Conduct Unbecoming (19 page)

“
So why did Bobby off himself?”

“
Because it didn’t work.”  Leo was on a roll now, talking faster and gesturing with his hands.  “And since Enzo wasn’t dead, Bobby knew it was just a matter of time before he went down for it.”

“
Maybe,” Dante conceded.

“
I’m telling you, with Bobby dead the department is not gonna look any deeper.  You think they want to take a chance on everything he’s been in on coming back on appeal?  They’re gonna want to move on.”

“
Yeah, well,” Dante snorted, “Harley’s not going to want to move on.  Not until she makes her bones with this story.”

“
Right.”  Leo frowned, eyebrows tugged together, shoulders down.  “The reporter.”

“
Don’t feel bad.”  Dante patted Leo on the shoulder.  “It was a good plan while it lasted.”

They stood in the hall for a few minutes, backs against the wall, before Leo left for the precinct and Dante went back inside.  Lorenzo was still sleeping, his chest rising and falling in a steady, reassuring cadence, so Dante moved the chair next to the bed and sat down.  He stretched his legs out, crossed them at the ankles. 
Dropped his chin onto his chest.

Dante had just nodded off when
Enzo moved, rustling the sheets a little in the process.  “Hey.”  He leaned forward, put his hand on his brother’s arm.  “How you feeling?”

“
Like I was hit... by a bus.”

Dante laughed, dragged a hand down over his face. 
“Yeah, well, you kinda look like it, too.”

“
How long you been here?” Enzo breathed.

“
Since you woke up, so,” Dante lifted his shoulders, “couple of hours.”

“
You should... go home.  Sleep.”

“
I know.”  Dante nodded agreeably, but he didn’t intend to go anywhere yet.  “I will.  Soon.”

Enzo’s
eyes drifted closed, stayed that way for a few moments before he opened them again.  When he did, Dante pulled the chair even closer and said, “Listen, I know you’re tired, but I need you to try to stay awake for a second.”

“
‘Kay.”

“
Do you remember anything else about being shot?”

Enzo
moved his mouth infinitesimally.  No.

“
Tell me about Hector, Enzo.”  When Enzo didn’t answer, Dante tried again.  “Did Bobby take Hector’s money?”  He reached out, gently shook Enzo’s arm.  “Enzo, I need to know if Bobby took Hector’s money.”

“
Told... Leo.”

“
Told Leo what, Enzo?”  Dante was tired, they both were, but he needed to make sure he got this right.

“
Told Leo... Bobby took money.”

Exhausted from the effort,
Enzo drifted off again and Dante leaned back in his chair, blew out a heavy breath.  Fuck.  This made absolutely no sense.  If Leo knew Bobby was crooked, he would have said something.  Wouldn’t he?    

Wouldn't
he?

Chapter 24

             
Harley wanted to be angry.  She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs without giving a thought to her sleeping neighbors, to throw plates against the wall without the danger of shards of china working their way down into the rug even being a blip on her radar.  Anger would be cathartic, it would bring peace, clarity.  So yes, anger was the goal.

But first she had to stop crying.

She unrolled a strip of toilet paper and ripped it off.  Swiped under her eyes, blew her nose loudly.  Set the roll right next to her on the sofa, because she was nowhere near done with it.

He’d basically called her a whore. 
A
whore
.  And she most certainly did not sleep with him for a story.  Of course looking back now, she had no
idea
why she slept with him - the no good, pig-headed, egotistical ass - but it certainly wasn’t for the goddamn story.

And that bit about her
technique
needing work?  Totally unnecessary.  He’d crossed a line with that one.  Jerk.

When the doorbell rang she jumped up to answer it - not, for the record, because she thought it might be him - flung the door open wide. 
“Leo?”  She glanced at him, glanced at the empty hallway behind him, then back again.  “What are you doing here?”

“
Can I come in?”

“
Sure, I guess.”  She moved aside to let him in, closed the door.  “What happened?  Is Lorenzo okay?”  She refused to ask about Dante, her pride simply wouldn’t allow it.

“
Yeah.”  Leo nodded, and that little movement sent flakes of dandruff snowing down on his shoulders.  It was all she could do not to reach out and brush them away.  “He’s awake and talking.  Looks like he’s gonna be okay.”

“
What a relief.”  She pressed her palm to her heart, took a couple steps towards the sofa.  Said, “Come sit down,” back over her shoulder.  “Can I get you something to drink?”

“
No.  No, I’m good.”  He smiled, waited for her to sit down before he took a seat at the other end of the sofa, obviously being careful not to crowd her.  His mannerisms were old-fashioned, almost chivalrous.

“
What can I do for you?”  More curious than concerned, she tilted her head to look at him.

“
I wanted to talk to you about your story.”  He smoothed a hand over his tie, frowned.

Harley muttered,
“That no good son of a...” under her breath, narrowed her eyes.  Dante had sent Leo to try to get her to kill the story, that spineless asshole.  She gritted her teeth, kicked it up an octave.  “You can tell whoever might be interested that I am gonna write that story and it’s gonna be front page,” she pointed her finger, jabbed it into the air to emphasize her point, “and above the fold, and with any luck at all it’ll be picked up by the Associated Press and then it’ll be front page above the fold all over the fricking
country
.”  Totally unlikely, but man, saying it felt
good
.

Leo rubbed his temple, sighed. 
“I was afraid you would say that.” 

“
Say what?”  She shook her head, more confused than ever.

“
Believe me,” he said, sounding painfully sincere, and more than a little sad, “no one feels worse about this thing than I do.”

“
Wait.”  Harley lifted a hand.  “What
thing
?”

“
The story you insist on writing.”  He said it like it was something dirty you would scrape off the bottom of your shoe.  “We could have just moved on, you know.  We really could have.  Richie doesn’t know enough to be an issue, so with Bobby gone and Enzo not able to remember, it could have just... gone away.”

“
Oh my God,” she whispered, because she got it, she finally got it.  “It was you.  You set Enzo up, and you killed Bobby Vega.”

“
I
had
to get rid of Bobby.” 
Get rid of
, not
kill
.  It was probably easier for him to live with himself that way.  “I didn’t have any choice.  He was a liability.”  The noise he made fell somewhere between laughter and disgust.  “In order for this,” he paused to nonchalantly unholster his gun, “to work, you have to be patient, discrete.  Bobby Vega couldn’t manage either.”

“
Did you see his house?  Seriously?”  Leo shook his head.  “Like nobody was going to wonder how a cop could afford that place.  And he could not keep his mouth shut to save his soul.  The only reason Richie Fedor got involved was because Bobby got drunk and spilled the beans.”  Leo sighed.  “Thank God he had the sense not to tell Richie my name.”

“
Or what?” Harley asked.  “Would Richie have had to go, too?”  

“
It’s so easy for you to sit back and... and judge me.  But you weren’t there.”  He had a surly expression on his face.  “You don’t know.”

“
And Enzo?  Did you have to shoot Enzo, too?”  If she wanted to walk away from this, she needed to keep her mouth shut, part of her knew that.  Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the part that was calling the shots. 

“
I tried to reason with him,” he told her quietly.  “To explain.”  She could just imagine how well
that
had gone over.  “I never wanted anything to happen to that boy.  I love him like he was my own flesh and blood.”  His eyes filled with tears, and for a moment she almost felt sorry for him.  Almost.  “But he wouldn't listen.”

When someone knocked on the apartment door they both jumped. 
“Quiet,” Leo ordered, jabbing the gun into her side to remind her.

“
Okay,” she mouthed.

More pounding, louder this time.
  “I know you’re in there, Leo.”  It was Dante’s voice, and suddenly she could breathe again.

“
Tell him I’m not here,” Leo hissed.  “Tell him you’re alone.”

“
He won’t-”

“
Tell.  Him.”  He jabbed her with the gun again, this time hard enough to make her gasp.

“
He’s not here,” Harley choked out.  “I’m alone.”

“
Bullshit,” Dante snarled, pounded again.  “Your phone has GPS, Leo.  I just want to talk to you for a minute.”

Leo was quiet for a moment,
then he waved his gun, gesturing towards the door.  “Go ahead, let him in.”  

Harley walked over, opened the door. 
“Are you alright?” Dante asked quietly.

She nodded, whispered,
“Yes.”

He put a hand on her arm, maneuvered himself between her and the gun. 
“I want you to go and-”

“
NO
,” Leo roared, pointing the gun in their direction.  “She’s not going anywhere.  She stays.  You hear me?  She. Stays.”

“
Okay, okay.”  Dante lifted both hands in submission.  “But you gotta put the gun down, Leo.”

Leo lowered the gun, held it loosely at his side. 
“How did you know,” he asked Dante. 

“
Enzo remembered telling you about Bobby stealing Hector’s money.”  Dante glanced back to be sure Harley was still behind him before he said, “I wanted to talk to you.  I wanted there to be some sort of... explanation.  But when I coerced somebody in IT into pulling up your location and you were here...”  Dante shrugged his shoulders.

Leo dragged his empty hand over his face, shook his head. 
Mumbled, “Shit.”  His shoulders slumped in defeat.

“
Why, Leo.”  Dante kept himself between Harley and the gun, but his attention was zeroed in on Leo.  “Just tell me why.  You owe me that.”

“
Because it wasn’t fair,” he explained quietly.  “It wasn’t fair that we risked our lives for next to nothing and they lived like kings.”

“
So you arrest them.  You put them away so deep they don’t even remember what the sun felt like on their faces, you don’t steal their fucking money.”

Leo walked over and dropped down onto the sofa, the hand with the gun in it at his side. 
“Everything’s always been black and white for you, even when you were a boy.  But it’s not, Dante.  The world’s gray.  I could never make you understand that.  Patrick did, but not you.”  Leo sighed heavily, shook his head.

“
Patrick?”

“
I tried to help him, too.”  Leo’s voice took on a pleading, desperate tone.  “But he wouldn’t wait.  How was I supposed to know he wouldn’t wait?”

“
You helped him steal the drugs.”  Dante looked shellshocked.  “And then you let them blame me for it.”

“
I didn’t have a choice.”

“
Fuck, fuck,
fuck,
” Dante growled, and Harley wasn’t sure if he was cursing Leo, or himself.  Either way, her heart broke for him.  “Tell me the truth, Leo.  Did you shoot Enzo?”

Leo broke down in tears. 
“Bobby did it.”

“
But you were there,” Dante whispered, and Harley could tell he already knew the answer.

“
I was there,” Leo admitted.  “He was meeting me.  That’s why he left Roxi’s that night.”  He let out a shallow breath, as if finally saying the words was some sort of relief.  “Because I asked him to meet me.”

Dante was quiet for a few moments before he asked,
“So what now?  Are you gonna kill me, too?  And Harley?”