silently as he led me away from our cars.

  When we’d walked two blocks, he finally spoke. “Sorry about that.”

  “What happened?” I barely managed to choke out.

  He glanced at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “What are you doing?” I countered.

  “If one of you could just answer a question,” God griped from my bra. “This would probably go smoother.”

  Gino grinned at the squeaking sound. “I’ve got something for you.”

  I tensed. “As in, a bullet?”

  Frowning, he dropped my hand and turned away from me, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can’t believe you said that.”

  “Me neither,” God piped up.

  I winced, realizing that I’d hurt Gino’s feelings. Of all the things I could have said to him, implying that he was going to give me a bullet in the head was probably the worst thing I could have suggested.

  “I was just joking,” I told him weakly. “You spooked me, giving me the silent treatment.”

  He turned back but didn’t look me in the eye. “I’ve got a clean car for you.”

  “I know it’s been a while since I’ve been to the car wash,” I began defensively.

  “No,” Gino interrupted. “It’s a clean car. It’s not stolen. There are no listening devices in it. And most importantly, there’s no tracker on it.”

  “I don’t understand,” I told him.

  “If you need it. If you need to make a run for it, in a vehicle that no one you normally associate with can track, this is it. There’s cash under the spare tire. Don’t use credit cards. Dump your phone. Just take it and go. It’ll give you a clean getaway.”

  He reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a key fob. He offered it to me. I eyed it, confused.

  “I still don’t understand,” I told him, not willing to take it.

  “I’m trying to protect you, Maggie. I’m giving you a car that even I can’t find you in,” he explained. “In case the boss…”

  I gulped nervously. “You think he put a hit out on me?”

  Gino shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “But you just said…”

  “Not on you,
” Gino said carefully.

  “On my father,” I groaned. “He thinks Archie is trying to frame him for the murder of Nelson.”

  Gino shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. I’m not privy to his thoughts on the matter.”

  “Well, what about his twin?” I asked impatiently. “Is he convinced that it was Archie?”

  “Not convinced,” Gino admitted. “But not a proponent of the theory that Archie is innocent, either.”

  “Well, that’s probably because nobody is making the argument for that,” I said. “I should go see him.”

  “I made the argument, Maggie,” Gino said somberly. “It did not go well.”

  I stepped closer to him and put my hand on his forearm. “Are you in danger?”

  He cocked his head to the side and gave me a teasing grin. “It’s not like my job description is one of safety,” he told me.

  “But usually the danger isn’t from your employer,” I said.

  Gino shook his head. “It’ll blow over.”

  “And yet you’re giving me a clean car,” I pointed out.

  He shrugged. “You deserve only the best.” He leaned forward and kissed me so tenderly that tears came to my eyes. It felt like he was saying good-bye.

  He pulled away grudgingly. “Someday,” he told me. “You and I are going to get that date that we deserve.”

  I nodded, my lips still tingling from the contact with his.

  “Until then, you’ve got to remember where the car is parked,” he said.

  “And where’s that?”

  He pointed to the silver sedan parked across from the log cabin.

  “I can remember that,” I promised him.

  “Be careful,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of pieces moving on the board right now.” Taking my hand, he began to lead me back in the direction of our cars. “There’s something else you should know.”

  “What’s that?” I asked worriedly. His tone told me that whatever it was he was going to reveal, it wasn’t going to be something that I liked.

  “The identification of Nelson’s body is public knowledge now.”

  I swallowed hard. “What does that mean?”