Kiss Me Deadly

by Susan Kearney

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. She wants to grill me about you.”

  That was one conversation he could avoid. “Do you want to go to the house while I stay with Gabrielle?”

  Had he just tried to avoid one bad situation by jumping into another? He’d actually offered to spend alone-time with Gabby.

  Damn. Mandy and Gabby had come to mean a lot to him in a short time. Walking away was going to be hard . . . but Zack recalled his brother’s funeral and reminded himself he could do hard things.

  Mandy bit her lower lip, dusted sand from her hands, and stood. “Thanks for the offer, but we should all go. I’ll delay a private conversation with my mother for as long as possible.”

  Was she trying to give him more time to come to terms with fatherhood before talking to her mother? He didn’t know his own mind so how could she explain anything to her mother? Zack realized he’d put Mandy in a difficult position—and not for the first time. While he admired her, he couldn’t let his growing feelings distract him from his work responsibilities.

  He was here to protect her.

  He gazed down at the smiling child beside him. Protect Mandy and his daughter. “Since Vizzi wasn’t the man who attacked you and Dana at the airport, until we’re certain there’s no further danger, it’s a good time to move your mother and Gabby and their new bodyguard.”

  Chapter Thirty

  EVERY MEMBER of the firm had come to the funeral to say goodbye, and for the first time all the lottery winners were together—which meant the press was there, but the police kept them back behind barriers. Catherine; Dana with her husband, Sam; Sylvia and Ben; Mandy and Zack; and Maria with her new boyfriend, Ray, congregated in the synagogue. Mandy had never met Ray before, and although his manners were impeccable, she didn’t like the way he kept Maria to himself, as if he was jealous of her friends.

  Mandy turned her attention from her coworkers and their dates to the rabbi, who began to recite a blessing, “Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melech haolam, dayan ha’emet.” Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, the true Judge. Witnesses repeated a shorter version of the same blessing. Psalms were recited, then a eulogy and the memorial prayer, El Maleh Rachamim, was said.

  Sadness welled inside Mandy’s heart. Lisa had been so full of life, yet there were so few people here to mark her passing. A few foster kids. Her foster family. All sitting in chairs in a row up front and wearing torn black ribbons to mark their grief. There were people from the firm, a couple of girlfriends from college.

  While Mandy didn’t judge a person’s importance by how many people turned out for the funeral, she regretted that Lisa hadn’t had time to make more friends. To fall in love again. To start her own family.

  Lisa had always had a bright smile, pitching in when needed and staying late often. Mandy remembered her ready laughter, her confidence, as well as her determination to help women in desperate need of legal counsel as well as her foster kids. Now she was gone.

  Tears made her vision swim. Beside her, Zack threaded his fingers between Mandy’s, lending comfort and strength. For now, she could lean on him. For now, he was with her, and she vowed to make the most of their time together.

  Lisa Slocum’s plain pine casket was wheeled out of the room accompanied by the recitation of the Twenty-Third Psalm. Short and solemn, the ancient ceremony was over in about twenty minutes. As per Lisa’s written wishes, the burial would be a private ceremony, attended only by her foster family.

  Mandy joined Zack and his mother, sister, and brother-in-law outside the synagogue. Although Sam had remained beside Dana during the ceremony, the moment they passed over the threshold into the hot sunshine, he was on his cell phone. Eyes worried, his voice low, he walked away as if not to disturb them, or to give himself privacy—Mandy couldn’t say which. Dana didn’t seem to mind Sam abandoning her. She stood beside her mother, the bond between them close.

  In contrast, Ben didn’t leave Sylvia’s side. And as she leaned into her husband’s quiet strength, they held hands and gave one another comfort.

  Ray, tall, dark and expensively dressed, seemed eager to draw Maria away from their group, but she pulled her arm from his and joined them, dabbing at her eyes with a hanky. Ray spoke in her ear; then, his long strides eating up the pavement, he headed for his gleaming Porsche. Mandy assumed Maria would catch up with him in a few minutes but thought his antisocial behavior strange.

  Meanwhile, all the bodyguards kept a careful watch on their charges, but gave them room to speak among themselves in a shady spot outside the synagogue. The press seemed to have disappeared. As head of the firm, Catherine, wearing an elegant black suit and hat, thanked them for coming and then announced, “As all of you have heard, the police have not yet apprehended Lisa’s killer. I’ll leave it up to each of you to decide when to return to work. If you need time off, please notify our clients. Sylvia’s agreed to come in for the rest of the week, so coordinate your schedules with her.” She squeezed Sylvia’s shoulder. “Thank you for volunteering.”

  Sylvia pulled a fistful of pink message slips from her purse and handed them out. Mandy had three. Nothing that couldn’t wait.

  Maria placed hers in her purse without reading them. She glanced over at Ray, sitting behind the wheel of his car, then back at Catherine. “I’m taking off the rest of the week. I’ll be back Monday.”

  “That’s fine.” Catherine patted her shoulder and made a casual reference to Ray. “I’m glad you won’t be alone.”

  “How long have you known him?” Zack asked.

  Maria refused to meet his eyes. “A while. Ray wants to meet all of you, he just didn’t want to intrude . . .” Her attempt to make excuses for Ray fell flat, but clearly his standoffishness had made her uncomfortable.

  “It’s okay,” Catherine said to Maria. “We all have to get through this in our own way. But it might be best if you didn’t spend time alone with people you don’t know well.” She looked at her children and Mandy. “That goes for all of us.”

  Sam hurried over and pulled Dana aside. He spoke in a low and urgent tone. Dana’s eyes narrowed, and her lips tightened. Mandy couldn’t hear what he’d said, but Dana explained, “Mom, Sam’s got to meet the mayor for lunch. Can I catch a ride home with you?”

  “Sure.” Catherine agreed easily, but her gaze followed Sam, her expression thoughtful, a touch of worry in her eyes.

  Car tires squealed, drawing everyone’s attention to the Porsche. Apparently, Ray didn’t intend to wait any longer for Maria to join him. He sped away, tires smoking and leaving behind the reek of burnt rubber.

  “Ray’s always having emergencies.” Maria’s excuse sounded as lame as Sam’s meeting with the mayor. “He knows my bodyguard can take me home.”

  Mandy was picking up tension from everyone. She turned to see Zack’s expression and caught him staring at Ben. The ex-cop had rolled his wheelchair down the sidewalk, and he was conversing with two uniformed police officers.

  Ben pivoted on one wheel, then joined them. He made no secret of his conversation. “They need me downtown.”

  “They do?” Sylvia didn’t look happy.

  “They want me to ID Vizzi’s body.” Ben tugged Sylvia to his level and kissed her before Mandy could question him. But why would he have to identify the body? Vizzi had had identification on him and an announcement had been made. Ben’s statement didn’t make sense, and she eyed him with renewed suspicion, almost certain he was lying to his wife. Ben patted Sylvia’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s just routine. I’ll meet you back at the office within an hour or two.”

  Worry in her eyes, Sylvia grabbed Ben’s hand to keep him from leaving. “Why can’t someone else do it?”

  “Vizzi’s mom is an alcoholic and isn’t answering calls. No friends have come forward. None of the other cops knew him as well as I d
id.” Ben sounded too cheerful, which struck Mandy as odd. Was he glad Vizzi was dead? Or glad to be reuniting with his police buddies? Maybe he liked feeling useful. Or maybe Ben was lying and going someplace else. Was it possible the accident that left him in a wheelchair had changed him more than anyone had realized?

  Mandy hated being suspicious of everyone, but right after a funeral was not the time to question anyone. Not even Ray—who’s behavior seemed as oddly antagonistic as Ben’s did too cheerful. And why was Sam running off with the mayor and leaving Dana alone?

  The only dependable male in the bunch was Zack, but even he wouldn’t stick around for long. That’s one reason Mandy had avoided any private conversation with her mother. Between the last few days of danger, making love to Zack during the night and introducing him to his daughter,and knowing he intended to leave soon, her feelings were raw. Zack’s presence and Lisa’s funeral had given her a way to dodge her mother’s questions.

  So she’d made certain Zack and Gabrielle were with her from the moment they’d awakened until they’d left for the funeral. She’d sensed her mother’s impatience with wanting to know more about their relationship, but Zack wouldn’t be here much longer. There would be time to sort out her feelings and make explanations later, after Zack returned to California and the DEA.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  AFTER THE FUNERAL, Dana took her mother to lunch. Their two bodyguards shared a table nearby but not so close that they could overhear their charges’ conversation. Pleased to have an opportunity to have time alone with her mother, Dana ignored the menu. She sipped her water, then cleared her throat, deciding to plunge right in.

  “I’m worried about Sam.”

  Catherine closed her menu and removed her reading glasses. “Is his arm bothering him?”

  “I don’t think so.” Sam hadn’t complained about the bullet wound. In fact, he seemed rather proud of his sling. “He’s just been gone a lot. He’s spreading himself too thin. His criminal practice and the real estate deals eat up a lot of time, and now every other phone call seems to be from the mayor.”

  “The mayor?”

  “Dylan’s been relying on Sam for advice since Mitch Anderson disappeared. Even when Sam’s home, he’s distracted.”

  Catherine angled her head. Her piercing green eyes held Dana’s in that penetrating way she had of coercing witnesses to tell the truth in court. “Sam’s always been distracted, and he’s always been gone a lot. What’s different now?”

  Leave it to Catherine to pinpoint the problem. Dana sighed, appreciating her mother’s insight. Catherine could get to the real problem because she asked the right questions. Dana recognized she was too emotional to think clearly—especially when it came to Sam. He’d literally swept her off her feet when they met. Their romance had been a whirlwind and led to marriage a few months later. Those first few years had been everything she’d dreamed. But recently . . . the spark was gone, and she wasn’t certain exactly what had happened or why. Was Sam just preoccupied with work? Was she? Or had the strain of trying to conceive a child taken the romance out of their love life?

  “The only time Sam seems happy is when he’s with his high-powered friends, the mayor, the chief of police, and now he’s befriending some of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the golf course.”

  “So?”

  “He used to be happy like that with me,” Dana admitted, feeling inadequate but not knowing where she came up short. She was intelligent, attractive, and interested in him. What had gone wrong?

  “You’ve been married eight years. You can’t expect him to be as infatuated with you now as he was when you were newlyweds.” As usual, Catherine was practical.

  Dana frowned. “It’s not the sex. It’s little things. He tells me he’s exhausted, but he refuses to come home early from social events. The other day, he told me he was working late at the office, and I found a restaurant receipt in his pocket.”

  “And?”

  “While it’s not unusual for Sam to eat with a colleague and then return to work, he told me he’d ordered in. Bar drinks were on the tab, Sam’s Pinot Noir and a piña colada.”

  Her mother could put clues together faster than any detective. “You think he was with another woman?”

  “Why else would he lie to me?” Even asking the question made her heart ache.

  Catherine took Dana’s hand as she had when Dana was a little girl and had fallen off her bike and skinned her knee. “What does your heart tell you?”

  “I don’t know.” This hurt so much worse than a scrape on the knee. Dana hated the fear, hated the uncertainty, hated living with suspicion. “A few weeks ago, before we won the lottery, before Mandy was shoved off the bridge, before Lisa died, I walked into the room, and Sam was on the phone. He stopped talking when he noticed I was there. But he had this ferocious glint in his eyes that made me uncomfortable.”

  “Did you hear anything suspicious?”

  “I’m not sure. I heard him say, ‘I haven’t told her anything. I can slip away.’” Dana closed her eyes, then opened them slowly.

  “Oh, sweetie. Why haven’t you said anything until now?”

  Dana didn’t try to pretend a toughness she didn’t feel. She let out her uncertainty. Her hurt. “Sam’s kept secrets from me before—it’s not that unusual in his line of work.”

  “So why is this time different?”

  “He’s been distracted lately. On edge. Now that he’s finally agreed to adopt, I’m not sure if it’s fair to bring a child into a shaky marriage.”

  “Did he say anything else?” her mother asked.

  “‘Meet me at the Bay Star in thirty minutes.’”

  Catherine’s brow arched in confusion. “What’s the Bay Star?”

  “I looked in the yellow pages. It’s a hotel near downtown. Sam didn’t come home until dawn.”

  “Did you hit the automatic redial on the phone to see who he’d called? Or check caller ID?”

  Dana shook her head. “I was too upset to hit redial. I checked caller ID on his phone when he showered, but he’d erased the history. The next morning when I asked him where he’d been, he said a client needed bail. I also checked his credit card receipts, but there was no room or meals charged at the Bay Star.”

  “He could have paid cash.” Her mother gestured to the waitress to leave them alone. “If he’s having an affair, do you really want to know?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re certain? Lots of men have flings and then return home. There may be no need to upset your entire life over one indiscretion.”

  “If he’s cheating, I don’t think having a baby or adopting one is going to fix the problem.”

  “All right. I had to be sure you were sure. If that’s what you want—”

  “It is. I won’t spend my life with someone I can’t trust. I don’t want to wonder where he is when he goes to the store for a pack of gum, or if he’s working late with the mayor or with another woman. I can’t live like that.”

  “We can hire a private investigator.”

  “I’ve thought of that—but suppose I’m wrong? Sam knows every decent PI in town, and if he hears about what I’m doing—that will be the end of our marriage.”

  “So I’ll hire someone from out of town. You don’t do anything. That way, if by chance he does find out, he can blame me.”

  “Thanks, Mom. But he won’t believe you went behind my back.”

  “Sure he will. I’ll tell him I wanted to make certain your marriage was a solid one before I included him and the children you intend to adopt in my will.”

  “It would be better if he never knew.”

  “Agreed.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “MOM AND GABRIELLE have settled into Orlando with their bodyguard,” Mandy told Zack, before hanging up her cell ph
one and tucking it back into her purse. Then she slipped the strap over her shoulder and kept the purse close to her side. Nick Vizzi’s neighborhood in Mango consisted of old trailers with sagging roofs, rusted-out cars, and weed-filled yards and reminded her of the poor areas where she’d lived growing up. “Mom mentioned she might take Gabrielle to Sea World, but I told her to stay inside and keep a low profile.”

  Zack guided her around a broken lawn mower that blocked the sidewalk. “You’re right to tell them to lay low and stay out of crowds until this is over.”

  She jerked up her head. “You think my mother and Gabby are in danger?”

  “We don’t know. So far only firm members, their bodyguards and spouses have been targeted, but it’s better to play it safe. She can watch the dolphins and whales later.”

  “Maybe we can all visit Busch Gardens. Gabby adores zebras and lions, too.” With her thoughts focused on the potential danger, it was difficult to make plans. But she had to stay alive—for Gabby. Whoever was targeting Mandy and her associates seemed determined to keep killing. Shivering, she rubbed her arms, knowing they had to find and stop the killer . . . before he found her again.

  “Vizzi’s place looks abandoned, but I want to knock on the door. Maybe someone’s home.”

  “There’s no AC or lights on.” Mandy edged closer to Zack and lowered her voice. She’d grown up in places similar to this one and didn’t like the reminder. A group of teens had scattered when they’d driven up the street, leaving the cloying stench of weed in the air. Across the potholed road, a curtain in a window moved. A fan? A nosy neighbor? Or someone hostile with a gun aimed at them?

  Winding between the weeds growing through cracks in the overgrown sidewalk, she felt exposed, like a target, and had to remind herself that Nick Vizzi was dead. But if Ben was right, he could have a partner. Zack could knock on the door, and the man who had stolen the ticket might open it and confront them.

  “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.” Mandy tugged on Zack’s elbow. “Are you sure we can’t leave the investigating to the cops?”