Santa' Wayward Elf (21 page)

“Can I come in?” he asked when neither woman invited him
inside.

“No,” they said in unison.

Damn. This was going to be harder than he thought. “Look, I
was a jerk, I know that, but I want to apologize to Sosie, that’s all. Can I
please come in and talk to her?”

Tracee exchanged looks with Linda. “Sosie isn’t here. I
mean, she was, but then she left.”

Double damn. “Do you know where she went?”

“We thought she went back to your apartment,” Linda said.
“When you find her, you’d better listen to what she has to say because she’s
been trying to tell you something important for a long time and hasn’t been
able to.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means that for a detective, you’re not very bright,”
Tracee said. “It’s her secret to tell, not ours. But I can tell you it has nothing
to do with Saldino.” A worried look suddenly crossed her face. “Oh, no.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“I didn’t think anything of it before because I thought
Sosie was going back to your apartment.”

It felt as if he was interrogating a suspect. “Think of
what? Spit it out, Tracee.”

“Sosie said she was going to make things right,” the redhead
explained. “She said she was going to prove that this thing with Saldino was
your fault.”

Derek’s heart dropped. There was only one way he could think
for Sosie to try to make things right.

Shit
.

Leaving the two women to stare after him, he turned on his
heel and ran back to his apartment. He went inside long enough to grab his gun
and his car keys, then raced down the stairs to the parking garage.

What the hell was Sosie thinking, that she could simply talk
to Saldino and somehow get him to…what? Confess he was a mobster and had set
Derek and the task force up to look incompetent? Derek didn’t want to think
Sosie could be that naïve, but he knew in some ways she was. Hell, she probably
didn’t realize how dangerous Saldino was.

If she was thinking of doing something that crazy, where
would she go? She didn’t know where Saldino lived. At least Derek didn’t think
she did. He’d never mentioned the mobster’s home address anywhere in her
hearing, he was sure.

He cranked the engine and put the car in gear, but then
hesitated. Where would Sosie go to find Saldino if she intended to confront he
man? The only place he could think she might associate with Saldino was the
restaurant he’d been staking out the day she stopped by the wiretap van.

Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Sammy Saldino might own the
place, but it was unlikely Sosie’d find him there at this time of night,
especially after the victory he’d won. The bastard was probably with his
soldiers right now laughing at how he’d duped the cops. Derek squealed out of
the parking garage.

Please God, let him find Sosie standing outside the
restaurant, looking forlornly in the darkened windows when he got there.

Chapter Eleven

Sosie wasn’t sure what she was going to do if she actually
found Saldino. Maybe nothing more than give him a piece of her mind and tell
him Derek was a good man who didn’t deserve to be fired. She didn’t imagine a
person like Saldino would care what she thought about him, but she had to do
something to help Derek.

When she got to the restaurant, it was already closed for
the night. Figgy.

She cupped her hands together and peeked through the frosted
windows, hoping someone might still be inside. If they were, perhaps they might
be able to tell her where Saldino lived. Although she didn’t see anyone, she
saw a light coming from the back of the restaurant. It was probably some poor
cook or dishwasher cleaning up the place.

Lifting her hand, she knocked on the door, then waited. When
no one came out to open it, she knocked again, this time a little louder.
Apparently, whoever was inside couldn’t hear her. Maybe there was another door.

She quickly made her way down the sidewalk and around to the
back of the building. She sagged with relief when she spotted a door. Rather
than knock right away, she tried the knob and was surprised when it turned.
Pulling it open, she cautiously stepped inside and found herself in a small
entryway. She wondered if she should call out to the person in the kitchen, but
hesitated at the sound of raised voices coming from that direction.

“Did you think you could fuck with me and live?”

Sosie froze at the words, her heart hammering in her chest.
While she’d never heard the man’s voice before, she was positive it had to be Saldino.
There couldn’t be many people who could be that mean.

Her first instinct was to turn and run back the way she’d
come, but then she realized this might be her chance to prove Saldino was the
criminal everyone knew he was. All she had to do was catch him in the act of
doing something illegal.

She took a deep breath, then slowly edged along the hallway
until she could see around the corner and into the restaurant’s huge kitchen.
There were shiny, steel tables and wooden work surfaces, as well as stacks of
freshly washed dishes and several large ovens. But Sosie’s gaze locked on the
men in the center of the room. At least a dozen of them, they were standing in
a semicircle around Saldino and a younger man she didn’t recognize. The younger
man was on his knees, his hands out in front of him beseechingly as he begged
Saldino not to kill him.

Saldino waved the gun he held at the man. “Did you think I
wouldn’t notice you were stealing from me?”

The younger man shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Saldino. I-I
won’t do it again, I promise.”

“Damn right you won’t.”

Tears filled the younger man’s eyes. “Mr. Saldino, please,
I’m begging you. You’ll get all the drugs back I stole, I promise. I’ll pay
back every penny.”

Sosie held her breath. The man sounded sincere and she
certainly would have forgiven him, but apparently Saldino wasn’t moved by the
offer because he laughed.

“Too late for that, asshole. I need to make an example out
of you so other people don’t think I’m a pushover.”

Sosie looked around at the other men in the kitchen,
wondering how they could stand there blithely while Saldino threatened the poor
guy. She recognized the two lawyers she’d seen with the mob boss in the
precinct that day. Neither one seemed pleased they were there. That made sense.
She didn’t know a lot about what lawyers did, but it didn’t seem like a good
idea if their clients let them see the crimes they committed. It’d be hard to
argue their client was innocent of murder if they watched him do it.

She let her gaze wander over the rest of the men. Standing
in the back of the group was another man she thought she recognized, but she couldn’t
quite place him. He’d been at the precinct that day, she was sure of it. Was he
another one of Saldino’s lawyers?

Then it came to her. He wasn’t a lawyer. He was Derek’s
boss!

She frowned. The captain was a cop, like Derek. Wasn’t he
supposed to stop Saldino from shooting the guy on the floor? Maybe he was
waiting for Saldino to shoot him first, so they’d have a reason to put the mob
boss in jail.

That didn’t seem right. Saldino wouldn’t shoot someone right
in front of a cop, would he?

All at once, a sick feeling entered her stomach. Suddenly it
all made sense. Derek thought she’d betrayed him because Saldino had known
exactly when Derek and the task force were going to bust him. Sosie’d been too
upset at the time to consider who had actually set Derek up. Now she knew.
Derek’s boss had been giving Saldino an early look at the Christmas list. He
was the one to blame for the trouble Derek was in.

Sosie chewed on her lower lip. She should call Derek and
tell him Saldino was about to do something terrible to that young man on the
floor and that his captain was standing there watching the whole thing. But after
the fight they’d had, would Derek believe her?

She didn’t know, but she had to try to convince him anyway.

Sosie started to back out of the kitchen when she felt a
hand jab her in the back and give her a shove. Off balance, she stumbled into
the kitchen. Everyone turned to look at her, including Saldino.

“I found her standing in the hallway spying on you, boss.”

Sosie turned to glare at the man who had shoved her,
intending to tell him how rude he was, but the words died on her lips when she
caught sight of the gun he had pointed at her. Uh oh, she was in deep reindeer
poop.

She turned back to Saldino to see him studying her from
beneath bushy, black brows with eyes as cold as ice. A chill ran down her back.

“Wait a minute. I recognize you,” he said. “You were with
Clayton at the police station. What are you, another cop?”

Sosie opened her mouth to answer, but Derek’s captain spoke
first.

“She’s his girlfriend.”

Surprise flickered across Saldino’s face, but then his lip
curled in a sneer. “His girlfriend? What, did the coward send you to do his
dirty work for him?”

Sosie bristled at the words. She knew Saldino was a
dangerous man and that she should choose her words carefully, but as Tracee and
Linda would say, that wasn’t how she rolled. Not when the thug called the man
she loved a coward.

Ignoring the gun in Saldino’s hand, she marched up to him
and fixed him with her best glower.

“For your information, Derek is the bravest man I’ve ever
known. So, to answer your question, no, he didn’t send me to do his dirty work.
In fact, he doesn’t know I’m here.”

It didn’t occur to Sosie that she probably shouldn’t have
added the last part about Derek not knowing she was there until she saw Saldino
smirk.

“Is that right?” the mob boss said. “Why are you here then?”

Sosie lifted her chin. She might be terrified of Saldino,
but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of backing down. “I’m here to make
sure you tell everyone that Derek is a good cop and that you set him up
tonight.” She turned hard eyes on Derek’s boss. “And so are you.”

Saldino stared at her for a moment in silence, then laughed.
Sosie’s cheeks colored as the rest of his men joined in. If she weren’t a
peace-loving elf, she would slap every one of their smug faces.

“That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard,” Saldino said.
He motioned with his gun toward the man still cowering on the floor. “It’s
almost enough to make me forget about capping this fucking bastard down here.”

The guy looked up at him hopefully. “Really, boss?”

Saldino scowled. “No.”

Then, before Sosie realized what was happening, Saldino
casually leveled his gun at the poor man and shot him right between the eyes.
She was still standing there in shock when the mob boss turned his cruel, dark
eyes on her.

“Guess you’re next, little girl.”

* * * *

Derek parked his car two blocks down from Saldino’s
restaurant, then waited for a few minutes to see if there was any movement
inside before taking out his gun and jogging up the street toward the building.
On a positive note, the windows of the restaurant were dark, which meant the
place was closed. To his relief, Sosie was nowhere in sight. Hopefully, she
hadn’t come here—or if she had, she’d already left. He wasn’t leaving until he
was sure.

Coming to a stop in front of the restaurant, he looked
casually up and down the block, then took a quick peek in the window. The place
was empty, locked up tight for the night.

He let out the breath he’d been holding. At least Sosie
wasn’t here. Where the hell was she then?

Thinking he should check out Central Park next, Derek was
about to go back to his car when he saw a flash of light coming from the back
room of the restaurant. It was immediately followed by a loud, unmistakable
bang. The sound of the gunshot was still reverberating through the building
when a woman’s scream rang out in the night.

Sosie.

Derek didn’t stop to think. He charged to the door of the
restaurant and kicked it in. The glass shattered, echoing like thunder as it
hit the floor inside, but he barely heard it as he darted across the room. He
hadn’t gone more than ten feet when the sound of multiple gunfire came from the
direction of the kitchen.

Had a mob war started?

Derek didn’t know and didn’t care. Sosie was back there in
the midst of all that shit. He had to get her out.

One of Saldino’s men came running out of the kitchen, the
gun in his hand visible in the light coming from behind him. It took him a
moment to see Derek advancing on him in the dark, but as soon as he did, he
raised his weapon to fire.

Derek got off his shot first. The man spun in a circle as
the round tattooed him through the center of his chest, then fell to the floor.
Derek hesitated only long enough to make sure the lowlife was down for good
before heading toward the kitchen again. He stopped outside the door and peeked
around the jamb, jerking back as a piece of the wall exploded right next to
him.

He waited a second, then took another quick glance in the
room. Saldino and his men were hunkered down by the stoves along the wall just
inside the door, while another group of thugs was firing at them from the far
side of the kitchen. There was so much lead flying around in there, it might as
well have been a war zone.

Derek leaned back against the wall, contemplating his next
move. Sosie’s scream had come from the kitchen, so she had to be somewhere in
the middle of all that gunfire. He had to get to her regardless of how many men
were in the kitchen or the danger they posed.

On the other side of the wall, the gunfire slowed. The men
were probably reloading. Derek cautiously poked his head around the corner.

He didn’t see Sosie, or Saldino for that matter, but there
were so many people in the kitchen, it was difficult to see anyone. He cringed
when he saw bodies on the floor, but thankfully, Sosie wasn’t among them. From
the looks of it, most of the dead men were from Saldino’s side. Whoever the
guys over by the door were, they were damn good if they could take out
Saldino’s crew this quickly. A few more minutes of this and Sammy Saldino
wouldn’t be a problem for the city of New York anymore.