The Hitwoman and the Family Jewels (18 page)

“What?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s breathing,” she said.

Crouching down, I felt for a pulse in Dad’s neck.

He stirred.

And I screamed, louder and longer than Marlene ever could.

Griswald and Patrick thundered into the kitchen with guns drawn.

“He’s alive,” I told them.

Dad groaned as though to prove my point.

Griswald called for an ambulance, while Patrick bent down to provide first aid.

I leaned close to Patrick, soaking up his warmth, his strength. “Do you trust Griswald?”

He nodded. “Why?”

“Because I think I know where the jewels are.”

While the EMTs loaded my father onto an ambulance and Marshal Griswald questioned Marlene, I walked out to the parking lot to escape the sickening smell of rotting fish.

“Maggie!” DeeDee barked excitedly.

I rushed over to where she was lying on the grass beside the asphalt. “What are you doing here?”

“Effort team,” she replied with a big toothy grin, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.

I stroked her forehead. She didn’t feel warm, so I guessed she wasn’t running a fever. “I don’t understand. What’s an effort team? How did you get here? Why are you here?”

“What the grammatically-challenged beast should have said,” God hidden in the shadows corrected, “is that it was a team effort.”

“What was?” I asked, squinting into the darkness.

“Getting here. Rescuing you,” he explained.

“Safe Maggie,” DeeDee said, nuzzling my hand.

I stroked her side distractedly. “It’s been a long couple of days, explain it to me like I’m an idiot.”

“You
are
an idiot,” God decreed.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“She was well-meaning, bless her heart,” Piss said, emerging from the shadows. “Be nice to her if you want dessert.”

Realizing God was riding on the nape of her neck, holding on with one hand, and grasping a half-eaten cricket in the other, my mouth dropped open. “What happened to her being a killer carnivore?”

“She’s an excellent hunter,” God said, chomping on a cricket leg like it was a piece of extra-crispy chicken.

“God feeds,” DeeDee supplied helpfully.

“Eee eans—“ God began.

“I know what she means,” I interrupted. “She means that the cat’s fed you so now you’re all buddy-buddy with someone you thought was your mortal enemy twenty-four hours ago.”

Piss lay down so that the lizard could hop off her.

“We worked together for a common goal,” he told me in his most superior tone. “Saving your sorry excuse for a life.”

“Effort team,” DeeDee panted in agreement.

“Care to explain?” I asked the cat.

She sat down, licked her paw, and blinked her good eye innocently. “We led your man to you, Sugar.”

“How?” I asked.

“Well, I knew where this place was, so God figured that if DeeDee were to get loose chasing after me,” she held up her front paws to make air quotes, “your man would try to catch her. So that’s what I did. I ran past the dog, God yelled at her to follow us, she did, and Patrick gave chase.”

“Wow,” I murmured imagining the picture that must have made.

“About two miles into our incredible journey, Patrick got a call from the marshal that you were missing.” God continued the story. “I will say that for a biped he’s quite perceptive. He figured out we were on our way to find you and had the marshal meet him here.”

“Visiting your heroes, I see.” Patrick walked over to join me at the edge of the lot. “I don’t know how they knew you were in trouble, but they led me straight here. They saved your life.” He reached out and pet Piss. “And this one deserves extra credit.”

“She certainly does,” I murmured.

“What were you thinking, Mags?” He continued to pet the cat. “Why’d you come here alone?”

“Kowalski called. He had Marlene,” I turned in time to see Marlene climbing into the back of the ambulance with our father. “He said he’d kill her if I didn’t come alone. I believed him.”

He didn’t reply so I figured he was mad at me. Finally he spoke, “Griswald’s on his way over.”

I watched the marshal approach. “Who else escaped from the prison?” I asked Patrick quickly.

“Your dad, a low level con, Frank Velicky…the guy shot first in there, and Sergei something-or-other, a pretty high ranking member of the Lubovsky crime family.” Leaving Doomsday’s side, Patrick scooped up Piss. “Money is on it being the Lubovsky organization that arranged the escape. It had to have been an inside job, and the only one connected to that kind of pull is Sergei.”

Griswald joined us. He rubbed his face, as though trying to erase the exhaustion that had settled there “Your sister is riding with your father to the hospital. My men are following.”

I nodded.

“I need you to tell me exactly what happened here, Miss Lee.”

“Kowalski called. He said he’d kill Marlene if I didn’t come alone.”

Hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his dress pants, he frowned at me sternly. “What did he want?”

I’d faced down multiple murderers, so a bent-out-of-shape Federal officer didn’t scare me. I cocked my head to the side. “What is it
you
want, Marshal?”

He blinked, confused that I’d gone on the offensive. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not really after my father,” I guessed, petting DeeDee to stay calm. “You’re after whatever he stole from that bank.”

Griswald looked to Patrick, who shrugged.

“I don’t think that he stole gems. Who the hell steals gems from a bank?” I continued boldly. “I think he stole something else. Something a lot of people seem to think is worth killing over.”

The marshal cocked his head. “Did he tell you that?”

I shook my head. “Despite what everyone seems to think, I’m not my father’s confidante.”

“What do
you
think he stole?” Griswald asked.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. I just want my normal life back,” I replied.

“Ha!” God mocked from the sidelines.

Griswald looked in the direction of the squeaking sound. “What the hell was that?”

“The lizard,” Patrick and I answered simultaneously.

Shaking his head, Griswald said, “I can’t tell you what was stolen. It’s need-to-know information.”

“How’s that working for you?” I asked. “You’ve been chasing after whatever was taken for years and bodies are piling up.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he began to pace. “I do believe I’ve misjudged you, Miss Lee.”

I shrugged.

“I read the police report about the incident concerning Delveccio’s grandson. You do know he’s a mobster, don’t you?”

I nodded. “I read the newspaper.”

“His son-in-law was a criminal too,” Griswald continued, “yet according to those reports you managed to beat him in a fight.”

“I didn’t beat him,” I corrected. “I escaped him and security happened to burst in.”

“But you attacked him?” Griswald asked.

“He was smothering a child with a pillow.”

“Most people would have run away, called for help,” Griswald said. “You tried to stop him. Now tonight you came here alone to face down a man who, according to your aunt’s fiancé and the hospital social worker, came awfully close to raping and killing you.”

“To protect my sister,” I said defensively.

He held up a finger to silence me. “So what that tells me is that you have a strong sense of right and wrong. You protect the weak. So now I have a question for you.” He stopped in front of me, staring into my eyes with a burning intensity.

My hand that had been rhythmically stroking DeeDee’s fur stilled.

“Your father is a career criminal, your mother is mentally ill, and your sister has faced numerous solicitation charges,” Griswald listed.

I flinched at the description of my highly dysfunctional family.

“What I need to know,” Griswald continued, “is whether I can trust you.”

“Considering my pedigree, I’d guess not,” I said in my most sarcastic tone.

He chuckled. “Guess I deserved that.” He looked at the police and marshals milling around the entrance of the restaurant. “Is there someplace private we can go talk? Preferably some place quiet where there are chairs and coffee?”

“My apartment?” I suggested.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Patrick tense, but he didn’t say anything.

Griswald nodded. “I’d like that.” He glanced at the redheaded cop. “I could use some back-up on this one. Off the clock.”

Patrick nodded his agreement.

“No more overtime,” Griswald said. “No time and a half, but I’ll buy you a drink when we’re done.”

“Big spender,” Patrick mocked.

“I’ll owe you one,” Griswald said.

“You’ll owe me another,” Patrick reminded him good-naturedly. “But I’m curious. Why do you need me?”

“Because I know you’re an honest cop.” Griswald looked at the men working. “And because I’ve got a leak, which means I can’t trust anyone on my team.”

All six of us rode to my apartment in Griswald’s car. The marshal and detective rode in the front, while DeeDee, Piss, God, and I snuggled in the back. Even though Patrick knew exactly where we were going, he played dumb and let me give driving directions to Griswald.

When we got to my place, I put God in his terrarium. DeeDee made a beeline for my bed and started snoring within moments. Piss explored the place.

I made coffee while the two men sat at my kitchen table watching me. “I don’t have much food,” I rummaged in the fridge.

I plopped a couple of jars of olives onto the table and tossed in a box of vanilla-iced cookies.

“Interesting combo,” Griswald said, “but I’ll take it.”

“Salty and sweet,” Patrick murmured.

I blushed, remembering the last time he’d said that to me. I was glad my back was to the men as I fumbled for coffee cups.

Once everyone had their drinks and excuse for food, Griswald began to speak. “This is highly classified information, so I’m going to ask you both not to speak of it outside this room.”

He waited for Patrick and me to nod our agreement.

Piss leapt into my lap, fixing her good eye on the marshal.

“You’re right. Archie Lee didn’t steal gems from that bank,” Griswald said. “He stole computer discs, or as the Lubovsky organization calls them,
jewels
.”

“What’s on them?” Patrick asked.

Griswald shook his head. “Can’t tell you that.”

“Why do they call them jewels?” God called from the other room. “That’s gangster vernacular I’ve never heard before.”

Apparently, due to his excessive television viewing, he was up on all the gang slang.

“Why do they call them jewels?” I asked the marshal, knowing that if I didn’t, God wouldn’t shut up about it.

“They like to give things cute
code
names,” Griswald said dismissively. “In this instance, they call them by their carrying cases. Then, when the robbery went down, some idiot cop,” he glanced at Patrick. “No offense.”

“None taken,” the redhead replied easily.

“Anyway,” Griswald continued, “some idiot cop, who’s there as a customer when the robbery went down, hears the robbers yelling back and forth about
‘who has the jewels?’
. He assumed they were talking about valuable gems so that’s what everyone was looking for.”

“But he went to jail for stealing jewels--“ I began, thoroughly confused.

“You didn’t pay much attention to your father’s trial, did you?” Griswald asked.

I shook my head. “No. My sister Theresa went, but I didn’t even follow it in the paper.”

“Your father wasn’t convicted of the robbery. They nailed him for the murder of the teller,” Griswald supplied.

“He says he didn’t do that,” I told him.

Griswald nodded. “That may be the truth. The security cameras were disabled. He was convicted on one person’s testimony.”

Patrick cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips. “Let me guess: the idiot cop?”

Griswald nodded tightly.

Patrick frowned. “How come you’re so involved in the case? Bank robberies fall under the FBI’s jurisdiction.”

Griswald frowned before admitting. “It’s my brother’s case.”

“Your brother is an FBI agent?” I asked

He nodded.

“So you’re thinking that law enforcement runs in your family, so criminality runs in mine?” I didn’t think he was wrong. After all, my dad was a career criminal and I was a paid assassin.

Griswald shrugged. “Why’d you bring a Hello Kitty bag full of CD jewel cases to the restaurant?”

“Because I found them hidden under a floorboard at the B&B.”

“Technically I found them,” Piss corrected.

I looked down at the cat in my lap. “Okay, the cat found them.”

“Where are the contents?” Griswald asked.

I worded my reply carefully, heeding Patrick’s advice to tell the truth. “They were empty when I found them.”

That was true. What I didn’t say was that I had a pretty good idea where the contents were hidden.

“Why the hell would anyone hide empty cases?” Griswald asked.

I shrugged. “My dad does a lot of weird things. He sold my sister’s Barbie Dream House to cover a gambling debt once.”

“But he hid them in a place where
you
could find them,” Griswald mused, unmoved by the Barbie story. “And Kowalski thought
you
had them. So what’s so special about you?”

I bit into a cookie. “Ugggh, these are terrible.”

“And stale,” Patrick muttered.

“Leslie brought them,” I explained. “She liked to keep munchies here…back before she got clean.”

“Focus, people!” Griswald snapped, slapping his palm against the tabletop. “Why did Archie Lee leave them for
you
to find?”

I’d thought about that question myself and I was pretty sure I’d come up with the answer, but I wasn’t about to tell that to the marshal. I was pretty sure that my theory was the only bit of leverage in this impossible situation. So I said, “His wife is in the loony bin, and I’m his only living child who doesn’t face arrest on a semi-regular basis. Maybe he thought I’m the most stable member of the family.”