Secrets That Kill (17 page)

Ramos was still outside sitting by the pool, and I quickly joined him, ready to do damage control. “Thanks for talking to Chris. Sorry he was so hard on you. He’s fine now.”

Ramos grunted, thinking he didn’t like the way Chris had talked to him. He was good at his job, and Chris’ accusations stung. He didn’t deserve being talked to like that. He’d take care of me, and it made him mad that Chris didn’t respect that. Of course, I was Chris’ wife, so he had to cut him some slack. It almost made him feel guilty for even asking me to help him catch Carson. How stupid was that?

“What did Uncle Joey have to say?” I asked, wanting to change the subject. “What did he think about me playing poker with Carson?”

Ramos’ lips turned up in a wry grin. “He thought it was great. He said it was something he’d like to see for himself, and wished he could be here just to see the look on Carson’s face when you beat him.”

“Really? So he thinks I can do it?”

“Shelby… of course you can. We’ll go over it all tomorrow.”

“I’d rather start tonight, if that’s okay with you,” I said. “I don’t think I could sleep anyway.”

He nodded. “Okay, but there’s a few things I need to do first. Manetto doesn’t trust Carson, so I need to have a back-up plan in case things go bad.”

“Couldn’t Nick help with that?”

“Yeah, let’s go talk to him.” Ramos moved to stand.

“Wait.” I put my hand on his arm, keeping him in his chair. “If you keep Nick busy, I think that would be best. I don’t want him around while I’m learning the game. He might figure out I can read minds, and I really don’t want him to know.”

“Yeah… okay. But once you learn the basics, I want you to play him. It would be a good test.”

Overwhelmed, I dropped my face into my hands. “Are you sure I can do this?”

“Yes, now come on.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up. I followed him into the house just as Nick came into the kitchen from the computer room.

Nick was thinking that after talking to Manetto, he’d underestimated me. He couldn’t figure it out, but Manetto didn’t have a problem with letting me play poker with all that money, so my premonitions had to be real. Whatever that meant. “Manetto gave me some names to call for backup,” Nick said. “Did he tell you?”

“Yes,” Ramos said. “We have to assume that Carson’s not just going to hand over the money,” he explained to me. “So we need to expect him to do something, and have some friends around in case we need them.”

“I got some names and phone numbers to call,” Nick added. “They’ll help us find the people we need as well as a place for the poker game. I’ll go get started.” Nick went back into the computer room and closed the door, leaving Ramos and me at the table.

Ramos opened the deck of cards. “You ready to play?”

At my nod, he began with the hand rankings, like a pair, two pair, and all of that, and I had to stop him to write it all down. I’d heard of them before, but I didn’t have a clear picture about which ones were better, like the difference between a flush and a straight.

After that, he taught me the basics of Texas Hold’em. The flop, the turn, and the river were all new to me, plus I had no idea how to bet, raise, or fold. Ramos was patient, and I tried to soak it all in. It wasn’t until he assigned monetary amounts to the chips that I panicked. “You mean this one chip will be worth twenty-five thousand dollars?”

Ramos took in my stricken expression and raised one eyebrow, thinking “duh.” My eyes widened further, and he sighed before checking his watch. “You know what? Let’s call it night. It’s almost midnight and we’re both tired. My side is bothering me and we’ve got a big day ahead of us. Sound good?”

“Your side?” That caught my attention. “Oh my gosh! You don’t think it’s infected do you? You’d better let me take a look. If it’s infected you’ll need to go straight to the emergency room.”

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Maybe you need a tetanus shot.”

“No. I’m up to date on all my shots,” he said.

“At the very least, you should have gotten a shot of penicillin.”

“Shelby stop!” He grabbed my arms. “I didn’t mean it was bothering me that much. I’m fine.”

We stared at each other until he finally let go of me. I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms. “Good,” I bit out. “But I’m not going to bed until I see it for myself. I can at least put a new bandage on it.”

“I already did,” he said. He was thinking that he didn’t need anyone to take care of him, and he especially didn’t want or need that from me. Not right now.

“That’s not what I’m…” I held my breath as it hit me. What was I doing? Had I just crossed that invisible line between us? The line that changed us from friends to something more intimate? Was he putting me in my place? But what if his wound was infected? Good friends still cared about each other, didn’t they? “Did you get a good look at it? Are you sure it’s not infected?”

He glanced up at the ceiling in frustration before pinning his gaze on me. “If I let you look at it, will you go to bed?

“Sure,” I agreed.

His lips thinned, then with one quick move, he pulled off his shirt and turned so his injured side was facing me. I had to give him credit for putting on the bandage without help, because it looked pretty good… just like the rest of him. He didn’t try to remove the bandage, but glanced at me with a raised eyebrow and a clear challenge to do it myself.

I knelt down beside him and started to peel off the tape. It was sticky and wouldn’t come off very easily, but I just kept pulling. I could hear Ramos thinking that I should just rip it off, but for some reason, I took perverse pleasure in pulling it off slowly. Studying the wound, I could see he’d left the same butterfly bandages I’d put on, and they needed to be replaced, but the rest of it was healing nicely with no sign of infection.

“It looks pretty good,” I said, relieved. “Where’s your first aid kit? I need to put some more ointment on this and replace the bandages.”

“You know what? I’d like to take a shower first. If you want to wait, you can put the bandages on then. Otherwise, I’ll just do it when I’m done.” He pushed back his chair and stood, gazing down at me as I knelt on the rug, his mind blank, but his eyes darkening. “You know what? Never mind. Go to bed Shelby. I’ll see you in the morning.” With that he turned on his heel and fled into the backyard, closing the patio door with a thwack, just like he had earlier.

I swallowed and stood, not exactly sure what had just happened, and realized my heart was beating a bit too fast. Scowling, I grabbed the poker book off the table and hurried up the stairs to my room, locking the door behind me. I hoped that if I concentrated really hard on poker and the upcoming game, it would help me forget all about Ramos and the way he’d looked at me with those smoldering eyes.

I threw myself into studying the book and got clear through the chapter explaining Texas Hold’em before the words started to blur and I fell asleep. I woke sometime after three in the morning to turn off my bedside lamp. Turning to my side, I punched my pillow, but my mind kept going over the terms of the game as I tried to remember the sequence of events, when to bet, when to fold, and how my mind-reading could possibly matter when so much of winning depended on the cards.

Between that and pushing away thoughts of Ramos, I tossed and turned for another hour. Finally, I decided I just needed to relax and forget about everything. Ramos was my friend, and nothing more. My worries about the game were based on the fact that I just didn’t know enough about it, and once I had some practice, I was sure to get the hang of it. I had the whole day to practice, and losing sleep over it wasn’t doing me any good. I finally drifted off to sleep, and the next time I woke, relief swept over me to find the sun shining through my window.

The clock read eight-thirty, and with so much happening today, my heart lurched with sudden anxiety. After a nice hot shower, I blew my hair dry and applied my make-up, knowing I would have to go shopping for something to wear to the poker game. But I had no idea what. I didn’t want to wear a slinky dress like the women at the club, but I certainly couldn’t wear the same clothes I’d had on yesterday… which turned out to be what I had to wear again today. What I wouldn’t give for my suitcase!

Downstairs, I found Nick at the table putting copies of the printouts from the thumb-drive into envelopes to deliver to Carson’s associates. He glanced up at me and murmured a quick good morning.

With my stomach a ball of nerves, I didn’t feel like eating much, so I cooked a piece of toast for breakfast. I kept waiting for Ramos to come down the stairs, but soon realized he was gone. “Where’s Ramos?” I asked Nick.

“He’s checking out a couple of places for you and Carson to play tonight.” Nick was thinking that this little poker game of mine was a lot more involved than I’d ever know, given the extra security Manetto insisted on having, and setting up the place for the game. He sure hoped it was worth it, and that I’d pull through for them. They were all counting on me.

I suddenly lost my appetite and knew today was going to be one of those Mylanta days, and I’d better get some soon. “What are you doing?” I already knew, but needed him to quit thinking about me and how incompetent and untrained I was at playing poker. He explained about the envelopes and that he’d be delivering them once the game started.

“We don’t want them to get this information too soon, or you might not get to play Carson before they come after him.” Nick smiled, tapping the envelopes on the table. “We also don’t want Carson to find out what we’ve done before the game, so while you’re playing is the perfect opportunity to deliver them.”

“Makes sense to me,” I said. “When do you think Ramos will be back?”

“About an hour or so,” he answered. “He said we should play some poker and I could teach you all I know about the game.”

“Okay,” I said, eager to do something. “Let me get my notes.” I ran upstairs for my book and notes. By the time I got back, Nick had the chips out on the table and was shuffling the cards.

We spent the next two hours playing. Nick helped me with the basics of the game, from how the blinds were set up, to who went first and when to bet. Once I got that down, he helped me with what cards were worth betting on, and which ones weren’t. The only thing I didn’t like were the little negative thoughts he kept thinking about me that I wasn’t picking it up very quick.

“You should fold on anything in your hand that isn’t good,” he said. “Since you don’t know what you’re doing, that’s probably best.” He didn’t think I could ever pull this off, and figured the only reason Manetto agreed was because I was his niece and I’d insisted. Manetto was blinded to this stupidity because I was family. He vowed then and there never to let any of his relatives get to him like that.

Ramos came through the door, and I happily threw down my cards. Nick had destroyed my confidence, and I couldn’t take another minute of it. I lurched to my feet and glanced around for my purse. “I’ve got to go to the store,” I announced. My stomach clenched, and I bent over until the pain passed. “Right away.”

“What’s wrong?” Ramos narrowed his eyes.

“Nothing a little Mylanta won’t cure,” I said. “Can I have the keys?”

Ramos studied me and realized I needed to get out of the house almost as much as I needed the medicine. “I’ll take you.” He turned to Nick. “I got it all set up for tonight and met with Carson to set the terms. I need you to let Manetto know how it’s going. We’re playing the game at Max’s Club. Will you call Manetto and make sure it’s good with him?”

“Sure,” Nick agreed. “Oh, and while you’re out, you might want to get Shelby something nicer to wear. Probably something that will distract Carson. She needs all the advantages she can get.”

I had pulled the front door open, but turned with a gasp of indignation at his comment. That was just too much. I tried to push past Ramos, but he wouldn’t let me get around him, grabbing my shoulders and holding me back. “Come on, Shelby, let’s go. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yes he did. He’s been thinking… he’s been… he said…” Damn, I couldn’t say it out loud. “Oh, all right.” I pulled out of Ramos’ grasp and marched out the door, knowing I had to get a hold of myself and calm down.

I took a deep breath and got in the car, clicking my seat belt in place while Ramos started it up. Ramos wisely didn’t say anything, and his mind was quiet, giving me the silence I needed. We pulled into the grocery store, and I grabbed two bottles of Mylanta and some Tums. I also found some flavored water and grabbed several bottles of that. The way my stomach was behaving, I knew I couldn’t drink soda until I had some food in me, and this would taste better than plain old water. Plus I needed it with what I had to face today.

We got back to the car, and I opened the Mylanta and took a few swallows. Feeling better, I found a bottle of water and drank half of that. With my stomach starting to settle, I knew I needed something to eat or it would start up all over again. “Can we go back to that place with the fish tacos?”

Ramos allowed a small grin. “Sure.”

I didn’t know how far away it was, so I was surprised when we pulled up a few minutes later. It was just past eleven, but there was already a line. We placed our order and found a table. After devouring my tacos, I felt a lot better and sat back in my seat, finally ready to talk. “Nick thinks I’m stupid and that I’m going to lose all that money.”