Born of Corruption (6 page)

I watch helplessly as they take Jack into the study. Another officer takes Curt into a corner of the lounge while a stout red-haired officer lines the remaining guests up on our sofa to await their turn.

Officer Abelli turns to me. “Might as well get this over with.”

I sigh and follow him into the kitchen. This is one hell of a way to end a party.

Five

I
slump on the sofa, waiting for the cops to leave my house so I can go meet our lawyer at the station house. They took Jack off in a police car after I’d finished giving my statement. Officer Abelli was actually kind of nice, considering. He just asked me to tell him what had happened. Instinctively, I wanted to whitewash the whole incident, but that’s kind of hard to do with two dead bodies. Besides, I have no idea if my lies would help or hinder what was going on with Jack.

Olivia stands and I startle. My nerves are like stretched-out rubber bands. Eventually, I am going to snap.

“I’m going to go to the little girl’s room,” she says. “Do you want me to have the cook make more coffee?”

I shake my head and she hurries off.

Jack’s last words replay over and over in my head. “Call your uncle. Tell him it was all my fault. He’ll keep you safe,” Jack had said before kissing me good-bye.

Keep me safe from what?

The officers let Curt, poor confused Mrs. Spetford, and Nico go home. They told Anna and Olivia they were free to leave as well, but both chose to stay with me. I’m sitting in my coat, waiting for the police to get done with whatever it is they’re doing so I can go to Jack.

I turn to Anna, who’s sitting next to me on the sofa, her eyes closed. “I don’t think they’re going to charge Jack with murder,” I whisper. “They can’t. I know he didn’t do anything in spite of the gun. Who could have done this, and why?”

She twitches her shoulders. “I can’t imagine. I didn’t know Reggie or Eugenia before tonight. You’re in a better position to know who might want Reggie dead.”

What was Jack doing with a loaded gun? And why did he tell me to tell my uncle that it was him? What was him?

It’s too confusing on too little sleep.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Olivia beckoning me from the dining room. Puzzled, I murmur, “Excuse me,” to Anna. She nods without opening her eyes.

Olivia grips my arm and pulls me into the kitchen. The officers must have already removed Eugenia’s body from the basement and finished with their investigating in here because we’re alone. “Your uncle sent someone to talk to you. He’s waiting in your suite.”

I frown, wondering how he got into the house without detection. Sun is streaming in through the window. In the early-morning light and with little makeup left, Olivia looks haggard. Clearly the night’s events have even taken a toll on my unflappable assistant.

I reach in the pocket of my coat to feel the outline of my pistol, cold and reassuring.

“Go inside and tell Anna I’ll be right back.”

Olivia opens the door to the servants’ stairway. “Here. This way you can get up without being seen by the police.”

I’ve never actually taken these stairs before and I like them a lot better. They’re cramped and steep, but there’s no shattering view four stories down. Each landing has a discreet door that leads out into the hall. I don’t know what my uncle’s man needs to talk to me about, but whatever it is, I hope it’s good news that will help straighten this whole thing out. When I reach the last door I open it, stepping cautiously into the rooms I’ve shared with my husband for the past year. Dim light spills out from the bathroom on the other side of the room, casting long eerie shadows on the walls. My beloved rooms look different from this doorway. “Hello?”

“I’ve been waiting for you. Looks like your husband got himself into quite a pickle.”

Puzzled, I step farther into the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the light.

“Where are you?” I call, sounding as brash and confident as I can.

“Right behind you.” The cold metal circle of a gun’s muzzle presses against the back of my skull.

I freeze.

“Nico,” I breathe. “My uncle is going to kill you.”

He laughs softly. “I’m not after you, sweetheart. I just want your husband, and I have a feeling that once your uncle Arnold learns what he did, he isn’t going to care what happens to him. Especially if his darling niece is all right. Now turn around.”

My pulse skyrockets as he twists me around and shoves me back out onto the landing. Part of me is wondering what the hell Jack did and the other part is trying to find a way out of this. The chances of me getting my gun out of my fur coat, turning around, and shooting him before he shoots me are pretty slim. And he’s right. If he kills Jack, there’s a chance Uncle Arnie would let him live, but Nico knows he wouldn’t make it out of the city alive if he harms me. “Where are we going?” I ask him.

He nudges me with the gun. “Out.”

I swallow, fear overcoming me as I spot another narrow door. “Do we have to?”

My legs are shaking as he pushes me across the landing to a door that can only lead onto the roof. I put my hand on the doorknob, praying that it’s locked, but it turns easily. I stand frozen, knowing that there is no way in the world I’m going to be able to step outside under my own free will.

“You know,” I say conversationally, “I’ve never really been a penthouse kind of gal.”

“Is that so?” Nico says, and I hear the tension in his voice. “I’ve actually heard about that. Which is why I thought this would be the perfect place to keep you nice and occupied. You won’t try to escape from up here unless you can make like a bird and fly off.”

“Well, aren’t you just a peach?” I’m trembling now from head to toe.

“They weren’t kidding, were they?” He sniggers.

Suddenly he picks me up and I claw at him, blind terror taking over.

I open my mouth to scream, but his hand clamps over my mouth. Manhattan spreads out before me in a dizzying jumble of buildings. Everything spins and I shut my eyes as bile rises in my throat. I freeze as he walks me over to the side of the roof. All that’s between me and death is a two-foot wall.

Nico pretends to trip and I whimper. Laughing, he walks me to the middle of the roof and deposits me there. I stand for a moment and then sink down to my knees. He’s right. Not even a gun could subdue me as thoroughly as being plopped in the middle of a roof five stories up.

I glare and he laughs again. The wind has picked up with the sun and whips around us like an angry snake. Fear swirls in my stomach, but my anger keeps it in check. “Why do you want Jack?”

Nico raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

I shake my head and Nico shrugs.

“The boss thought maybe you did, but I convinced him otherwise. You’re too smart to cross the Morellis, and you adore your uncle too much to cross him.”

My blood runs cold and it has nothing to do with the temperature.
What has Jack done?

“Seems your husband got bored with being an aristocrat and decided he wanted to get in on the action.” Nico fingers the scratches on his cheek where I’d clawed him. “You’d think being married to you would be enough of a thrill for any man, but apparently your husband thought it would be more fun to steal the Morellis’ last shipment.”

“Jack did that?” My voice squeaks upward in surprise. “You must be mistaken.”

“I’m rarely mistaken about anything, sweetheart.”

I shake my head.
Is he talking about my Jack?
Bored, cultured Jack stole a load of hooch from under the Morellis’ noses? I almost smile but then remember the circumstances. Nico didn’t take me hostage to smack Jack on the hand and tell him “bad boy.” He’s using me to get to my husband. I have to stop him.

The question is, how?

I stand up, my legs quaking. “You and I should make a deal,” I tell him slowly. I have no idea what kind of deal to make with him, no idea even what I am going to say next, but somehow I have to figure a way out of this.

“What kind of deal should we make?” His eyes flick over me and I suppress a shudder.

Swallowing, I continue. “You know how loaded Jack and I are, right? Why don’t you and I go to the bank right now? I can give you enough money that you can buy your own island somewhere in the Caribbean.”

He shakes his head. “Sorry, doll, my ship has already come in.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

Nico’s lips curl upward. “This whole thing started because of a deal that went wrong. Jack and a friend made an agreement to stock their own private cellars with someone else’s hooch. The friend got caught and put me on to Jack. Sang like a bird, actually.”

My heart sinks, knowing whoever Jack’s partner was, he’s already dead. “So the Morellis sent you.”

Nico shrugs. “To tell you the truth, I’m striking out on my own.”

I gasp. “I always thought you were a thug with a brain, but if you’re double-crossing the Morellis, you’re an idiot with a death wish.”

Nico shrugs, clearly unconcerned. “With your husband as the fall guy, no one will be the wiser. Especially once he’s dead. They’ll think the location of the hooch will have died with him. I’m just holding you as insurance until your husband comes back. Once I take care of him, I’ll load up the shipment and be gone before anyone figures it out. Don’t worry. I’ll send a note after so they know where to find you. I’m not going to hurt a hair on your pretty blond head.”

I’m shaking so badly I can barely think. “Why are you telling me this? I’ll go to the police.” I stop, my mind spinning.

He gives a knowing laugh. “Really? Arnold Rothstein’s niece is going to go to the police to tell them that her dead husband stole an illegal shipment from the Morellis? You won’t go to anyone, sweetheart, unless you want to start a full-blown war between the Rothsteins and the Morellis with you sitting pretty right in the middle. You know the little skirmish at the Cotton Club tonight? That was between the Morellis and a few of your uncle’s men. Instigated by me, of course, with a few words in the wrong ears. As tensions escalate, I’ll be able to slip away unnoticed. And while you’re dealing with the consequences, I’m gonna be sitting on a warm beach in Mexico, living the good life.”

He preens like a rooster in a henhouse. He’s
proud
of what he’s done. He’s trying to impress me. Of all the machismo idiots. I swallow down my disgust and try to think. “So you tried to kill Jack and ended up killing Reggie? How did that happen?”

His dark eyes bore into mine. “Wasn’t me. I don’t make mistakes. I’d have killed the right man.”

I shiver. “No. It’s too much of a coincidence that two people die while you’re trying to kill Jack.”

He shrugged. “I said I didn’t kill Reggie. I didn’t say I didn’t kill the dame. Eugenia was in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably chasing after your husband. She saw something she shouldn’t have and had to pay the piper.”

I remember how late Nico had come into the library. He was probably tossing Eugenia down the stairs into the basement.

The knots in my stomach constrict. He’s lying. He has to be.
Just keep him talking.
“Then who killed Reggie? And why did you come back up to the library? Why wouldn’t you just disappear and kill Jack later?”

There’s a shout from below and Nico tenses. He pulls me up and twists me around with my arm up behind my back. I can feel the cold breath of his gun, inches from my temple. When I realize he’s taking me to the edge, terror shoots through me and my legs give out.

He curses under his breath and drags me over to the side so he can see what’s going on.

The world spins around me in an ever-widening arc and my stomach lurches. My chest feels as if it’s being squeezed shut and I gasp for air. Darkness buzzes around the edge of my mind and I wonder if this is what it feels like to faint.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, hoping to gain my equilibrium. When I open them, I spot a movement at the door.

Olivia.

A shadow half obscures her face, but I can see that her eyes are wide as she takes in the scene.

Thank God.
Relief rushes over me and I gasp, taking in a cleansing breath. The darkness retreats.

“Stupid garbage men,” Nico mutters under his breath. He starts to turn and my coat swings open. I feel my gun hit my thigh. I glance again at Olivia. If she would just distract Nico long enough for me to get my gun out . . .

Nico shoves me back toward the middle of the roof. I fall in such a way that my gun hand is near my pocket and out of his line of vision. I turn my head to look up at him.

Behind him, Olivia is still staring, one quiet hand on the doorjamb, the other on her chest. Please God. I just need one good distraction.

I hold my breath as Olivia creeps up behind Nico. My heart pounds in my ears as I wait for the perfect moment.

“She has a gun,” Olivia says.

I’m so stunned that I don’t even move as Nico pounces on me and takes my gun from my pocket.

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

I stare at Olivia, my mind spinning. Her face is still, her eyes flat.

“Why?” I finally ask.

“Money.” Then she glances at Nico. “Love.”

Something clicks in my mind. “That’s how Nico knew there was a scavenger hunt and why his team was able to finish so quickly. You told him what was going on! Why?”

“It didn’t have to be so complicated, except you had to throw a party on the night everything was going down. If it wasn’t for you and your stupid scavenger hunt, it would have been a simple hit. Jack would already be dead and Nico and I would be halfway across the state with the shipment by now.”

“And I paid you good money!” I’m crouched on the roof, my hands in claws. If I could, I would rip her hair out. How dare she betray me? How dare she?

“And Morelli paid me better money. When Nico approached me a couple of months ago, I had no idea who he was. When he told me that his boss was willing to pay me to keep track of you and Jack, I resisted at first, but the money was too good.”

I look from one to the other. “Why would the Morellis want to watch Jack and me?”

Nico’s shoulder twitches. “Why do they want to watch anyone? Because the info may come in handy someday. It’s what mobsters do. You know that, princess.”

I glare at him and then glance at Olivia. “You’ll never be able to trust him. He’s a lying snake.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know nothing.”

Olivia turns adoring eyes on Nico. “Nico loves me. He’d do anything for me just like I’d do anything for him. That’s why I agreed to shoot Jack. Once Nico found out the location of the shipment, it was time to put the rest of the plan in motion. Unfortunately, the man I shot wasn’t Jack. From behind, Reggie looked just like him.”