9 The Hitwoman's Downward Dog

by JB Lynn

  "Medd’s dead."

  "So I heard. Any idea who did it or why?"

  He shook his head. "I forget sometimes."

  "Forget what?"

  "What a hardass you can be," a note of respect warmed his tone. "Sometimes it’s easy to fall for your giant goof act, and sometimes I’m impressed by your loyalty to your family… and to me, and then you go and do something like this."

  "Like this?" I pitched my voice low, hoping that would prevent the nervous squeak I felt in my chest from escaping.

  "Hardball."

  I swallowed hard, not wanting the friendly mob boss to think I was challenging him. "Hey, if you got rid of Medd, it’s cool with me. I didn’t like him. I’m just trying to find out what happened to my friend."

  Delveccio chuckled. "Medd didn’t mess with me. I didn’t mess with him."

  I nodded my understanding. "Any idea of who he did mess with."

  "Word has it, the O’Hara family."

  I closed my eyes, silently thinking, Lucky-Oh.

  My eyes snapped open when Delveccio rested a heavy hand on my shoulder. "You should stay far away from whatever this is."

  "Can’t," I choked out. "I’ve got to find my friend." I didn’t add the part about needing to find Detective Gilbert too, but that was weighing heavily on my mind.

  "You’ve done right by my family a couple of times now," Delveccio said slowly. "I appreciate that, which is why I’m telling you this."

  I waited, holding my breath.

  "Rumor has it that the O’Hara clan is holed up in the Poconos."

  I frowned, wondering why a New Jersey crime family would hide out in the sticks in Pennsylvania.

  Leaning closer and pitching his voice lower, he confided, "Including Seamus."

  He delivered the information with such deliberate weight that I knew it was important, but I didn’t know why. "So?"

  Delveccio leaned back, his sharp gaze searching my face to see if I was messing with him. Determining I wasn’t, he shook his head in disbelief. "Seamus O’Hara is such a power-hungry S.O.B. that he took out his own father in order to take over the organization."

  "So not a nice guy," I deadpanned.

  Delveccio glanced up and down the hallway. "He fed him to the fishes."

  "I thought that was an Italian thing," I blurted out without thinking.

  Thankfully the mobster wasn’t offended.

  "He chopped off a couple of body parts from his old man while he was still alive. An ear, a couple of fingers."

  Bile rose in my throat at the idea, and I leaned back against the wall for support.

  "Fed them to a tankful of piranhas. You know what they are?"

  "Mobster-eating fish?" I joked weakly.

  Surprised, Delveccio let out a guffaw that echoed in the hallway. "Is it any wonder I like you?" Then growing serious, he finished his story. "Then he dumped his old man in the tank. He was still alive when they started tearing his flesh from him."

  A cold panic gripped me as I realized just how much trouble Armani had managed to get herself into.

  "But you didn’t hear it from me," Delveccio warned. "Capiche?"

  I nodded.

  "Are you sure this friend of yours is worth all the trouble you’re getting yourself into?"

  "I sure hope so," I muttered, wondering what kind of a mess I’d end up in this time.

  He turned to go back in the room and I followed him. Suddenly, he spun around, capturing me in a giant bear hug.

  Stunned, I gasped, which was a bad idea because I was almost overwhelmed by the scent of garlic oozing from his pores and his overwhelming cologne. "Be careful," he whispered in my ear. "I kind of like having you around."

  He released me just far enough so that he could kiss me on both cheeks. "You're sorta like family," he muttered gruffly, but I could hear the concern causing him to choke up.

  Stunned, I almost fell over when he let go of me and took a step back. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath while he hurried back into the room to check on the kids.

  My head swirled and my stomach clenched nervously. I knew that if the mobster was that worried, going after the O'Hara family to get Armani and Joy Gilbert back was a bad idea, a very bad idea, but I didn't have a choice.

  "You keep interesting company," a deep, gravelly voice noted from behind me.

  I didn't have to turn around to know that it was Jack speaking. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, Patrick's voice in my head reminding me, "Don't get caught."

  I turned slowly to face Jack, trying to figure a plausible excuse for what he'd just witnessed.

  He leaned with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, dark eyes simmering with an unspoken accusation.

  I cleared my throat, striving to sound nonchalant. "You're here early."

  He arched an eyebrow. "So are you."

  "I wanted to see my niece." I waved at the doorway Delveccio had disappeared through.

  "Before visiting hours?"

  "I've got a busy day."

  "I can see that." His tone was so dry that it scraped along my nerves like sandpaper.

  "What do you think you saw?" I countered, meeting his gaze with a challenge shining in mine.

  "You're very chummy with Mr. Delveccio."

  "It looks like—" I cut myself off, realizing the mobster wouldn't appreciate me giving the scoop to the reporter about his grandson's recovery.

  Jack tipped his head to the side to get a better look at me. "Looks like what?"

  I shook my head. I had enough enemies. I didn't need to make Delveccio one too.

  "You're keeping the mobster's secrets?"

  "I'm not intruding on the privacy of a family member of the patient that shares the room with my niece."

  Jack straightened his head. "Admirable."

  I didn't think he meant it.

  "But I already know the kid seems to be waking up and you're the one who discovered it."

  I blinked my surprise, but didn't confirm or deny.

  The corners of Jack's mouth twitched upward. "Don't worry, I'm not reporting on that story."

  "Why not?" I asked without thinking.

  "Because I work the crime beat. I'm guessing the boy hasn't committed any. Not my place to intrude on the privacy of the family."

  I squinted at him slightly, trying to decide whether he was telling me the truth. His expression was unreadable. "So why are you here?"

  "I was looking for you."

  "Me? Why?"

  Before he could answer, the bodyguard who'd been guarding Katie's room appeared carrying two cups of coffee.

  My nose twitched hopefully.

  "Where's the boss?"

  I tilted my head in the direction of the room.

  Much to my disappointment, he went inside without handing me a cup.

  "Buy you a coffee?" Jack offered.

  "I have to get back to my niece."

  He nodded. "I'll be here when you're ready."

  Instead of asking him the question dancing on the tip of my tongue, "ready for what?" I went into Katie's room. She was still sitting beside Dominic's head, but instead of cheerfully prattling, she rested her chin in her palm tiredly.

  "Someone looks tired." Delveccio smiled kindly at the little girl. "Why don't you take a nap, Katie?"

  She shook her head, even though she could barely keep her eyes open.

  Ignoring her feeble protests, I picked her up, carried her over to her bed, and tucked her in. "I have to go now, sweetie," I whispered, smoothing her hair off her cheek. Knowing there was a chance I wouldn't be coming back, I added, "Do you know how much I love you?"

  "Oodles," she whispered back, her eyes drifting closed.

  I closed my own, willing the tears that were threatening to spill not to fall. "I do. Oodles and oodles."

  When I opened my eyes, dashing away a couple of errant drops that had squeezed out of the corners of my eyes, she was asleep.

  "I’ll keep an eye on her fo
r you," Delveccio pledged as I slowly shuffled toward the door. He was standing in warrior pose, straining the buttons of his pajama shirt.

  I averted my eyes and nodded my thanks, not knowing if he meant for the day, or if he meant if I didn’t come back.

  Chapter 17

  Jack was waiting when I emerged from the room. He glanced up from whatever he was doing on his cellphone, his eyebrows knitting together as I stumbled out of the room.

  Moving quickly, he pressed his palm to my shoulder, pinning me against the wall to keep me upright. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," I lied automatically. It wasn't like I could tell him that I was worried I wouldn't make it back from the Poconos to care for my niece. "What are you doing here?"

  "I told you I'd wait."

  "I thought you meant in general, not here specifically."

  "But here, specifically, was where I wanted to be," he countered.

  I wasn't quite sure if we were arguing or bantering, but the discussion was definitely charged with some sort of crackling energy.

  It felt dangerous, so I batted his hand away from my shoulder. "Do you mind?"

  Instead of backing off, he leaned closer, his dark eyes studying mine with an intensity that made every nerve-ending in my body stand at attention. "I cannot figure you out."

  I held my breath, not wanting to look away, but afraid he'd read my secrets. My mind ricocheted wildly, trying to come up with a way to his escape his perusal, but my body didn't move.

  "Maggie, dear," a familiar voice trilled, offering the escape I needed.

  Tearing my gaze from his, I turned in her direction. "Hi, Aunt Loretta."

  Jack backed off a step, turning to face the woman who'd interrupted us.

  He was in for an eyeful. Loretta was wearing some lacy concoction from her lingerie shop that she thought passed for street clothing. It did not. Neither did it leave much to the imagination about the past-its-prime body beneath.

  "Aren't you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?" Loretta extended her hand in Jack's direction, blinking her false eyelashes coquettishly. The movement caused her bosom to heave and gave the reporter a first-hand view of her ample cleavage.

  Jack just stared at her, mouth slightly agape.

  "Cat got your tongue, bad boy," Loretta cooed flirtatiously.

  "The woman has no shame," God muttered from his hiding spot in my bra.

  Of course it didn't sound like that to Jack. To him it sounded like my breasts were squeaking. He looked from Loretta's cleavage to my chest, a look of horror on his face as God added, "You should have her fixed."

  "Eyes up here, mister," I reprimanded, pointing Jack in the vicinity of my face.

  To his credit, he seemed embarrassed by his behavior as he winced at his faux pas.

  Loretta waggled her jewel-encrusted, liver-spotted hand in front of his face. "I'm Loretta, Maggie's aunt. And you are?"

  "Jack. Jack Stern," he choked out, shaking her hand while staring at her eyes.

  I suspected it wasn’t because he was taken by her beauty, but rather because her false eyelashes looked a lot like furry spiders.

  "Well you and my niece certainly looked cozy." Loretta flashed an approving smile.

  "We're not," I told her flatly. "What are you doing here?"

  "Templeton wasn't feeling well, so I brought him to the E.R."

  "Is he okay?" While her fiancé wasn't my favorite person, he had saved my life and he seemed to have a slight calming effect on Loretta.

  "Just a reaction to the medication they gave him. They'll be discharging him within the hour."

  "So what are you doing here?" I asked suspiciously.

  "Looking for a room," she confided in a stage whisper with a wink at me.

  "Maybe I can help you find it," Jack offered, having regained his composure.

  "No," I snapped.

  He frowned.

  I, in turn, frowned at Loretta for having put me in this situation.

  She shrugged. "I was hoping to have my way with my fiancé in a room," she told him. "Sort of a hot nurse and helpless patient scenario, if you get my gist."

  An embarrassed blush heated my cheeks at Jack blinked and then took a step back from the sex addict that is my aunt.

  "Loretta, stop this," I hissed.

  She waved a hand dismissively. "Don't mind my niece, Jack. She's a bit uptight. I blame it on the fact she hasn't had sex in years."

  Jack transferred his attention to me, something more than idle curiosity in his gaze.

  I started to believe that spontaneous combustion was possible as my face burned with embarrassment and anger. "Shut. Up. Loretta," I ground out between gritted teeth.

  My aunt shrugged an apology at Jack. "It was nice to meet you."

  Jack nodded, not saying a word.

  "If you see, Templeton," Loretta said to me, "make sure to tell him to hurry up. A girl has needs."

  With a toss of her hair, she click-clacked away on her stiletto heels.

  Jack watched her go in silence.

  I watched her go, plotting half a dozen ways I was going to get my revenge for her humiliating me.

  "Nothing like first-hand experience," Jack murmured.

  I didn't dare look at him. "What do you mean?"

  "I read up on your family and I was expecting quirky, but that, that..." He trailed off for a long moment, the professional wordsmith unable to coming up with the words to describe my aunt.

  "You read up on my family?" I demanded, some of the anger I'd felt for Loretta finding him as a target.

  He nodded. "That bothers you?"

  "Why shouldn't it? It's stalkerish." And even more embarrassing than Loretta's comment about my love life. "It's bad enough that you follow me here, and to the..." I'd almost said "nuthouse." "The place where my mother resides."

  He raised his hands signaling his surrender. "I was just trying to get a better idea of who you are."

  "So now you know," I spat out, my voice barely louder than a venomous whisper. "Daughter of a professional criminal and a mental patient. Does that sound about right?"

  He tilted his head in silent agreement.

  I’d expected him to back off. Instead, he held his ground, which enraged me more.

  "You've done your professional due diligence and figured me out. So why are you still here? Trying to see which of my parents I take after? Or maybe you're hoping I'm more like my former hooker sister. Or my druggie aunt. Or my nymphomaniac aunt?"

  "Stop it," God ordered from chest. "You shouldn't say those things about the people you love."

  Anyone else would have retreated from the assault, but not Jack Stern. He moved closer, even when God squeaked.

  "Actually," he whispered in my ear, "I was trying to figure out what kind of woman would put herself in danger to help her friend. Now I’ve got my answer."

  "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

  He smiled slightly as though he knew a secret I wasn’t privy to. He pitched his voice low. "Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful when you’re angry?"

  I blinked and my mouth may have opened once or twice like a beached fish, before words actually passed through my lips. "That’s the best you can come up with, Mr. Man Who Writes For A Living? A tired old cliché?" I glared at him before mocking, "You’re beautiful when you’re angry."

  "I’ve also learned that you really suck at accepting a compliment," he countered, unfazed by my barbed cliché insult.

  "That isn’t a compliment, it’s… it’s…"

  Raising his phone, he snapped my picture. "Beautiful," he told me before strolling away. "If you decide you want to know why I was here, you’ve got my number," he called over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

  My anger left with him, leaving me feeling weak and deflated. I sagged against the wall for support.

  "Well that went well," God drawled. "Did regurgitating all your hardships on a fellow I’m fairly certain was here to help you make you feel
better?"

  Ignoring him, I put my hands on my knees and forced myself to take a few deep breaths to keep from bursting into tears.

  "What happened?" a familiar voice, laden with concern, asked. "Did something happen to Katie?"

  Chapter 18

  I looked up to find Templeton, Aunt Loretta's fiancé, watching me worriedly. I was inordinately pleased that, unlike his paramour, he was fully clothed. "She's fine." I forced myself to stand up straight. I felt guilty that he'd thought something had happened to her. He seemed to have a genuine soft spot for her and her for him.

  "Then what is it? Are you okay?"

  I nodded tightly, a lump lodging in my throat at his concern for me.

  He reached out carefully and patted my shoulder reassuringly. "I know I'm not one of your aunts, but if you need someone to talk to…"

  "Dominic Delveccio is waking up." I jerked my head toward the room.

  "That's excellent news."

  I nodded.

  "And yet you don't look happy."

  "I'm just a bit overwhelmed."

  "Because of Armani?"

  I nodded and tried to keep my expression blank as I remembered I'd once seen Templeton leaving an illegal poker game that Lucky O'Hara had attended. I wondered how tight Templeton was with O'Hara and if he knew more than he was letting on about Armani.

  "I'm sure the police will find her," he assured me.

  "I'm not," I replied flatly.

  Templeton blinked and suddenly looked nervous. "You're not looking for her, are you?"

  "Of course not," I lied smoothly. "I've been ordered to stay out of it."

  He narrowed his gaze as though he knew I was lying. I'd never had much of a poker face.

  "Loretta was here a few minutes ago looking for you," I told him in a rush.

  His face cleared at the mention of his beloved. "Which way did she go?"

  I pointed in the direction my nymphomaniac aunt had disappeared.

  Templeton strode away, but then paused and looked back at me. "You're sure you're okay?"

  I gave him a thumbs-up, which seemed to satisfy him because he hurried on his way.

  Leaving a message on my supervisor, Harry's, phone, I called in sick to work as I drove back to the B&B to pick up some supplies before I headed to the Poconos to find Armani. I stopped in the kitchen to grab something to eat—no point in mounting a heroic rescue on an empty stomach, and that's where Susan found me.