Act of Valor

by Dana Mentink

  “I’m eating. Your turn.” He wiped his mouth. “Archie was involved in a little fake taxi scam, about fifteen years ago.”

  “Not little,” he said, chin up. “I made six grand a week as a cabbie for City Wheels Rides, the best company in all of New York City.”

  Zach shook his head. “Only there was no City Wheels Rides company, just a mock-up sticker on the door of his sedan, and a fake meter in the front seat.”

  “Hey, the important thing was I always delivered people on time and many would request me specifically. I was their favorite driver and they’d give me Christmas gifts, family photos, even a fruit basket once. ‘Give us Archie,’ they all cried. I was the people’s choice.”

  “Right up until the day we arrested you with your fake permits, license and forged insurance papers.”

  Archie waved a hand. “Small potatoes when you should have been chasing down real criminals. Anyway, Jordan said I was the most charismatic crook he ever busted, and he told me I should stop dithering around, go straight and get into business. I took his advice, got my license to sell real estate and now I’m doing great. All because of Jordy. Man, that guy even prayed for me, can you believe that? A cop praying for a crook he busted?”

  Zach cleared a lump from his throat. “Yeah. Jordy had a way of seeing the good in people.”

  “Yes, he did.” Archie sighed. “Boy, do I miss him.”

  Zach swallowed hard. “Me, too.”

  “Me, three,” Violet added. The moment lingered there a while, and Zach thought about what Violet had said before he kissed her.

  And you will find the man who murdered Jordy and you will experience joy again, just like God wants. Strange. He’d spent the past two months figuring God had to be against him, but here, crowded around this table with Violet and Archie, he had a sense that his brother was close again, cheering him on. And he’d certainly felt something very akin to joy when he’d kissed Violet in the kitchen. The warm feeling ebbed away as reality intruded.

  Jordy’s killer was out there, at large, just like Xavier Beck, waiting to rob him of someone else he cared about...and loved?

  Loved? Across the table, Violet pushed her plate away. Her hair was curling as it dried; he remembered the feel of it in his fingers, heavy and light at the same time. Loved...as a friend, he told himself. He’d been caught up in the moment, the emotional cascade, same as Violet. He had tugged her out onto the unfamiliar territory, testing the boundaries of a friendship he was not prepared to lose. Archie had come through the door at exactly the right moment to save him from ruining everything. She was a friend, one he had to save, and he had work to do.

  Clearing his throat, he rose from the table. “I’ve arranged for a plainclothes detective to watch the place while I’m gone.”

  “I can handle it,” Archie said.

  “I don’t doubt it, but someone eyeballing the street won’t hurt.”

  Violet followed him to the door. “Where are you going?”

  “Noah called me about a possible lead while you were showering and I was destroying the eggs. There’s a furniture store near the airport that might be a front for moving drugs. Beck was spotted there earlier this afternoon. Eddie and I are going in undercover and I need to work out the details. Plus, I’m going to check every local health-care clinic and see if a guy matching Beck’s description checked in since I got him with a bullet across his shoulder.”

  Violet played with her paper napkin uncertainly.

  Archie clapped him on the back. “All right. Watch your back and I’ll watch Violet’s.” He carried the remaining groceries to the tiny fridge and began to unload them. Zach pulled on his jacket and headed to the door, Violet following. He stepped out into the hallway and she lingered on the threshold, looking down at her bare feet, the toenails painted a delicate pink. He could picture her curled up on her apartment sofa, surrounded by her home decorating magazines and shoe catalogs, stroking paint onto her tiny nails. It was such a girly image, so far from the businesslike woman he thought he knew inside and out. Suddenly, his thinking skills seemed to dry up in one swift stroke as the silence grew awkward between them and they both stared at the floor.

  “You have cute toes,” he blurted, ruing the statement as soon as it popped out of his mouth. Smooth, Zach.

  “Thanks for noticing.”

  “Well, I mean, I guess I haven’t seen them in a while...your toes. I just didn’t realize they were, you know, cute and stuff, with the paint. So, uh, what color is that, anyway?” Why would his mouth not stop spitting out stupidity?

  “Carnation Kisses.”

  “Ah. Er, that’s nice. I mean, it looks nice.”

  She nodded.

  More awkward silence.

  “I...” They both said at once.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, overriding her. “About back there in the kitchen. I got caught up in everything and it just kind of happened.” He scrubbed a hand over his scalp. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

  She shrugged, gave him a valiant smile. “No harm, no foul.”

  “What I’m trying to say is, I wouldn’t want to do anything to mess up our friendship.”

  “You didn’t. You’ll always be my trusty sidekick.”

  Relief flooded through him in a cooling tide. The ship was upright again, sailing back on the proper course. She was still his friend, his best friend. “Right.” He jammed on the baseball cap. “Okay, then. I’ll see if I can get your purse back, too, and your phone.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, in the meantime, Archie can reach me if you need anything. Text, or call, anytime.”

  “I will. Be careful, Zach.”

  He nodded. Then there seemed to be nothing else to say, so he walked away and she locked the door behind him.

  * * *

  After forty-five minutes of small talk, helping Archie unpack the groceries and scrubbing out the burned egg pan, Violet washed her face in the bathroom again and summoned up the courage she needed. She borrowed Archie’s phone to call her parents. Archie excused himself to go to the lobby and retrieve his mail. She suspected he was gifting her some privacy. As the quiet of the apartment closed in around her, a trembling started up in her belly. The emptiness spread and invaded until she was half-frantic. Her fingers were clumsy on the buttons.

  “Hello, Daddy, it’s Violet.” She got the words out, barely, before her father started in.

  “Violet, this has gone too far,” he said, his voice cracking with anger and fear. “We heard about the shooting. I can’t stand it. No more airport job, do you hear? You have to quit. Working for that crooked boss almost got you killed.”

  And whoever Bill was working for had gotten him killed. Again, the pop of the gun played in her memory, the sound of him falling to the sidewalk, his life stripped away in one cruel moment. She wanted to explain to her father what had happened with Bill, that he wasn’t a bad person, just a father who’d made a grievous choice, a choice that turned out to be fatal. The words would not come. She was simply too exhausted to go into it. Instead, she heaved out a breath and swallowed. “I will see if I can find work at another airport, but for now I’m taking a leave of absence.” It was a defeat. Her job, her life, everything was topsy-turvy because of what she had seen for a split second in a bad man’s suitcase. How utterly ridiculous, how completely unjust.

  “Good,” her mother said from the other line. “You’ll stay with us? Until this madman is caught? The puppy is driving me crazy. He chewed up the sofa pillows today and there is not one shrub still standing in the yard.”

  Violet wished Latte was there right now for her to cuddle, the soft, warm companion who would lick her chin and flop over for tummy scratches. “Yes, Mom. I will come home as soon as Zach lets me,” she squeezed out.

  “I’m so glad Zach was there with you.” Her father’s breath sounded hard and erratic o
ver the phone. “I don’t even want to think about what could have happened.”

  “Yes,” she said quietly. “I...I wouldn’t have lived through it, probably.” Undoubtedly. Beck’s second bullet would have been for her. The tremors grew stronger until she had to grip the phone with two hands.

  “Where are you now?” her mother asked.

  “With a friend of the Jamesons’. I’ll be home soon, as soon as I can. There will most likely be a memorial service for Bill. I should help with the plans.”

  “Absolutely not,” her father snapped. “You are to have nothing more to do with Bill Oscar, do you hear me?”

  “He can’t cause any more trouble now, Daddy.” Violet gulped back a sob. “He’s dead.”

  Her father’s tone gentled. “Yes, I... I’m sorry, sweet pea. This is terrible on you, and I’m not helping. We can talk about all this tomorrow. I’d rather you were home right now, but if Zach says this is best, then I’ll go along with it. You try to get some rest, okay? We love you.”

  “Yes,” her mother echoed quietly. “We do.”

  She considered the amazing strength of Barbara Griffin. Having lost her only son and almost her daughter, as well, her mother remained composed, a magnificent courage she’d never appreciated fully until that moment. It made her hold the unraveling threads of her self-control long enough to say goodbye.

  She barely managed to disconnect before the tears came, racking sobs and shudders. She wished she were in her own apartment where she could wail in private. Hunched into a ball on the futon with her arms around her knees, she tried to smother her outpouring. She didn’t realize Archie had returned until he softly cleared his throat. There was no place to hide her condition, not in a studio apartment. Without a word, he handed her a box of tissues and led her to the bed.

  “Lie down, Miss Violet. Rest awhile.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not usually like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  “You’ve experienced the worst the world has to offer,” he said. “That’s what’s wrong. Time to allow yourself to be taken care of. Trust an old coot on this. Nap time for Violet.”

  In a fog, she allowed him to tuck the blankets around her. “But...it’s your bed.”

  “Like I told Zach, I’m apartment-sitting for my friend next door. I’ll crash on his couch after I do some work, but I’ll come check on you. You sleep. I’ll work. Zach will find the bad guy. Everyone’s got their job, you see?”

  She prayed that it would happen just like Archie said.

  “Oh, and here’s something that might cheer you. Zach brought this up for you while you were in the bathroom.” He handed her a white box. Inside were a pair of soft leather flats with chic silver buckles, size six, and a note.

  Figured you needed some workable shoes. I called the shoe store and the owner sent these over. I got the size off your busted one. Hope they fit. —Z

  “He bought me shoes,” she said, dumbly.

  “Yes, he did. That Zach is something. Not every man has the chutzpah to tackle shoe purchasing. Heart of a lion.”

  She smiled, her throat suddenly thickened, heart beating fast at the memory of their kiss. What had that kiss done to her? That one moment seemed to have altered the pathways of her emotions, pathways she’d worked very hard to straighten out.

  I wouldn’t want to do anything to mess up our friendship.

  Friendship was all it was, was all it could ever be, though her heart wanted something else altogether. She’d been vulnerable, and that attracted him for a moment, because he was a fixer, but that wasn’t her. Violet Griffin was not needy, not weak and not going to offer her heart to a man who did not want her that way. If Zach broke her heart, she knew it would be a fatal blow.

  Tears blurred her vision as she laid the shoes in their box carefully on the bed beside her, tucking the tissue paper around them before she closed her eyes.

  FOURTEEN

  The scent of coffee brought Zach out of his sprawling slumber the next morning. He cracked open a bleary eye to see a set of hairy knuckles waving a steaming mug next to his nose. Jerking upright and knocking over a pencil cup in the process, he realized he’d been sleeping on top of his desk in the K-9 office headquarters. Bunkered in his cubicle on the ground floor of the three-story building, he’d spent the night calling health clinics. The process took longer than it should have thanks to endless holds and his own fumbling, but Zach was used to that.

  “Up and at ’em, sunshine,” his brother Carter said, sliding the mug closer. Zach groaned, tried to stretch the stiffness out of his kinked neck and shake away the headache that had settled in his temples. Retrieving the scattered pencils, he jammed them back into the cup. Frosty regarded him with amused interest from his cushion in the corner. Zach slugged down some coffee too fast, burning his mouth. Wincing, he spilled some on his shirtfront.

  “This stuff’s the temperature of lava,” he complained.

  “The general consensus of the NYPD is that coffee is best served hot.” Carter chuckled. “You look like something the dogs dug up in the park.”

  “You’re hilarious.”

  “I know. Find out anything pulling an all-nighter?”

  “No. No one with Beck’s description sought medical help anywhere that I can find.”

  “Yeah, that was a long shot, anyway. He probably patched himself up. Found his bike tossed in a parking lot. Dusting it for prints and all that good stuff so we’re in waiting mode, but we’re pretty sure it’s his.”

  “All right.” Zach sucked down more coffee, slower this time, letting the caffeine bring him back to life. It wasn’t nearly as good as Violet’s. He hoped she’d been able to get some rest and that she’d liked his shoe gift. Picturing her opening them gave him a warm sensation. Head in the game, Zach. “Give me what you have on the furniture store. My gut says it’s a front to move drugs and Beck’s gotta be connected somehow. Fill me in.”

  “No.”

  Zach stared. “Whaddya mean?”

  “I mean no, as in no way, I’m not going to give you any info on that.”

  Zach caught the gleam of stubborn enjoyment in Carter’s expression. “Why not?” he asked slowly.

  Carter shrugged. “We got eyes on the store. Nothing spicy so far, just normal everyday capitalism at work. Maybe when you take Eddie in you’ll know more, but Noah said that’s not going to happen until you come home and sleep for four hours, so he told me to give you precisely zero info about the location or stakeout details.”

  Zach gaped. “That’s insane.”

  “Four hours, that’s two hundred forty minutes.”

  He got to his feet and stalked from behind the desk and followed Carter out of his cubicle. “Carter, quit playing around.”

  “Not my call. Noah’s the chief.”

  “But enforced nap time? I’m not a toddler.”

  “Really? ’Cause I think you drooled on your desk.”

  At his full height, Zach was a shade taller than his brother and he tried to take advantage. “You’re gonna tell me right now what I want to know.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  He glared at Carter. “The store may prove to be a connection to Beck. It’s our only lead right now. Vi was shot at, almost killed by this creep yesterday after he murdered her boss, or hadn’t you heard about that?”

  “I’m well aware, but Noah said you’re not going to do her or anyone any good if you don’t sleep. He’s already talked to Archie, and Violet is just fine. As a matter of fact, Luke delivered her purse and cell phone and some take-out Chinese in an unmarked car. Archie picked it up and brought it to her.” He grinned. “I think it’s okay to disclose it was hot and sour soup and egg rolls. We’ll bring her home later this afternoon.”

  “I’m not going to lie around and have nappy time while we’ve got two cases going cold.
” It came out louder than he’d meant.

  “Yes, you are. It’s a DO.”

  “I don’t care if it’s a direct order or not. You’re gonna spit out whatever we’ve got on the furniture store right now.”

  “Actually,” Carter said calmly, “I’m not.”

  They spent a long moment in a stare down, Jameson to Jameson. After ten seconds he knew he wasn’t going to win. He might be able to beat Carter in a judo match, but his brother matched him inch for inch in toughness and determination.

  “What about Jordy?” Zach demanded, hands on hips. “Do I get a status report on that at least, or do I have to nap first?”

  Carter mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.

  Zach felt like growling and putting his brother in a headlock. “You know I can take you, right?”

  “In your dreams. I beat you at the hoops in our last game and if that’s not enough, my dog is way tougher than your dog.”

  “Carter...”

  “Go home, little brother, and get some sleep. If you need me to come sing you a lullaby and tuck you in, let me know.” Carter turned on his heel and left Zach fuming. Frosty tossed one glance at Zach before they cleared the room that might as well have been, “Yeah, I am tougher than your measly beagle and don’t you forget it.”

  And then he was left standing there, helpless, like a kid lost at the mall. He had half a mind to go get Eddie and storm the furniture store by himself, but he would not do that to Noah, just as he would not ever have defied Jordy’s direct order.

  He stared at Brianne and Gavin, who were peeking around their cubicle walls.

  “And I don’t suppose either of you two are going to tell me anything?”

  Brianne ignored him completely, studiously avoiding eye contact, vanishing again behind her cubicle walls. Gavin gave him a sympathetic half smile, which stung worse than being ignored. It wouldn’t do any good to pester any of the other K-9 unit members, either, as he was sure Noah had given his directive to all of them. Brianne and Gavin had heard every embarrassing word, of course, adding to his humiliation of being ordered to bed like a misbehaving child.