An Unfinished Life (33 page)

I
watched for a reaction from him when I said Michael’s name. He was emotionless and not giving anything away. Nicolette wore the same expression when I told her about Michael’s murder. He inhaled another puff of his cigar and then placed it down in the ashtray. Jack remained stoic and walked behind his bar. I watched him carefully as he opened up a bottom cabinet and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. Taking two shot glasses from the rack, he filled the glasses and handed me one to take.

“To Michael St. Clair, may he have a long reign in hell,” he said as he downed his shot, whereas mine remained untouched. “This is my favorite drink, and it doesn’t come cheap, my friend. Don’t waste a gift that’s been given to you.”

“I hardly consider a shot of bourbon a gift, Jack. Thank you, but I will pass.”

“Suit yourself, Jacob,” he said as he downed my shot and then went back to his cigar. “How long has it been? I would say a few years at least. We missed you over Thanksgiving.”

“I was working.”

“Are you working now?”

“I believe you know the answer to that question, Jack. Do you wish to continue this conversation here or somewhere more private?”

“Jacob, I have nothing to hide, and anything I say doesn’t have to be said behind a closed door. You obviously have come a long way to speak with me, so get on with it. Why should I give a fuck about Michael St. Clair being dead?”

“Don’t you, Jack? After all, he is the one who raped your daughter, and a short prison sentence didn’t seem long enough at all for him to pay for it. An eye for an eye…isn’t that how it goes? But yet, he had been able to do his time without so much as breaking a nail. Did you know that his original sentence was overturned, and he was scheduled to be released next month?”

I waited for another reaction, but Jack was too cool to react to my questions. I needed to draw him out and push him to where he was dying to go.

“Tell me something, Jacob. Is it so easy for you to sit here in my bar and question me about past events that nearly destroyed my daughter? There’s no need to deny that fact of her parentage. I’m not sure how you knew this piece of information, but it’s irrelevant to me. My brother may have claimed her as his own, but she is just as much mine as she is his. You speak of what happened to her so flippantly that it makes me sick. Where’s your loyalty, Jacob? And your compassion for the person you claim to love and have welcomed into your family? Because from where I am sitting right now, you have no regard at all for her feelings and what she endured at the hands of that animal.”

“Jack, we seem to be going off course. My feelings for Nicolette are genuine. I love her like a sister and would never willingly hurt her, but personal feelings aside, I have a murder to investigate. One that many of my superiors believe you had some involvement in. This is why I am here. I am not her brother-in-law today. I’m a cop, and I have a job to do. Now if you please, answer my question.”

“Since you have made it perfectly clear that this is not a social visit, I will kindly ask you to leave my bar. I will not answer any questions without my lawyers present, and Jacob, if you ever lay your hands on one of my staff again, I will see it as a threat and use whatever is necessary to take you down.”

“You do realize you just threatened a federal agent with violence? And here I thought we would be able to have a civil conversation.”

“I don’t know what gave you that impression.
I
came in to my place of business.
You
were trespassing by going behind
my
bar, and
you
attacked a member of
my
staff who was doing his job. You didn’t flash a badge or state your business. You’re just a guy in a suit that asked me a question. I will say what I fucking please in my bar, and I don’t care how you perceive it. Nice talking to you, but I have a business to run, and you’ve taken up enough of my time for one afternoon.”

“This is not over, Jack. I will be back.”

“Yeah, it is, Jacob. You want to come at me with that shiny badge of yours, be my guest. But know this: the next time you come through my door, you better have a warrant. Until then, get the fuck out of my bar, because you are not welcomed here.”

I had eyes on me from all directions of the bar. Jack was still cool with his demeanor, but the look in his eyes shifted to ice.

I grabbed my coat and made my leave but not before turning back to him and saying, “You have a day to work-out whatever is going through your mind right now. I will see you tomorrow, Jack, and we can try again at the conversation I intended to have with you.”

He was pissed. I knew I had touched a nerve when I mentioned Nicolette. It didn’t sit well with me that I had to go there, but I also needed to test the waters with him. It is clear to me that he knows something about Michael’s death. I had to re-think how I would have this go the next time we talk.

I didn’t want to come in with guns blazing, but his guy Tommy had set me off, and it just went to shit from there. Just a few months ago, my family broke bread with him, and now here I was, questioning if he was a murderer or not.

After I left Jack to brood about what we discussed, I checked into my room at the Drake Hotel. I also had to status with Wade and put a call in to my father and Duffy. It was nearing dinnertime, and the sky was dark. I hardly accomplished anything today with talking to Jack, only to further anger him with my questions. It was still early back in California, and no time like the present to listen to Wade chew my ass out for insubordination due to my recent actions. It would not sit well with him knowing I was spending my time in a grandiose hotel, but I didn’t care. It was my dime that was paying for it.

Wade wasn’t as reprimanding as I thought he would be. He actually sounded more frustrated with Marino than me. Wade told me that he hadn’t been in touch with Marino since we were both in his office. He said Marino was totally off the grid, which is not like him to do, and it violated about ten codes of misconduct on his part. He instructed me to take the lead on the investigation, and when Marino decided to resurface, he would handle him as such. I scoffed with the change of command, because I had already made it perfectly clear that I was working this case without Marino’s help.

Wade had a choice to make. He could remove me and assign the case to another agent or let me do what I do best. No matter what his decision would have been, I still would have worked it and would not care what the FBI had to say about it.

Contrary to what Jack believed, I cared deeply for Nicolette and only want to protect her from harm. It was a risk playing that hand so early in the game, but I needed a reaction from him, and his silence was it. He was knee deep in it, and I could give him my hand to pull him out or let him go down in flames. I was hoping for choice one. I needed Jack Vanelle in more ways than I had time to explain to him. I had to try to get what I needed for my case but also for what I was seeking personally.

Marino opened up the door to my past, and no matter what it cost me, I had to find the truth behind Minela’s murder and bring down the person who was responsible for it. My next call was to Duffy.

“How’s Chicago? Have you made contact with Jack yet?” he asked.

“I have, and it didn’t go well.”

“Jacob, you have to be smart when talking to a guy like that. You can’t lose your shit, and always remember he will be prepared for anything you confront him with. He’s been in the game for a long time, and he understands how it’s played. If you lose sight of that, then he will always be a few steps ahead of you and that will not be good for you in the end.”

“Duff, that’s one of my issues with this entire investigation. Jack Vanelle doesn’t strike me as fitting the usual MO we profile. You all portray him as this mob enforcer who has a pile of bodies buried somewhere and that the business, wife, and family are all just a front to who he truly is.”

“Jake, there was a time he actively ran with the Carlucci family. There is no hiding that fact. We have years of documented proof that can attest to that. He’s never been charged with any serious crimes, but that doesn’t mean he’s not guilty for some either. He was very young when he ran with the crews. We do know from sources that he did maintain a close bond to the patriarch of the Carlucci family, long after he left that life. It was documented up to Johnny’s death back in 2009. He died a very old man in his bed with only one person by his side…not his first born, Dominick, nor his other sons, and no advisors. Just one man, and that was Jack Vanelle.”

We also can place Johnny at his bar shortly after he returned home to Chicago following your sister-in-law’s attack. Now Jacob, care to figure out what they were talking about? I would bet my shield and everything I own that it was how to even the score with Michael St. Clair.”

“That may be true, but there is so much more to Jack Vanelle than what your file says. He’s like no one I have ever met before, and I’ve investigated and locked up many made guys. Jack is different.”

“How so?”

“I’ve spent some time with him and witnessed firsthand how he is around Nicolette and our family. He doesn’t come off as this ice cold killer. He’s devoted to his family, that’s obvious, but it goes deeper than that. I can’t really explain it all right now. I just know there’s more to him than what you believe to be true.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re in charge, my friend, because any other agent would have him burned at the stake by now.”

“You mean like Marino?”

“That would be exactly who I mean. And before you ask, we’ve got nothing on him yet.”

“What about his wife? Kids? He’s got to be talking to someone. He just can’t disappear without informing someone he’s close to.”

“We did reach out to his wife, and all she said was he was on an out of town assignment. His kids are up at school, so I doubt he would make contact with them. He’s made no use of his credit cards, and the last place we can place him was at the pier with you.”

“Yeah, that was a good time. The bastard pulled a gun on me.”

“Yeah, we know. It’s all documented in the file. We have your back on this, Jacob. Marino is a loose wire right now, and he’s in a whole lot of trouble. You do what you have to do, and I will cover it from my end. I do believe Wade has seen the light when it comes to Marino. He won’t hang you out to dry, and neither will I.”

“I guess that’s good to know, not just about you, Duff, but Wade. I have to go. I’ll be in touch.”

“Jacob, I know that sound to your voice, and I don’t like it.”

“I’m fine, Duff. Leave it alone.”

“I can’t, Jake. You mean too much to me not to be concerned for you. I know what she meant to you and how her death nearly destroyed you. Get out of your head space now and concentrate on why you are in Chicago. Jake, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I have to go. Talk to you soon.”

I heard him shout my name again before I disconnected the call. I didn’t need Duffy of all people taking me down memory lane right now. I never allowed myself to forget Minela or what we went through the night she was gunned down in the street.

That bastard Marino knew the truth—all of it—and I needed to find him. He couldn’t hide forever from me. Sooner or later, he would resurface with his demands of me. Then I would be ready.

A shower helped me clear my head, and right about now I was wishing I had some of Jack’s bourbon to drink. I knew it was high quality and probably would have taken the edge off, but I was smart to decline the shot.

I looked at my phone as I plugged it into the charger. No missed calls or even a text from Zoey. Where was she? And why hadn’t she been in touch? I was weak when it came to Zoey Steele. I had this reminiscent need for her, but who the hell knew where she was? She was another one that had fallen out of plain sight.