9 The Hitwoman's Downward Dog (11 page)

"What’s happening?" Katie whispered.

"I don’t know yet, baby girl," I whispered back.

The dour doctor strode out and even he had a bounce in his step. "He asked that you go back in."

I hurried back into the room. Delveccio sat by his grandson’s side, holding his hand like I had.

"Is he awake yet?" Katie asked innocently.

Delveccio gave her a gentle smile. "Not yet, but we’re hoping soon."

She clapped her delight.

I carried her to her bed, but took care to pull back the sheet to reveal God’s hiding place, so that I wouldn’t inadvertently crush him when putting her down.

It was hard to tell whether he was flicking his tail to signal his location or because he was miffed at me.

"What did the doctor say?" I asked as I tucked my niece back into bed.

"It’s looking good. He’s ordering a bunch of tests."

I tried to surreptitiously scoop up the lizard and slide him into my bra without Delveccio noticing, but the way he choked out his last few words indicated I hadn’t succeeded.

I nodded, remembering the battery of examinations Katie had undergone as she’d started to emerge from her coma. "Now it’s just a waiting game."

"It’s always been a waiting game." Delveccio stood and shrugged off his expensive coat. He didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious about standing there in his silk pajamas. Considering a lot of patients were wearing things that covered them a lot less, I could understand his comfort level.

He kicked off a pair of Italian loafers that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe, bent his knees, and pitched forward.

"Hey!" I gasped, lunging for him as he fell face-first toward the ground. I grabbed for his silk shirt, but it slipped through my fingers.

"Yoga," he wheezed, "my doctor’s got me doing it to relieve stress."

He straightened his legs and did a respectable downward dog pose. I admired his flexibility. Aunt Leslie had tried to teach the move to me once, but I hadn’t been able to pull it off.

"Downward dog," Delveccio huffed. "Or as Dom likes to call it, Wild Dog." He chuckled at the inside joke.

"Wild dog?" I repeated, an unclear thought drilling through the back of my head like a woodpecker after a bug. "Wild dog," I gasped as the pieces fell together. It was a Scrabble tile prediction Armani had given me not that long ago. I’d assumed it was about the lizard’s antics and interpreted it as Wild God, but what if it had been Wild Dog? After all, I’d found a yoga magazine in Ike Medd’s apartment.

"Do you know a guy named Ike Medd?" I blurted out.

Delveccio tensed, then slowly straightened up, his face as red as his sleepwear from the exertion. He glanced over at Katie who was watching his yoga practice like it was the most fascinating cartoon program she’d ever seen. "Can you keep an eye on my grandson while I talk to your aunt in the hallway for a minute?"

"Sure!"

Delveccio shoved his feet back into his shoes and cocked his head, indicating I should go out into the hallway as he shrugged into his discarded coat.

When I stepped outside the room with his boss right behind me, the bodyguard raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Get us a couple of coffees," Delveccio ordered.

Without a word, his man hurried off.

Sticking his hands in the pockets of his coat, the mobster looked in all directions to make sure no one could overhear our conversation. "Why are you asking about Ike Medd?"

He fixed me with a stare so hard and cold that I physically shivered.

Straightening my shoulders, I met his icy gaze as calmly as I could. "A friend of mine was dating him. Now she’s disappeared."

"Medd’s dead."

"So I heard. Any idea who did it or why?"

He shook his head. "I forget sometimes."

"Forget what?"

"What a hardass you can be," a note of respect warmed his tone. "Sometimes it’s easy to fall for your giant goof act, and sometimes I’m impressed by your loyalty to your family… and to me, and then you go and do something like this."

"Like this?" I pitched my voice low, hoping that would prevent the nervous squeak I felt in my chest from escaping.

"Hardball."

I swallowed hard, not wanting the friendly mob boss to think I was challenging him. "Hey, if you got rid of Medd, it’s cool with me. I didn’t like him. I’m just trying to find out what happened to my friend."

Delveccio chuckled. "Medd didn’t mess with me. I didn’t mess with him."

I nodded my understanding. "Any idea of who he
did
mess with."

"Word has it, the O’Hara family."

I closed my eyes, silently thinking, Lucky-Oh.

My eyes snapped open when Delveccio rested a heavy hand on my shoulder. "You should stay far away from whatever this is."

"Can’t," I choked out. "I’ve got to find my friend." I didn’t add the part about needing to find Detective Gilbert too, but that was weighing heavily on my mind.

"You’ve done right by my family a couple of times now," Delveccio said slowly. "I appreciate that, which is why I’m telling you this."

I waited, holding my breath.

"Rumor has it that the O’Hara clan is holed up in the Poconos."

I frowned, wondering why a New Jersey crime family would hide out in the sticks in Pennsylvania.

Leaning closer and pitching his voice lower, he confided, "Including Seamus."

He delivered the information with such deliberate weight that I knew it was important, but I didn’t know why. "So?"

Delveccio leaned back, his sharp gaze searching my face to see if I was messing with him. Determining I wasn’t, he shook his head in disbelief. "Seamus O’Hara is such a power-hungry S.O.B. that he took out his own father in order to take over the organization."

"So not a nice guy," I deadpanned.

Delveccio glanced up and down the hallway. "He fed him to the fishes."

"I thought that was an Italian thing," I blurted out without thinking.

Thankfully the mobster wasn’t offended.

"He chopped off a couple of body parts from his old man while he was still alive. An ear, a couple of fingers."

Bile rose in my throat at the idea, and I leaned back against the wall for support.

"Fed them to a tankful of piranhas. You know what they are?"

"Mobster-eating fish?" I joked weakly.

Surprised, Delveccio let out a guffaw that echoed in the hallway. "Is it any wonder I like you?" Then growing serious, he finished his story. "Then he dumped his old man in the tank. He was still alive when they started tearing his flesh from him."

A cold panic gripped me as I realized just how much trouble Armani had managed to get herself into.

"But you didn’t hear it from me," Delveccio warned. "Capiche?"

I nodded.

"Are you sure this friend of yours is worth all the trouble you’re getting yourself into?"

"I sure hope so," I muttered, wondering what kind of a mess I’d end up in this time.

He turned to go back in the room and I followed him. Suddenly, he spun around, capturing me in a giant bear hug.

Stunned, I gasped, which was a bad idea because I was almost overwhelmed by the scent of garlic oozing from his pores and his overwhelming cologne. "Be careful," he whispered in my ear. "I kind of like having you around."

He released me just far enough so that he could kiss me on both cheeks. "You're sorta like family," he muttered gruffly, but I could hear the concern causing him to choke up.

Stunned, I almost fell over when he let go of me and took a step back. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath while he hurried back into the room to check on the kids.

My head swirled and my stomach clenched nervously. I knew that if the mobster was that worried, going after the O'Hara family to get Armani and Joy Gilbert back was a bad idea, a very bad idea, but I didn't have a choice.

"You keep interesting company," a deep, gravelly voice noted from behind me.

I didn't have to turn around to know that it was Jack speaking. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, Patrick's voice in my head reminding me, "Don't get caught."

I turned slowly to face Jack, trying to figure a plausible excuse for what he'd just witnessed.

He leaned with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, dark eyes simmering with an unspoken accusation.

I cleared my throat, striving to sound nonchalant. "You're here early."

He arched an eyebrow. "So are you."

"I wanted to see my niece." I waved at the doorway Delveccio had disappeared through.

"Before visiting hours?"

"I've got a busy day."

"I can see that." His tone was so dry that it scraped along my nerves like sandpaper.

"What do you think you saw?" I countered, meeting his gaze with a challenge shining in mine.

"You're very chummy with Mr. Delveccio."

"It looks like—" I cut myself off, realizing the mobster wouldn't appreciate me giving the scoop to the reporter about his grandson's recovery.

Jack tipped his head to the side to get a better look at me. "Looks like what?"

I shook my head. I had enough enemies. I didn't need to make Delveccio one too.

"You're keeping the mobster's secrets?"

"I'm not intruding on the privacy of a family member of the patient that shares the room with my niece."

Jack straightened his head. "Admirable."

I didn't think he meant it.

"But I already know the kid seems to be waking up and you're the one who discovered it."

I blinked my surprise, but didn't confirm or deny.

The corners of Jack's mouth twitched upward. "Don't worry, I'm not reporting on that story."

"Why not?" I asked without thinking.

"Because I work the crime beat. I'm guessing the boy hasn't committed any. Not my place to intrude on the privacy of the family."

I squinted at him slightly, trying to decide whether he was telling me the truth. His expression was unreadable. "So why are you here?"

"I was looking for you."

"Me? Why?"

Before he could answer, the bodyguard who'd been guarding Katie's room appeared carrying two cups of coffee.

My nose twitched hopefully.

"Where's the boss?"

I tilted my head in the direction of the room.

Much to my disappointment, he went inside without handing me a cup.

"Buy you a coffee?" Jack offered.

"I have to get back to my niece."

He nodded. "I'll be here when you're ready."

Instead of asking him the question dancing on the tip of my tongue, "ready for what?" I went into Katie's room. She was still sitting beside Dominic's head, but instead of cheerfully prattling, she rested her chin in her palm tiredly.

"Someone looks tired." Delveccio smiled kindly at the little girl. "Why don't you take a nap, Katie?"

She shook her head, even though she could barely keep her eyes open.

Ignoring her feeble protests, I picked her up, carried her over to her bed, and tucked her in. "I have to go now, sweetie," I whispered, smoothing her hair off her cheek. Knowing there was a chance I wouldn't be coming back, I added, "Do you know how much I love you?"

"Oodles," she whispered back, her eyes drifting closed.

I closed my own, willing the tears that were threatening to spill not to fall. "I do. Oodles and oodles."

When I opened my eyes, dashing away a couple of errant drops that had squeezed out of the corners of my eyes, she was asleep.

"I’ll keep an eye on her for you," Delveccio pledged as I slowly shuffled toward the door. He was standing in warrior pose, straining the buttons of his pajama shirt.

I averted my eyes and nodded my thanks, not knowing if he meant for the day, or if he meant if I didn’t come back.

Jack was waiting when I emerged from the room. He glanced up from whatever he was doing on his cellphone, his eyebrows knitting together as I stumbled out of the room.

Moving quickly, he pressed his palm to my shoulder, pinning me against the wall to keep me upright. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I lied automatically. It wasn't like I could tell him that I was worried I wouldn't make it back from the Poconos to care for my niece. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd wait."

"I thought you meant in general, not here specifically."

"But here, specifically, was where I wanted to be," he countered.

I wasn't quite sure if we were arguing or bantering, but the discussion was definitely charged with some sort of crackling energy.

It felt dangerous, so I batted his hand away from my shoulder. "Do you mind?"

Instead of backing off, he leaned closer, his dark eyes studying mine with an intensity that made every nerve-ending in my body stand at attention. "I cannot figure you out."

I held my breath, not wanting to look away, but afraid he'd read my secrets. My mind ricocheted wildly, trying to come up with a way to his escape his perusal, but my body didn't move.

"Maggie, dear," a familiar voice trilled, offering the escape I needed.

Tearing my gaze from his, I turned in her direction. "Hi, Aunt Loretta."

Jack backed off a step, turning to face the woman who'd interrupted us.

He was in for an eyeful. Loretta was wearing some lacy concoction from her lingerie shop that she thought passed for street clothing. It did not. Neither did it leave much to the imagination about the past-its-prime body beneath.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?" Loretta extended her hand in Jack's direction, blinking her false eyelashes coquettishly. The movement caused her bosom to heave and gave the reporter a first-hand view of her ample cleavage.

Jack just stared at her, mouth slightly agape.

"Cat got your tongue, bad boy," Loretta cooed flirtatiously.

"The woman has no shame," God muttered from his hiding spot in my bra.

Of course it didn't sound like that to Jack. To him it sounded like my breasts were squeaking. He looked from Loretta's cleavage to my chest, a look of horror on his face as God added, "You should have her fixed."