by Tracy Ellen
Jack’s face had gone thunderous when Svettie called me the C word, but Luke got there first. He pinned the tall woman to the wall with a resounding thud that caused a framed picture of a glaring Banner ancestress to jump a few inches and hang crooked.
Luke was menacing. “Don’t ever call her that again. Ever.”
‘Too bad she didn’t learn Stella’s new way of swearing,’ the mean mommy voice observed idly.
The fake Russian nodded quickly and when Luke let her go, she fell to her knees and burst into tears.
He looked down at the weeping woman and if he was menacing before, now he was dangerous. “Have we ever fucked, Svetlana?”
When she continued to weep uncontrollably, he said so quietly I had to strain to hear, “Answer the goddamn question, or so help me, I’ll boot you out of this house and onto the street.”
Jack put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “It’s okay, if you say she’s lying, I believe you.”
“No, Jack, it’s not okay,” Luke responded calmly, but his face was a cold mask. “My mother took this woman in to help her. My parents welcomed her into our family, convinced me to give her a job and a place to live, and this is how she repays that generosity?” He glanced at the Russian woman prostate at his feet. “She may not have killed Dickie, but she’s been using my company as a front for their fixing business and she may have ordered a hit on Anabel.”
“No, I didn’t!” Svettie screamed, sitting up and pushing her hair out of her face to look imploringly up at Luke. “I swear I had nothing to do with that, but I think somebody at your company did.” Tears streaming down her thin face, she shook her clasped hands up at him. “I’m sorry I made it seem like we had sex, and I do appreciate everything you and your parents have done for me. It wasn’t a plan for Dickie and me to use your business, it just happened over time when I was working in my office.” She grabbed onto his jeans, resting her forehead against his knee and whispered on a sob, “I’m begging you! Please, Luke. Please listen to me. Please forgive me.”
When she didn’t say anything more but only continued to cry, Jack shook his head, as if coming out of a trance. “Whew! Wom…”
I raised a hand sharply and cut him off. “Do NOT even think about putting me in the same category as that hot mess on the floor, Jack Banner.”
He gazed at me in silence a few seconds and then finally nodded. “I see your point.”
“You do?” I asked in amazement.
Jack snorted. “I do.”
“Nice.” I smiled.
Jack’s lips twitched.
All business, Luke ignored us and his voice was clipped. “Svetlana, get up and go wash your face. Then we’ll talk.”
Torquemada’s tone had lost most of the frigid coldness and a relieved Svettie rushed as fast as she could to where Jack pointed.
When it was the three of us in the hall, Jack frowned from me to Luke. “What was the bit about a hit on Anabel and the fixer business?”
Luke stayed silent, so I replied breezily, “Well, since your pal here is on a strict timetable, and I’m alive and well, I suggest you wait for Svettie to explain. It will make sense and cut down on the questions.”
That also allowed me not to be around when Jack realized Luke and I had lied when we pretended to know nothing about Richard Webster or his murder. Jack had called Luke and me specifically to ask why my phone number was the last number Dickie had dialed. Technically, I had not lied about the phone call part, but I doubted Jack’s temper would differentiate that bit of sophistry when riled up.
‘Gee, talk about rotten timing. Chief Jack had taken such a giant stride forward for womankind, too.’ I thought ruefully.
I ignored Luke and said to Jack, “Listen, I’ve heard Svettie’s story already, so this civilian is heading home.” I grabbed my jacket from the wall hook in the foyer. “I’m sure you big boys can solve the world’s problems perfectly fine on your own, as always.”
“Wait,” Luke ordered me, but looked at Jack when he spoke. “I don’t have all the details, but from what Svetlana just said we may have to use Anabel as bait…Hey, Anabel, I thought I asked you to wait.”
Hand on the front door knob, I stared straight ahead. “As usual, you didn’t ask, you told. Besides, I don’t want to be your bait. I’m a protected species, remember? A civilian?”
‘I almost made it. Damn you, Luke,’ I cursed. He had no idea what Jack’s tirades were like when the chief got mad, or how long the lectures could last.
“Christ!” Luke swore. “Jack? Some help here?”
I averted my face, so that Jack couldn’t see my amusement. The thought of Jack tag-teaming off Luke to convince me to do something, as if Jack and I have such a history of me obliging him, was too funny.
“Yeah, listen, Angel.” I groaned and pounded my forehead on the cold glass of the door while Jack patted my shoulder awkwardly. “Uh, don’t leave. I want to be sure Svetlana’s story doesn’t change. I don’t know what Drake means about bait yet, but I think we all need to be here.”
“Yeah, right.” I muttered and sighed. “You have to say please.”
“Please,” Jack said flatly.
“I meant pretty please.”
There was a beat of silence. “Pretty please.”
“I meant pretty please, my Angel.”
The silence lasted longer. A jaw popped. “Pretty please, my Ang…”
“I meant pretty please, I’ll jump through whatever hoops you say...”
Jack roared, “Get your smart ass mouth into that living room--NOW!”
“Geez, you only had to ask.” I wiggled a finger in my ear. “So this is the thanks I get for bringing you company meatloaf, Jack? For realz?”
Chapter XVIII
“With Or Without You” by U2
Sunday, 12/16
9:15 PM
In a few minutes, a subdued Svettie was back. Her face was blotchy, but her hair was combed back and she was composed. She was so grateful that Luke didn’t appear to despise her any longer, it was sickening. She may lick Luke’s boots, but judging by the glance of burning hatred she sent my way when the men weren’t looking, she’d like to bury me six feet under in mine.
Sick of her covert crap, I pointed out in a calm voice that all could hear, “You’ve been ducking with me from the beginning, so shove those looks where the sun don’t shine, sister.”
“What do you mean I’ve been ducking with you?” She whispered furiously, forgetting the lisping, feminine act of contrition for a moment. She glanced anxiously over to where Luke was standing, but he and the Chief had their heads together. She assumed Luke wasn’t paying attention to us.
“What did you mean by calling Dickie ‘Cherry’ before he left?” I countered with curiosity.
“It’s his nickname!” She retorted indignantly, still keeping an eye on Luke. “It’s short for Cherub, since he looks like one.” She added sarcastically, “Or he did before you got done smacking the poor guy around. With that violent temper, you need a keeper.”
I laughed. “Dunt.”
She looked confused, but ground out, “And I’m not your sister.”
I laughed again. “Big dunt.”
She glared and repeated, “What did you mean by ‘ducking with you’?”
I smiled cheerfully. “I’m practicing not swearing for the sake of the baby.” I pointed at her solar plexus. “You remember--it’s the fetus you thought was defenseless in Stella’s womb that you threatened to shoot tonight.”
Her pale face flushed tomato red at the reminder. “I would never harm a baby.”
“But threatening to harm my niece, who’s never been anything but nice to you, is okay?”
“Yes, I mean, no.” She tossed her head in frustration and changed the subject. “You make up swear words starting with different letters?” She scoffed loudly. “How immature.”
I laughed. “Basshole.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Mutthead.”
“Butt’
s not even a curse word.”
“Maybe not on Seal Island in outer Siberia, Shatface.”
“God, you are such a…”
Jack cleared his throat. We looked over and both men were watching us argue. Jack frowned warily, probably worried I’d bust out some other cool fighting moves on the fake Russian, but Luke’s expression was slightly irritated.
‘Damn, he was good!’ I thought, knowing he had to be laughing inside.
Luke’s voice was no-nonsense when he said to Svettie, “I was in town with Daniel Boynton at Candy MacKenzie’s warehouse when Jack called. They don’t know you’re here, but Daniel and Candy are waiting for me, so I’d appreciate it if you’d tell us everything that’s happened.”
She nodded, and slanted me a look of malicious triumph at the mention of Candy’s name.
‘Damn, the jungle drums in this town are second to none,’ I marveled, awed that even a murder suspect on the run had heard Luke dumped me and that he was with another woman.
The warehouse Luke mentioned belonged to my Uncle Trevor, the un-cousin’s father. He was in the beginning stages of rehabbing the old building into condos on the second and third floors with retail shops on ground level. NanaBel had mentioned to us at dinner one night that her granddaughter was working there in some capacity, but all I heard was blah, blah, blah.
We all took seats in Jack’s surprisingly comfortable living room. I sat in a chair off to the side while Svettie faced the two men from her spot on the sofa.
Nervously glancing at Luke, Svettie repeated, “Daniel’s in town?”
“Yes. They’re all staying at the farm for the weekend. Dan, Emma, and Priscilla are here, as well.” Luke’s hard voice was dry, “I’m sure you can understand my concern to hear your proof when you accuse my partners and good friends of being criminals.”
Svettie was visibly flustered by Luke’s words and harsh tone. Before she dropped to her knees again to pledge her undying devotion, I spoke up and said bracingly, “Geez, woman, have some pride, will you? Just tell them what you told me and start from the beginning so it makes sense.”
Svettie sent me a withering look, but it worked. She straightened her spine and repeated the story that I had already heard on the drive from Minneapolis to Northfield.
“Dickie Webster was actually my step-brother for a short while and we’ve been friends ever since we were kids in London. My mother’s husband back then was in the Army, so we moved around a lot, but I had relatives in England, so we stayed there part of every year, too.”
She fixed her gaze on Jack, back to using her little girl voice. I figured since she knew the men had witnessed her speak like an adult, Svettie’s breathy, helpless lisp may not be an act, but her own ingrained psychological response when dealing with male authority figures. I did not want to think of the creepy reasons why that would be true.
“Luke knows most of my history, but I don’t think about the fixing business,” she shot him a nervous questioning look, “until after this all happened?”
Luke said flatly, “It didn’t take a genius to add two plus two when the police announced they were looking for you in connection to Dickie’s murder.”
She nodded quickly. “About ten years ago, I got involved with a man connected to an east coast Russian crime family. Dickie had come to America by then, too, and was doing some odd jobs here and there. Our fixing business got started through my old boyfriend. Dickie and I realized there was an opportunity to earn money after we did a favor and fixed a personal problem for one of my boyfriend’s friends. After that, we started doing favors to fix things for other people and word got around. Small favors at first, they were problems nobody else wanted to deal with and we didn’t step on any toes.” She widened her odd, cat eyes at Jack and reassured him quickly, “Not that we killed anybody, we helped people.”
Jack made a noncommittal noise in acknowledgment of her statement, but didn’t ask any questions. With another grunt, he curtly motioned for her to continue.
Svettie said, “Dickie and I grew the business over the next few years. I did the paperwork and he did the fixing. In the meantime, my relationship had gone bad with my boyfriend. He had a violent temper and took it out on me, so I decided to leave him. I ended up in the hospital with a broken arm and jaw for that decision, so that’s when Dickie helped me plan to escape. Then the Feds approached me and I agreed to add my testimony against him for a new identity in a new city. That’s how I came to be in Chicago. Since I was born in Russia and spoke the language, I decided to take on an accent to act like a recent immigrant. It was easier to avoid probing questions about my past that way. One Fed lawyer referred me to Luke’s mother because she helped women in situations such as mine get a new start.”
Svettie paused to smile tenuously at Luke, but he did not respond. His arms remained crossed over his chest, as he listened dispassionately to her story.
She visibly wilted under his regard, and when she looked back at Jack to resume speaking, her sad voice was a soft monotone. Somehow, I felt no pity for the Selkie.
“Damaris and Paul introduced me to Luke and his partners at DDL. They hired me as a scheduler. Dickie had followed me to Chicago, and through our existing contacts referrals, we kept on with the fixing business.” She darted a nervous glance at my boyfriend, but admitted to Jack, “Luke was right. I did do a lot of that work at my desk at DDL. Everything was fine until about a month ago. I suddenly felt like I was being watched all the time, even at work. A few times, I was convinced I was being followed. I told Luke and the Drakes that I was worried it was my old boyfriend, but I didn’t think it was him. He was too lazy and too cheap to track me down, plus he had a new, very young girlfriend.”
She cleared her throat and grabbed a throw pillow to hold on her lap, as if it would shield her from the coldness of Luke’s gaze while she confessed to more deceits against him and his family.
“When I thought about it, my feelings of paranoia began not long after I saw an account open on Priscilla Powers’ desk.” Svettie explained in an aside to Jack, “Priscilla works for Emma White’s CPA firm. Their offices are located inside the DDL building and I’d gotten to know Emma and Priss. We would go out to lunch occasionally. I was waiting for Prissy that day while she was off doing an errand and couldn’t help seeing the account left open on her screen.
“When Priscilla came into the office and realized she’d left the account up, she freaked out and was very upset. She later apologized and said it was because Emma was extremely strict about client privacy. Priss claimed Emma would fire her if she found out.” She shrugged. “I would have forgotten all about it, except I started feeling watched after that. I knew my desk had been searched because I noticed my work files were mixed up. I didn’t think anybody could find out about the fixing business, since I erased any background check work I did off my computer and kept any paperwork and files in my briefcase.” She hesitated, but conceded, “Once, I did accidentally leave my briefcase unlocked when I was at lunch, but nothing was disturbed.”
Luke’s voice had no trace of sarcasm when he cocked his head slightly and asked, “Svetlana, you do realize you worked for a security firm that specialized in the protection of people and important documents? Recovering erased data from a PC and unlocking a locked briefcase would be nothing to any operative in the company.”
Svetlana protested in anxious confusion, “Yes, but Luke, those people don’t work in the office, so why would they care about my stuff?”
Luke didn’t answer directly, but rubbed a hand over his eyes and said, “Go on.”
I bit my lip and didn’t glance up from the close contemplation of my French manicure that had held up admirably. I can’t recommend a gel polish manicure highly enough compared to the traditional manicure or fake acrylic nail extensions. I shuddered at the pain I would have endured had I jammed an acrylic nail anytime throughout all the activities of my last forty-eight hours. I was sure the Chinese torture of hammering bamboo splints under t
he nails would be child’s play compared to jamming a fake nail.
Svettie was saying, “Then Dickie and I got into trouble by taking on the wrong kind of client from somebody who knew us from the old days. I thought the guy was bad news, but Dickie said his money was as green as any other bloke’s.” She sighed heavily at the memory. “It would have to happen with this guy, but his situation we fixed didn’t stay fixed. He demanded his money back, with a penalty fee. Normally that would be no problem, but our cash reserves were low. We had split our profits earlier that month. Dickie spent his half closing on his new getaway house, as he calls it, so he was broke. I had mine tied up in investments that I couldn’t withdraw from for at least a month.”
I watched Jack’s right eyelid twitch in surprised reaction as he began to comprehend the amount of money Svettie and Dickie had been pulling in from their little “fixing” business.
Svettie said, “Between us both, we had six thousand bucks in cash and owed the client thirty thousand. We dodged him for a week or so, trying to come up with the money, but nothing worked. He went off when I offered him the six thousand as a partial payment.” Her voice was disgruntled at the man’s unreasonableness. “I tried to negotiate, but he wouldn’t believe me when I told him that we would pay him back in a few weeks.” Eyes rolling in disgust, she snapped her fingers and said, “Oh no, the jerk needed his money like that second. He said he knew where Dickie and I lived. He said Dickie would get hurt first if we didn’t pay him back by last Saturday at six o’clock.”
The fake Russian sat up straight and looked at Luke while saying earnestly, “I didn’t know this until days later, but we got that bad client’s ultimatum around the same time Dickie got an anonymous request for a fix.” She laughed bitterly. “Dickie got the call on the phones he and I used strictly to do fixer business. Nobody should have those phone numbers, but me and Dickie.”
