Twilight (17 page)

Rick glanced at Kate. “Do you agree?”

“Pretty much.”

“That doesn’t sound very wholehearted,” he said, seizing on the hint of doubt that Dana had also detected. “What’s troubling you?”

“Vincent Polanski’s reaction to the news that Dana was investigating,” Kate said slowly, as if she were still formulating the thought. “Didn’t you notice, Dana? He was the only one here who seemed genuinely distressed that you were going to be looking in our own backyard, rather than in Chicago. The minute he spoke up, I had the feeling that he was the one with something to hide.”

“Gut instinct?” Dana asked dryly.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Kate retorted defensively.

Dana grinned at her. “Then I guess we’d better pay attention. These days your gut seems to be more reliable than mine.”

“That’s because you’re not feeding anything to yours,” Rick pointed out, gesturing toward the untouched food on her plate. “Eat.”

“Maybe you ought to whip up a batch of burritos for her,” Kate said innocently. “I understand she eats well enough when she’s with you at that place called Tico’s.”

Rick regarded Dana speculatively. “That’s true. Perhaps I should call and have him send an order out here. In fact, I am sure he would be delighted to bring it personally. He finds you enchanting.” The last was said with an intriguing hint of irritability.

“That’s ridiculous,” Dana objected, focusing on the plan to have Tico come all the way from Chicago to bring Mexican food and leaving the hint of jealousy in Rick’s voice for another time. “There’s enough food here already to feed an army.”

“But perhaps you have discovered that Mexican food feeds the soul as well as the body,” Rick suggested.

“I’ve never heard anybody rhapsodize over tacos before,” Dana said.

“Then I should have taped your comments the first time we walked into Tico’s,” he taunted. “Even the aroma sent you into raptures.”

Dana laughed, despite herself. “Okay, okay, he does make delicious food, but that doesn’t mean I have to live on a steady diet of it.” She deliberately picked up a little sandwich and popped it into her mouth. It tasted like so much sawdust. She made a face.

“Perhaps what it needs is a few jalapeños,” Rick suggested.

“It was tuna,” she protested.

“You could tell that?”

“Okay, so it was a little bland. My taste buds have just been deadened by all those peppers you’ve been feeding me the last few days.”

“I know of a way to bring them alive again,” he said, regarding her mouth so intently that heat climbed into her cheeks.

Kate bounced up. “Well, on that provocative note, I guess it’s time for me to go. See you tomorrow, Dana. Nice to see you again, Rick.”

“Kate?” Dana stared after her departing friend with a sense of desperation. Kate never even slowed.

“She has quite a sense of timing, wouldn’t you agree?” Rick asked, a smile on his lips.

“Oh, yeah. It’s lousy,” she retorted.

“Not from where I’m sitting.”

“Rick, I think you ought to go, too. It’s late and you have to drive back to the city.”

“Kicking me out? After I came all this way to prevent the same thing from happening to you?”

The reminder of what had brought him dashing out here tonight made her sigh. “You can’t stop me from being tossed out of this house.”

“Maybe not indefinitely, but I’ll bet I can slow the process down.”

She chuckled. “Do you always jump at the chance to tackle any old challenge?”

“Only those that matter,” he assured her.

His gaze locked with hers in a way that left her trembling. Apparently satisfied that he’d rattled her, he stood. “Come. Walk me to the door.”

Her knees felt weak as she stood, but she walked with him, fighting a ridiculous sense of disappointment that he’d taken her at her word. She did want him to go, didn’t she? Of course she did. He was just an irritant that had to be tolerated for the moment. No more.

At the door, he paused and looked into her eyes. She thought she detected a hint of uncertainty in his, just as he shook his head. “Ah,
querida,
” he whispered. “What have you done to me?”

Dana swallowed. All of a sudden she was having a very difficult time remembering that she hated this man. “I don’t understand.”

He framed her face with his hands. His thumbs skimmed lightly across her cheeks, leaving fire in their wake. Just when her breath caught in her throat, just when she was all but certain that his mouth was descending to claim hers, he brushed a soft and tender kiss across her forehead and released her with a sigh.

“
Buenos noches, querida.
Sleep well.”

He was gone before she could gather her composure. As he disappeared into the darkness, she whispered, “Good night,” and wondered why she suddenly felt bereft all over again.

17

I
t was barely dawn when Dana’s phone rang. She answered groggily.

“You were sleeping,
señora.
I am so sorry,” a soft voice said.

“Rosa?”

“
Sí,
it is Rosa. I did not mean to wake you.”

Dana grinned at the barely contained excitement in the teen’s voice. “Today’s the big day and you’re nervous, right?”

“How do you say...petrified? These people, do you think they will like me?”

“Of course,” Dana reassured her. “You already have Ted Hanson in your corner, and he is a very important man.”

“Are you sure it is okay to wear what I wore in the pictures? Maybe I should find something else nicer. My Sunday dresses no longer fit, but perhaps Mama would lend me the money to buy something.”

“It’s not necessary. If I thought it was, I would take you shopping myself.” She paused, thinking of the endless stretch of hours between now and their appointment at the ad agency. If they would be empty for her, they would be excruciatingly slow for Rosa. Maybe shopping wasn’t such a bad idea. It would take her mind off the stalled investigation into Ken’s murder for a while, too. Sometimes a distraction allowed the head to sort through the facts and put them into some new order.

“Rosa, let’s do it. Let’s go find something special for you to wear.”

“Oh, no,” she objected with feeling. “I could not take a gift from you. You have already done so much.”

“No arguments. It would be my pleasure. Think of it as my very small contribution to your future,” she said, then added briskly, “I’ll pick you up at ten at the center.”

Rosa hesitated. “You will drive here alone?” she asked worriedly.

“Of course.”

“But I do not think that is such a good idea,” she protested. “It can be very dangerous here for you. Rick would not be happy if I let you do that.”

Rick was not king of the world, not her world, anyway. “It’s not his decision or yours,” Dana said testily. “I’ll be fine. Ten o’clock, Rosa. I’ll pick you up in the alley by Rick’s parking place.”

After she’d hung up, Dana concluded that this was the best thing that could have happened. She needed to prove once and for all that she could operate independently of Rick’s influence. Perhaps people who wouldn’t open up in his presence would admit things to her if they saw that she wasn’t afraid to be in the neighborhood alone. This was not a time to turn into some sort of timid soul. She was intrepid. At least, she always had been before. She just had to hone that side of her nature again.

Of course, she might get her fool head shot off, she conceded. Still, she felt more optimistic than she had in weeks. She felt in charge again. It was a great feeling.

Despite the traffic, she found the drive into the city exhilarating. The air was frigid, but the sky was a brilliant blue, and the sun sparkled on Lake Michigan.

The closer she came to the barrio, the greater her sense of anticipation. Some of that was on Rosa’s behalf. More of it was on her own. She would prove to Rick, once and for all, that she was capable of handling herself, even in this dangerous and somewhat alien environment.

Why she felt she had to prove anything to him was beyond her. She didn’t care what Rick Sanchez thought of her. He was simply a means to an end. Even as she thought that, though, she sighed. It was getting more and more difficult to convince herself of that with each day that passed. There was an undeniable connection between them, and it seemed to be growing stronger every minute.

Still, she was in a cheerful frame of mind as she cut through the narrow, crowded streets of the barrio. In the daytime, they were alive with activity. It was hard to feel any sense of the danger that darkened the same streets at nightfall.

As she made the turn into the alley behind Yo, Amigo, she saw a large shadow detach itself from the wall. A faint chill of apprehension washed over her, ruining her earlier mood. The test of her newfound determination was coming a little sooner than she’d hoped.

Even so, she forced herself to drive forward. She refused to let anyone intimidate her within a few yards of her destination. She could always scream bloody murder at this point and someone from Yo, Amigo was bound to come running to her rescue.

Just in case, her right hand folded around the grip of the gun she’d brought along. Though it was registered and totally legal, it had been years since she’d had it out of her safe-deposit box. She’d picked it up this morning on her way into Chicago. How fortuitous, she decided, as the shadow ahead began to take the shape of a tall, broad-shouldered man.

She was so intent on him that she never even saw the second man slip up beside the driver’s-side door. When it was wrenched open, she gasped with shock and instinctively swerved the car to the right.

The man muttered an oath, but his grip on the door never loosened. Dana was about to hit the accelerator when a hand stretched across and yanked the keys from the ignition, stopping the car in its tracks.

She whirled in the seat, gun in hand. The barrel was pointed directly at the intruder’s midsection.

“Holy Mother of God, point that thing some other way.”

At the sound of the voice, she glanced up, straight into Rick’s furious face.

“You,” she said, shocked and furious herself. “I ought to put a bullet through you, just to teach you a lesson about scaring a person to death.”

“Let’s just call it even,” he suggested dryly.

“Was there a point to your little exercise here?” she inquired.

“I was hoping to show that you were no match for the neighborhood.”

“So far, the only times I’ve been threatened and assaulted here, it’s been by you,” she reminded him. “I’d say you’re the real danger to me.”

“You bet,
querida,
” he said in a way that didn’t sound half so much like the endearment it usually was.

He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and dragged her half out of the car, then delivered a bruising, punishing kiss that both infuriated and alarmed her. Why alarmed? Because she enjoyed it far too much. She thrilled to the overwhelming passion behind it. Her mouth stung. Her blood roared. And she hated herself for it, hated feeling so alive, hated that another man could make her feel that way.

Still, she couldn’t resist. The gun slipped from her grasp as she reached up to touch Rick’s cheek. When it did, he released her and seized it before she could blink.

“Never let your guard down with the enemy,” he reminded her softly as he unloaded the bullets from the gun, then stuck it in the waistband of his jeans.

“That kiss didn’t feel as if it were between enemies,” she said, more shaken than she wanted to admit.

“Sex can be as potent a weapon as guns. You would do well to remember that.”

An awful lot of people had been handing out free advice to her lately, and she found it incredibly irritating. Backing away, she sank back behind the wheel and gestured up the alley, where there was no longer any sign of the man who’d distracted her.

“Who was your decoy?” she asked.

“Marco,” he admitted readily enough. “He told me of the plans you had with Rosa. We decided you should be made aware of the risk you were taking.”

“What a pair of sports!” she said derisively. “Are you coming along on our shopping expedition to protect us from the salesclerks?”

“Though I would like nothing more than to spend the day watching you choose the clothes you will put next to your body, I’m afraid I have work to do here. Marco will accompany you. I will join you later, in time for the meeting at the advertising agency.”

“I would hate to disrupt your day. If you’re busy, you could skip that, too.”

His lips quirked at her testiness. “And miss out on Rosa’s big moment? Never. I would not disappoint her that way. Nor would I let you down.”

“How sweet!”

“Stick around,
querida.
You will discover there are many sides to me before we are through.”

“And not all of them attractive,” she retorted.

He grinned. “But the others compensate, yes?”

Dana wouldn’t have answered that if an armed mob had demanded it. The man was already entirely too smug as it was. And she was not prepared to give him a totally honest answer. She couldn’t even give one to herself.

* * *

Rick’s stomach still clenched when he remembered the sight of that gun being aimed so steadily at his gut. Dana had surprised him and, though he would have died before admitting it to her, she had delighted him. She was clearly very brave, even if far too impetuous for her own good.

He was not sure yet which of them had learned the more valuable lesson in that alley. He knew, without a doubt, that he could no longer underestimate her. She...well, who knew what she had taken away from the experience? Perhaps an awareness of just how powerful the chemistry was between them.

He would have loved to take the time to pursue the raw emotions unleashed by that kiss he had initiated, but he’d promised Tico he would stop by the restaurant before it opened. He’d said it was urgent and too risky to be discussed on the phone, when anyone might pick up an extension, either at Yo, Amigo or in his own kitchen.

Maybe this was the break they’d been looking for, Rick thought as he walked the few blocks to the small restaurant. Perhaps Tico had found the link they’d sought to some nefarious Chicago politician.

He slipped in the back door, just so he could inhale the aroma of meat cooking with cumin and other spices. He snatched a jalapeño from a huge bowl as he passed and bit into it as he winked at Tico’s mother, who was overseeing the lunch preparations.

“Out,” she shouted at him, shooing him toward the door. “You pay, like everyone else.” She was laughing, though, as she said it.

“Te amo, Mamacita,”
he called back. He paused to give her a smacking kiss on the cheek. Other than his own mother, there was no one he adored more than this woman with the graying hair and aristocratic features, which had been softened by age, but blessed with wisdom.

“When are you going to marry me?” he asked.

“You want my cooking, not me,” she retorted.

“Not so. Tico cooks as well as you, and I do not wish to marry him.”

She laughed. “Out of here with your foolishness. Tico is waiting for you. He is very anxious.” Her expression sobered. “There is no trouble for Tico, is there, Rick?”

“No trouble. I promise.”

“
Muy bien. Vaya.
Go. You are in my way.”

Rick found Tico in his office, surrounded by mounds of paperwork. He was on the phone, arguing with a supplier in rapidly escalating Spanish. Rick almost pitied the person on the receiving end of the tirade. It sounded as though he was very close to losing Tico’s very lucrative business.

“Give the man a break,” he mouthed to his friend.

Tico slammed down the phone, with nothing apparently resolved. “A break? He is my cousin, and he is trying to cheat me and you would have me give him a break? I should cut off his
cahones.
”

Rick winced. “That ought to improve family relations no end. When your mood improves slightly, perhaps you would like to tell me why you had me rush over here. In the meantime, I will remain very quiet. I would prefer not to endanger my own manhood by crossing you.”

Tico sighed and slugged back a tiny cup of the thick, sweet Cuban coffee he preferred. The man must live with a perpetual caffeine buzz, Rick concluded, watching him try to get a grip on his temper.

Finally Tico smiled. His shoulders relaxed visibly. “It has been a bad morning. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, but I’m not the one who deserves an apology. In the interest of family harmony, perhaps you should be saying that to your cousin.”

“I will,” Tico promised, then grinned. “Eventually. In the meantime, he deserves to sweat.”

“Now, since your mood seems to be improving, tell me,” Rick said. “What have you found out? I assume this has something to do with Ken’s murder.”

The younger man nodded. “Someone came to me yesterday. He said he had heard that I was interested in information on the
padre’
s death. He wanted money, so at first I wasn’t sure whether he was desperate or trustworthy. In the end, we came to terms.”

“Did he have information?”

Tico shrugged. “You will have to decide that for yourself. He says that a thug named Carlos Hernandez was involved.”

The name meant nothing to Rick. He looked at Tico. “Do you know him?”

“I know of him. He runs a gang of sorts, though it is closer to a ring of criminals, if you ask me. They are for hire to do a variety of jobs that are not exactly legal. They stay away from drugs, but they are very adept at everything else, from arson to murder.”

Rick considered the information. Was it possible that someone had hired this Carlos to hit Ken? But why, dammit? Why would anyone want to see Ken dead? He thought of the drugs that he didn’t doubt for a minute had been planted in Ken’s office. Was there a link there?

“You say this Carlos has nothing to do with drug trafficking, but would he be above planting drugs to turn someone into a suspect?”

“He will shoot a man in cold blood,” Tico said dryly. “I doubt he would blink at the thought of framing someone. Why? Did someone try to pin a drug charge on Ken, as well?”

“Looks that way,” Rick admitted. “Where can I find this Carlos?”

“I figured you would want to see him, so I asked my contact if he could arrange a meeting. Carlos will be dropping by for a beer around four this afternoon. The restaurant will be quiet then. You will not be interrupted.”

Four? Damn, he was supposed to meet Dana at the ad agency at four for Rosa’s big meeting. In the meantime, with the two of them chasing from boutique to boutique, he had no way to get in touch with her to let her know that there’d been a change in plans. And he had just promised her that he always meant what he said.

Still, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she would want him to meet with Carlos if it would offer them any information at all about what had happened to Ken.

“I’ll be here,” he told Tico. “But this guy better have something for me, because I’m canceling a very important engagement for this.”