HER BODYGUARD

by Michelle Jerott

  "You wanted to teach him a lesson?" Matt asked in amazement. "One of the meanest gangsters in Chicago?"

  "No, I wanted to make a fool of him." Mancuso cut a sideways look at Matt. "I hit Mike where it'd hurt most, in his money and his woman. I pinched the dough from right under his sleeping nose. The jewelry was a last-minute … inspiration, you could say. There'd been a big party that night, and Maria had worn all her fancy jewelry. Before sleeping with Riley, she threw it all on the nightstand by the bed – even her wedding ring. Ain't that the craziest thing you ever heard?" He grew quiet, and when he looked up again, an intensity burned in his dark eyes. I loved Rose, and I knew the way of a man and woman together is a gift, not cheap. People don't do what Lou and Maria did to each other and call it love. I wanted to make 'em all look like the animals they was. A joke, see. Everything with me was always a joke."

  "Until Willis turned on you and Rose ended up dead," Matt said.

  "No, that weren't so funny." Mancuso looked down, and angrily wiped at his cheeks. "I sure wasn't doing no laughing."

  Silence fell over the cabin, and Matt heard Lili sigh beside him. He looked at her, and she simply shook her head, as if still struggling to believe what was happening.

  "Seems to me this ring is more trouble than it's worth," she said.

  This coming from the woman with the mile-wide romantic streak. Matt glanced at her, frowning, but he understood. He'd expected the answer to this old mystery to involve intricate plots and complications, but it wasn't that at all. It was personal – and simple. It was about pride. About honor, even among thieves and killers, and about family.

  "Tony's as crazy as his old lady. He's got this idea that if he can get her ring and jewelry back, it'll rub off the tarnish of what his ma and pa did. Their shame has been hanging over him his whole life, making him feel like he had to make up for it." Again, Mancuso shifted, looking as if he wanted to sit down on one of the chairs.

  Matt considered asking him to do so, but decided against it. He didn't want any of them to feel comfortable or cozy. It didn't seem right, somehow.

  "Riley killed Lou so he could have Maria for himself," Lili said. "Not because Lou botched the hit and didn't bring back the stolen money."

  "That's right, and because despite what the cops said about me and Rosie being in the lake, Lou knew better, and so did Mike. And Lou didn't exactly botch the hit," Mancuso said, his voice heavy with bitterness. "They shot Rose to pieces … I can't stand to think of it, not even after all these years. She never done nothing wrong."

  Again, that heavy silence. Matt couldn't block out the images, and by the stricken look on Lili's face, he knew she couldn't, either.

  "I got hit six times, but not bad enough to kill me. I passed out for a few minutes," Mancuso said at length, his expression distant, back in time. "I knew she was dead, and I couldn't leave her there. Cops pawin' at her body, her ending up on the slab, strangers gawking at her, and them damn newshounds taking pictures for the paper. I didn't want nobody touching her but me. I don't much remember that night, but I got to the boat. I was hurting bad, fighting to keep from passing out. I made it as far as the island, and that's where I buried her. It weren't much of a grave … she deserved a pretty stone, and roses."

  "And what happened to you?"

  Mancuso sighed. "The boat got loose and drifted away, so I was stuck on that little island. There was this trapper living nearby. Queer old bird … looked like a mountain man and lived like some damn Indian in the woods. He took me in and doctored me up. He weren't friendly, he weren't unfriendly … it was like he did it because I was there, like I was just some shot-up animal to him. When I was feeling up to it, I went after Lou and Willis but, like I said, I was too late."

  Lili was staring down at her feet, a frown creasing her brow. Then she looked up and asked, "Does Tony Graziano know that Matt and I are here?"

  "He suspected right off you might come to me. I got a call from him a few days ago. About now, he'll be sending his boys on up to check things out. He's crazy, but he ain't stupid."

  Matt blew out a breath. "Then we better not waste any more time. Do you remember where the bag is?"

  "I remember. Don't much care to ever see it again. It was all for Rosie … if she couldn't have it, I didn't want nothing to do with the money." Mancuso shifted again, the cane supporting his weight. "Why do you want it so bad?"

  "I'm turning it over to the cops, along with the shoes. It's the only way Lili will be safe."

  Mancuso nodded absently. "With the laws involved, Tony'll back off."

  "I'll wait until it's dark before I go after the bag," Matt said. "And I want you to come with me."

  The old man nodded again, then narrowed his eyes. "Get her out of here today. Whatever you plan on doing with Tony's boys, I don't give a damn, but don't you put that little gal in the middle of it no more."

  "Excuse me, don't call me that and don't—" Lili began.

  "I have no intention of gunning for Tony Graziano's goons," Matt interrupted.

  But even as he said it, he knew it wasn't strictly true. He couldn't bring himself to look at Lili, fearing she'd see the truth in his eyes.

  Mancuso stared at him for a long moment. "Just remember what I said to you. Hate my guts all you want, boy, but I still got sixty hard years on you. How many more bullets you gotta catch before you see that?"

  Twenty-one

  A half hour later, Lili still didn't know which had rattled her worst: the shock of discovering Willis Conroy was really Joey Mancuso, the revelation that Matt had survived a horrendous childhood and wouldn't have said a word about it if he hadn't lost his temper, or the emotional bomb Matt had dropped on her in the bathroom last night.

  He loves me…

  Hearing him say it left her deliriously happy and absolutely terrified – and more determined than ever to make Matt see they were perfect together, if he would only open his eyes and look outside his box. For the first time, she'd truly felt she and Matt stood a chance to make it work

  And now this, bringing all the doubts rushing back.

  "You should've told me," Lili said into the tense silence.

  Matt was seated on the floor cleaning his gun, and her gaze darted from his face to the gun, and back again.

  "What good would it have done?" he asked, not looking up. "Like I said, I believe in moving on, not looking back."

  It chilled her, his inability – conscious or otherwise – to see how closely he walked the line between right and wrong. How long had it been since he'd been able to clearly see the difference? Or maybe he saw it all too clearly, being in the middle, knowing there were too many gray areas to make for nice, tidy limits. She might not be sorry he was breaking the law to keep them both alive, but it troubled her all the same. Perhaps there had been other alternatives, but he'd chosen the one he knew best: the right of might.

  "Probably it would have done no good," Lili said at length. "But that's not the point. I think … it would've made me better understand you."

  At that he looked up, his expression questioning.

  "In particular, why a man who's so intelligent, capable, loyal, and full of compassion would still see himself as—"

  "A street punk," he interrupted.

  "Yes." She met his shuttered gaze. "Something like, 'you can take the boy out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the boy.'"

  "And what if that's right?"

  Her headache throbbed dully, and she massaged her brows. "And what if it doesn't make any difference to me?"

  He looked back down at the gun, wiping at nonexistent spots. "You really think a shoe designer from New York with a wealthy family, and a bodyguard from Chicago with a juvenile rap sheet stand a chance together?"

  "I think Matt Hawkins and Lili Kavanaugh have a chance, yes."

  He paused, noting her pointed rephrasing. "That's because you're a romantic, Lili."

  "And you're a damn pessimist," she shot back, angry. This man was a fighte
r, every inch of him – yet he was stubbornly determined to walk away from her without a fight. And she knew why, knew exactly what was going through his mind, and she hated it.

  "No." He glanced up. "I'm a realist."

  Despair rolled over her, overwhelming the anger. "So what you're saying is that when this is over, I'll never see you again."

  She didn't miss the faint tightening of his mouth, or how his gaze slid from hers. He shrugged, as if that would be answer enough – but she knew better. He'd find excuses to stay away, "things" would come up. There might be a few phone calls, but they'd grow fewer and further apart until they stopped altogether.

  She wanted to kick him for his stubbornness and complacency. Everything he said and did told her he wanted to be with her; how was she going to break through to him? If he didn't want to take that leap of faith, she couldn't force him. It took two to make a relationship work.

  Maybe now was the time to start preparing for the hurt coming her way. But no matter what, she wouldn't cry or mope – she had her pride, dammit.

  She pushed herself up off the love seat. "Are you going to call Monica again before we go find Joey's bag and that damn ring?"

  Matt had called Monica earlier, but got no answer – probably working on a case, he'd said. Now, with a shake of his head, he began assembling his gun. "No. I've left a couple messages. She'll get them."

  Lili nodded, and as she walked past him in silence, her dignity intact despite the gathering hurt, he reached out and grabbed her hand.

  "Hey," he said quietly as she stopped.

  Looking down at him, she thought she saw an equal turmoil of pain and regret in his gaze. "Hey, what?"

  "It'll be okay."

  Lili only nodded, pulling free, and continued to the bedroom. Once there, she flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what he meant by "okay" – that she'd be fine without him, or that maybe they'd take a stab at a relationship.

  Or maybe he only meant he'd be sure to keep her from getting shot until she was safely home.

  After all, that was what he was being paid to do.

  *

  A shake on her shoulder woke Lili. She opened her eyes to a darkness broken only by a weak light from the bathroom, and saw Matt's face looming over her.

  "Time to go," he said.

  She pushed herself to her elbows, glancing at the nightstand clock: almost three in the morning. Since she was already dressed, all she had to do was roll out of the bed. "Where's Will … Joey? Is he still here?"

  Not long after Joey had departed, Matt had decided he didn't trust him and had gone after him. Susie, who'd been sitting with the old man, had looked surprised, but Matt smiled and explained they had a checkers match planned, and promised to walk the old man back afterward. Susie had still looked doubtful, but Joey Mancuso had supported the lie with one of his own – and, Lili had noticed, a grateful expression that Matt had kept his secret.

  Lili didn't know how she felt about that – it seemed wrong to deceive such nice people, especially since Joey had a hand in the real Willis Conroy's death – yet she had kept silent.

  Nothing was simple and clear anymore.

  "He's waiting in the other room," Matt answered. He was dressed in dark clothing from head to toe, as she was. When he'd picked out their clothing days ago, she'd never even noticed that he'd included clothes that would blend in with the night and shadows.

  A little unnerving, sometimes, that control and mental chess playing. Not to mention completely alien to her own way of going about life. Could a man like this simply settle down for a nine-to-five job without going crazy from boredom? She'd think not, except he'd already told her he wanted "out of the front line," that he felt a need to move on.

  Not much for a girl to pin her hopes on, but it was better than nothing.

  "Let me brush my teeth, then we can go," she said with a sigh.

  A faint smile tipped his mouth. "We're sneaking around in the dead of night, not going to a party."

  She gave him a dark look on her way to the bathroom. Inside it, Lili made a face in the mirror. Like having fresh breath and a pearly white smile would matter to the cop reading her the Miranda.

  With a long sigh, she finished up, then grabbed the backpack with Rose's shoes and followed Matt into the living room. Joey was sitting down, wearing an old black leather jacket over his jeans. His gaze flicked to Lili and his mouth thinned.

  "Leave her here," he said.

  "Can't," Matt answered flatly. "She's safer with me than alone."

  The two men locked gazes, and finally Joey looked away. He raised a shaking hand and smoothed it across his shock of gray hair. Then he heaved himself up with the help of his cane and snapped, "What are you waiting for? Let's get this over and done with."

  In silence, they filed out the cabin door and down the path leading to the dock. A car would make too much noise, so Matt had readied the old rowboat. Once they'd climbed in, Matt pushed off and rowed toward Big Moccasin Lake Lodge while Lili, clutching the backpack, sat with Joey.

  Carefully, so no one would notice, she felt in the pocket of her black fleece jacket, to reassure herself the pocket knife she'd taken – without telling Matt – was really there. Just in case. She didn't want to be like those helpless women in the movies, who stood there screeching while people died around them.

  Not that she was feeling very brave. At night, the lake looked eerie – thickly dark, blending into the sky, and the wind in the trees sounded like a low moan. The night was cloudy, the moon a pale smear behind dark clouds. She glanced at Joey and saw him staring out ahead at nothing, his gaze vacant, as if he were a million miles away.

  More likely, seventy years away.

  Matt pulled with powerful strokes against the oars. Before long he brought them to the lodge's pier, and once he'd tied up the boat he helped Lili out, then she and Matt helped Joey.

  The old man felt frail and insubstantial in her grip, and while she hated what he'd been – and couldn't get past this ridiculous sense of disappointment that he hadn't died with Rose – she still couldn't help feeling pity for him. He'd outlived everyone he'd known, and for all the laws he'd broken and all the men he'd killed, he had nothing to show for it but a heavy regret that hung about him like a cloud.

  "Can I see her shoes?"

  Startled by Joey's question, Lili looked at Matt. He nodded once, his face oddly expressionless. She opened the backpack and pulled out Rose's shoes. The rhinestones – and as yet unknown number of diamonds – gleamed in the pale light. She handed one to Joey.

  "She could dance the night away," Joey mumbled, running a finger over the shoe, tracing the ornament that Matt suspected held the diamonds. "Nothing made Rosie happier than to show off a pretty new dress. She lit up a room, and the boys never could keep their eyes off her. But she only had eyes for one fella … and she'd have been better off if she'd never met him."

  This last was so quiet that Lili barely heard him over the splash of the waves against the shoreline. Lili swallowed back a sudden lump in her throat. She glanced at Matt, but he was focused on the dark bulk of the old lodge.

  This late, the quiet lay like a blanket over everything, and no lights shone from the lodge's windows. While she understood Matt's wish to do this in secrecy – fewer complications, and quicker than negotiating with the lodge owner – she didn't like it.

  Joey handed the shoe back to Lili, and she returned it to her pack with relief. She'd half feared the old man would turn and pitch it into the lake.

  Matt stripped off his coat, leaving his gun and shoulder rig exposed, and grabbed the shovel from the boat. "Stay together and keep quiet," he whispered.

  Not that there was much to say at moments like this. She and Joey followed him and when the old man stumbled, she took his arm to guide him.

  "I'm sorry, Lili girl," he whispered.

  Taken by surprise, she glanced at Joey and wondered what he was apologizing for – for being old, for being alive, f
or being what he was. Matt scowled at them over his shoulder, and she held back her question.

  As they closed on the lodge, Matt asked quietly, "Where?"

  Joey pointed toward the back. "I didn't bury it far, or too deep. Don't know why nobody ever found it. Maybe somebody did, and kept the money and the rest of Maria's jewelry, and said nothing about it. Then what'll you do?"

  "I'll worry about that if we don't find it," Matt said, and began digging where Joey had pointed. The area was in back by the kitchen and storage area, well away from the sleeping rooms. If anyone heard the digging, they'd assume it was a raccoon or a stray dog.

  Lili glanced at Joey, who again seemed lost in distant thought. They were standing not all that far from where he'd been shot, and she couldn't help saying softly, "It must be hard for you to be here."

  "Ain't been near the place since that night, but I remember it, clear as can be," the old man replied softly. "I was loading up the car, so we could get away before the laws or Riley's boys could catch up. But Rosie … well, we didn't get going right away. I should've moved faster, but I was feelin' awful blue, and when I heard the cars on the road, I knew it was trouble. I grabbed my gun and ran." He paused. "She thought it was me, bringing the car around, and turned on the lights downstairs. Riley's boys opened fire. I came running, shooting like a crazy man, screaming, until they gunned me down, right there by the porch."

  It was suddenly quiet, and Lili realized Matt had stopped digging. He was looking at Joey, his expression unreadable. After a moment he said, "No talking."

  He resumed digging. The sandy, damp ground was soft, and a short while later, the shovel made a soft sound of contact. The smell of wet earth and rot filled Lili's senses as she moved closer.

  "Is that the bag?" she whispered, and glanced around, half expecting lights to flash on and angry shouts to cut across the quiet.