The Distance (31 page)

Eight weeks later

The construction on the apartment above the garage was going remarkably quickly, thanks to Nana. When she and Ollie returned from their week-long honeymoon in Maui, it had immediately become her new pet project. She knew a hell of a lot of people, and within days of her return, an architect (the granddaughter of one of the Nanettes), had helped us design the perfect apartment, we’d sailed through the permit process (so easily that I had to wonder if someone had owed the Dombrusos a favor) and a construction crew had gone to work, beginning with reinforcing and earthquake retrofitting the ground floor garage. Their prices were far below the going rate, so I suspected Nana was secretly footing part of the bill, even though she swore she wasn’t.

Since I hated being idle, I took an online course in bookkeeping while my hands were healing, so I could help Kai organize the garage’s financial records. That was pretty dry though, and it felt great to get back to working on engines when my stitches came out. We had to vacate the garage for four weeks during the retrofit, but Dante let us work out of an empty warehouse just a few blocks away, one of a long list of investment properties he owned around the city, so it was pretty much business as usual. Soon enough, we were back in our own garage, while a beautiful, airy, two bedroom apartment went in overhead.

I was tuning up a Jetta one Friday afternoon, when Kai pulled the Impala into the space beside me. I stopped what I was doing and took off my gloves before patting the big Chevy’s fender and saying, “Welcome home, girl.”

I’d dented her up pretty good when I’d smashed her into that brick wall, but a friend of mine who owned a body shop had fixed her up and just finished with her that day. He’d even given her a new head-to-toe paint job, and the midnight black shone like lacquer. “She’s good as new,” Kai said, running a hand over the hood. He’d picked up my habit of referring to our cars as females, which made me grin. “Your friend’s doing an excellent job on his part of the Fastback’s restoration too, I’m glad you recommended him. It’s great to have a boyfriend who’s so well-connected.” He grinned at me and kissed my forehead. He was always slipping in subtle jokes about me being in the mafia, since I was an honorary Dombruso.

I pulled him into a real kiss, and when we broke apart I asked, “Have you been home yet?”

“No, but I’m headed there now. When I come back, I’ll find a parking space on the street. It’s getting crowded in here.”

“Don’t you dare. She and your dad’s Mustang both hold a place of honor in this garage. We can work around them.”

Kai looked happy when I said that, and he kissed me again before saying, “I’ll be back soon. Did I mention I’m ridiculously excited for this weekend?”

“So am I.” Nana was taking Izzy, Kiki, Malia, and Kai’s mom to a spa in Marin for a girls’ weekend of pampering and beauty treatments, while Ollie travelled to L.A. with Ignacio Mondelvano. Iggy was meeting with a collector who was interested in his work, and since he was pretty new to the business end of the art world, Ollie was acting as his agent. All of that meant Kai and I were going to have a very rare weekend all to ourselves.

“Make sure they stop off here before they head to Marin,” I told him. “I want to say goodbye.”

“No freaking way would Izzy let them leave without stopping off to give you a hug,” he said.

After he drove off, I glanced at my left hand and flexed my fingers. I’d damaged some nerves when I sliced up my hands, but thankfully it hadn’t affected my motor skills to the point where I couldn’t work on engines. It did make them ache a bit, but that was a small price to pay. I pulled a pair of work gloves back on and shook out my hands before turning back to the Jetta.

I was totally engrossed in the job when Dante appeared in the doorway and said, “Earth to Jessie.”

He was with his husband Charlie and Cameron Doyle, the arson investigator. Surprisingly, Dante and Cameron had become close friends over the last few weeks. I glanced from one man to the other. Dante was impeccable as ever in his dark, expensive Italian suit, while Cameron looked like he’d slept in his clothes. The investigator reminded me of an Irish version of the character Castiel from the TV show Supernatural. Whenever I saw him, he was in a rumpled suit and white shirt with his tie askew, and was almost always wearing a trench coat. In that respect, he went well with the Impala, and if I ever decided to organize a full-scale Supernatural cosplay, I was well on my way.

“Hey,” I said, pivoting on my stool as I was facing them. “Are you slumming? I’m sorry to tell you this, but Dante won’t be able to find a twenty-dollar martini on this block. Try a few streets north, maybe on Cortland.”

“Twenty dollar martinis are a crime against humanity.” Doyle had left Dublin as a child, but still retained a faint brogue. He brushed his windblown dark-auburn hair back from his blue eyes and said, “The gentrification around this city has gotten completely out of hand if you ask me.”

“We were having a late lunch at that taqueria on the next block,” Charlie said as he pulled up a stool and sat beside me. He was the only one of the three who wasn’t overdressed, and he looked good in a pair of khakis and a fitted black polo shirt that showed off his ex-football player physique.

I asked, “There are no tacos to be found in the Marina District?”

“It’s the chimichangas that keep bringing me back to this place,” Dante said, peering into the Jetta’s engine.

I asked, “The what now?”

“Chimichangas. You know, a deep-fried burrito with sauce?”

I chuckled and said, “I know what a chimichanga is, I just wanted to hear you say it again.”

Dante tried to scowl, but it got lost in a grin. “Why?”

“Because it’s hilarious. You don’t say it right. Makes you sound like an elderly white person at Taco Bell for the first time.” I put on a rough old-man voice and barked, “You kids got some of them chee-me-chaaaaaangas?”

Charlie and Cameron burst out laughing, and Charlie said, “I keep telling him he’s saying it wrong.”

Dante redoubled his efforts to scowl at me, but ended up laughing, too. “I shouldn’t even give this to you now,” he said, holding out a pair of keys on a leather fob. “You’re evil and you should be punished, not rewarded.”

“What’s this?” I asked as I took them from him.

“Nana mentioned you and Kai have a rare weekend to yourselves, so I thought you might like a little getaway. Charlie and I bought a vacation home a couple hours down the coast, sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city.”

Charlie added, “Although we’ve only used it once in six months.”

Dante stepped around the car and put his arms around his husband. “I’m sorry, angel. I swear I’ll make it up to you. There’s just so much going on right now.”

Charlie wrapped his arms around his husband’s waist and looked up at him, his green eyes full of emotion. “I know, and that’s exactly why you need a break. I’m worried about you.”

“We’ll go soon, I promise.” As Dante said that, he tenderly caressed his husband’s cheek.

I turned to Cameron and said, “I assume I would have heard if you’d had any breaks in the arson case.”

“Whoever set those two devices to go off was a pro. He left no fingerprints, and the materials were all so generic that they could have been purchased anywhere. The fact that one of them misfired was a total fluke. Unfortunately, that means the forensic evidence is a dead-end,” Cameron said, leaning against a tool rack. “The SFPD has been putting extensive resources into trying to track down the club owner and the bartender. It’s no coincidence they conveniently stepped away before the fire started. Plus, the devices and accelerant would have been put in place ahead of time, and that would mean the arsonist needed access. We assume they were paid off, by who is the question.”

“How hard could it be to find a bartender and a club owner? They don’t sound like master criminals,” I said.

“In all likelihood, they left San Francisco. There’s also a good chance they’re both dead. Whoever set this fire might tie up those loose ends to make sure they don’t lead back to him,” Cameron told me. “It’s been frustrating, to say the least.” He looked weary and older than his thirty years as his shoulders slumped.

“You sound like you’re giving up,” I exclaimed, “but you can’t! The people behind this need to be punished! They almost killed my family and friends, dozens of people! And who says they won’t try again?”

“I’m not giving up, Jessie. I’ll never give up on this case, neither will the department. That arsonist attempted mass murder on a scale this city’s never seen before! The lack of solid leads right now is demoralizing, but that doesn’t mean I’m quitting,” Cameron told me.

“What about the person who was back in the kitchen that night, the one Kai and I heard right before the device went off?”

“There were no security cameras inside the club, and we’ve reviewed the footage from every traffic camera in the area,” Doyle said. “That didn’t give us anything to work with.”

“I hate this. I hate that my family is in danger and there’s not a damn thing we can do,” I said.

Dante told me, “We’re doing plenty, believe me. I have security teams watching our family members around the clock in case there’s another attempt on our lives, and I have dozens of men and women out there shaking the trees, trying to find out anything they can about whoever was behind the fire.”

“And of course, once you find out, you’ll tell me,” Cameron said, giving him a pointed look.

Dante kept an arm around Charlie’s shoulders as he turned to Doyle. “If I was planning to become a vigilante, why would I be palling around with the lead arson investigator on this case?”

“Because my sparkling personality and keen fashion sense make me irresistible?” Cameron suggested with a little grin.

“That must be it,” Dante said. “Come on, we should get back to work. Jessie, enjoy the beach house, and please don’t worry. I’m handling this. Go spend some quality time with your boyfriend. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the house is off the map, so to speak. It’s not registered under my name, or Charlie’s, or that of any member of our family, for that matter. And Jerry never knew about it, so no one’s going to show up looking for me.”

“Thanks, Dante,” I said as I pocketed the keys. “I really appreciate this.”

He handed me a slip of paper. “That’s the address and the codes for the security gate and alarm system. You really don’t want to trigger that alarm. The monitoring company is…enthusiastic.”

“Does that mean they’ll shoot us on sight?”

“No, but they’d probably wrestle you to the ground and sit on you until they got ahold of me and I called them off.”

I said, “Maybe this little weekend retreat is a bad idea.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. You’ll be perfectly secure there, and it’s a gorgeous location. Enjoy it.”

Dante and Cameron started to head to the car, and Charlie slid off the stool and told them, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Once they left the garage, Charlie hugged me and said, “Thank you.”

“You already thanked me a million times for getting everyone out of the club,” I reminded him as I returned the hug.

“I know. This one’s for making Dante laugh. He doesn’t do that nearly enough these days, but you always manage to lighten the mood. I want you to know how much I appreciate it.” He let go of me and smiled, but I could still see the worry in his eyes.

After Charlie said goodbye, I watched him cross the street to a large, black SUV. A huge guy with a dark suit, sunglasses and an earpiece held the door for him, then looked up and down the street before getting behind the wheel. Man. Dante was a six-four wall of muscle who could intimidate a grizzly bear if he wanted to. He’d be the last person I’d ever think would want a bodyguard.

*****

Izzy, Nana and the gang came by the garage a few minutes later to say goodbye before their girls’ weekend. Dante had hired a big bodyguard to drive them in the limo, not that Nana would be a likely target. She and her friends weren’t even supposed to be at the club the night of the fire. But Dante was covering all his bases anyway.

Nana stuck her head out of the sunroof and called, “Hi, Sweet Pea! Did Dante come by?” It was funny to me how she always knew everything that went on.

“Yeah, just a few minutes ago.”

“You and Kai have fun on your romantic weekend! Do you need any supplies? I still have a big shopping bag in the trunk from the Whack Shack!”

I grinned and said, “We’re good. Thanks, though.”

Kiki popped up beside Nana. The two had become BFFs along the way, and were wearing matching pink t-shirts which said, ‘I love my gay grandson.’ A rainbow-striped heart stood in for the word ‘love’. She waved and called, “Hi Jessie! Next time, you and Kai should come to the spa with us. You could both use some pampering.”

Malia leaned out the open door and grinned at me. “I’d pay to see my brother in a mud mask with cucumbers on his eyes.” Her mom chuckled at that and flashed a thumbs-up.

Izzy climbed out of the limo and came over to me. She was wearing a light blue princess dress over a pair of jeans. The little girl gave me a big hug and kissed my cheek, then said, “I’ll miss you, Jessie.”

“I’ll miss you, too, Princess Isabella, but you’re going to have loads of fun at the fancy spa this weekend.”