Slow Heat (12 page)

She headed to her bedroom for a shower. Hopefully, everyone had headed out. As much as she loved all of her brothers and sisters, when they were all here in the house, it could make her nuts. She reached her bedroom, the room she’d grown up in—except when she’d moved back home, Aiden and Bernie had knocked the wall out between her bedroom and Deidre’s to make Maggie’s private space a bit larger. She collapsed on her couch inside her room and pulled out her cell phone.

“Deidre,” she said the moment her sister answered.

“I didn’t tell anyone.”

Maggie sighed in relief. She kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes as she stared at them. “Good. Thanks. Please don’t, okay?”

“You have to tell Aiden.”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t, when he finds out, he’ll be pissed,” her sister said, sounding as if she stated the obvious.

And maybe she did. Maggie would risk it. “
Please
don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

“O’Malley honor.”

Deidre laughed. “O’Malley honor, and Mags?”

“Yes?” she asked, dreading the consequences of her sister’s willingness to stay quiet.

“Please be careful.”

Maggie stared across her bedroom and Micah’s powerful body appeared in her mind. He was strong, a bit too aware of her senses, and, yes, dangerous.

“Be careful of what?” she asked, hoping she sounded calm. Her heart was already beating harder than it had been a moment ago.

“I saw you when I went into the basement.” Deidre’s tone dropped, suddenly sounding concerned. “I know what it feels like when you can’t wait to fuck a man.”

“Deidre!”

“Don’t Deidre me, Mags,” her sister snapped. “You were flushed and mumbling under your breath. This Micah person has you flustered already. He hauled you out of your office, manhandled you, then you went to him for help. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist.”

“God, Deidre, stop already.”

“Fine, I’ll stop. Just remember. I’m your sister. I know you. You always try to be so logical, and you’re buried in your books and numbers. This man sounds out of your league. I just want you to be careful. That’s all.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Okay. And I’m here if you need me.”

“Thanks.” Maggie sucked in a breath. Her sister was dead-on, and it left Maggie feeling more than a bit unsettled. But Deidre knew all there was to know about men. “And thanks for keeping all of this quiet.”

“I love you, little sis.”

“Love you,” Maggie said, then hung up, not sure if she felt better after calling her sister. But at least she had her silence.

*   *   *

Maggie technically hadn’t been fired from her job. Once she was dressed she would drive over to Club Paradise. Other than Micah, it had bugged her all weekend as to how many times during her interrogation they’d asked her about “the other ledger.” There wasn’t one. She had told them that so many times it had made her nuts. But now, with her head a bit clearer, Maggie had started to wonder if there might possibly be another set of books for the club.

She was halfway downstairs after showering and choosing which dress to wear when the doorbell rang. Immediately, someone knocked firmly on the front door and tried to turn the doorknob. Her father had made sure the house was locked before he left for the office. Despite retirement, John O’Malley showed up at the office at least a few days each week. He would stay there then head to the corner pub, where he’d spend several hours nursing a few beers and hanging out with most of his buddies, who were also now all retired. Her father, and the rest of his friends, would come home in time for supper, just as if they were getting off work for the day.

Since the police had hauled her in for questioning, he’d made a fuss about locking the house when he left her and her mother alone. He was worried about her, which made Maggie even more upset. When he worried, he yelled and complained about anything out of order. It would send his blood pressure through the roof. She would have locked herself in the house, though, even if her father hadn’t insisted. Someone was letting her take the fall for their crime. What else might they do to her?

Maggie glanced through the living room window before easing her way to the door.

“Annalisa!” she cried out as she opened the door and rushed to her baby sister. “Oh my God! You’re here!”

“You don’t have to announce it to the world,” Annalisa told her, grinning. Her smile looked sincere as she stepped back to arm’s length and dropped her arms. Annalisa was thinner than she’d been the last time Maggie had seen her, but otherwise she looked happy and her blue eyes glowed as she stared at Maggie.

A really good O’Malley-sized meal wouldn’t hurt her little sister a bit. God, she was thinking just like her mother. Maggie gave herself a mental shake. “Dad’s not here. Mom’s upstairs asleep.” She took Annalisa’s hand and guided her to the porch swing. “I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t think you would show up. Oh honey, I’m so glad you did,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears as she sat next to her sister and hugged her fiercely.

Annalisa, the youngest O’Malley, had just turned twenty-one. She had attempted telling her parents, right after breaking up with the only boyfriend she’d ever had, that she had a girlfriend and was a lesbian. Despite John and Lucy O’Malley insisting it was a stage, and nothing a few hundred Hail Marys wouldn’t cure, Annalisa continued insisting that this was who she was. Just over a year ago, Annalisa had come home with a fiery redhead, a cute girl, barely nineteen, and head over heels for Maggie’s baby sister. They had been adorable together, or at least for the hour the two of them had been at the house for Thanksgiving celebration. When it had come time to go to church, Lucy O’Malley had announced her youngest daughter couldn’t attend Thanksgiving mass with the entire family as long as she squandered her life in sin. Annalisa had run from the house, crying her eyes out, and hadn’t returned.

Until today. Maggie continued hugging her fiercely. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered into her sister’s hair, which smelled like strawberries. Tears welled in her eyes too quickly to stop them from spilling down her cheeks. Maggie swatted at them as she leaned back against their porch swing and smiled.

“Mom’s voicemail sounded scary,” Annalisa admitted, speaking just above a whisper. Her pale blue eyes were crystal clear and her auburn hair just a bit shorter than Maggie’s. She grinned and searched Maggie’s face. “Julie heard it first and just about shit. She couldn’t believe Mom was calling me. She texted me and I was still in class. Goddamn, Maggie, in the middle of my psych final of all things,” she stressed and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “I had one more final on Friday or I would have called you, or something. I couldn’t even concentrate.” She shot a wary glance toward the large living room window.

Annalisa didn’t look at all as if she wanted to confront Mom. But she was here. That was what mattered. “And at first I was going to blow it off,” she admitted.

“But you came,” she prompted and was tempted to tell Annalisa that Mom’s health was getting worse. She worried that her baby sister would run from the house once again, possibly thinking her presence would make Mom even worse.

“Yeah,” Annalisa said, and sucked in her lower lip. “Finals are over but I start a job at the mercantile off campus here in a few days.”

“So you’re doing okay?” Maggie wanted to stroke Annalisa’s cheek and comb her short hair with her fingers, just as she had when they were younger.

“Fuck an egg, Mags, this isn’t about me. I’m fine. How much trouble are you in?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” It had become Maggie’s mantra. She bit her lip not to correct Annalisa’s foul mouth. Mom would have a conniption fit over her youngest daughter’s language before she even began tearing into Annalisa for having a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend. “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m in trouble or not. I’m still here,” she said, gesturing at their home. Mrs. Gregor walked past the front of their house, and Maggie and Annalisa stopped talking. Annalisa apparently remembered that waving or calling out a greeting to their next-door neighbor was pointless. Mrs. Gregor and her toy poodle, Ginger, who also didn’t look their way or acknowledge any of the O’Malleys at any time, cut off the main sidewalk and down the narrow clay path between their homes. The old woman disappeared into the side door of her house. Maggie didn’t want her parents to end up like Mrs. Gregor, alone and bitter. Maggie didn’t remember her being that way when Maggie was a child, and the Gregor kids, who were older than the O’Malley children, had all still been at home.

“The cops aren’t banging down my door,” she said when Annalisa looked away from their neighbor’s home. But they were following her. Maggie didn’t tell her baby sister that part. “Where are you staying?”

Annalisa shrugged.

“I’ll pay for a motel room. Then we can visit without any of us worrying about Mom or Dad going on a rampage.”

“Mags, you’re still the greatest.” And for the first time since they spoke her sister initiated a hug. A relaxed, sincere hug that felt so good. Maggie didn’t realize how much she’d missed Annalisa until that moment. Deidre was always there for Maggie to talk to, but with Annalisa, it was different. It was as if Maggie didn’t have to worry about anything with her younger sister. With Deidre there had always been competition, although it had been one-sided. Deidre had never had to compete with either of her sisters.

When they let go of each other, Annalisa shot a furtive look toward the front door. “I heard someone,” she whispered, and tensed.

“Mom could hear the dead roll over. You know that.” Maggie did a quick search on her phone for a nearby motel, then called and made the reservations. “Okay, go,” she said, standing with her sister and walking her down the porch stairs to the small truck parked in front of the house. That’s when she noticed for the first time that Julie was sitting in the passenger seat looking very nervous. “Promise me you’ll call me, Aiden and Deidre right after you’re checked in and let us know your room number.”

“I promise,” Annalisa said, then gave her sister a fierce hug. “I hope you aren’t in any trouble, Mags. I really do.”

Maggie let her go and ruffled Annalisa’s hair. “Love you,” she said, hugged her one more time, then watched her leave. When she turned to the house, her mother was standing in the doorway.

“I knew she’d come,” her mother said, her voice tender.

Maggie opened the screen door and walked past her. She wasn’t about to start a conversation with her mom about Annalisa.

Aiden stood in the middle of the living room, looking out the front window. Maggie and Annalisa hadn’t had the private chat they thought they had.

“I’ve got a lawyer for you,” Aiden announced, apparently also deciding against bringing up their youngest sister in front of their mother.

Maggie could have hugged him for offering a new topic, even if it was about the trouble she might, or might not, be in.

*   *   *

Maggie was anxious to hear what a lawyer would say about everything she’d been through. Forty-five minutes later she and Aiden were driving into the city. She stared out the window, wondering what Micah was doing. He would either be working on another case for KFA or be working on her case. She hated that she had a case.

Her phone rang. She dug it out of her purse then stared at the name and number on her screen.

“Who is it?” Aiden asked, shooting her a quick look then cutting into the other lane on I-10.

“Someone else who is helping me sort through this mess.” Maggie didn’t elaborate, especially since it was difficult to explain Micah. She could give his job title, explain that she’d hired him, and none of that would truly answer who Micah was. Maggie couldn’t read the man properly, but something deep in her gut told her that he would be able to help her better than anyone else.

She answered the phone before Aiden could press for more information. “Hello,” she said, and ignored the curious look he gave her. So what if she spoke softer when she answered. It didn’t mean anything.

“Where are you?” Micah asked in a form of greeting.

“With my brother, heading into the city,” she offered.

“Why? Where are you going?”

“To see a lawyer.”

“About being arrested?”

“Yes. My brother knows a lawyer and he thinks—”

“Bad idea. No lawyers, Maggie.”

“It’s a bit late to toss in your opinion,” she said, and laughed because it seemed better than snapping at Micah and really sending her brother’s radar up.

“If you aren’t sitting and talking to the lawyer, it’s not too late. Where exactly are you going?”

Maggie looked at Aiden’s GPS attached to his dash and rattled off the address to the building where Aiden’s lawyer friend worked. “The lawyer is Bob Young. Do you know him?” she asked, wondering why Micah wanted the address.

“You hired me,” Micah stated instead of addressing her question. “When I told you that I would get the job done, I meant that. I’ll keep you informed on any information I can relay to you.”

“Did you find something out?” Maggie’s heart was suddenly pounding too hard in her chest.

“I’ll meet you at your lawyer’s office.”

“What? Wait. No,” Maggie stammered but it was too late.

Micah had hung up.

Something quivered in her stomach, a thread of excitement she couldn’t ignore. Knowing she was headed straight to him filled her with anxious anticipation that swelled through her body.

“What was that all about?”

Maggie slowly lowered her phone to her lap. She fought the cloud of lust in her brain. Images of Micah, possible ways of how he might show up, what he might do, wouldn’t go away even when she told her imagination that her brother would be there right next to her.

“I hired the man who helped turn me over to the cops to help find whoever was guilty of what they wanted to charge me with.”

“What? You hired someone?” Her brother scowled, looking confused for a moment and staring at her as if she were nuts.

“Yes,” she stated, not regretting that she had. “There were bounty hunters assigned to the case to find Uncle Larry.”