Home Free (32 page)

“It’s okay,” my mother said. “I’d like to
hear whatever you’ve come to tell Alexis.” I guessed working in the
ER for thirty years had conditioned her to be able to take
anything. Even the news that her son was a killer.

Jimmy C nodded. “Sure, okay then.” He turned
to me. “Your brother was arraigned a few minutes ago. He pled
guilty as part of a plea agreement in order to avoid trial.
Sentencing hasn’t occurred yet, but the DA agreed to terms in the
neighborhood of twenty-five years to life.”

Behind Jimmy C, I saw my mother stiffen.
Tears sprang to her eyes. Kevin sagged, and he reached for Pauline.
I couldn’t tell if they thought it was too long, or not long
enough, or if they were just shocked that it was all happening so
quickly. I nodded. I didn’t know what I thought, either.

“Now for the good news. The guilty plea
satisfies the conditions for releasing the reward money. How would
you like that check made out?” Jimmy C had the killer smile on his
face, the one I hadn’t seen since our first meeting a week and a
half ago, and I knew he was enjoying the irony of Brian paying me
to bring himself down.

I’d forgotten about the reward money until
the newspaper article reminded me of it earlier, but I’d been
thinking about it ever since. The doorbell rang. I looked at the
ceiling. “Jesus Christ. I’ll be right back.”

I opened the door and found Mikey standing
there. He was taped and stitched and bandaged. His eyes started at
my feet and traveled upwards, slowly, and his smile widened. “Do
you answer the door for everyone like that, or am I special?”

“Come on in and find out.”

When we got to the kitchen, I saw Jack had
poured coffees all around and started another pot. Kevin stared at
Mikey for a beat, then came over, hand extended.

“Thanks, man. I owe you an apology, among
other things. I really thought you were playing Alex. I’d be
screwed big time if it weren’t for the two of you.”

Mikey shook his hand and shrugged. “Thank god
your sister has no common sense.”

“Amen.”

“Hello, I’m standing right here.”

Pauline joined us, hugging Mikey like he was
her long-lost brother. “Thank you for proving Kevin had nothing to
do with all that nonsense.”

I could see Mikey was uncomfortable with all
the gratitude, plus I didn’t know how my mother was inclined to
react, given that Mikey had proven one son innocent, only to prove
the other one guilty. I pulled him aside.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

He hauled his eyes up from my thighs. “I see
you lied about the tattoo.”

“You just can’t see it. It’s a little higher
up.”

He clutched at the counter. “Jesus.”

“Mikey? Was there a reason for this
visit?”

“Uh, yeah. They brought me a roommate last
night at the hospital, some guy ranting about a crazy woman who’d
tried to shoot him with a forty-five, stabbed him in the foot with
his own knife and then turned her rabid cat loose on him. Thought
I’d see if you knew anything about that.” The other conversations
halted, and I felt everyone staring at me. I looked at Jimmy C for
help, but he just smiled.

“He stabbed himself in the foot, if I’d
actually been
trying
to shoot him, I would have, and I only
implied the cat was rabid. Brian hadn’t hired him, turns out he
just disliked me for his own personal reasons, not for the cash. Go
figure.” My mom stared at me for a second, then turned to Pauline
and continued detailing her recipe for green bean casserole. Crap,
nothing fazed these people anymore. Another thought jarred me.
“Jesus, Mikey, you didn’t, you know?” I glanced at Jimmy C, who was
engrossed in a conversation with Jack about insulation. I had
pictures in my head of Derek, strangled with his IV tube, or
possibly electrocuted with the defibrillator.

Mikey rolled his eyes. “After all the trouble
we went to, to keep me out of jail? I figured you’d kill me if we
did all that for nothing.” He winked, and I smiled, and he turned
to Jimmy C. “By the way, Tom Jenkins called me a few minutes ago.
He heard the story on the news and decided to come back to town. He
said he did call Danny that night, and then when he went to meet
him and saw the flames, he freaked out and took off. Now he wants
to conclude our deal.”

Jimmy C nodded. “I’ll need a statement from
him, if you could tell him to drop by later on today.” He turned
back to me. “So, Alex. About that reward.”

“Make out a check for five thousand to Angela
Freitas. She’s the one who got the license plate.” I looked at
Mikey, his bruises and cuts and broken ribs, and I shrugged. “The
rest is up to Mikey. He can have it all if he wants.”

Mikey shook his head. “We make a helluva
team, Alex. Your clever plans, my uncanny ability to get the shit
beat out of me.” He turned to Jimmy C. “Fifty-fifty.”

Jimmy C nodded and jotted something in his
notebook. I heard the front door open and close, and a moment later
Angela appeared. She took in the assembly.

“I saw the paper, and I wondered if
everything was okay. Plus, I kind of wanted to work on the
computer. I had that idea I wanted to try.” She glanced at my bare
legs. “You should listen to me about the pizza.”

I introduced her around. “Knock yourself out
with the raisins. I’m taking the day off. By the way, you’ll be
receiving a check for five thousand dollars. Unless you don’t stop
with the smart-ass remarks.”

“No, I couldn’t - ” she started.

I cut her off. “It’s not my money, Angela.
It’s a reward for information leading to the capture of the bad
guy. You provided some of that information, you deserve some of the
money.”

She looked thoughtful. “I
could
buy a
computer, that way my brother-in-law wouldn’t have to do all of his
work at the computer lab at school, and I could use it when he’s
not.”

“Whatever you want. It’s your money.”

She gave me a smile. “Thanks. By the way, you
don’t look half bad for forty.” Lucky for her the gun was in the
other room.

I didn’t hear the door open again, but Debbie
appeared with an enormous platter of cookies. Jack started the
third pot of coffee, and I figured no one would notice if I left. I
went to my closet and opened the little fire safe I bought to keep
my valuables in. It was empty because don’t have any valuables. I
ejected the clip from the gun and slid the round out of the chamber
and locked the gun and ammo in the safe. I needed to give it to
Rose, but I had something else to do and I didn’t want to come home
to any additional holes in my walls. I took a fast shower, threw on
clothes and makeup and snuck down the hall, taking care to step
over the squeaky board. Angela was at work in the office, and there
were still voices coming from the kitchen. I went out to get in my
car, and Jack’s truck and Mikey’s Cadillac were gone. Evidently,
life went on. Lucifer emerged from the azalea bush, and I sat down
on the steps to have a talk with him.

“Look, I don’t like cats.” He ambled over and
sniffed at my shorts, then climbed into my lap, purring. I
scratched him behind the ears. “And regardless of what the kook
next door says, you are so not better than men. But you showed good
judgment with the Derek thing, so I guess you can live here if you
want. Just remember, it’s
my
house, okay?” More purring.
“Don’t bring me dead things. I’m not impressed. And if you fall in
the damn pool, I’ll replace you with a golden retriever.”

“Decaf, right?”

I thought. I might need a lot of energy. On
the other hand, I was already jittery. Better stick with the
decaf.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

I paid for my mocha lattes and blueberry
muffins, then drove on. People were still getting themselves to
work, so I didn’t have to wait long for the gate at Danny’s condo
to swing open and discharge one of its occupants. I slid through
before the gate made its way back in the other direction. I parked
in front of Danny’s place, then sat in the car for five minutes,
trying to think of something to say. Finally, his front door
opened, and Danny appeared, wearing really excellent jeans and a
frown, no shirt, no shoes.

“You going to sit out there all day, or
what?”

I heaved myself out of the car and grabbed
the bag of muffins and the coffees, then slammed the door shut with
my hip and beeped the doo-dad. He held the front door open for me,
taking his coffee as I passed, and followed me into the dining
room. I dropped the bag on the table and sipped my coffee and sat
down. He sat across from me, and I tried to read his eyes. There
was a lot there, and none of it looked happy.

“You’re angry.”

He raised his eyebrows and drank his
coffee.

“I tried to stay out of it.”

Nothing.

“I left when Jack left. I went somewhere
public. I didn’t annoy anybody.” Much.

He pulled the bag towards himself and removed
a muffin, peeling back the paper. I started to get pissed. Jesus
Christ, I’d risked my life to get him and Kevin cleared, and now he
was sitting here, giving me the silent treatment, and he hadn’t
even thanked me for the coffee and muffins.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“
What
?” Aha, he speaks.

“For the coffee and muffins, not to mention
saving your sorry ass from going to jail. You’re welcome.”

“Well,
thank you
, Lex. Thanks for the
breakfast. Thanks for saving me from going to jail. And I guess I
should also thank you for almost getting killed in the process.
That was certainly very thoughtful of you.” He was gulping muffin
now almost without chewing, and I reviewed the Heimlich maneuver in
my mind.

“I didn’t - ”

He cut me off. “What the fuck were you and my
brother thinking?” he thundered. “This plan was even more
harebrained than your plan for the fundraiser, for crissake. What
if Brian had figured out what you were up to with the recording?
What if Mikey wasn’t convincing enough? What if the cops had shown
up one minute later? What if - ”

“What if, what if, what if?” Why was he
torturing me? It was a good plan. “You give your brother the silent
treatment and the third degree, too, or is this special for
me?”

“It’s different, Lex. I don’t need you to
protect me.”

“So that’s what this is, some macho bullshit
about being saved by a woman? Christ, Salazar, welcome to the
twenty-first century. I think your manhood will survive the
indignity of a girl rescuing you.”

“It’s not about that. How do you think I
would feel if you’d gotten killed? Hunh?”

Right now, I guessed he’d be delighted. “The
only person who was a real threat to me was Derek, Danny, and he
had nothing to do with Brian or any of that. That was just dumb
luck, it could have happened to anybody, anytime.” I remembered too
late that he wouldn’t have heard yet that it was Derek. I went on
to explain, “Brian didn’t hire - ”

He cut me off. “I know about Derek. I visited
Mikey in the hospital last night. I was there when they brought
Derek in. And anyway, that’s bullshit. Your brother intended to
have Bruno kill you, at the very least. You saw what he did to
Mikey. And don’t even get me started on Derek. Christ, he knocked
on the door and
you let him in
.” Not my proudest moment, I
admit.

He started to say something else, stopped,
started again. “You’re an artist, Lex, not a cop or a PI or fucking
Wonder Woman. You had no business getting involved with something
so dangerous, and Mikey had no business letting you. I should never
have left you unsupervised yesterday, but it didn’t occur to me
then that you were insane.”

Unsupervised
? Who the hell did he
think he was? “What the fuck do you mean, Mikey had no business
letting
me get involved? Since when do I need your
permission, or anyone else’s, to do what I want?” He was being
obstinate and I was losing my patience with the whole conversation.
“Dammit, it was the only way I could think of to prove you and
Kevin were innocent.”

I took a deep breath, then blew it out. I
couldn’t have another fight with him. He was sitting there, in his
Levi’s and no shirt and all I really wanted was to climb on his lap
and make love to him for about a week. I hated that he hated
me.

“Danny, twelve years ago, you made a decision
for both of us. Your intentions were good, and I guess the outcome
was successful, but frankly your methods sucked. Maybe I did the
same thing. I tried to call you when I found out Brian wanted to
meet with Mikey, but unfortunately you weren’t available to take my
call. We were out of time, and I didn’t see another way. I’m not
saying there wasn’t one, just that I don’t know what it could have
been.”

I shoved my chair back and stood up. “Enjoy
the muffins. I won’t bother you again.” I felt numb, physically and
emotionally, and I shuffled to the front door, wondering if I could
stay in Minter with him despising me. I opened the door, but it
slammed it shut, and Danny spun me around to face him. His eyes
were flashing, and I could see he was trying hard not to raise his
voice.

“Goddammit, Lex, I was doing fine without
you. I slept, I ate, I worked, I had decent sex on occasion, and
sometimes I could go a couple days in a row without thinking about
you. And then you show up here, out of the blue, and fuck
everything up. You piss me off, you make me laugh, you turn me on,
and half the time you do all three in the same conversation. I
don’t know what to do with you.” He was leaning forward, holding
the door closed with one arm and looking down at me, his voice
gravelly, sexy as hell. I could smell his soap, and I felt my eyes
flutter down to his bare chest for a second or two, and I stuffed
my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t start unbuttoning his pants,
and I felt the numbness ebb. The new sensation was much more
enjoyable.