Deborah Brown - Madison Westin 06 - Revenge in Paradise (27 page)

A neighborhood yellow tom strutted across the street, too fat to be homeless.

“Here, kitty,” I clucked, desperate enough for a diversion that I’d talk to the cat. Maybe he knew the felons down the street.

He wandered over and lifted his tail.

“Take a hike, you dreadful thing.” I ran my hand through the bushes.

He jumped back, glared at me, and hissed.

What would Fab do? She wouldn’t be squatting in the bushes, that’s for sure. She’d shoot him. She’d have her Walther tucked safely in her waistband, not having left it at home in the bedside drawer.

To my shock, the Hummer reappeared, Fab shook the man’s hand, and then she got behind the wheel. I crawled out and wiped my hands on the back of my skirt, not wanting to be caught groveling in the dirt. I stayed completely out of view and headed in the direction of the main street. When she turned the corner, I stepped out into the road and stuck out my thumb.

“Get in,” she yelled out the passenger window. “Am I glad to see you?”

“You okay?” I slammed the door. “How did you get this back?”

“Esteban never wanted this car, the ‘gas pig’ he called it. He had his eye on the Porsche. He watched it get dumped, and he and his crew waited to see who would show up next. He spilled the contents of my purse, finding my concealed permit and investigator license. I fessed up, told the truth that I was only in his neighborhood to retrieve the car.”

“Esteban? First names?” I rolled my eyes. “Will we be seeing more of him?” I sighed with relief as she entered the on-ramp to the freeway.

Fab’s secretive smile gave me hives.

“He questioned me about the jobs I’d done, wanted details. Interesting man.”

Says him!

“I made him an offer,” Fab continued. “I tossed him the keys to the Porsche, told him how to disable the GPS, he laughed. And then I surprised him, telling him about the back-up unit and showed him where it was located.”

“You’re amazing,” I said in awe.

Fab flew back to the Cove in record time, but this time I didn’t complain. I just sat back and downed my bottle of water, wondering how she planned to explain everything to Brick—especially the part about a missing half-million-dollar car.

“I gave Esteban my number in case he needed someone for a job. He might be a future client, but I did stress it had to be in a better part of town.”

“Fabiana, he’s a criminal.”

“I made it clear that I only worked the gray line, no felonies. Totally sold the story that you were pregnant with your first child and thanked him for not hurting you.”

“I have a suggestion for your business venture––an upgrade in clients. Brad and I talked, are you interested in the old gas station?”

“I’m claiming the space where the car wash used to be,” Fab said, looking over at me.

“It’s empty!”

“Leave that to me.” Her sneaky smile had me rubbing my forehead.

“Esteban asked me out on a date. Told him I lived with the best man ever and I wasn’t screwing it up. That’s when he mentioned being associates.”

“We get carjacked, and you not only get the car back but you get a date request? I get threatened and have to run for my life,” I sniffed. “I hated leaving you. I only did what the short one told me because you insisted.”

“You did the right thing. Do you think we could keep this little escapade between the two of us?” she pleaded.

“No exchange of bullets, no calls for help. We might not get caught,” I said, and laughed. “If Creole doesn’t ask, I’m not bringing it up. This is pretty close to a happy ending.”

“Creole’s on the phone,” Fab shouted from inside the house to the patio. She stood in the doorway waving my cell.

“Yeah, yeah, hang on,” she said into the phone.

I grabbed her arm and jerked it down from over her head to retrieve it. “Never leave your phone out,” I told Creole. “You never know what she’ll say.”

“Good news,” he said, and laughed. “Miss January is getting released within the hour.”

“She got bail?” I smiled at Fab.

Fab raised her eyebrows, pointing for me to put the call on speaker. Creole made me promise to never broadcast his calls. When I shook my head, she tried to take back the phone.

I slapped her hand away and made a face.

“No bail. Case dismissed.” He sounded very proud of himself.

“Who did you bribe?”

He chuckled. “I went to the chief with a deal: I’d bring in the dealer in exchange for the charges being dropped on Miss January. Harder sold it to Ana Sigga.”

“I bet she wasn’t happy.” Thankfully, I only saw her around the Cove on occasion; I assumed it wasn’t sophisticated enough for her, a different world from Miami.

“Harder asked her why she squeezed so hard on a woman with no record or history of drug use. And that she better have a good reason to block the deal. She didn’t answer but looked embarrassed and signed off.”

“We need to go to Miami,” I told Fab. “Rita will have to wait until later, Miss January doesn’t have anyone to pick her up.” I had received a message from Rita earlier that she had information for sale and to bring cash.

“I knew you were headed to Dawg’s,” Creole said. “I called Mac and she went to the jail, taking Score along for the ride. She just called and they’re back.”

“Your next day off, we’re going to spend it naked and I’ll show you my appreciation for you being the best boyfriend.” I let out a long sigh thinking about taking off his clothes.

“I’m going to be sick,” Fab squealed.

Creole laughed. “Lift up your skirt and reassure me that you have your Glock strapped on.”

“Yes, it’s there.” I giggled, my cheeks warming.

“Be careful. You have a tendency to close your eyes to danger. I want you to be careful and not ignore any signs.”

“If plans change I’ll call you,” I said, disconnected, and smiled at the phone.

“Can’t you control yourself until you’re in the bedroom with the door closed?” Fab shook her head in disgust.

“Just for that, I think I’ll drive.” I smirked.

She took the keys out of her pocket and grinned.

Before I could chase her down, my phone rang again.

“I want a raise,” Mac informed me. Judging by the sounds of traffic in the background, she must have had her windows down.

“You think you deserve more money to drive drunks around?” I hit the speaker. Fab and I sat back down at the island. “At least one passenger’s sober.”

“Lucky for me, Score had a hard day drinking and passed out, snoring all the way.” Mac chuckled. “Turned out Miss January doesn’t care for sobriety, asked me to stop at the liquor store for vodka and cigarettes.”

Having known a drunk or two, the person had to have the desire to be sober and Miss January clearly wasn’t interested. I never expected her to stay sober. It wouldn’t prolong her life.

“Would you have Shirl check in on her,” I asked.

“I think she missed not having Miss January around,” she said. “I have more good news. The charges against Joseph were dismissed.”

Fab and I shook our heads.

“There’s one lucky man. How did that happen?” I asked.

“The victim wouldn’t cooperate with the DA and didn’t show for a court hearing. Turns out, he had an outstanding warrant from Maryland and left town. He knew any cooperation on his part and his past would catch up to him,” Mac said.

“What was he wanted for, do you know?”

“He’d been convicted of grand theft and was serving time on a road crew when he walked away one day. They catch up to him and he’ll get extra time for escape and no cushy minimum security hospitality,” Mac said.

“Lucky Joseph. I hope he realizes he needs to stay in the Cove and get drunk or, better yet, stay home with Svetlana.”

“I told him I liked Svet better than him and he took it as a compliment,” she hooted.

When we hung up, I realized a good bribe was in order to make sure she stayed.

I called Dawg’s to confirm with Rita and found out she had gone home for the day.

The front door slammed with such force I thought it would fly off the hinges. “What in the hell were you two doing over in Sunnyside?” Creole stomped into the living room.

Fab and I had been arguing over what take-out to order. If I’d had advance warning, I would have slid to the floor and hid behind a piece of furniture until the storm cleared but it was too late, he towered in front of me.

I looked up, almost flinching from the anger on his face. “Could you use your quiet voice?” Technically, I could say, “Where?” because I didn’t know the name of the area until now.

“No,” he barked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Since you two have a death wish, how about I help you and strangle you both?”

I stared at his legs sticking out from his knee-length shorts and smiled. Now probably wasn’t the right time to tell him how damned hot he looked, fresh out of the shower, hair damp around his shoulders. Maybe I could throw some beach towels at him and he’d get the hint and we could go roll in the sand.

He cleared his throat, glaring down.

“That would upset Mother.”

“Don’t blame her.” Fab stepped in front of Creole, going nose to nose with him, voice controlled. “The GPS wasn’t working so I used my phone. We had no idea the neighborhood was in need of revitalization.”

I peeked at Didier from the corner of my eye, watching the fireworks about to begin. Fab must have told him despite her demand that we keep quiet earlier.

Creole sat back, calm, and gave me a hard look. I didn’t know exactly what he found out, but I didn’t want to add to the drama by lying, so I kept my mouth shut. He turned on Fab. “If the GPS isn’t working, I’ll bet it has your fingerprints on it. Are you so dumb that you ignored all the signs you were in a very bad neighborhood?”

Didier’s eyes never left Fab. The corners of his mouth turned up, ready for the explosion, and Fab didn’t disappoint.

She jumped into Creole’s face, unleashing a tirade in French. I noticed her liberal use of bad words, one in particular. Liam had been teaching me the colorful words on the sly. The professor would be proud if he knew.

Creole yelled right back at her. Whatever he said, Didier laughed and they both turned on him.

I’d had enough. Pretty soon they’d be saying stuff they couldn’t take back if that hadn’t happened already.

“Stop it!” I squeezed in between them. “Sit back down,” I ordered Fab, “and you sit over there.” I pointed to the chair I just vacated.

“Enough of this.” I put my hands on my hips. “You two don’t know each other very well and that’s about to change. You two sit down and talk this out.”

“This isn’t about liking one another, it’s about her blatantly refusing to use common sense,” Creole raged.

No one said a word. We sat and stared at one another.

Creole sighed and stood up. “Get up,” he said, and motioned to Fab. “Do you mind if I borrow your girlfriend?” he asked Didier. “We need to get a few things straight.”

“Just know you’re a dead man if you don’t bring her back alive,” Didier said. “I agree with Madison, you two definitely need to get along.” He folded his arms across his chest.

“Does my opinion count?” I asked.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Creole glared.

I gave him a big smile. That worked in my favor. His anger lines softened, his mouth briefly turned up in the corners.

Fab jumped up and smoothed out the non-existent wrinkle in her slinky dress that tied behind her neck. “I think it’s a great idea,” she said in a voice that said she clearly didn’t. “Come on, big ass, unless you’re afraid. Time to set some ground rules.”

Creole fished his keys out of his pocket, saying something to her in French. Didier threw his head back and laughed.

Fab turned and glared at him. “Don’t worry,” she said to me, “we’ll find you a new boyfriend.” The door slammed behind them.

“This isn’t the worst idea, but close,” Didier said. “They need to be friends if we’re going to make our relationship work.”

I watched from the kitchen window as Creole peeled out of the driveway. “Why couldn’t they stay here?” I picked up my phone. “Salad with your pizza?”

“You could at least ask what I want for a topping,” Didier grouched.

I ordered the large size, grilled vegetables on one side, shrimp on the other, stressing they were not to co-mingle in anyway. “I know everyone in this family’s favorite pizza topping and that includes you.”

He stood and hugged me. “What happened today?”

“A simple car retrieval went a little wrong. Fab needs to be the one to give you the details, if she hasn’t already.”

Didier listened, his face impassive.

“She was truly amazing.” I smiled.

Didier looked lost in thought. “I knew she had something on her mind; she started several times to say something and then changed the subject. Why couldn’t she just tell me she had a bad day?” he asked.

“My guess is she never wants to disappoint you or worry you. Look back from when you first met her to now and see all the good changes. You can’t snap your fingers and demand trust. You, my dear, seem to have earned hers and I hope you appreciate how hard that was for her to give.”

“I love her, all wild-eyed and beautiful spirit. She makes me laugh, she’s wicked smart, and so very naughty.” He smiled thinking about her.

“Which one comes back with a bullet wound?” Didier asked.

“Hopefully, neither one of them,” I said, and laughed. “But my guess is Fab would draw first. I wouldn’t want to be there for that. I hope they went some place public where it’s less likely to get out of control, forces them to use their good manners. A boyfriend once broke up with me in a pricey restaurant. I never got to tell him what I thought of him. I felt cheated.”

“Bâtard,” Didier said.

The doorbell rang. I opened the door to the pizza boy.

I lifted the lids to the boxes and they smelled yummy. I grabbed plates and put two slices on each, handing them to Didier, who’d tossed the salad in a bowl and spooned a little on each plate.