by Nancy Martin
“For what?” Vincent demanded.
“Influence peddling,” Roxy shot back. “It’s a felony, right? And you’re already on probation, Vincent. This could land you in jail.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jimmy asked.
“I’d like a little clarification myself,” Henry said.
“Here’s the deal.” Roxy bulldozed them all. “You tell us what the story is with Kaylee Falcone, and we let the whole matter slide.”
“Who?”
“The chick,” Jimmy clarified. “Hyde’s girlfriend.”
“You took some shots at her yesterday,” Roxy said. “Remember? Down in the Strip. Only you missed. Or did you just plan on scaring her?”
“We don’t know nothing about that,” Jimmy said, trying to bluff.
“And afterward, you tried to shoot me and Henry here. We were in the car in the cemetery.”
“We didn’t!”
“Where’d the new TV come from? You win the lottery? No, somebody paid you to shoot at Kaylee Falcone.”
“It wasn’t me,” Vincent insisted. “I had nothing to do with it. All I did was drive the car.”
“Jesus,” Jimmy said. “Do you have to be such a moron?”
He hurled his can of SpaghettiOs at his brother’s head. The glancing blow prompted Vincent to throw a punch, connecting with Jimmy’s upper lip, splitting open the sore. In an instant, the two were pounding each other. Vincent wrestled Jimmy off the sofa onto the floor in a splatter of tomato sauce.
Grunting and punching, they rolled clear of the sofa, whereupon Roxy stepped over the two brothers and dug under the cushions until she came up with a handgun. She picked it up by the barrel and smoothly handed it off to Henry.
Before he knew what was happening, he was standing there holding a gun on the two brothers.
Roxy started kicking them and yelling. “Cut it out, you idiots! Stop it! I’m gonna bash both your heads in!”
Eventually, Vincent sat up, dazed and rubbing his ribs where Roxy’s boots had done some damage. Jimmy clutched his bleeding lip and cursed. His eyes streamed tears of pain. Then they both noticed that Henry had a gun on them, and they fell silent.
“That’s better,” Roxy said. “Now come clean, the two of you. I know you do work for hire. You’ve been auditioning for Carmine for years. It was the two of you who tried to cap Duke Slansky two years ago. Everybody knows that.”
Vinnie stared at the muzzle of the gun. “It wasn’t—”
“Shut up. Everybody but the cops knows you did it, so don’t bother lying. Who else is stupid enough to use Duke’s credit card at a gas station with security cameras—except you, Jimmy? You were just lucky everybody in your family covered for you when the TV stations ran the tape. Tell us who hired you to shoot Kaylee Falcone.”
Jimmy was mesmerized by the gun, too. “I didn’t—”
Roxy kicked him again, then put both hands on the grip of the baseball bat and prepared to hit a line drive.
“We weren’t supposed to shoot her,” Vincent quickly confessed. “Just scare her.”
“Who bought your new TV?”
Vincent shook his head stubbornly and didn’t answer.
Lightly, Roxy tapped Jimmy upside his head. “How about it, Jimbo? You want to know what it feels like to have your brains all over the floor?”
Henry raised the muzzle of the gun a little higher. “Tell the lady a good story, okay?”
Sullen, Jimmy said, “It was Hyde himself.”
“What?” Roxy said, “You mean Trey?”
“No.” Jimmy cut his eyes at Henry. “The old man.”
“Are you lying? Because I’ll bash—”
“I’m not lying, bitch. It was the dead guy.”
“Why would he want to intimidate his own girlfriend?”
Jimmy was pouting. “How should we know?”
“And if he hired you, why did you wait until he was dead to follow through?”
“He paid us a grand to shoot at her, that’s all. We took the money, so we figured we better do the job.”
Roxy laughed. “A grand? That’s it? What are you, discount hit men?”
“Roxy,” Henry said. Taunting seemed pointless at the moment, and he could see her getting out of control. The circumstances had pumped her up. Even her voice was different—harsher, louder. Any minute she was going to splatter somebody’s brains all over the room.
“Yeah, okay.” She held the bat loosely at her side. “When were you hired? The night Julius Hyde was killed?”
“We had nothing to do with that,” Jimmy said quickly. “He hired us before. I dunno—a couple of weeks ago, maybe We met him down on the river, and he said—”
“Along the river?” Roxy asked. “Where?”
“An old steel mill.” Jimmy looked at his fingers to see how badly he was bleeding. “Down off Butler Street. He said he owned the place. My uncle worked there twenty years.”
Vincent said, “Who’s the blabbermouth now?”
“Shut up,” Jimmy said. “You got us into this in the first place.”
“Did not.”
“Did, too.”
“Moron!”
“Asshole!”
Suddenly they were beating up each other again. Rolling on the floor, kicking and throwing punches, gouging at each other’s eyes.
“Oh, hell,” Roxy said.
She swung the baseball bat and hit the aquarium. Glass smashed, and then the huge snake began to uncoil into the room.
She dropped the bat and walked out of the house. Henry bolted after her, hearing the screams of the Delaney brothers as they scrambled to escape their pet.
In the car, Roxy was breathing hard, as if trying to get her temper under control. “Jesus, I hate snakes. But you did good work in there, Paxton. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks. You’re no slouch, either. Setting the snake loose was a nice touch. They’ll be busy for a while.” As his heartbeat returned to normal, Henry fastened his seat belt. “But are you sure it was wise to take their gun?”
“I figure removing guns from the possession of idiots is a public service.” She started the car. “It should happen more often. Got a handkerchief? Use it to wipe off your fingerprints. Mine, too. Then put it under the seat for now.”
“A wise precaution.” Henry did a thorough job of erasing his participation and stowed the gun as she requested. “What was that business about the steel mill?”
She frowned as she pulled out into the street. “I dunno. Something rang a bell. Kaylee mentioned a building. She said Julius gave her one.”
Caught off guard, Henry said, “He did? Officially? With a deed and everything?”
“I don’t know the details. But she claims he showed her a building and said he was giving it to her. I assume she means the old steel mill the Hydes used to operate. You know anything about that, being the family retainer?”
“The family did own a steel mill down on the Allegheny. It went out of business years ago.”
“Believe me, I know that part. A lot of people in my neighborhood were put out of work back then. You want to see mass exodus? A spike in domestic violence? Drinking? Drugs? Fire everybody at the same time.” She darted between a school bus and a slow-moving Buick, driving the car like a jet fighter.
Henry said, “If his will names his girlfriend, I can think of a few family members who’d have a motive to kill Julius. They wouldn’t want such valuable property to leave the family.”
“Why would he pay the Delaneys to shoot at her? Not just shoot her dead?”
“Maybe he regretted giving love tokens to her. Wanted to convince her to give back his gifts?”
“And he decided to bully her to get them back? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I mean, it’s totally nuts. They’re lying. I’d go back now to find out, except the snake is probably still loose Hyde’s wife’s still in the picture, right?”
“Unless she goes
to jail for torching the house.”
Roxy gave a wry laugh. “Anybody who can afford the right lawyer can stay out of jail these days.”
“Miss Abruzzo, your prejudices are showing again.”
She stopped for a traffic light and grabbed a pack of gum from her jeans. She thumbed out a stick and offered it to Henry. “You don’t know anything about me.”
He accepted the gum. She peeled a stick for herself and folded it into her mouth. He could see her thinking. He realized his own prejudices were showing, too. He hadn’t expected her to be smart. And despite her rough edges, he was starting to like her.
She said, “Tell me about the Hyde family politics.”
“Have you heard of attorney-client privilege?”
She ignored that. “Julius Hyde wasn’t a bad dude. He liked his pleasures, that’s all, and he could afford them. Why would somebody want to bump him off? He never really harmed anybody.”
“Depends on what you call harm. I just learned he tried to stage his own mother’s accidental death.”
“Oh, yeah? That’s not nice.”
“No, it isn’t. And in addition to physical harm, say, done with a baseball bat, there’s financial harm.”
“Financial harm. Twenty years ago, there would have been a list of guys who’d want to kill the man who closed the steel mill. Not now.”
“But Julius never ran any of the Hyde businesses. His father was the steel magnate. His brother runs Hyde Communications.”
“What are you saying? Wait—when Julius died, what happens? Do his kids get his money right away? Do not pass go, collect your two hundred dollars?”
“It’s his share of his mother’s estate that’s got the most value. And his share doesn’t necessarily go to his children. Julius has two brothers, plus two sisters. Don’t forget about them.” Henry couldn’t afford to forget about the dragon sisters. They demanded their fair share. “And nobody gets money immediately. All the lawyers will start revising the estate plan.”
“Aren’t you the lawyer?”
“In a family like this, everybody has his own lawyer. Plus shared lawyers. And lawyers to watch the other lawyers.”
“What about more girlfriends? He thought he could get away with anything, right?” Roxy asked. “A guy like Julius only needs a checkbook and a Viagra prescription to keep a lot of women happy.”
“As far as I know, he had the manicurist, that’s it. But of course, I can’t be sure.”
“What does his wife say? If anyone knows the truth about that, it’s probably the wife.”
“I think Monica chose to turn a blind eye.”
“Until she found out about Kaylee, and then she lit a match.” Roxy slid the car through a stop sign and drove into a park. “Maybe she’s the one who paid the Delaneys to take potshots at Kaylee. They’re got to be lying. She has the most to gain from Julius’s death, right? The wife gets half of everything and the kids fight over the rest?”
“That’s usually how it goes, but not in this tax bracket. Monica won’t go hungry, though, that’s for sure.”
“Except she torched the house. That has to jeopardize her piece of the family pie, surely.”
“Depends. Quentin is focused on the price of Hyde Communications stock, which is affected by bad publicity. As long as Monica is kept under wraps, the stock price is good. But once his brother is buried and a decent interval is past, Quentin will go back to gobbling up any small communications company he can get his hands on. For which he will need capital. And he’ll want Monica’s share of Julius’s inheritance. That’s my guess, anyway. He’s sticking close to her now and making a show of caring about her, but she’s going to be a grease spot on his driveway before it’s all over.”
“So Quentin’s a viable suspect, too. He wanted Julius’s share of the estate.”
“And he has the right personality.”
“He could pull a trigger?”
“Yes,” Henry said. “I think he could. For all his Wall Street talk, he’s basically a bastard who’ll do anything to build his empire.”
“Another CEO with a heart of gold.” In a murmur, Roxy added, “His brother Trey always needs money, too.”
“But does Trey have the stomach for killing?”
“For him,” Roxy said, “it would have been panic, more likely. He’s emotional, impulsive. The kind of guy who wouldn’t plan a murder. But only an idiot would try to pull off an execution will all those people around. Maybe it wasn’t planned at all. Maybe it was a crime of passion.”
“Monica’s impulsive. As setting fire to the house shows.”
Roxy turned to him. “Could she have killed her husband?”
“If angry enough, maybe.”
“Kaylee could have been angry enough,” Roxy said.
“Oh?”
“She’s a hot-tempered chick.” Then Roxy shook her head. “But I don’t see her having the stones to shoot her boyfriend. I see a lot of women who get in over their head with men. Hardly any of them can pull the trigger. Maybe she had some kind of conspiracy going with Trey, though. Jeez, they all have motives. It makes me dizzy.”
Henry sighed. “Everybody wants Dorothy’s money. And she’s not even dead yet. Funny, because she’s the one who’d be easiest to kill. A pillow over her face, and poof! You’d have your inheritance.”
Roxy glanced at him measuringly.
Henry caught himself, chagrined to find he’d mused so much aloud.
Roxy gave him a cold smile. “Interesting how the other half lives.”
“Don’t pretend the people in your world don’t squabble about money.”
“Sure, we fight about money. And for us, it’s just as important, maybe more. But our everyday concerns are more about the work we do, the people we know, the family we protect. Not about which brother or sister we can screw over to get what we want. Even those lying scumbags, the Delaneys. See them? Together through thick and thin. Not like the Hyde brothers.”
Roxy braked the car and pulled over onto a grassy area. In the distance, the buildings of the downtown rose between a gap in the trees, looking like a storybook city. None of the grit showed from this distance. Around the car, rolling hillsides converged on the curving asphalt road. Closer, the ivory towers of a couple of universities glowed. It was a bucolic spot in the middle of the city.
“Where are we?” he asked.
Roxy shut off the engine and unfastened her seat belt. She said. “A park. I come here to let off steam.”
Henry turned to face her. “What kind of steam?”
She grinned. “I’m not exactly America’s Sweetheart. I like sex. That doesn’t surprise you.” She rolled down her window and spat out her gum. Rolling it back up, she said, “Sometimes I take guys to my house. Sometimes, I go to theirs. But some afternoons, I’ve been known to come here.”
He felt himself respond at once. She must have guessed, because she smiled. “I could take care of business in the car, Henry, but that would be all about you. It’s too cramped for me to get what I want. I need more space.”
“You have this kind of rendezvous well choreographed. Is the gum part of your routine?”
She unzipped her leather jacket and let it fall open. “I don’t like bad breath.”
Henry could imagine what her mouth would taste like right now. How her strong body might feel against his. He could see her contemplating the same about him. In a few seconds, he wasn’t going to be able to conceal his willingness to try.
With a smile, he said, “If you’re trying to turn me on, you win.”
She reached over and unfastened the top button on his shirt, allowing her fingertips to linger at his throat. “Here’s what I’m saying, Henry. If you come around again, we could make each other feel good and have some laughs. But I don’t fall in love or let any man use me—for sexual gratification or whatever you’re trying to learn about the murder. If that’s cool for you, okay. If not, this is good-bye.”
The fact that she kept her emotio
ns out of the way was enough incentive for Henry to spit the gum out of his mouth. He stuck it on the gear shift and reached for her. “I could be cool with that.”
She met him halfway. She had a lush mouth and a sure tongue. Her curves felt softer than he expected, and a ripple of warmth seemed to pass through her body as he touched her. Hot-blooded, that was Roxy Abruzzo. Even better, a laugh bubbled in her throat. And he liked thinking maybe she could lose her cool head just a little with him.
“What the hell,” she said. “C’mon, Henry.”
She had a condom, and she made a show of putting it in her mouth. She held it poised for a heartbeat between her teeth, her eyes alight. He hardly felt it slip on, so swiftly did it happen, with the mane of her hair in his lap and the suction of her mouth exquisitely strong. Everything happened very fast after that. Instinct told him to hold her head to guide her, but there was no need. He was out of his league. Instead he held on to the car for dear life while she performed an intensely powerful act. In the middle of it, Henry heard a whimper and realized it was his.
No stardust and angels singing celestial praise. Just mind-bending, top quality sexual performance.
When he was on the brink of nuclear detonation, she sat up and crawled over the gear shift, telling him what she intended to do next in a husky voice and laughing at his expression. Probably one of near delirium. While he braced himself, Roxy slid one long leg out of her jeans and neatly straddled him. Henry groaned as she sank down on him, hot and sweet. She was a female force against his belly, her thighs gripping his, her breasts firm against his chest. Supple and powerful, she was an animal. He was her prey.
He forgot to be a partner, forgot about what she might prefer, and let it happen. His hands on her tight ass, that was all, he gasped for breath and hoped he’d survive.
He came too fast, of course, before she’d found a rhythm that pleased her, and when he remembered himself, Henry felt the heat leave his penis and flush his face instead.
She didn’t seem to mind. She hadn’t broken a sweat, but she smiled against his mouth anyway.
“Interesting.” She rocked back on him, keeping him snug inside with admirable muscle control. But Henry felt trapped, actually. And both of her hands were linked around his neck as if she considered whether or not she should snap a few vertebrae as long as she was in the neighborhood.
