The Comeback Kiss (24 page)

Babs went to full wattage on her smile, looking at Max as she spoke to Tessa.
“
Nonsense, child. Run along. We
’
ll take it from here.”

Chapter Twelve

Tessa blew through the front door, coming to a skidding halt in her living room to find her sister and Finn sitting on the sofa, chatting and laughing. They both quieted and looked u
p at her, as though she was the one who was crazy.

“
What... what... what?”
she said, unable to form a full sentence. She took a deep breath and looked at Izzy. “
You
’
re okay? No bleeding. Not on fire. So, what the hell, Iz?”

Izzy had on her guilty face. Tes
sa knew it well, and it never meant good news. Tessa put her hand to her forehead. She needed a drink. She needed a drink
bad
.

“
What did you do?”
she asked, not really wanting to know. She pulled her hand down and looked at her sister. “
And what is Finn do
ing here?”

Izzy and Finn exchanged glances, and Finn motioned for her to take the question. Izzy straightened up and put on a nice front of confidence.

“
He works for me.”

Tessa laughed. She couldn
’
t help it. “
What?”

Finn stood up, walked over to her, and h
eld out his hand. “
Hello, Miss Scuderi. I
’
m Dermot Finnegan. I
’
m your sister
’
s private detective.”
He grinned. “
You can call me Finn.”

Tessa stared at him blankly. This couldn
’
t be happening. First, Finn wasn
’
t a private detective. She didn
’
t know exactly
what he was, but he wasn
’
t a private detective. Second...

“
What the hell do you need a private detective for?”
Finn curled his fingers in, dropped his hand, and he and Izzy exchanged a different, more serious look.

“
Oh, man. Izzy, what did you do? You were
supposed to stay in the house and feign gastrointestinal distress. How hard is that?”

Finn touched her arm. “
Sit down, Tessa.”

Tessa wrenched her arm away. “
Don
’
t tell me what to do.”
She looked at Izzy. “
How bad is it? What did you do? Why do you need a
private detective?”

Izzy dropped her eyes. Oh, God. Whatever it was, it was bad. Tessa could feel it. She walked over and sat down next to Izzy.

“
You need to tell me what
’
s going on.”

Izzy looked at Finn. Finn nodded. Izzy focused back on Tessa.

“
It
’
s abou
t Mom.”

Tessa took a deep breath. “
Mom? What...?”

Izzy began her story, starting with the night their mother died, moving into Joe
’
s suspicions, then with the worry boxes, then with the snooping around Vickie
’
s and Margie
’
s. By the time she got to the part
where she
’
d trespassed on the site of a potential arson, Tessa felt the numbness descending over her. She knew she
’
d process it all later; right now she just had to take it in and let it sit.

“
So...”
Izzy finished up, “
that
’
s why I was at Finn
’
s this morn
ing. And that
’
s why he
’
s here now. I can
’
t do anything else with this.”
Izzy rolled her eyes, shamed. “
Obviously. But he
’
s a professional. He knows what he
’
s doing.”

Tessa chuckled, ran her fingers over her eyes.
Dr. Frankenstein, meet your monster.

“
Tessa
?”
Izzy said nervously. “
Tessa? Say something. You
’
re scaring me. You can yell, that
’
s fine, but you
’
re really scary when you
’
re quiet.”

Tessa put her hands on her knees and pushed up from the sofa, looking at Finn.

“
Can I talk to you privately for a momen
t, please?”

Izzy stood up. “
Don
’
t be mad at him, it
’
s not his
—”

She shot her evil eye at Izzy. Izzy shut up.

“
Iz,”
Finn said, “
why don
’
t you go upstairs, take a shower, get the soot out of your hair?”

Izzy ran her hand over her hair and made a face. “
I ha
ve soot? In my hair?”

Tessa gave her a look. A moment later, Izzy was upstairs. Tessa remained quiet until she heard the shower running, then looked at Finn.

“
You know you can
’
t take this case,”
she said.

Finn crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.
“
Your sister has eighty-nine dollars and seventy-three cents that says I can.”

He smiled at her with that infuriating twinkle in his eyes, the one he got whenever he wasn
’
t taking things seriously, which was most of the time. Tessa took a few steps closer
and lowered her voice.

“
You are not a private detective,”
she spat in a harsh whisper.

“
Yeah, but I
’
m damned good-looking.”
He grinned. “
That
’
s gotta count for something.”

“
It doesn
’
t,”
she said.

“
Ah, but you do admit that I
’
m damned good-looking. And peop
le say you
’
re not observant.”

“
Stop it,”
she said. “
This is serious. My little sister just told me she thinks our mother might have essentially been murdered. This is not a joke.”

His smile faded, and he gave her a small nod. “
You
’
re right. It
’
s not.”
He p
aused, looking at her for a moment, then put his hand on her arm. “
You okay?”

She let out a breath, scuffed her toe on the wood floor. She wasn
’
t exactly okay, but she was numb enough at the moment that she could fake it pretty well.

“
I
’
m fine.”

“
No,”
he s
aid, leaning his face into her field of vision until she allowed her eyes to meet his. “
Are you okay?”

“
Yeah,”
she said, tamping the sadness down as it welled in her chest. “
Thanks.”

He lowered his hand, and his expression went all business. “
Good. Then u
nderstand something. My condition for taking this case was that Izzy tell you, not that she get your permission. This is between me and her.”

Tessa stared at him, her anger rising. “
Wait a minute, you can
’
t just blow into my house and tell me how it
’
s gonn
a be.”

“
Tessa, if I don
’
t start looking into this, Izzy won
’
t stop, and if there
’
s something bad to find, I
’
d rather it be me than her that finds it. Wouldn
’
t you?”

“
There
’
s nothing bad to find,”
Tessa said. “
It
’
s just her imagination in hyperdrive. She
’
s
sixteen. She
’
s incapable of being rational about this.”
The words sounded good as they came out. If only they weren
’
t followed by a niggling bit of doubt...

Finn eyed her for a minute, his expression serious. “
You don
’
t think there
’
s a connection between a
ll these fires?”

“
Over the course of some seventeen years?”
Tessa felt a tug in her chest, but ignored it. “
No.”

“
Well, Izzy does,”
Finn said. “
And I don
’
t think she
’
s gonna stop poking around just because you said so.”

“
And I don
’
t think it
’
s your problem
. She
’
s my sister.”

“
She
’
s my client.”

Tessa threw her hands up in the air. “
I don
’
t know why I bother talking to you.”

“
Because you need to talk to me,”
Finn said. “
Because I
’
m the only person in your life who knows how full of crap you are.”

Tessa narro
wed her eyes at Finn and dug her nails into the palm of her hand. “
Excuse me?”

Finn sighed. “
Tessa. This isn
’
t you. You
’
re not the kind of girl who does this. Ignores reality, cowers in corners afraid of social workers
—”

“
Excuse me? Protecting my sister is
cowering now?”

“
You
’
re letting this social worker completely bully you until there
’
s no you left, and you
’
re burying your head in the sand over this fire thing, which I personally think might just hold some water. This isn
’
t like you.”

Tessa felt the rag
e swell up and over her.
How dare he?
“
Yeah, well, people change when they lose everything that means anything to them in a single night.”
Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath, blinking wildly against the tears threatening to come. She was not goin
g to break.
Not now. Not now.

Finn
’
s face was tight, his eyes hard and unreadable. They stared at each other for a moment, neither one of them backing down. Finally, Finn spoke.

“
Get over it.”

Tessa blinked, surprised at the verbal slap. “
What?”

“
I said ge
t over it.”
He shook his head, looked at her, his eyes suddenly plaintive. “
You were dealt a shit hand, sweetheart. No one
’
s gonna argue that. I
’
m not gonna tell you what I did wasn
’
t total bullshit because it was. I
’
d give my right arm to take it back, b
u
t I can
’
t. And nothing is going to bring back your mom, or give you back those years without Izzy. But shutting down inside because of all that...”
He released a deep breath. “
Baby, you lose. Everyone loses when you
’
re not here.”

“
I
’
m here,”
she said tight
ly. “
I
’
ve been here. I
’
m not the one who ran off.”

“
Oh, yeah, you did,”
he said. “
Maybe not in the same way, but you did.”

“
Oh, so because you managed to talk me out of my underwear in the back of a Volkswagen, you think you have some kind of insight into
my soul, is that it?”