Maggie Lee (Book 11): The Hitwoman Hires a Manny

by Lynn, JB

When she didn’t respond, I had to beg, “Please, Piss. Promise me?”

  “Promise,” she hissed grudgingly.

  I got to my feet as God said, “Take me. You’re going to need my help to save him.”

  Scooping him out of his terrarium, I said, “If Rivalgi has him, we may be too late already.”

  I ran up the basement stairs, heart in my throat, unsure of what would happen next.

  Susan and Leslie were consoling a weeping Loretta, who had giant streaks of mascara smudged all the way down her face, in the dining room.

  Marshal Griswald was pacing the length of the foyer while yelling into his phone.

  His nephew, Detective Griswald, was out on the front porch yelling at a uniformed police officer.

  Checking in on Katie, who was somehow sleeping through the cacophony, I found both Marlene and Doc curled up in each other’s arms, on the floor beside her bed.

  “We’ll stay with her,” Marlene whispered as Doc gave me a thumbs-up.

  “Thanks,” I whispered back and left them to it.

  Angel and Armani were nowhere to be seen.

  I slipped out the kitchen door to get away from some of the noise. I needed to think.

  “How had Rivalgimanaged to grab Templeton in broad daylight, in a house full of people?” I asked God.

  “Maybe he didn’t,” the lizard replied.

  “Maybe he left on his own,” I murmured. The second option seemed more likely. In the excitement of the party and cleanup it wouldn’t have been difficult to slip away. “But where would he have gone?”

  God stayed silent.

  “You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Angel said from behind me.

  I jumped, startled that he’d snuck up on me. I spun around to face him. “Where’s Armani?”

  “She went home.”

  “Of course she did,” I muttered. “Just when we could have used some psychic assistance.”

  “You really believe in her gift?” Angel asked.

  I couldn’t very well tell him that her predictions had saved my ass on a number of occasions, so I said, “Her intuition is accurate.”

  “I take it they’re no closer to figuring out what happened to Templeton?”

  I shook my head.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Really, Maggie.” He stepped closer. “If there’s anything that Katie needs, that you need, just say so.”

  I looked up into his dark, steady gaze and realized he genuinely meant it. I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t even know what to do. I wouldn’t know where to look. He spends most of his time with…” I trailed off as a seed of an idea started to sprout.

  Angel waited expectantly. “What?”

  “Can you call your uncle?”

  He blinked, surprised by my answer.

  “Can you call your uncle for me? It’s important.”

  “He can’t help you…” he warned.

  “I just need him to answer a question.”

  “Why?”

  I couldn’t tell him that not long ago his uncle had warned me to not let Templeton play in a certain high-stakes poker game. I’d convinced Templeton to stay home that night, which was lucky for him considering the feds had busted the game and three people had been shot. The story had been all over the newspaper. But I couldn’t tell Angel any of that.

  “You asked what I needed and I’m telling you,” I said quietly.

  Angel searched my face. I could tell he didn’t want to involve his family, but he’d already pledged his help. Grudgingly he pulled out his phone and dialed the number.

  “Nephew!” Delveccio boomed through the speaker.

  “Miss Lee has a question for you,” Angel said formally, before handing me the phone.

  “Is there a poker game?” I asked his uncle.

  “Maggie?” The mobster was clearly confused.

  “It’s important. Is there a poker game?”

  A moment of silence stretched between us. Then another.

  He wasn’t going to tell me. Delveccio wasn’t going to give me the information I needed to save Templeton.

  Frustrated, I shoved the phone back at Angel and stalked away. Not that I really had anywhere to go. I couldn’t go to the front of the house, not with the cops there. I couldn’t go back inside, my aunts were laying in wait. So I stomped through the backyard, all the way back to the rear property line.

  Once again I found myself angry with Patrick Mulligan. If he hadn’t disappeared, I could have at least asked him for help, but with him out of touch, I’d run out of options.

  Footsteps approached from behind.

  I sighed. “I’m sorry if I put you in a bad position with your family.”

  “I’m never in a good position with them,” Angel replied. “You should have stayed on the phone.”

  “What for?”

  “Because he eventually answered you.”

  I whirled around to see if Angel was serious. He was watching me carefully.

  “What did he say?”

  “He said that poker was no game for a lady. That you should take up something you’re better at…like treasure hunting.”

  “Treasure hunting?” I repeated, realizing that Delveccio had been speaking in code.

  “That’s what he said.” Angel regarded me curiously. “Don’t tell me you know what that means.”

  “I know what it means,” God piped up from his hiding spot between my breasts.

  Alarmed, Angel stared at my squeaking chest.

  “Godzilla,” I explained as though it were perfectly normal to tote a reptile around in one’s bra.

  Angel’s eyes bugged out a little. “The lizard?”

  “The jewels,” God continued, oblivious to how uncomfortable his speaking made the human beings. “He’s talking about the jewels.”

  “Of course!” I fist-pumped the air.

  “Of course?” Angel asked weakly, assuming I was talking about the lizard.

  “I’ve gotta go.” I rushed past him.

  “No!” He chased after me. Faster than I was, he managed to get ahead of me, and stopped in my path, an immovable obstacle.

  “I have to go,” I insisted, looking for a path around him.

  “Where?”

  “Treasure hunting.”

  “I won’t let you,” he warned.

  “You can’t stop me,” I countered.

  He crossed his arms over his chest making his muscles bulge. “You want to test that theory?”

  I gulped and changed tactics. I stuck out my chin and challenged, “You’re going to manhandle me?”

  He scowled, insulted by my dig. “You can be really annoying.”

  I shrugged. “Blame it on my genetics.”

  I feinted right, he shadowed my movement.

  Putting my hands on my hips, I glowered at him. “C’mon. Enough games. I’ve got to go.”

  “Not unless I go too.”

  We stood there for a long moment in a standoff, neither of us willing to compromise.

  “Time’s wasting,” God reminded me.

  Angel rolled his eyes at my squeaking chest.

  “Fine,” I declared. “You can come along, but we do things my way.”

  “But I drive.” He stuck out his hand so that we could shake on it.

  I wasn’t certain it was the best deal I’d ever struck, but I didn’t see that I had a choice.

  I slid my hand into his to seal our agreement, but suddenly he gave a hard yank, and his lips were sealed to mine.

  He moved so fast, that I wasn’t able to avoid his kiss. I wasn’t able to brace myself for it. I wasn’t even able to hold my breath.

  One moment we were committing to the equivalent of a business transaction, and the next we were committing an intimate act.

  He trapped my hand against his chest, where I could feel his heart thumping steadily, as his mouth claimed mine. Before I could wrench myself away, his other arm snaked around my
waist and lifted me a half inch so that I found myself balancing on my tiptoes.

  Unable to get any leverage, I couldn’t get away from him. I was effectively trapped, forced to wait for whatever he chose to do next.

  And yet he didn’t do anything. His tongue didn’t explore my mouth. His lips didn’t move from where they’d landed on mine.

  I waited expectantly, aware of his strength and his warmth where our bodies met. Crazily I realized that Loretta was wrong, he didn’t smell like vanilla. Nothing about him seemed sweet or bland.

  The longer we stood there, the more I wanted him to do something. The more I wanted to do something.

  Just when I thought I couldn’t take the “not doing” a millisecond longer, he dragged his mouth from mine. Skimming his lips along my cheek, he set off a fire that made my whole body burn.

  “We’re being watched,” he whispered in my ear as his grip on my waist loosened and he lowered me back to the ground.

  The flames of desire were effectively doused. I tried to retrieve my hand, but he held tight to it.

  “Let them think we’re having a lover’s quarrel,” he murmured, lifting it to his mouth so that he could press a kiss to it.

  “Who’s watching us?”

  “The house that’s cattycorner behind you.”

  Belgard.

  He was watching me.

  So much for the protective powers of the fence.

  My stomach soured and suddenly my legs barely supported me.

  Sensing my reaction, Angel tightened his grip on my wrist and pulled me close again. “You okay?”

  I nodded weakly, absorbing some of his strength. “You just startled me.”

  Angel stiffened. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “I know.” I carefully stepped back away from him. “I’m just on edge. Not your fault.”

  He nodded and seemed appeased. “Now tell me where this treasure of yours is.”

  I shook my head. “No way. You’ll go without me.”

  He sighed. “What do I have to do to convince you I’m on your side?”

  “Well, kissing me certainly wasn’t the way to do it.”

  “But I didn’t kiss you.”

  “You tried.”

  A wicked smile flit across his face. “Trust me, that’s not one of those things that are tried. It’s either done, or it’s not. You’ll know when I do it.”

  My mouth went dry at the implied promise that he would do it. I wonder if he could feel my pulse speeding up where he held my wrist.

  Then he winked at me. “But first, let’s go find Templeton.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Angel spent the entire drive to our destination trying to convince me to call the Griswalds so that they could handle the matter through “official” channels.

  I steadfastly refused even though I wasn’t able to give him an answer as to why.

  Instead, I gave him turn-by-turn directions and considered how I’d almost died at the place we were going to. It was there I’d discovered “jewel” cases containing computer disks that had led to the imprisonment of some pretty nasty mobsters…though, thankfully, none were connected to Delveccio.

  The restaurant, abandoned as far as I knew, would make an ideal location for an illegal card game.

  Still, the ribbon swinging from the rearview mirror of the truck taunted me with every bounce or turn we made. Angel had made an almost super-human effort to distance himself from his family and their criminal activities, and here I was dragging him into who knew what.

  The guilt ate at me, and I blurted out, “This isn’t the life you want.”

  He glanced over at me. “Is it the life you want?”

  “I’m protecting my family.”

  He returned his attention to driving. “I get that. It’s dumb, but I get it.”

  “If you’re so opposed to my plan, why did you come along?” I finally asked Angel when he once again mentioned the name Griswald.

  “You have a plan?”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” I groused.

  “I couldn’t very well let you go off alone.”

  “Why not?”

  His posture stiffened and I saw his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “Because beautiful women who go off to save the world alone don’t always make it back in one piece.”

  I wondered if he was referring to his friend Nancy, but I decided it would be rude to ask. Instead I told him, “I was taking care of myself for a long time before you came along.”

  “But it’ll be easier now with me here.” He relaxed a little. “I can do the heavy lifting.” To emphasize his point, he flexed his right bicep.

  I couldn’t help but laugh.

  He glanced away from the road for a moment to look at me. “You should laugh more often.”

  Unsure of how to respond, I was glad when he returned his attention to the road.

  “He’s right,” God decided to opine.

  Angel chuckled at the squeaking. “He certainly has a lot to say.”

  “He’s right,” God said again.

  Angel laughed harder.

  “You should call Griswald,” God continued. “Call him.”

  “I don’t want to call the authorities,” I explained, “because I’m not convinced Templeton’s a kidnap victim. He may be off indulging in something that’s, let’s say, not quite legal.”

  “Oh,” God said simply.

  “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Angel asked.

  “Because I was trying to keep you out of it, but you insisted on coming along,” I told the human.

  His cell phone buzzed.

  “Don’t answer it,” I begged.

  Glancing at it, he said, “It’s Susan. She’s probably looking for you.”

  “She has your phone number?”

  “Everyone in your family has my number. I’m the manny. The only person who hasn’t asked for it is you.”

  I cringed. I really sucked at this whole parenting thing.

  “There,” I said, pointing to the abandoned restaurant.

  “Here?” he asked skeptically.

  “Drive around back.”

  When he did, we found an inordinately high number of luxury vehicles nestled in the rear parking lot that couldn’t be spotted from the road.

  “Jackpot,” I crowed.

  Angel slid the truck to a stop.

  “Wait here,” I said, hopping out.

  “You’re not going in there alone.” He reached for his door handle.

  “Look at me,” I reasoned. “I don’t look like a threat, but you,” I waved a hand to encompass all of him, “even if you’re not recognized as a Delveccio, you’re intimidating.”

  He considered the wisdom of my words for a moment. “I’m really just a giant teddy bear.”

  “Then stay here, Teddy,” I ordered. “If I’m not out in ten minutes, you can call Griswald.”

  “I’m keeping the engine running.”

  I gave him a thumbs-up and headed toward the rear entrance.

  “I like that one,” God said as I crossed the parking lot.

  “If you squeak while we’re in there, they may assume I’m wearing a wire and shoot my chest,” I warned.

  That shut him up.

  I knocked on the back door. “Hello?”

  A scowling man in an ill-fitting suit opened it. He deadpanned, “We’re closed.”

  “I need to talk to Templeton.”

  Frowning, he ran his gaze over me. From the way the lines on his forehead deepened, I assumed he didn’t like what he saw.

  “Templeton,” I repeated, trying to ignore how badly the jacket he wore disguised the gun he carried.

  “Wait here.” He closed the door in my face.

  “That went well,” God whispered.

  “If you don’t shut up, you’re going to get us both killed.”