The Finishing School (23 page)

“They call me Fabulous Deon. I’m well known in these parts. If you’re looking for an in, I could be just your ticket.”

“Maybe I’m lookin’. But why you gotta ask my name?”

The young man finished off his drink in a quick gulp, head tipped back, Adam’s apple bobbing in his well-muscled neck. Then he wiped his lovely mouth with the back of his hand.

“You like your privacy. Not a problem. I’ll just call you darling,” Deon said, practically salivating.

“I know a place. C’mon, I ain’t got all night.”

The boy took Deon by the hand and pulled him through the crowd toward the edge of the platform. Deon wondered what the kid charged. He looked expensive, and Deon only had forty left in his wallet.

They reached the far end of the subway platform, and the kid pulled Deon into the darkness of the tunnel. “Where are we going? Wouldn’t the men’s room be more convenient?” Deon asked.

“Dis way,” the kid said, gripping his wrist tighter.

Deon realized he was about to be robbed. He dug his heels in, but the kid was strong and had him in an iron grip. He yanked Deon a few feet forward, then pounded on a metal door barely visible in the half-light. It swung open to reveal one of Expo’s bodyguards.

“Lamar, help! I’m being robbed!” Deon yelled. But Lamar grasped Deon by his shirtfront, threw him to the hard tile floor, and kicked him repeatedly in the gut with heavy work boots. Deon screamed at the top of his lungs, the sound masking the crunch of breaking ribs.

“It ain’t feel too good being a rat now, huh?” Lamar said. He rifled through Deon’s pockets and pulled out his wallet.

Through a haze of pain, Deon saw Jay Esposito talking to a tall, slender white man he didn’t recognize. Jay nodded at Lamar, who gave Deon’s wallet to the pouty kid. Jay peeled five hundreds off a money clip he took from his breast pocket, counting them carefully, and put those in the kid’s hands, too.

“Remember, I know where you live,” Expo said.

“Yo, we cool. You ain’t got no problems wit’ me,” the kid said, stuffing the money and the wallet in his pants and heading for the door, which Lamar shut and bolted behind him.

Expo drew a large club from his leather golf bag and looked down at Deon, who lay moaning, tears leaking from his eyes.

“Did I mention, D, I been working on my golf swing?”

DAN OFFERED MELANIE a ride home.

“Tonight was a waste,” he observed as they headed north on the FDR.

“No. I disagree.”

“What did we learn? Other than the fact that Jay Esposito is hot for you, which I could’ve predicted.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Melanie said. “I got the distinct sense Esposito knew who I was and that’s why he was interested in me. The bodyguards hinting around there was law enforcement in the club convinced me of it.”

Dan’s jaw tensed.

“You’re gonna have to chill out about what I did tonight, you know,” she said, studying him.

Illuminated by the headlights of a passing car, he smiled. “You don’t miss a trick, do you?”

“I’m starting to be able to read you, despite the fact that you don’t say much. So watch out.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m plenty scared of you already,” he said.

It’s mutual
, she thought.

“You want to hear what
I
think we got out of tonight? Other than the fact that Bridget Mulqueen is hot for
you
, which I could have predicted,” Melanie said.

“Mulqueen’s all right. She reminds me of my dog when he was a puppy. All paws but a lot of heart. She might even make a decent cop someday.”

“Mmm-
hmm
, I thought so,” Melanie said, smiling.

“No way, you got me all wrong, sweetheart. I’m not egotistical like that,” he said, smiling back.

“Oh, right. There isn’t a man alive who doesn’t love some girl looking at him like he’s God’s gift.”

“If
you
looked at me that way, that’d be another story.
That
, I would like. But you need taming. I’d be doing the world a favor, getting Melanie Vargas into line. In fact,
you
better watch out, because I just might decide to try it.”

“
Taming
? You’re gonna pay for that remark, pal.”

“Yeah, says who? I’m bigger than you, in case you haven’t noticed.”

She’d noticed, all right. His reminding her of that fact set her pulse to racing.

“Will you please stop distracting me from work?” she said, a warm, tingly feeling spreading through her body.

“Aw, c’mon, give it a rest with the work stuff. I’m having a lot more fun joking around with you.”

“Resting is for dead people, baby.”

“Lucky you look so good, because you can be a royal pain in the backside,” Dan said, grinning, as he changed lanes smoothly and headed for the Sixty-first Street exit.

“Seriously, though. I think there’s a connection between Carmen Reyes going missing and the internal carries,” Melanie said.

“Yeah, that reminds me, I had an idea. What do you think of this? Maybe it wasn’t that Carmen witnessed something or nothing. Maybe she’s just scheduled to move the new shipment on Friday. The one Brianna Meyers mentioned in her e-mail. So they’re keeping her on ice till then.”

“Hmm. That’s very interesting. But do you really think Expo would use her as a courier now that her name’s been in the paper?”

“Good point. Although the guy’s pretty brazen. And stupid,” Dan said.

“He could always have her travel with false papers.”

“We should cover our bases, don’t you think? We know the route. We know the likely dates of travel. Get her picture out to the guys at the airport, and Carmen shouldn’t be too tough to spot.”

“Yeah, fine, but I’m not prepared to wait till Friday. I think she’s in danger, and I think we need to do more to find her
now
.”

“Like what? Her description and photo are on every database. We checked out her known contacts, took a hard look at her routine, but we came up empty so far. This is a big town. Where else do we look?”

“I have an idea,” Melanie said.

“Okay. Shoot.”

“We have a cell number for Expo, right? Why not write for his phone?”

“You mean do a wiretap?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t it take a while to develop probable cause?” Dan asked.

“We don’t
have
a while. We use whatever we’ve got now and see if we can sneak it past a judge.”

“What do we even have to put in an affidavit?” Dan asked.

“Well, Whitney Seward calling Expo’s cell phone, including the night the girls died. Brianna Meyers texting Trevor that they were escorted to Puerto Rico. The flight manifest confirming that it was Esposito riding shotgun, when you get it.”

“Whoa, hold your horses, princess. I
did
get it. Negative on that.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention it. I tracked down the manifests from the flights Whitney and Brianna took to and from Puerto Rico. No Esposito.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah.”

“Shit!”

“I know.”

“Maybe he flew under a false name?” she offered.

“How we gonna prove that? You pointed out before, Puerto Rico’s a domestic flight. No immigration checks, so no fingerprint scans.”

“Well, all right, let’s think what else we can use. We still have all the background from your friend’s old case on Esposito, that he was previously investigated for heroin trafficking. We have the suggestion in Brianna’s text that there’s a new shipment scheduled for Friday.”

“Isn’t it all shot down by the fact that we tried making a buy tonight and came up with squat? So we don’t got any drugs to put on the table to show a judge there’s an ongoing operation here.”

“Yes, we do! The balloons of heroin from Brianna’s stomach. When you put that together with Expo’s past history, it’s something anyway. Right?”

He grinned. “You got guts, I’ll say that for you. Not too many prosecutors I know would go to a judge with such crappy evidence. They’d be too worried about their precious reputations.”

“I’m more worried about this missing girl.”

“I know. That’s good. Refreshing.”

“Oh, and one more thing. Esposito let something slip. I think he lost a swallower before. A female, probably Puerto Rican, by the name of Mirta. If we could corroborate that, we’d have a slam dunk.”

Dan pulled into an empty parking space on Melanie’s block.

“See? I remembered where you live,” he said, holding her gaze as he shut down the engine. With the heat off, the car’s interior instantly cooled to frigid, but Melanie was in no hurry to get out. It was months ago now that they’d kissed, but she hadn’t forgotten what Dan tasted like or the feel of his powerful arms around her.

“You remember my address from that one time?” she said, seeing her breath in the frosty air.

“It was twice. Besides, I’ve been stalking you.”

“I don’t think so,” she said, her voice low and flirtatious. “I’d’ve noticed you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m good at what I do. Nobody makes my surveillance unless I want ’em to.”

He reached out and twined his fingers into her hair where it lay against her neck. Her heart started hammering wildly inside her chest.

“I
knew
you were crazy,” she said, her eyes fixing on his strong, sensual mouth.

“When it comes to you, I’m a total fucking lunatic.”

He slid his hands down the sides of her heavy winter coat and grabbed her by the hips, hauling her over the gearshift so she sat in his lap, facing him, her back pressed against the steering wheel. For a small eternity, they stared into each other’s eyes, not even touching, their breathing growing heavier. She felt the muscles of his thighs under her and arched her back to press herself more firmly down against him.
Oh, yes
. They hadn’t even kissed yet, but she was burning up with desire. Not just because she was starved for sex either; it was
Dan
, the effect he had on her.

He reached out, took her by the hair, and pulled her face toward him. His hands were trembling. Their mouths met greedily. His was hot and rough and demanding, tasting of the beer he’d drunk in the bar, yet, miraculously, soft and sweet, too. Jesus, she thought, I could lose myself in this man.

She pulled away, momentarily shaken by the intensity of the kiss. “Dan—”

“Don’t,” he said, looking up at her, his eyes vacant, heavy-lidded.

“It’s just my mother I think is up there sitting with Maya, and—”

He put his hand over her mouth. “Don’t say anything. I don’t want to know about the limits you’re putting on this or what you don’t feel or why you can’t be with me. This can be anything you want. It can be just sex. If I’m setting myself up for a fall, that’s my problem. I’ll take my chances. But I’m coming upstairs with you now.”

SHE WAS GLAD it was late enough that Hector had gone off duty. The night-shift guy Melanie barely knew, and she scarcely acknowledged him as she and Dan hurried to the elevator.

They stepped in, the doors closing behind them. Dan glanced up at the ceiling.

“No camera in this elevator?” he asked, grasping her by both arms.

“No.”

“Good. Because I can’t keep my hands off you.”

He pinned her against the side of the elevator and kissed her hard. Her insides melted all over again. She wrapped her arms around his massive shoulders, savoring the feel of his back muscles straining against his leather jacket. Dan’s body was insane. He pulled away to work the buttons of her coat, but his fingers were shaking so much that he made little progress. Impatient, she undid them for him, and he stripped the coat roughly from her shoulders, revealing her chest in the red halter top.

“Jesus. You’re so goddamn beautiful I can hardly stand to look at you,” he said.

Slowly, breathing hard, he ran his hands over her face and throat and down her bare arms. His touch spread fire through her. He cupped her breasts, kneading them through the filmy fabric of the halter top as they stared at each other. She moaned, her head falling limply back, her hips thrusting forward to meet his. He pressed her hard into the wall, lifting her off her feet with one powerful thigh wedged between her legs.

“Ah, yeah, don’t stop, keep going,” Melanie said, the words ripped from her mouth almost involuntarily. Panting, she pulled up his shirt to get at his warm skin, her fingers brushing against his holstered gun. She drank in his tongue, forgetting everything else in the world. They’d better reach her floor soon, because in a second they’d be doing it standing up in the elevator.

“You are
so
hot,” he whispered, his mouth against her hair. “I don’t know if I can handle you.”

She smiled dizzily, her eyes closing. “Oh, yes, you can.”

The doors opened on her floor. Her knees were weak as she led Dan by the hand down the hall to her apartment. She shrugged her coat back into place and tried to get her breathing under control as she fumbled in her bag for her keys. She was a grown woman. Maya would be sleeping, and her mother would just have to deal with getting unceremoniously kicked out. Because Melanie
had
to have this man.
Now
. Her fingers found the keys, but then Dan, pressing against her from behind, started kissing her neck, and she dropped them on the floor.

“Let me open the door,” she said. “You’ll get me evicted from this building.”

“Then you’ll have to come live with me.”

She had trouble getting the key into the lock. The noise must’ve roused her mother, because the door started to swing inward.

“Hands off now,” she whispered to Dan, pulling away, trying to compose herself enough to introduce him.

But it wasn’t her mother standing there. It was Steve, and he was holding two glasses of champagne.

LULU LET HERSELF into the darkened basement apartment with her key, relieved that the lights were out. Thank God that Papi was sleeping. She was nervous that if she saw Papi, she’d break down. She’d
tell
. She couldn’t let herself. She had to keep her mouth shut, for Carmen’s sake. Like
he
said tonight, when he came and found her at the skating rink. He’d scared the shit out of her just by showing up and sitting there. And as if that weren’t enough, he’d explained exactly what he’d do if she told anybody.