Curtis (18 page)

The man seemed to be thinking over
whether or not he wanted to be helpful. Mary couldn’t really blame him. She’d
nearly pulled out her gun just then and that wouldn’t help anyone.

“So’s far as I know, there ain’t been a
Jefferson on that street in forever. If you want, you can have the phonebook,
not that many people use phones now days. Not with all those cell towers—” He
seemed to realize that getting off subject might get him yelled at again. Or
killed, Mary thought. “Here you go. Have at it.”

The phonebook wasn’t all that thick and
there wasn’t a Jefferson in the entire thing. There wasn’t even a Jefferson
Street or any other kind of street, avenue, or road on the little map provided
in the front. They thanked the man and walked out of the store. Eric had a
twenty-four pack of beer and some snacks for the ride home.

Something was off. For nearly twenty
some years, she’d gotten a card from the Jeffersons on Davidson Avenue. Now
come to find out, there wasn’t even a house with that number on it. Mary got
into the car and looked into the store. The clerk was missing.

“Mother fucknuts. I think we’ve been
made.” She started to get out of the car and take care of the problem she was
sure was brewing when a cruiser pulled in beside them. Mary put the car into
reverse and backed out of the space. She figured that if the clerk had called
the cops, she had about a minute to get out of there.

“What is it?” Eric opened his door, but
she was on the move now. “What the fuck are you doing? Trying to kill my ass? We’ve
been made how?”

“I think your mommy dear’s caretakers
are about as real as the house. As in it’s all made up and she really is with
the Feds.” Mary turned down the first street she came to and turned off the
lights. She thought a cruiser drove by, but couldn’t be sure. “We have to ditch
this car and get something else. Are you good a hotwiring one?”

He looked at her blankly and she swore
again. He was about as useless as tits on a boar hog. “Why?” was all he could
say? Shit. She was going to kill him tonight, leave him in this car and walk
away from it all.

But she knew that she couldn’t. Not only
was there the money, and that was a big, expensive reason, but now she knew
that Michelle wasn’t as goody-two-shoes as she’d led her husband to believe she
was. Vaughn senior had thought she could do no wrong.

The car proved to be easy to steal. She
walked around the parking lot at the mall for eight minutes before someone left
their car running and went inside. It wouldn’t be long before it was reported,
but it would get them to another car that was less noticeable. The local
impound lot was where she wanted them to go. The baby screaming in the back
seat nearly had her shoot it, but she took out the car seat and left it on the
sidewalk. She didn’t want kidnapping added to the theft charges. Laughing, she
got into the minivan and pulled away.

“I don’t know what the hell you think is
so funny. We damned near got caught back there. And all because you wanted to
find my mom.”

Mary couldn’t help it; she doubled up
her fist and hit him. He might have been all right had his head not snapped
against the window across from him. She reached for and found his pulse and was
disappointed she couldn’t roll his ass out while she was speeding down the
highway.

She was tempted, but didn’t do it. Mary
could think of a few reasons for keeping him. One of them being a human shield
for her if the Feds caught up with them. Laughing again, she drove back home. The
impound lot hadn’t had a lot of choices, but she did take the one with the most
dust on it. Lucky for her, it had a full tank of gas too.

~~~

“Charlie said that they left the place
over twenty minutes ago. The guy they had there tried to stall them until the
police arrived, but the woman was getting antsy.”

Curtis watched his brother stretch out
on the couch in his office.

“What do you want to do now?”

“I want to go home and make love to
Kylie.” Curtis flushed. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Royce laughed. “Sounds like a plan. I
might go home and do the same.” Royce stood when Curtis did. “Can I ask you
something?”

Curtis was immediately nervous. The last
time he’d been asked that he had been suckered into a job he didn’t want to do.
He looked cautiously at his brother. “Shoot, but know I have the right to
refuse to answer.”

Royce nodded. “What would you have done
if Daniel had told you he was in love with Kylie?”

 Curtis was shocked by the question. Not
so much the question, but that he’d been thinking the same thing just today.

“Would you have given her up to him?”

“No.” He shook his head as he put on his
jacket. “No. I thought at first that I could, but I just realized that I wouldn’t
have been able to. I have loved her for so long that…no, that’s not right. I’ve
loved her for my entire life and I couldn’t have given her up no matter how
much Daniel had told me he loved her. Lucky for me, he didn’t.”

Royce nodded. “Figured as much. I’ve
been thinking the same thing about Kasey. What would have happened to us had
she not stopped me to badge in? What would my life have been like without her
or little Lee in it?”

What?
Curtis thought.
Nothing
.
He knew that as surely as he was standing there. And he was pretty sure that
Royce thought the same thing. They both rode the elevator down in silence. Jay
York was waiting for them with a smile.

“The car is out front, sir, as is Miss
Washington. She’s none too happy with you for making her sit out there with no
information.” Jay smiled. “I hope you don’t mind, but I had a dozen roses put
in there for you. My niece loves when Royce does that for her.”

“I wondered where those were coming
from.” Royce patted Jay on the back. “I owe you big time. How about a night on
the town with those cronies of yours? We can…”

Curtis left the building and climbed
into the awaiting limo. He didn’t stop moving across the seat until he had
Kylie pressed against the back of it and her mouth moving under his. He’d
missed her.

The kiss ended when he was pulled from
her by a ringing phone. He picked up the car phone and answered the driver. They
were going house hunting and the first house was close at hand.

“You said we’d look after we were
married. We have plenty of time for looking. We have someplace to live now.”

He grinned as he sat her on his lap.

“Do you think you can behave for ten
minutes?”

“Nope. And we need a house soon. I want
to get anything we want changed done before we start on the building downtown. Did
you ever think of a name?”

“Yes. But don’t change the subject. Where
are we going? I thought the house on my father’s street was going to be fine.”

He winked as the door to the limo was
opened.

“Curtis, what have you done?”

He’d done a great deal today. First of
all was this house. There were four more on the itinerary, but this was the one
he wanted for her. He handed her out of the car and watched her face to see how
she liked it. He was thrilled when she tried to speak several times before she
looked at him.

“You can afford this?”

He nodded, not even insulted that she
had to ask.

“But Curtis, this thing is huge. How on
earth are we going to keep it clean?”

He threw back his head and laughed. “We
can. Trust me. Come on. Let’s go have a look. I’m pretty sure you’re going to
love it too.”

The double oak door had sold him. He
loved the etched glass almost as much as he had the big entrance way. He opened
the doors for her and let her walk in alone. It was the only way to see this
place. He’d made a deal with the realtor, telling her he’d pay the asking price
if she let him show Kylie the house himself.

The parquet floors were polished to a
high sheen. He let her walk around the large opening and then pointed to the
massive chandelier in the center of the room. There were three open doorways
that lead off the opening and if she stood in the middle of the one across from
the door, she’d be able to see the large winding staircase.

To the left of where they were standing
was the living room. A fireplace big enough to roast an ox sat along the far
wall. Windows and doors lined the entire wall and the doors opened onto a large
lawn that had a pool as well as a pool house. He couldn’t wait to see it in the
spring with her. The other door led to the dining room.

This is where he wanted to see her. Entertaining
guests that the firm would placate would be her specialty. Curtis thought of
the massive table he could see there with a dozen chairs down each side. Oak
and walnut china cabinets graced either side of the room and more windows and
doors, all glass, let sunlight, or in this case, evening light filter in. Another
large chandelier graced the middle of the room and would be perfectly centered
over the table. She turned to him and smiled.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

He tried to pretend that he had no idea
what she was talking about, but she looked so cute standing there.

“You knew if I saw this house first then
nothing else would do. What would you have done if I didn’t like this one?”

He walked toward her, smiling. “I knew
you would. Do you want to see the rest or are you happy with this one?” He
pulled her into his arms and then to his mouth. He loved kissing her and wanted
to do so much more. He pressed her against the wall when she pulled back. He
looked down at her face and realized just how much he loved her.

“I have something important to tell you.”

He licked along her throat and grinned
when she stuttered.

“Curtis, please, it’s important.”

“So is this.” He continued down her skin
until she jerked his head up and glared at him. “Okay, tell me so that I can
get back to work here.”

“The name of the safe house. I know what
it is.” She held him tighter when he tried to pull away. “Royce James Hunter
House. After your dad.”

He stopped moving and looked at her. “My
dad? I thought you’d name it after your dad. Why…I don’t understand.” His dad
had been a great man. A wonderful father and a well-loved man to those who knew
him. But to name a building after him? Curtis thought of what that would mean
to his mom. “Does Mom know?”

Kylie nodded then shook her head.

“Which, baby? She either does or she
doesn’t.”

“I asked her his name and how he had
died. She told me it was saving a kid. Did you know that the city wanted to
name a street after him?”

He had, but after some quick talking
from his mom, they had decided not to. What would she say now? To this? “We’ll
have to okay it from Mom. She wasn’t all that thrilled back then. I’m not sure
how she’ll take this.”

Kylie smiled and put her hand on his
cheek. “She’ll love it. She told me that she wished now she’d of let them do
it. She was too raw back then and was also worried about you. She said she
thought you took it the hardest of all her children because you and your dad
were so close.”

They had been, too. He held her as he
thought of their times together, their time when it was just the two of them,
and he missed it. Curtis thought that calling the center after his dad was
fine. It was time. He pulled away just a little and she looked up at him. “I
love you.” Kylie smiled. “I love you so very much. And I think that this is a
spectacular idea.”

She put her head back onto his chest and
he could feel her laughter. “Of course it is. I’m good at wonderful,
spectacular ideas.”

Curtis showed her the rest of the house.
He could tell that she loved it as much as he had. The rooms needed to be
updated and carpet replaced, but the overall structure of the house was
perfect.

“We’ll have Stone Construction come in
and do the kitchen. It needs some cabinets moved, as well as some of the bigger
appliances that I want to have put in need more space. Then you can call in
someone to decorate, or you can. Either way, we should be able to move in in
about a month. Sound good?”

She nodded and walked around what would
become their bedroom. She was twirling around the room when his phone rang. As
he answered he was smiling and, as soon as he heard the voice at the other end,
he turned his back to her. He didn’t want to ruin this for her. But she knew
and came to his side as Vaughn LaMancusa made his demands. The bastard knew
that his mom was in the Federal Witness Program.

Chapter 15

Vaughn, what he was calling himself now,
sat at his desk and glared at his grandmother. His head still ached from
hitting the window and she had yet to apologize to him. He had a feeling she
thought he owed her one, but he just couldn’t do it. She’d hit him, for Christ’s
sake.

“Where the hell would they have taken
her?” She’d asked this question three times now and he didn’t bother answering.
She didn’t want an answer anyway so he didn’t even try. “I mean, that was
simply dirty pool on their part to send me cards every year with updates of her
progress.”