1 Dog Collar Crime

by Adrienne Giordano

“How’d you get her client list?”

  “When I was looking for the stones I saw the report on her desk.”

  He bent at the waist to keep from pulverizing his own father. Sickening. All of it. This is what loyalty got him. Despite what his father did for a living, Frankie had trusted him to take care of loved ones. Instead, he’d walked all over them. Including Frankie.

  “You were going to keep at it until you got everything back?”

  “Unless we came up with another idea.”

  Frankie turned toward the street, stared across at the three-story building fading into darkness and wondered what the hell he’d say to Lucie. She had already figured it out, but he hadn’t wanted to believe her. Now he had his father’s admission.

  And what about Joey? He would have to know. Frankie’s chest caved in. All these people knowing upped the risk of Joe finding out, and he would demand some sort of retribution. This ridiculous scheme could put an end to Frankie’s fathers’ life. He turned back. “Where’s Neil in this?”

  “He’s helping me get my stuff back. He’s got his father’s end and could go to prison for it.”

  “Tell him to back off Lucie’s dogs. She never used any of those stones on her accessories.” The irony of it finally hit him and he let out a sarcastic laugh. They were stealing dogs for no reason. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  “How the hell was I supposed to know Lucie would lose her job and start making dog accessories? At the time, it was golden.”

  “Yeah,” Frankie said. “At the time. Now it’s a mess. And Lucie is in the middle of it.”

  * * *

  Lucie knew Joey had returned home. She knew this because he made sure to stomp his ginormous feet when he came in. To give it a little oomph, he slammed the back door hard enough to rattle the windows. And she heard all this from her bedroom.

  For the love of God. The events of the day had already sucked every ounce of energy from her. Facing Joey couldn’t possibly trigger further damage. She closed her laptop and headed downstairs for a cup of tea.

  By the time she got to the base of the stairs, he was in the living room.

  “You look like hell,” he said.

  Forget the tea. She so didn’t have the energy for this. “Thanks so much.” She turned back toward the stairs and the quiet of her room, where she could decide how to get her family out of this without hurting Frankie.

  But then Joey’s hand clamped on her shoulder and he spun her around. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Ha! That question would take waayyyy too long to answer. Lucie stared into his eyes and hoped he wouldn’t make some sarcastic comment that would cause a fight. With Frankie not here to mediate, it would be a bloodbath.

  Without warning, the realization of living without Frankie slammed into her and the pressure behind her eyes built. No. She couldn’t cry anymore.

  “Whoa,” Joey said. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Back off!”

  “Screw you. I’ve been busting my butt helping you.”

  To hell with him. The tormenting tension coiled and her brain went silent for a minute. She went up one step so she’d be eye to eye with Joey. Maybe blasting him would relieve some of the pressure. “I’ve thanked you a hundred times. What do you want from me?”

  His head snapped back an inch and she felt her temper slowly unwinding. “You’re not the one who lost a coveted banking job. You’re not the one who has had dogs stolen. You’re not the one holding stolen jewelry. Oh, and by the way, you flaming jerk, Frankie and I are done. Caput.”

  Joey folded his arms. “You two break up constantly. And you don’t know that diamond is stolen.”

  The hell she didn’t. She mirrored his stance. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Lucie blinked a couple of times, but didn’t say anything.

  “If there’s something else, you’d better tell me.”

  With his hot head, he’d be the last person she’d tell. She spun away from him “Go away, Joey.”

  “Yeah, sure, great. No problem. What do I need you for? I’ll run down to Petey’s and ask Frankie’s father what that blockhead has to do with a diamond being in our attic.”

  “No!” Lucie tore down the steps and followed him into the dining room. Joey stopped short and she plowed into his back. Her gaze shifted to the pile of fabric on the table waiting for her attention. Coco Barknell. The start of this whole thing. A bitter taste flooded her mouth.

  “Son of a bitch,” Joey said. And then, with tiny movements, he turned to her, his body moving ever so slowly while the gears in his brain clicked into place. He set her with an icy stare. “Frankie has talked to his dad all along. What aren’t you telling me? What does Al Falcone know about this? And is it going to piss me off?”

  The last morsel of Lucie’s energy fluttered away and she dropped her shoulders. What a mess. Joey was the last person she wanted involved in this. He was too high-strung, too ready for battle, but from his bullying stance, she knew he wouldn’t give up. With him already suspicious, he’d create more chaos.

  “Three seconds,” Joey said, “and I’m going to Petey’s.”

  Dammit.

  “One…two…”

  Lacking a white flag, she waved her arms in front of her face. “Stop it. Please. Give me a minute.”

  Maybe two. Or maybe two thousand. Not that it would ever be enough. She pulled one of the dining chairs and dropped into it before looking up at him. “Promise me you won’t freak out.”

  “Yeah. Good luck.”

  Figures. She shifted from him, fiddled with a piece of fabric and wondered at the sudden calm inside her. Had she given up? Or did the fight just not seem worth it? Drawing a breath, she set the fabric down, smoothed it flat and turned back to her overbearing brother. In Frankie’s absence, she’d have to do this.

  “I’m going to tell you what I know. You are not going to lose it. If you do, we’ll all get hurt. Including Mom. If that’s what you want, go ahead…blow your stack. But I believe you’re a better man than that.” She flopped both hands out. “It’s up to you.”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Joey stalked the living room, his yelling bouncing off the walls while Lucie sat in her chair watching the tirade. And she’d conveniently left out the part about Mom’s affair. Sooner or later, he would question why their mother felt inclined to accept a package from Mr. Falcone, but for now, he was too busy storming about the diamonds being hidden in their house.

  The back door opened and Lucie spun to see Frankie, still wearing his shorts and T-shirt—he must be freezing—step into the kitchen. She launched herself out of the chair before Joey spotted him. Who knew what would happen with this absurd level of tension.

  Frankie looked at her with those deep brown eyes that reached inside her and the temporarily dormant ache in her chest suddenly pummeled her.

  “I guess you told him.”

  She waved a hand in the direction of the screaming. “He was threatening to ask around. You should probably go until he calms down. He’s not mad at you, of course. But the situation is…awkward.”

  “Awkward?”

  “Look who’s here,” Joey hollered when he caught sight of Frankie.

  Frankie glanced over Lucie’s shoulder. “Stop acting like a moron and we’ll talk. If you can’t do that, screw yourself.”

  Bam! Joey shut up. Gotta love that Frankie. He had a way with people.

  “You go screw yourself,” Joey said, his big feet eating up the space between them.

  With her hands on her brother’s chest, Lucie gave a push. “Knock it off. No one here is to blame. Let’s sit down and talk. I’ll make some coffee.”

  As much as it shredded her emotionally, she needed Frankie right now. If nothing else, he always brought order. The fact that she’d spent the afternoon bawling was an obvious indication of her need for help.

  Her brother headed back into the dining room.

  Frankie squeezed her a
rm, but she didn’t want him touching her. His touch reminded her of too many nights spent together. If she had to move on, she couldn’t be thinking of those things. She patted his hand and slid from his grasp. His hand remained suspended in midair. Their eyes met for a second and she saw the sting of rejection fill his eyes.

  Yes. They had both been gutted.

  “We’ll talk later,” Frankie said, clearly not willing to give up on them. “Let’s work on the problem with the stones.”

  “Excellent idea,” Joey fired.

  “Shut up,” Lucie and Frankie yelled.

  But Frankie wasn’t done. He walked into the dining room, Lucie tight on his heels, ready to bust up a brawl. He pointed to a chair. “Joey, sit and be quiet for five minutes.”

  The two of them did that stare down thing men did until Joey, probably exhausted from his tantrum, sat.

  “Luce,” Frankie said. “I’ll help you with the coffee.” He held a hand for her to go first and then followed. “You okay?”

  She grabbed the coffee pot and held it under the faucet. “I’ll live.”

  “Good.” He jerked his chin toward the dining room and leaned in close enough that his breath brushed her cheek. Could he not step back? “We need to keep Joey focused.”

  “Always a challenge.” The metal coffee canister sat on the counter and she doled out a few scoops then flipped the switch on the pot. “But if he can stay on course, he’ll be able to help me. And I need help. I mean, it’s not like I can go to the police. I have a vision of my mother’s mug shot and it’s not amusing.”

  “Nobody is going to jail. Where’s your mom?”

  “Bingo night at church.”

  “That’s good at least.”

  “This is ironic,” Lucie said. “The one time I want my father’s help and there’s no way to communicate without the authorities listening.”

  “Yeah. And my father is definitely out.”

  Propping a hip against the counter, she sighed. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could return the stones? Just take those suckers back?”

  Frankie rolled his eyes. Lucie puckered her lips. Was that a joke? She wasn’t sure. The thought had to have come from somewhere, right? And considering she was a firm believer in the universe sending messages, maybe this was a message.

  Why couldn’t they simply return the stolen jewels?

  Frankie, seeing her hesitation, grunted. “You can’t be serious.”

  Boosting away from the counter, Lucie went back to the dining room where Joey sat like a bad boy in time-out. “What if we returned the stones to the castle they were taken from?”

  “Come on, Luce,” Frankie said from behind her. “How are we gonna do that? We can’t walk in there and drop them off.”

  Lucie angled into the chair across from her brother. “Of course not. We’d have to come up with something. All I know is that it would get stolen property out of our possession.”

  This felt foreign to her. Lucie had always been the rule follower in the family, never taking chances or disobeying superiors. She was the good girl. And yet, here she was, trying to figure a way to unload a million dollars’ worth of stolen jewelry. Not to mention the stash Neil had. Somehow, this wound up in her lap to fix.

  And she’d do it. If only to save her mother from hardship.

  Assuming Frankie would fight her, Lucie turned to Joey. There was nothing he loved more than conflict. “What do you think?”

  He shrugged his big shoulders. “It’s nuttier than a fruitcake, but why not?”

  Pay dirt.

  “What?” Frankie hollered.

  “You got a better idea?” Joey showed an amazing amount of restraint.

  “Why don’t we just ditch them somewhere and let the cops figure out where they came from?”

  “No,” Lucie said. “I want to return them to the owners. That’s the right thing to do.”

  The more she pondered this idea, the better it sounded. “Frankie, I know it sounds impossible, but why couldn’t we go to London and just check it out? See the layout of the place. Maybe we could wear disguises or something. I saw a post on the website about a charity function in a few days. That gives us all day tomorrow to get there and, if we have time, we could check the place out. We can buy tickets for the event and one of us could sneak off and leave the bag where the family would find it. Then we walk out and disappear.”

  Joey nodded. “It has possibilities.”

  He probably just wanted to be rebellious, but what did she care as long as he agreed with her?

  “Assuming I would even agree to this crazy idea, that only takes care of my father’s end. What about Neil? He has the other half of the stash.” He turned to Lucie. “You gonna go after Neil next?”

  With Neil being so intimately involved in terrorizing the dogs, that wasn’t a bad idea. “I’ll deal with that later. Neil’s part of all this is not in our possession. Let’s get rid of the stones we have.”

  Frankie clucked his tongue. “What if we get caught? They probably have security cameras. Even with a disguise, we run a good chance of getting nailed.” He stopped, ran a hand over his mouth. Thinking.

  Yesterday, she would have reached over, entwined their fingers and snuggled into him while making her point. That was before she knew what his father had done. Damn these people and this life.

  “We should check it out.”

  Frankie stared into space. “I don’t know. It might be worth a trip.”

  “Exactly.”

  Joey slapped his hands on the table and stood. “Good deal. You two take care of it.”

  “Right,” Frankie said, not sounding convinced. “I’ll tell my boss I have a family emergency. They always love that. Last time it happened, my father’s picture wound up on the front page. My emergencies are good for business.”

  “Wait.” Propelled by a blast of panic, Lucie jumped from her chair. “Frankie and I broke up. We can’t do this together.”

  No. No. No. She could not spend time alone with Frankie. He’d try and talk her out of the break-up and, right now, she needed time to strengthen her resolve for living without him.

  The afternoon crying jag had convinced her she needed to distance herself from the chaos of the Rizzo world. The latest plan for moving downtown while building Coco Barknell had already been hatched. Money would be tight, but she could do it. It would put enough separation between her and the life. The life included Frankie and she needed to find a way to survive the loss.

  Mucking things up even more was the money he’d loaned her. She would pay that back as soon as she was able because a clean break is what she needed. No questions asked.

  “I can’t spend that kind of time with Frankie.” She turned to him, hoped he would understand. “It would pulverize me.”

  “Boo-hoo,” Joey—Mr. Sensitivity—said. “I’m not going to England. Besides, who knows if the feds are watching me? You don’t want to risk that.”

  Frankie grinned. “I have to agree.”

  Jerks. Both of them. Even if they were right about Joey’s involvement drawing unnecessary attention. She’d have to suck it up. Along with everything else.

  Lucie puffed up her cheeks and blew air. “I want the window seat.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kildare Castle, a stone mammoth of a building, sat on five hundred acres of lush green parkland. Lucie yearned to step off the cobblestone drive and collapse on the thick grass.

  The castle had been turned into a museum, but the Kildare family descendants still occupied part of the home. The residence would be the key to Operation Reverse Diamond Heist.

  On the far left, a sentry tower rose high in the air, and Lucie lowered her head and pulled her jacket closed at the neck. This fifty-degree day felt more like twenty degrees, but Lucie knew that was just fear freezing her blood.

  She had donned a long blond wig for this tour and hoped to avoid drawing attention, but Frankie, despite the thick black eyeglasses, still looked like a hottie. Could he not
tone that down somehow?

  Trees lined the long drive, offering barely a glimpse of sunlight as they walked along. They had been forced to park in the remote lot for security reasons, and with each step they came closer to the three-story archway leading to the castle’s entrance.

  Had this been where Mr. Falcone entered?

  She glanced left to the gardens. Thousands of tiny white flowers swayed in the brisk wind. For a moment, she wished she’d brought a camera. The beauty and tranquility of those flowers could sustain her for days.

  Lucie tilted her head back and wondered what it would be like to live here, where no one knew her name.

  “You ready?” The smooth baritone of Frankie’s voice tore away a chunk of her already battered heart. How would she ever live without that voice? Without him? The finality of it seemed way too severe. Limbo. Again.

  She smoothed her hand down the front of her jacket and, given the cooler temps and her freezing body, she wondered how her hands could be sweating. Stress. Boatloads of it. That’s how.

  The only good thing about this trip was Frankie’s insistence on chartering a private plane. After all, how would they get a bag full of stolen jewels through airport security? Yeesh. Still though, she took a few minutes to appreciate the luxury of flying on a private jet for the first time and couldn’t find a whole lot wrong with it. Well, aside from the hot diamonds and Frankie covering the cost of the plane. Her tab with him was growing. Not a good way to leave a relationship.

  Lucie focused on the castle in front of her. At any other time, she’d be lost in fairy tales and knights in shining armor. The only thing shining in her head now were the bars that would lock her into a cell if they got caught. She hefted her tote bag a little tighter to her body. “I’m ready.”

  Frankie rested his hand on her shoulder as two middle-aged women strolled by. “Chill out. You’re holding that bag so tight someone is sure to search it. You should have left it behind.”

  Lucie eased her grip. “I couldn’t leave the diamonds in the hotel. You never know, the maid could have gone through our stuff and found them. Then where would we be?”

  “Out a million dollars?”