At Peace (78 page)

“
Leave me alone,” I muttered not wanting to
remember even as good as it was. I’d been out-of-control. No
inhibitions, none. It had been wild and considering our sex life,
that was practically unbelievable. Even Joe had been surprised, I
could tell. He didn’t complain nor did he resist, but he’d been
surprised.

“Gotta get you drunk more often, buddy,” Joe
decided.

“Alone,” I begged.

“Every night,” Joe kept at me.

I forced my eyes open, shifted only my
eyeballs to him and declared, “No more drink. No more sex.
Ever.”

He burst out laughing which shook the bed and
made me hold onto the pillow tighter and close my eyes against my
stomach roiling.

“Colt’s bachelor party tonight means I’ll be
home drunk,” he told me and I groaned. It was Feb’s bachelorette
party last night that set the scene for my drunken sex attack on my
boyfriend. When he spoke again, his mouth was again at my ear. “So
you better rest up, honey.”

I wasn’t hungover enough not to get a
little thrill at what Joe might dream up drunk. I liked what he
could do sober and I liked what he let me do when I was drunk. Joe
drunk was probably going to be
awesome
.

Nevertheless, I asked the pillow, “Didn’t I
say go away?”

“Yeah,” he answered and I could hear the
smile in his voice.

“Then go,” I demanded.

I felt his lips on my shoulder then I felt
his fingers tuck my hair behind my ear.

“I’ll tell the girls you said good-bye,” he
offered.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“I’m goin’ into the office.”

“Great,” I said.

“You feel up to it, we’ll go to Frank’s for
lunch.”

I groaned again and burrowed into the
pillows.

“Don’t talk about food,” I whispered, he
chuckled and his hand slid from the small of my back over my
ass.

“Get rest and then get fluids in you,” he
advised.

“Mm,” I mumbled.

“Only you could be cute hungover,” he
muttered as I felt his weight leave the bed.

“Don’t be nice when I’m hungover,” I
demanded.

“Why?” Joe sounded surprised and amused.

“I like to be nice back when you’re nice and
I can’t move,” I explained.

I felt his lips hit my neck and then they
went back to my ear. “You can be nice tonight when I come home
drunk. We’ll start with that thing you did when you climbed astride
my stomach and move on from there.”

I closed my eyes tighter as memories invaded
of me drunk and naked, climbing on top of a just awake Joe and then
giving him a one-woman show. A show he liked so much he turned the
light on to watch.

My body trembled with embarrassment.

“Ugh,” I grunted.

“Fuck, baby, never forget that. That beats
you wrestlin’ wet and in a skirt with Susie Shepherd.”

I lifted and turned my head, opening my eyes
to glare up at him. His head moved back with my movements and I saw
he was smiling huge which meant he was laughing inside.

“Go away, Joe!” I snapped and winced but his
hand wrapped around the back of my head, he lifted me up further,
kissed me hard and closed-mouthed and then he let me go.

“Rest,” he ordered.

“I would if you’d leave me alone,” I informed
him and he just grinned.

Then he smacked my ass lightly over the
covers and walked out of the room.

I collapsed into the bed and listened to Joe
talk quietly to the girls. Then I heard them leave. Then I fell
into blissful sleep having no idea that shield Joe had built around
me was about to collapse.

* * * * *

Colt climbed the stairs of the Station and
saw Sully’s head come up when he hit the top. Then he watched Sully
smile.

“Was Feb as shitfaced as Raine when she got
home?” he asked before Colt even made it to his desk.

Colt smiled. Feb was beyond shitfaced. Feb
was so wasted she could barely move. However, she wasn’t so wasted
she couldn’t use her mouth, which she did to spectacular results
after which she kissed his chest, grinned up at him like she’d just
succeeded in climbing Mount Everest instead of sucking him off and
then promptly passed out.

“Too bad Feb only gets one bachelorette
party,” Colt muttered as he shrugged off his blazer and hooked it
around the back of his chair.

“
Yeah,” Sully grinned, “bachelorette
parties are my favorite part of my friends gettin’
hitched.”

Considering Sully’s wife Lorraine got smashed
after a daiquiri and a half, Colt figured Sully had a pretty good
night.

“
I’m doin’ a Meems run,” Sully told him,
straightening from his chair as Colt sat in his, “you want a
coffee?”

Mimi’s Café was two blocks away and her
coffee was so good, you never said no when someone offered it.

“Yeah. Cappuccino,” Colt replied as his phone
rang.

He reached for it and Sully reached for his
blazer.

“Colton,” he said into the receiver after he
put it to his ear.

“Colt? Pryor. We got a situation,” he heard
Barry Pryor say, he sounded far from happy and Colt’s eyes cut to
Sully. Sully saw the look in them and stopped moving.

“What?” Colt asked.

“Last night was a bloody one for Chicago,”
Pryor answered.

“What?” Colt asked again.

“
Someone tried to whack Daniel Hart. This
whack failed to take down Hart but it took down two of his top
boys. Hart didn’t hesitate with retribution and a drive by at Sal
Giglia’s favorite haunt saw four of his soldiers buy it not to
mention a waitress and the bartender is critical.”

Colt closed his eyes and sat back in his
chair muttering, “Fuck.”

“You know about our friend?” Pryor asked and
Colt opened his eyes to see Sully sit in the chair by Colt’s
desk.

Colt knew. He knew that Cal’s grandfather’s
sister married a Giglia. He knew the Giglias were big time mob, not
low level, upper echelon and they had been for a long time. He knew
Cal had briefly worked security for Giglia during the last war
Giglia had with Hart. He knew Cal had lost his cousin to that war
and took a bullet protecting Giglia during it. And lastly he knew
that Cal was impatient enough to act reckless and activate the
family.

“Yeah,” he answered Pryor.

“Well, my guess is, Hart does too. My guess
is Hart knows that our friend is losin’ patience. My guess is
Hart’s gonna know what our friend’s up to,” Pryor stated.

“What have your boys been doin’?” Colt
asked.

“As you know, Captain agreed and Fed’s
approved so we been gettin’ in his business. He hasn’t been likin’
this much,” Pryor replied.

“He put that two with the other two and get
four?”

“He’s a psychopath but he isn’t stupid.”

“Was Sal Giglia at that restaurant last
night?” Colt asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine but I’m guessin’ he’s also
pissed which means the earth under Chicago shifted last night and
we all gotta hold on,” Pryor answered.

Colt suspected he wasn’t wrong. He just hoped
that quake wouldn’t hit his town.

“
Any more to report?” Colt
asked.

“Last night was busy. Feds got the books,”
Pryor told him.

Finally, good news.

He looked at Sully and said, “They got the
books.”

Sully’s brows went up but Pryor kept
talking.

“
They got forensic accountants combin’ ‘em
and a judge on hold for a warrant.”

“How long’s that gonna take?”

“They’re fast-tracked.”

“That isn’t an answer,” Colt told him.

“My gut?” Pryor asked.

“Lay it out,” Colt answered.

“Make some calls. They’re workin’ fast but
Hart’ll work faster. This isn’t about Vi anymore. This is about
retaliation.”

“Right,” Colt said.

“I’ll keep you briefed. You do the same,”
Pryor ordered.

“Yeah. Later.”

“Later.”

Colt put the receiver in the cradle and then
twisted to his blazer to get his cell asking Sully, “Someone on Vi
this mornin’?”

“Chris,” Sully answered. “What’s up?”

“Call him. A hit on Hart went bad last night,
two down, Hart survived. He retaliated against Sal Giglia and five
were killed and the kills were sloppy, they took out a waitress and
the bartender’s critical. Giglia’s gonna move back. They got the
books. It’s goin’ down.”

“This gonna blow down here?” Sully asked,
moving quickly back to his desk.

“My guess, Pryor’s gut? Yeah. You call Chris,
tell him she needs to be home behind Cal’s security fortress and
Chris is glued to her. Then you call who’s on the girls. They’re
taken out of school and they’re home. We got someone on Cal?”

“Adam,” Sully answered, his phone to his
ear.

Colt scrolled down to Cal and hit go. He put
the phone to his ear and waited, getting voicemail. He disconnected
and called again and again got voicemail.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he waited for the
message to clear and heard the beep. “Cal, Colt. Minute you get
this, call me. Shit went down in Chicago last night. You, Vi and
the girls need to be home. Sully’s talkin’ to Chris who’s got Vi
and we’re movin’ to get the girls.”

He disconnected and scrolled up to Adam.

“Chris isn’t answering,” Sully said and Colt
looked at him.

“What?”

“
Called twice. No answer,” Sully said, the
receiver still at his ear he spoke into it. “Connie,” he said to
the woman who was working dispatch, “get a callout to Chris. You
connect, you tell him to move on Vi, take her home, batten down the
hatches and call me in that order. He can brief her after he gets
briefed.”

Colt stood and grabbed his blazer, hitting go
on Adam on his phone. He started to move to the backstairs and saw
Mike alighting them so he stopped and lifted a palm to Mike who
took one look at his face and halted.

Colt got voicemail.

“
Fuck!” he clipped, flipped his phone shut
and turned to Sully. “I’m goin’ to the high school. You get a
callout to whoever’s on the girls. I’ll meet them there.” He turned
to Mike. “Shit’s blowin’ down from Chicago. You need to go to the
garden center.”

“Fuck!” Mike hissed, turned without a word
and sprinted down the stairs.

Colt looked back at Sully. “Find Cal.”

Then he ran after Mike.

* * * * *

“You get Cal?” Sal asked his boy.

“Voicemail,” was the answer.

Sal stared at him and then quietly said,
“Take a hike. Keep at him. Tell me when you’ve connected. ‘Til
then, my eyes don’t see you.”

Sal took in the nod from his boy who missed
his hit, that boy disappeared and then he was alone.

Sal picked up his phone, scrolled down and
hit go.

“Yeah?” he heard a groggy Vinnie answer.

“You’re comin’ to me or I’m comin’ to you but
we gotta meet and we gotta do it ten minutes ago.”

There was silence.

Then Vinnie said, “I’m comin’ to you.”

Sal flipped his phone shut.

* * * * *

Kate disarmed the alarm and opened the door.
She walked in, Keira followed and Colt followed Keira.

“Stand there,” Colt ordered gently.

The girls were just inside the door. He
looked over his shoulder at Eric who had tailed the girls to school
and stayed for awhile to make sure things were okay. Eric was in
plainclothes, standing on the front porch and Colt gave him a
nod.

Eric nodded back, stood sentry at the front
door and Colt did a walkthrough of the house.

Vi and Joe’s bed was unmade, something
that nagged him considering both the girls’ beds were made, there
were no dishes in the sink, no crumbs on the counter and only a
glitter purple laptop was sitting on the coffee table and a pair
off flip-flops were in the corner. Other than that everything
seemed in order. Vi kept a tidy house. No signs of
struggle.

“Mom here?” Kate asked when he hit the living
room.

“
She’ll be here soon,” Colt said even
though he’d learned from the girls she wasn’t at the garden center.
She had the day off preparing for the possible aftermath of the
bachelorette party. She wasn’t at home but her Mustang was in the
drive.

Colt looked at Eric again and Eric moved out
of the door.

“Settle in, I’ll be back,” Colt said to Kate
and Keira and followed Eric. Once he got the door closed and walked
Eric into the yard, he turned his back to the house and got close.
“Call it in. She’s gone. Bed’s unmade, car’s in the drive. All eyes
peeled for her. I want officers here. Plainclothes in case the
girls see them canvassing. Door to door. Did they see Vi leave the
house, what was she wearing, what was she driving, was she with
someone? Did they see anyone suspicious? Every house. They’re not
home, you get to Feb, get their phone numbers and call them at
work. Copy that?”

Eric nodded and headed to his car. Colt
jogged to his house. Feb had the door open before he was halfway
across the street. She looked tired and not well, wearing her
hangover on her face which to Colt made her no less gorgeous and at
any other time he would find this hilarious. Now, he did not.

When he made it to her he didn’t say
hello.

“Call Jackie. She comes to get Jack. You go
over and wait with the girls.”

Feb’s face got even paler and Colt watched
the line of her body turn static.

“Wait for what?” she asked.

“Feb –” he started but didn’t finish. Her
eyes sliced to Vi’s house before she nodded and without a word
hustled back into the house.

Colt started to jog back across his yard when
his phone rang. He slowed to a walk, pulled it out of his blazer,
looked at the display, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“What you got for me, Sul?”

“
Chris and Adam down.” The words sounded
like they’d been dragged out of his partner’s throat and they made
Colt stop dead right in the middle of the street.