Talk Nerdy to Me (48 page)

Charlie
released him and walked around to face his cousin. He flexed his fingers as if
he'd love to pound on Rick for a while, except Rick wasn't giving him a good
opportunity to do it.

"You're
alive." Tears streaming down his face, Rick gazed up at Charlie. "Is
Eve ... ?"

"She's fine."
Charlie's tone was clipped, his expression filled with rage. "No thanks
to you, asshole." Unzipping his jacket, he pulled out his cell phone and
punched in 911.

"Where... where is
she?"

"Sitting
in her hovercraft across the street. That's in fine shape, too, by the
way." Then he spoke into the phone. "Yes, we have an explosion."
Charlie gave Eve's address and hung up.

"Actually,
I'm not across the street." Eve walked over to stand beside Charlie.
"I'm right here."

Charlie
glanced at her and sighed. "I knew you wouldn't stay there. I knew
it."

'Then why did you tell me
to?"

"It's what guys
do."

Rick
looked from one to the other. "You're both alive. Thank God! I was so
afraid you were both..."

"So
what's your story, Rick?" Charlie stood there tapping his cell phone
against his palm. "You'll have to give it to the cops in a minute, but I
want to hear it now. You owe us that much."

"Good
Lord!" Manny came loping up the street, followed closely by Kyle.
"What happened here?"

"Your
boss blew up Eve's garage," Charlie said. "He's been trying to steal
the hovercraft project for some unknown reason. In any case, he'll soon be
going to jail, so you may need a new job."

"The
hell he's going to jail." Manny came striding forward. "He owes too
much money."

Rick
let out a wail. "Peterson. Dear God, Peterson. I'm a dead man."

"What?"
Eve glanced quickly at Manny. "What's he talking about?"

Manny cleared his throat.
"We only have time for the short version. Ricky likes to bet on the
ponies, but he's not all that lucky. He's into our boss Peterson for a sizable
chunk of money. He either pays up by next week or... let's just say that
Peterson isn't a forgiving kind of guy."

Charlie
looked from his cousin to Manny. "So you two work for this Peterson?"

"Yep."

"I
can get the money!" Rick staggered to his feet. "The hovercraft
didn't work out, but I can get it from my mom. She didn't want to give it to me
before, because she didn't know I was in trouble. But if she knows that I'm
history if I don't get the cash, she'll come up with it. She can use the bakery
as collateral."

"That's
nuts," Eve said. "You're not going to put the bakery at risk."

"Damn
straight," Manny said. "The bakery is my future. I've been wanting
to get out of this business for the past year, anyway. Denise and me, we've got
plans."

Sirens
sounded in the distance. Eve wasn't sure she had all the particulars, but she
needed to have a strategy in place before the police and the fire trucks
arrived. She faced Rick. "I can get you out of this. I can say that I left
a welding torch on and it was too close to the hydrogen tank."

Rick stared at her.
"Why would you?"

"Yeah,"
Charlie said. "Why? This idiot almost blew us to kingdom come."

"I
know that, but he didn't mean to." Eve gazed at Rick. "And you're
Charlie's cousin and Myrtle's son. I happen to be very fond of both people and
hate to bring them pain."

"It
won't bring me pain," Charlie said. "I'd love to see him wearing
stripes, or orange, or whatever they put on them these days."

Kyle
edged his way into the conversation. "I hate to say this, but he wouldn't
last long in jail. Peterson has connections. But if Manny and me let him get
picked up by the cops, we'll get whacked for losing him."

Eve began to wonder who her
sister had hooked up with. "Are you two hired killers?"

"Nah,"
Kyle said. "We're glorified babysitters. Our job is to make sure nobody
has to be killed."

"Oh."
Eve still didn't like the connection, but Manny had said he was quitting. And
she was running out of time. She turned back to Rick. "Here's my offer. I
won't press charges and I will help you get the money out of my hovercraft
project, which is obviously what you need to do."

"Eve."
Charlie sounded beyond upset. "This clown deserves
nothing!"

She
glanced at him. "Are you prepared to have him killed? And Manny and Kyle
along with him?"

"No, but there has to
be another answer."

A
squad car pulled up at the curb, followed by a fire truck, lights flashing.

Eve
grabbed Rick by the lapels of his coat. "If I let you off, you have to
promise that you'll move back to Middlesex and watch out for your mother and
aunt. And you have to do a good job, or I'll expose what you did here. I might
not be able to prosecute by then, but I can ruin your photography career."

Charlie groaned. "I
hate this."

"Promise me!" She
looked into Rick's eyes.

"I promise." Rick
heaved a sigh. "Thanks, Eve."

Eve looked over at Charlie.
He was gazing at her and shaking his head. But the way she looked at it, she
had no choice. And as long as she was giving away her hovercraft, she might as
well get something back, something that might help the man she loved.

Two
hours later Charlie joined the crowd that had gathered in Eunice's living
room. Eunice had arrived home from the bachelorette party to discover the
catastrophe next door. She'd immediately invited Rick, Eve, Charlie, Manny,
and Kyle to hang out at her house. Manny had called Denise and told her where
he was, so she'd joined the group soon afterward.

Charlie
was determined to stop Eve from giving away her invention. He'd found out
exactly how much Rick owed and figured if he cashed out his retirement account,
sold all his electronic equipment, and floated a loan, he might be able to
scrape together most of it. He wasn't planning to let Eve do this thing,
especially when he'd decided to stay in Middlesex to be with her.

It
might have been the moment they'd lifted off the garage floor that had brought
him to that decision. He wanted to be with somebody who generated that kind of
excitement. He wanted to be with her forever. If that meant staying here and
working for the ML&P, he'd do that.

So
it was settled. He'd pay Rick's debt and Eve could get the money she deserved
from the hovercraft. Rick could go wherever the hell he wanted. Charlie didn't
think he'd ever be able to trust the guy again.

But
he
needed to talk to Eve
alone, and that didn't seem likely right now. She was huddled with her sister,
Denise, having some deep sisterly discussion. At least one good thing had come
out of this. Eve had already thanked Denise profusely for suggesting the rubber
bumper, which even now was keeping the hovercraft stable up in the tree. In the
morning they'd get a crane to haul it out.

Between
Eve's gratitude and Manny's admiration, Denise was blossoming. Even the sharp
angles of her face seemed softer. Charlie thought he might be able to tolerate
her as a sister-in-law, after all, assuming Eve said yes.

In
another corner of the room, Rick was pouring out his heart to Eunice. Her
initial shock at hearing what he'd done had apparently turned to sympathy.
Better Eunice than him, Charlie thought. Once he'd heard the whole story—how
Rick had broken down the back door while Eve was gone and then swiped Eunice's
key and made a copy so he had access after that—Charlie had been ready to land
into his cousin.

Rick
swore he hadn
't
watched while Charlie and
Eve had sex, but Charlie wouldn't take bets on it. And the moron had mixed
up
the
wires
by
accident.
He'd set up his camera on a tripod so he could take pictures of himself
"working" on
the
hovercraft,
and in his rash, he'd reattached them to the wrong terminals.

Charlie's
cousin was a big screwup who had almost gotten two people killed. For Aunt
Myrtle's sake Charlie was glad Rick wouldn't end
up
in
prison or worse. Someday Charlie might
even find
it
in
his
heart to forgive the guy, but not tonight, not when
Eve
had almost died because of what
his
cousin had done.

"Okay,
everybody." Eve stood. "Denise and I nave come up with a game plan
for Monday morning. She and I will go into the city with Rick to market the
hovercraft concept. I'm going to be billed as the talent, Rick will be
identified as my manager, and Denise will be our deal negotiator. I—"

A
cell phone rang. Rick turned pale. As everyone stopped talking, he reluctantly
reached for the phone clipped to his pants pocket.

"That would be
Peterson," Manny said in a low voice.

Charlie
left his chair and moved toward Rick. In spite of his anger, he didn't want his
cousin to die at the hands of a mobster.

Rick's
hand shook as he flipped open the phone. "H-hello?"

Eunice
wrapped her arm around his shoulder and held on tight as the room went
completely quiet. No one even seemed to be breathing.

Rick
listened for a moment. "Uh, thank you. Yeah, it was a little bomb I
made." He ticked his lips as he held the phone to his ear. "Well,
thanks. Thanks so much. Okay. Have a good flight." Then he closed the
phone and looked around the room in dazed wonder.

Eunice shook Mm gently.
"What did he say?"

"I
can't believe it." Rick swallowed. "He congratulated me. He thinks I
blew up the hovercraft. He drove by the garage and thought—"

"What
do you mean, he drove by the garage?" Charlie grew rigid. "He's
here?"

"I'm
afraid so," Manny said. "Flew in Wednesday night. Had some business
in New York so he decided to come up here and check on his investment."

Charlie
thought about Rick's statement that he hadn't stayed to watch Eve and Charlie
make love.
Maybe
it
was
Peterson.
He hoped Eve wouldn't think of that, but one glance
at her face told him she had. Shit.

"He's
on his way back to JFK." Rick's voice was a little steadier. "Seeing
the garage blown up renewed his faith in me."

"So
he didn't notice the hovercraft up in the tree?" Charlie couldn't imagine
anyone missing that.

"It's
not all that easy to see," Kyle said. "With it being dark out and the
hovercraft painted purple. Besides, Peterson was looking at the messed-up
garage. He wouldn't have any reason to look in the other direction. As a hiding
place, that tree isn't bad."

Eve
gazed at Kyle. "Either you or Manny could tell him the hovercraft still
exists. After all, you work for him."

"I don't think we'll
be telling him, right, Manny?"

"Right. In fact, this
is my last job for Peterson."

Kyle nodded. "Mine,
too. I'm ready for a change."

"Well!"
Eve clasped her hands in front of her. "Then let's move on, shall we? As I
was saying, that's the plan for the trip to New York on Monday. I guess Manny
and Kyle need to be there."

"We
have to stick around until Peterson gets his money," Manny said. "We
can't give our notice until this job's done." He smiled at Denise.
"Besides, I want to see how my prospective business partner negotiates
this deal."

'Then
we'll call you business consultants," Eve said. "I imagine Eunice has
to work, and Charlie, you probably do, too. But either of you can come along,
if you want to."

Charlie
moved toward her. It was now or never. "Eve, before this gets set in
concrete, can
I
talk to you alone for
a
minute?"