The Hitwoman and the Family Jewels (14 page)

“Blanche,” I muttered. “I
knew
I didn’t like her.”

“Who?” Marlene asked.

“Leslie’s Narcotics Anonymous sponsor,” I replied.

“Aunt Leslie is off drugs?” my sister gasped, shocked.

“For now.” I focused on the mob boss. “He’s sure it was her?”

Delveccio nodded. “She shivved him.”

“What?” I asked, trying to imagine the overly made-up tart knifing the efficient Marshal Weller.

The mobster shrugged. “It’s what Vinnie said. The Fed is in the emergency room and cops are questioning my knuckle-head nephew.” He looked at Patrick as he said it.

Nodding, the redhead said, “I’ll go check on the marshal.” He turned to leave, then spun around. “Wait here until I come back.”

I nodded my agreement and he left.

“I figured it wasn’t safe for your niece to be unprotected so I had her moved into Dominic’s room,” Delveccio said.

“Who’s he?” Marlene asked.

“My grandson. Who are
you
?” The mobster eyed her with a speculative gleam in his eyes.

For the first time I noticed her short skirt, high heels, and barely-there shirt. “This is my sister, Marlene,” I answered hurriedly.

“Another one of Archie Lee’s kids?” Delveccio asked, staring at Marlene.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Thank you for keeping Katie safe.”

“You saved Dominic from that prick Alfonso.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Figured the least I could do was offer your niece the same protection.”

“
He’s
the boss?” God asked incredulously.

My “rescue” of Delveccio’s grandson from being smothered by his own father, Alfonso, is common knowledge around the hospital. What isn’t known by any living souls beside Delveccio, Patrick, and God is that the mob boss paid me to off his ne’er-do-well son-in-law.

“I thought he’d be more intimidating,” God mused.

Delveccio squinted at my squeaking head. “Are you wearing a lizard?”

“I’m not wearing him,” I corrected, plucking my reptilian fascinator from my hair. “I was bringing him to see Katie and in all the excitement…I lost his box.”

God stuck his tongue out at me. “That cardboard prison is not mine.”

Delveccio was still staring at him.

“Have you ever heard of pet therapy?” I blurted out. “They say it can reduce pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue.”

“No bull?” Delveccio asked, seeming impressed.

I shrugged. “So they say.”

“Well then you should take it in to her.” The mobster motioned for us to follow him.

Grabbing Marlene’s hand, afraid that if I didn’t hold onto her tightly she’d disappear from my life again, we went into the adjoining room.

We had to skirt around a couple scary looking dudes I assumed were Delveccio’s hired muscle.

On the far side of the room, little Dominic lay in his bed, quiet and still.

Katie lay in the bed closer to the door. Her blue eyes were open and she seemed alert.

“Hi there, babygirl,” I cooed, releasing Marlene to lean against the side of the bed so that my nose practically bumped Katie’s. I waved Dino in her face and then tucked it into the bed beside her.

Her gaze focused on mine.

“Look who I brought to see you,” I said, holding up my palm so that God was balanced near my eyes.

“Hi, Katie!” The curmudgeon actually sounded happy to see her.

She gurgled a reply.

My breath caught in my throat and tears filled my eyes. It was the first time she’d tried to vocalize a response.

“That’s good, right?” Delveccio murmured from behind me. “Really good?”

I nodded, not taking my eyes off my niece. “I love you, babygirl,” I whispered around the lump in my throat. “You are my favorite niece in the whole wide world.”

She smiled at me. She actually smiled.

I had my niece back.

Overcome with emotion, I turned around to share the special moment with my sister.

But she was gone.

I’d lost my sister.

Again.

I stayed with Katie until she fell asleep, ignoring the fact that Delveccio’s two goons kept checking out my ass.

Finally, when I was sure she was out cold, I scooped up God, who’d also fallen asleep, and left the room.

The hallway was crowded and an argument, albeit one conducted in hushed whispers, ensued.

God stirred on my palm, opened one eye, and then went back to sleep.

Griswald, flanked by two guys in suits who were no doubt marshals too, argued with Delveccio and Vinnie. Patrick stood off to the side, watching the exchange carefully. I looked to him for guidance, but his eyes revealed nothing when they met mine.

“Miss Lee,” Griswald called, noticing me. “Do you know this man?” He inclined his head toward Delveccio.

I swallowed hard remembering Patrick’s advice to tell the truth or deny everything. “Of course I do,” I pointed at the room I’d just left. “His grandson has been in the room next to my niece’s for her entire stay here.”

“And you two have a relationship?” Griswald asked.

I felt the mob boss’s gaze on me, but I looked at Griswald as I answered his question. “Sure. I know pretty much everyone on the hall. You spend enough time here, you get to know everyone.” I nodded toward the next room. “Benny Calado is in there. He’s a teenager. Got drunk and wrapped his mom’s car around a telephone pole one night. His folks are divorced, but they both come to visit. Rita is here during the week and John on the weekends…which sounds like an amicable arrangement, but really it’s because Rita gets plastered on the weekend.”

Griswald looked bored by how well I knew the other visitors.

“But,” I said, sticking to the truth. “Mr. Delveccio and I do have a special relationship.”

Interest flickered in the marshal’s gaze. “You do?”

I nodded. “And I’m not proud of it.”

“Don’t…” the mobster warned in a menacing tone.

I gave him a reassuring smile. He looked confused.

“We both love the hospital’s chocolate pudding,” I confessed to Griswald, “and we’ve been known to indulge in it together.”

Griswald looked disappointed. I tried to not look too self-satisfied, but in truth I was patting myself on the back. If anyone did any asking around about myself and the mobster, all they’d get was further confirmation that we ate pudding together.

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t go around making my sweet tooth public knowledge, Ms. Lee,” Delveccio said, doing a good job of looking like his Achilles heel had just been exposed.

Another marshal in a suit rushed up to Griswald and whispered in his ear.

Frowning, Griswald asked me, “Any idea why your aunt’s supposed sponsor, Blanche, would dose my guy and then stab him?”

“Dose?” I asked.

“According to tests they’ve run on him, he was given a sedative, and according to Weller the only way that could have happened was when she brought a cup of coffee for your aunt, who, it so happened wasn’t in the room, so Blanche gave it to my man.” Griswald glared at me as though it were my fault.

I shook my head. “I met her yesterday. I took an instant dislike to her.”

“I’m going to have a team go over the room. Maybe they can find something,” Griswald didn’t sound too hopeful.

“But they’ll leave Katie alone?” I asked.

The marshal nodded.

“Thank you.”

“We were just
discussing
what to do about her security,” Delveccio said.

“I’m putting two men on her door until we can figure out what this Blanche, or whatever her name is, woman wanted,” Griswald said.

“And I’m keeping my guys inside,” the mobster countered.

Griswald eyed me. “It’s your call, Miss Lee, do you really want to entrust the safety of your niece to a reputed criminal?”

I looked at the door to the room and then at Delveccio. “He won’t hurt her,” I said quietly. “He owes me.”

“Owes you what?” Griswald asked suspiciously.

For a second I thought Patrick might have been wrong about telling the truth.

“She saved his grandson’s life,” another man piped in.

We all turned to see who had spoken. A short man, wearing a bowtie and clutching a pile of folders, blinked at us through fingerprint-smudged glasses. He looked familiar, but it took me a second to place him.

“It’s in the little girl’s file,” he said. “My predecessor, Stacy something-or-other, her name is in the file, documented the whole thing.”

Stacy. The former hospital social worker I’d befriended. That meant this was her replacement. Taking a closer look at him I realized he was the one who’d shown up during Kowalski’s rampage and had almost gotten himself shot.

“What are you doing here Mr. Withers?” Griswald demanded.

“I told you yesterday, Marshal Griswald. I’m the social worker assigned to Katie’s case.”

I wondered what Withers had said to the US Marshal about my family while Patrick and I had been seeking emergency medical care for my dog.

“And you say you’ve got documentation that she,” Griswald looked at me pointedly, “saved his son?”

“Grandson,” Withers, Delveccio, and I corrected simultaneously.

Withers handed the marshal a file and then moved toward me, extending his hand. “We haven’t officially met, Miss Lee. I’m Albert Withers. I’ve been assigned to your niece’s case.”

I awkwardly extended my left hand, unable to shake with my right because I held a sleeping lizard. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Withers. I know this looks bad, but I promise you, I can give Katie a stable home.”

He raised his eyebrows.

I winced, realizing he’d not only been shot at by a guy I’d dated, but he’d met my aunts. My heart fell and I almost dropped God.

“Hey,” the lizard groused drowsily. “Pay attention.”

Withers cocked his bald head to the side, examining the lizard.

“Pet therapy,” the mobster supplied helpfully. “You think something like that would help my boy?”

Withers shrugged and then walked away to make a note in the file the marshal handed back to him.

Patrick’s phone buzzed and he followed the social worker.

“You really took a chair to the guy’s head?” Marshal Griswald asked with grudging respect.

I nodded.

“Good for you.” He switched his focus to Delveccio. “So you really do owe her?”

The mobster nodded.

“And you won’t let any harm come to her niece?”

“I don’t hurt kids,” Delveccio growled, deeply offended.

“Okay,” the marshal agreed. “My guys outside, yours in.”

“You should take this,” Patrick said, marching toward me, holding out his phone. “It’s the vet’s office.”

I pressed the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Either you take her, right now, or I’m going to kill her,” the veterinarian’s assistant Monica shrieked.

“If you hurt my dog….” I began, but stopped when I saw the alarmed look Patrick gave me. “I’ll sue,” I finished lamely, deciding it wasn’t a good idea to threaten to kill someone in front of US Marshals.

“Piss!” she screamed. “I’m going to kill the cat. I’ve already got the syringe filled.”

I gripped the phone tighter and started to ball my other hand into a fist.

“Ow!” God protested. “Delicate skin. I have delicate skin.”

“Leave Piss alone,” I said into the phone, which garnered me strange looks from the marshals and mobster. “I’ll be right there. I think. Wait. Hold on a sec.” Pressing the phone into my shoulder so she couldn’t hear the conversation I asked, “Can I go?”

“You call your dog Piss?” Delveccio asked, appalled.

“It’s a cat,” Patrick explained.

“Oh,” Delveccio nodded sagely. “That makes sense. Cats are a whole other ballgame.”

“Leave?” I demanded of Marshal Griswald. “Yes or no?”

He nodded. “As long as Mulligan takes you.” He looked to Patrick for confirmation.

“As long as the department is authorizing overtime, I’m taking it,” Patrick said.

“I will be there in fifteen minutes,” I said into the phone. “Don’t you dare hurt that cat.” I handed the phone back to Patrick. “Let’s go.”

We hurried through the hospital.

“You
cannot
bring home that carnivore,” God ordered.

“Kowalski was spotted,” Patrick said at the same time.

I stumbled at the mention of my attacker’s name. Patrick grabbed my elbow to keep me from pitching forward. I shook loose from his grip immediately, not deserving kindness from the man I’d falsely accused of allowing someone to hurt Katie.

“I was just trying to help,” Patrick muttered, stopping in his tracks.

“I know,” I said, slowing my steps. When he didn’t follow, I was forced to stop, turn and face him.

“Uh oh, he doesn’t look happy,” God said.

That was putting it mildly. Patrick, hands on his hips, glared at me through narrowed eyes.

I swallowed hard, a guilty lump cutting off my air supply. “I don’t deserve your help,” I said, hating the way my voice cracked.

He shook his head and stepped closer. “Where do you get these crazy ideas?”

“Good question,” God interjected.

“The things I said.” I carefully laid my fingers against his face, tracing the welts I’d left. “What I did.”

Tilting his head, pressing his cheek against my hand, he offered me a half-smile. “Maybe I’ll let you make it up to me.”

His suggestion ignited a hot flush throughout my body, which was immediately cooled when he yanked himself away as a nurse, studying a chart, bustled past.

“So about Kowalski,” clearing his throat, Patrick rubbed his cheek where I’d touched him. “Couple of beat cops saw him go into your place.”

“So he’s in custody?” I asked hopefully. That would be one less thing to worry about.

“Afraid not. He got away.”

“There’s only one door to my place,” I reminded him. “How the hell could he escape?”

Patrick shrugged. “Internal Affairs is looking into it.”

“Meaning the cops let him go?” I stopped walking.

“He ransacked your place looking for something.” Patrick turned around to face me. “He’s got friends on the force, but so do I. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

I didn’t believe him, but I started moving again. I might not be able to keep myself safe, but there was still time to save the cat.