The Hitwoman and the Poisoned Apple (Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman Book 8) (4 page)

I swallowed hard, leaving my hand in his. “So now I’m Katie’s legal guardian.”

He let out a low whistle. “That’s a lot to take on.”

I nodded. He had no idea.

“I have a lot of family support.” Again it wasn’t completely true. While my aunts wanted to be helpful, they often prove to be more of a hindrance.

“I mean, they’re a crazy bunch, but they mean well.”

He chuckled and let go of my hand.

“So now you know my life story,” I teased. “And I don’t even know your name.”

“Jack. Jack Stern.”

“I’m Maggie Lee.”

He smiled warmly. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Maggie.”

“What are you doing?” a shrill voice shrieked from across the cafeteria.

I flinched. Even though my back was to her, I’d recognize Aunt Leslie’s voice anywhere.

“Did I mention my crazy family bit?” I whispered to Jack before turning to face her. “I’m having a cup of coffee, Aunt Leslie. Care to join me?”

“Katie’s waiting for you.”

“Was I supposed to have somehow known that?” I countered, doing my best to keep my voice level.

Leslie considered that for a moment. “I guess not.” She glared at poor Jack Stern as though everything was his fault. “Who are you?”

He stood and flashed her a smile so charming that a mortal woman’s heart would have melted. “Jack Stern.”

“What are you doing with my niece?”

To his credit, Jack’s smile didn’t waver. “Just passing the time.”

“Well you shouldn’t be. She has places to be. No need to get distracted by some tall, good-looking stranger.”

Jack looked down at me. “Is that true?”

“What?” I teased. “That I have places to be or that you’re a tall, good-looking stranger?”

“But we’re not strangers,” he countered flirtatiously.

Thinking of the way his hand had felt holding mine, I had to agree with him. “No,” I conceded, “we’re not. But I do have places to be.” Grudgingly, I stood, picked up my coffee and banana, and grinned at him. “It was nice meeting you, Jack.”

“The pleasure was truly all mine.” He bowed slightly.

“Oh enough already.” Leslie grabbed my elbow and began dragging me away. “You have other things to worry about.”

I flashed Jack a last apologetic smile over my shoulder, as shaking his head, he sat back down.

“What’s so urgent?” I asked as Leslie hustled me out of the cafeteria.

“I told you, Katie’s waiting.”

“And I was coming back.” I shook her grip off me, more annoyed than I cared to admit that she’d broken up my pleasant interlude with Jack Stern. Not that I was particularly interested him. With his dentist-enhanced smile and a black leather jacket that probably cost what I make in a week, he was way out of my league. Besides, I was smitten with Patrick. A guy who, like me, kills people for money. A guy who was married. A guy who, in his own way, was even more unattainable than Jack might be.

I frowned as I shuffled through the hallways toward Katie’s room, once again considering the very real possibility that I was destined to spend my life alone. My mother had loved the wrong guy (my dad) and look where she’d ended up: the loony bin. Maybe the apple didn’t fall from the tree.

“You’ll talk to Susan?” Leslie asked, interrupting my stream of depressing thoughts.

Not that thinking about another lovelorn member of the family offered much in the way of solace or hope. “I’ll talk to her,” I said carefully. “But I’m not going to tell her what to do.”

“Good,” Leslie declared. “I’ll talk to Griswald and Loretta will give Bob a piece of her mind.”

I didn’t know which of the men I felt more sorry for.

“Between the three of us, we should get this settled soon so life can get back to normal.” Leslie patted me on the shoulder like I was doing something admirable.

Considering I considered our family to be anything but “normal,” I wondered what she was envisioning. “And then what?”

“Susan will see that neither is right for her,” Leslie declared matter-of-factly.

That thought made me sad. Susan deserved to have someone special in her life. “I like them both.”

“What do you know about love?” Leslie scoffed.

“What do you?” I retaliated.

“I know my sister,” she said stubbornly. “This is what’s best for her.”

Thankfully, we’d reached Katie’s room and I didn’t have to respond. I swept inside with a big grin. “How are you doing, baby girl?”

“Aunt Maggie!” She bounced on her bed. “You came!”

I scooped her up in a big hug. “Of course I did. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

I shot an accusing look at Leslie. What kind of nonsense had she planted in Katie’s head?

Leslie feigned innocence, batting her eyelashes.

Turning away from her, I focused on my niece, thrilled to see the sparkle in her eyes and the pink in her cheeks. “How’d it go at physical therapy?”

“It was okay. Will you play Sorry with me?”

I nodded. Aunt Susan had brought the old board game that had occupied my sisters and I for many hours over the years, and taught Katie to play.

Katie jumped out of bed, recovered the game box from on top of the rooms’ air conditioning unit, and tossed it on the bed. “What color do you want to be?”

“Green,” I murmured, knowing that she liked to be yellow.

While she and I played the game, Leslie slipped away.

After a lot of giggling, Katie finally won the game. “Sorry!” she crowed, making it clear she wasn’t in the slightest.

A male chuckle, coming from the direction of the door, got my attention. I turned to find one of the Delveccios standing there, watching us.

“How’s Dominic?” I asked.

“Doctors say he’s improving,” the mobster replied, casting a tender smile in the direction of the little boy lying silent on the other bed in the room.

“That’s great.” I’d once gone to considerable trouble to keep the kid alive, so I felt a surge of pride that he was recovering.

“Can we play another game, Aunt Maggie?” Katie asked.

I swung my attention back to her and wrinkled my nose. “Only if you promise you won’t beat me.”

She giggled and teased, “Sorrrrry. I can’t do that.”

“Well fine,” I huffed with false indignation.

“Do you want to play, Mr. D.?” she asked the friendly mobster.

“I’m sure Mr. Delveccio doesn’t know how to play Sorry.” I offered Delveccio an apologetic smile.

“Actually, I do.” He lumbered across the room. “And I’ve been known to win, young lady.” He winked at Katie who dissolved into another set of giggles.

“Do you want to be red or blue?” she asked.

“I’ll take red.” Pulling a chair close, he settled in to play a round of the rousing board game.

While she set up his pieces, he glanced over the board at me and said a tad too casually, “What were you talking about with the reporter?”

“Oh Stacy’s not a reporter,” I assured him. Then I realized that her fiancé’s brother, Walter, might be. “He’s a reporter? I didn’t know.”

“I go first!” Katie called.

“Why’d you think I left the cafeteria?” Delveccio asked.

I blinked, mentally racing to catch up with the conversation. He wasn’t saying that Walter was a reporter. He’d meant Jack.

“Uhhh…” I stalled, trying not to say anything stupid. “I thought maybe you had urgent business to attend to.”

Delveccio’s gaze narrowed, but instead of replying, he moved one of his game pieces. The ruby in his pinky ring caught the light and its reflection swept over the board like a laser beam.

“Your turn, Aunt Maggie,” Katie prompted.

Complying, I picked a card.

“So I need a favor,” Delveccio said, staring intently at the board like it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.

I tensed. I’d known he wanted something. I hoped I’d be able to deliver. “Does ‘favor’ mean no payment’s involved?”

He chuckled and I’m pretty sure I heard him whisper, “Ballsy broad” under his breath.

Katie clapped enthusiastically, pleased by her card.

“Payment can be negotiated,” Delveccio conceded. “I need a package delivered.”

That caught me off guard. I looked at him closely, trying to determine if this was some kind of code language. Usually our conversations centered on him needing someone whacked. He didn’t usually need me to do my best pony express impression.

He moved his piece, not giving me any indication of what he was thinking.

“A package delivered, not disposed of?” I asked, needing clarification.

“Delivered,” he confirmed.

“I won’t be some kind of—” I searched for a term to substitute for drug mule. “A pharmaceutical donkey.”

He shot me a look that made it clear he thought I was the world’s biggest ass. “No donkey duties.”

“That should be doable,” I said slowly. “Assuming it doesn’t violate—”

He held up a hand to silence me. “I just need it done quietly. It’s not the kind of job I can entrust to just anyone. I know the parameters you operate within.”

I might drive the mobster a little crazy sometimes, but he respected my principles.

“Aunt Maggie…” Katie tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. “Pay attention. It’s your turn.”

“Bossy,” I teased back, reaching out and ruffling her hair affectionately.

When she grinned back at me, I realized that all the work I’d done for the Delveccio family was worth it. I may have sold my soul, but I’d bought the health and happiness of the person who was most important to me.

Principled or not, that seemed like a fair deal.

~#~

I returned to the Bed and Breakfast in a good mood. I’d enjoyed my visit with Katie, gotten to see Patrick, and felt like Delveccio’s favor, whatever it was, was doable. Not to mention that the extra day off from my day job meant I could catch up on the important things in life, like laundry, watching TV, and maybe even taking a nap. I dare say I practically skipped through the kitchen.

Bob, Aunt Susan’s ex-boyfriend, was there, his back to me, repairing the kitchen window. A window he’d broken by chucking a rock through it like a lovesick twelve-year-old, inadvertently striking Loretta’s fiancé, Templeton, in the head.

I stopped in my tracks, suddenly aware I had no idea where Templeton was. The last I knew, he’d had a bad reaction to one of the medications they’d administered at the hospital and almost died. Was he still there? Or had he been released?

A knot of guilt formed in my gut. Even though I had so much going on, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about the man who’d once saved my life when my crazy ex tried to kill me.  My mind raced, trying to figure out how I could determine his condition without upsetting one or all of my aunts. Who could I ask?

“You okay, Maggie?” Bob asked, turning around.

“I was thinking about Templeton.”

Bob grimaced, looking as guilty as I felt. “I really do feel rotten about that. I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”

“I know.”

“He accepted my apology.” Bob leaned back against the counter. “I mean he’s a little odd, but overall he’s a decent guy.”

I nodded. I’d thought the same thing at times, but now that I knew Templeton played poker with known criminals and frequented a local pawn shop, I wasn’t convinced he was right for my Aunt Loretta. Which is saying something since she was once married to a drug dealer and had been involved with a dirty cop. “Have you seen him?”

“Oh yeah. He was in here making himself a cup of tea a little while ago.”

I let out a sigh of relief. Templeton was home.

“I got the impression that Loretta is smothering him with kindness.” Bob laughed.

“She’s been known to do that.”

Loretta may be a bit of a flaky nymphomaniac, but she takes care of those she loves.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to work,” I told Bob, moving toward the door.

“You really should call my sister,” Bob told me. “No matter what happens with me and Susan, she’d like to give you a job.”

I smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks. I keep meaning to do that, but things have been so crazy...” I waved my hands, trying to encompass the insanity that passes for my day-to-day.

“I understand. Well just know the offer’s still open.”

“Thanks,” I murmured, stepping through the doorway.

I walked quickly intent on checking in on Templeton to see if he needed anything. It was the least I could do, considering I’d forgotten all about him.

“Maggie?” a familiar voice called as I sped past the dining room.

Stopping in my tracks, my stomach lurched traitorously. I turned back, bracing myself for more bad news. What had my father gone and done this time?

I found US Marshal Griswald sitting at the dining room table, polishing a silver candelabra. “Marshal Griswald?”

“Thought that was you,” he offered me a friendly smile.

The corners of my mouth twitched, but I doubted it resembled a grin.

“Did you hear about Mulligan?”

“Huh?” I blurted out dumbly, so surprised that he wasn’t regaling me with my father’s latest misadventure, that I couldn’t follow his train of thought.

“Detective Patrick Mulligan. The one who took care of your dog,” he prompted. “He’s in the hospital. Poisoned.”

Remembering that I’d run into Griswald’s nephew Brian at the hospital, I decided it wasn’t the time to play dumb. “Brian told me.” The terrible thought that something worse might have befallen Patrick occurred to me. “Did something else happen?”

Griswald shook his head. “No he appears to be on the mend.”

“Thank goodness.”

Griswald raised his sharp gaze from the candelabra to me.

I swallowed hard, wondering what he saw. “Is that why you’re here?”

He shook his head, his gaze assessing.

“Is... Did my father do something else stupid?” I asked.

Sympathy replaced suspicion in his eyes. “Oh you poor girl.” He indicated I should sit down in the seat opposite him. “I’m sorry I worried you. I should have known that you’d expect the worst with my arrival.”

Knees weak with relief that at least I didn’t have to deal with one of Dad’s ill-planned schemes, I sat down and grabbed an oatmeal cookie from the platter at the center of the table.

“No. Your father is still in custody. Still lined up to testify.”