Death of a Chorus Girl (The Delacroix Series Book 1) (22 page)

Tom stiffens at hearing that Richard is very much still in the picture. “That’s too bad.  He’s alright?”  I am shocked he even asks but manage to say Richard is.  “Don’t look so surprised.  I may not be happy about you choosing him over me, but that doesn’t mean I want to see the man come to harm.  Especially as that hurts you as well.  I’m just holding out for when you realize he’s not the right guy for you.”

Before I can voice my rebuttal, Fitz’s voice sounds out of nowhere. The man standing next to him almost knocks me off my feet, though.  If I didn’t know any better, I would swear he is my boyfriend, and he looks just as shocked to see me.

“Sweet Em, I need you to settle a bet for me,” Fitz slurs after sipping his drink.  His eyes dart between his company and me.  “This man is trying to convince me that you and he have never met.  Surely, that can’t be so since just three weeks ago you declared you are dating his brother.”

How am I going to cover this?  This has to be Robert Giordano, Bobby.  I hope that he’s as quick as his brother is. I slap on a warm smile and greet him with a huge hug.  “Bobby, this is such a surprise.  Richard wasn’t aware you were going to be here tonight.  It’s too bad he had to miss this due to his cracked ribs.  It’s just awful what that man did to him in East Harlem.  I’m just glad the concussion didn’t amount to anything.”  I pray that offering personal details about Richard’s injury will convince Bobby I know his brother.  Holding him in my arms, I realize the similarities between them aren’t just skin-deep.  The same natural, spring time rain smell that envelopes Richard and sends my heart racing, surrounds Bobby too.  “Stop teasing poor Fitz.  It doesn’t take much to make him suspicious.  He’s such a conspiracy theorist.”

After our hug, where thankfully Bobby hugs me back, I lace my arm through his and plant myself at his side.  Whatever Bobby is, he is Richard’s brother and, for some reason, I feel immensely safer on his arm than Tom’s.  I peer up at him to see the same quirked, quizzical expression Richard wears; the same wily smirk and devilish twinkle in the eyes.  My eyes beg him to go along with it.

“You’ve ruined my fun, Empathy.”  They even sound alike.  “And made my wallet much lighter.  You’ll need to be a better accomplice in the future.”  He digs his wallet out of his back pocket with his free hand, fishes out couple hundreds, and hands them over to Fitz.

“Always glad to take your money, Giordano.  Now that I’m going to be exposed to more of you, we’ll have to come up with some way to distinguish between your brother and yourself.  What do you think of
Guido one
and Guido two
?”  Tom’s face looks stunned by the way Fitz viciously spits the derogatory monikers.  My face has to match.

Bobby begins his retort with an apology to me.  “No offense, my dear, but Charles, I thought you avoided the riff raff of the shows and stuck with the money guys, like the one standing next to you.”  He turns his attention to Tom.  “I don’t believe we’ve met.  Robert Giordano, DA’s office.”  He sticks his hand out to Tom.  “You know my brother’s girlfriend how?”

“Tom Worthy. 
I’ve
been employing Em in the shows I produce for years,” he answers possessively while taking Bobby’s proffered hand.

Fitz pipes up then.  “Now Robert, I can’t believe you would disparage Em like that.  She is a rare find.”

I tense as Fitz’s eyes rake over me from head to toe.  I need to change my wardrobe and just wear muumuus or something.  My attire is in no way inappropriate, with its high neckline and skirt that meets my knees.  However, I didn’t need Richard’s playful refusal to zip me up into it to tell me that the fit shows off the few curves I possess.  If he were here, the dress wouldn’t have been an issue because no one would eye me like that under his cautionary glare, not even Fitz.  But without him, well let’s just say that Fitz’s eyes aren’t the first ones this cobalt dress has drawn.

Nor are they the last.  Bobby’s are doing the same as he peers down his nose at me.  For a brief second, their steely gray gaze traps me.  Where his brother’s are the blue of a calm ocean, his are the gray of an oceanic storm.  My heart stops under his appreciative gaze.  Maybe Bobby isn’t safer than Tom after all.  “I believe that’ll be one of the first things we’ve ever agreed on, Charles.  She is definitely a rare find,” he says the last part under his breath.  The lock of our gaze breaks when he returns his to Fitz.  “I’ll leave you to your business.”  Bobby places his hand over mine then turns to lead us away.

Fitz’s hand ensnares my arm before we take a step.  “It’s hard to take care of business when you are trying to steal her away from me.”  Bobby’s eyes dart to mine and I nod that I am, in fact, a part of Fitz’s business.

“Then we’ll stay, of course.” 
We’ll?
  The shock I feel at his declaration is echoed in the countenances of both Fitz and Tom.  “Come now, surely you didn’t expect me to leave
you
alone with
my
brother’s girl, did you?  What kind of brother would that make me then?”  A fantastic one, in my book!  I am beginning to truly adore
all
the Giordano brothers.

Fitz again attempts to pull me away from Bobby as he had from Richard two weeks prior.  However, Bobby is having none of it.  With what seems as though a Hail Mary attempt to shoo Bobby away, Fitz waves his hands at him.  “This will just bore you and she’ll hardly be alone with me.  Tom isn’t nobody.”

Bobby acts as though he considers Fitz’s explanations but he finally shakes his head.  “Sorry, no go.  Dick’s not here to look out for her so that job falls to me.  Besides, I’ve always been interested in how you theater types do business.”  There is an underlying implication there I don’t fully understand, but it doesn’t matter.  Bobby isn’t going anywhere.

Richard Giordano: Mama’s House

“So Dicky, I’ve been meaning to tell you about this woman I met last week.”  Bobby plops down on the couch at my feet.

I am lounging on it at Mama’s, sulking.  Em and I haven’t been able to connect since she went to the
Covered
event and I am going through withdrawals.  She signed the contract, figuring she shouldn’t disqualify a good offer just because of Fitzwallace.  He and Worthy are now completely monopolizing her time.  The whole thing would be easier if I wasn’t currently on bed rest and could be by her side.  Even if my presence in the meetings isn’t acceptable, just being in the city and closer to her if she needed me would ease my conscience.  Needless to say, I have no interest in hearing about the most recent skirt my brother is chasing.  “Not now, Bobby.”

He pats my leg and continues as if I haven’t said a word.  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a stunning woman.  She is tall and thin, with these long limbs.  Wish you could have seen her.  She would have probably thawed even your icicle.  A real dark haired beauty.”

I bite the bait because he will just pester me until I do. “Where’d you meet her?  Did you get just her number or did you care enough to get her name as well this time?”

“Oh, I got her name alright.  She wasn’t as forthcoming with her number, though.  But I know someone I can get it from.”  Something about the way he speaks tells me he is leading me on a great game of cat and mouse.  He is sitting on what he obviously considers some bomb of a secret.

Curiosity gets the better of me so I play along.  “Well, if it’s Steve, you and I both know he’s not going to give up a number to any women he thinks he’s got a shot with.”  It can only be Steve.  They typically go trolling together when they aren’t playing poker.

Bobby laughs and agrees. “No, you’re right there.  But thankfully, it’s not Steve.  It’s his
partner
.” 
Shit! I’m Steve’s partner!
  I shoot up but stabbing pains halt my progress and I fall back against the pillows and begin blowing heavy breaths out of my nose and mouth.  Damn these cracked ribs!  Somehow, Bobby did it.  He met her.  “Easy there, killer,” he salaciously slurs.

It is all the confirmation I need.  “How?  Where?” I seethe under my breath.  The last thing I need is for Mama to hear us arguing about yet another girl.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would find your behavior more akin to that of a jealous, jilted lover than an officer protective over his CI.” 
Wait, what?  Bobby thinks Em is my CI?  Maybe it isn’t her?
  “It’s a funny story actually.  I got a last minute invite to some show event last Saturday by a completely different pair of legs.  Our mutual pain in the ass acquaintance, Fitzwallace, found me at the bar and engaged me in conversation.  I was annoyed at first but then became greatly intrigued.  Care to guess why, little brother?”

God damn it!  It
is
Em!  Of course, Fitzwallace would engage Bobby to determine the seriousness of my relationship with her.  “What happened?  What did you do?”

“Well, when he kept insisting my little brother had captured his very own tantalizing creature, I called him a liar.  Firstly, because there is no way you fetch a woman that sits in Fitzwallace’s sphere and has his interests.  Secondly, because if you had there is no way you would keep it from us all.  So I bet what I thought was going to be easy money.  You owe me five hundred bucks, by the way.  Imagine my surprise when she sauntered up on the arm of some tool and Fitzwallace announced she’s your girlfriend and she goes along with it.  She knew my name, details of your accident, greeted me as if we were old friends.  But it was the look in her eyes, the one pleading with me not leave her alone and to go with whatever she said, that righted the world.  At first blush, this woman is way out of your league, Dicky, probably even mine.  What the hell did she do that made her a CI?”

Why hadn’t Em told me?
  Then I remember, we haven’t spoken much since then and when we do, it is just about how much we miss and love each other.  This is the punishment for my selfishness.  “She told you that?”

“Yeah.  After they got done talking show business,” he chuckles as if it is some great joke, “I escorted her away from them.  For the most part, she stayed on my arm the rest of the night and sang like a canary until your foxy ME showed up with some other fine feminine specimen.  How is it a guy like you is surrounded by these gorgeous women?”

I ignore his dig and jump to the heart of the matter.  If Bobby thought he met my CI, he wouldn’t be talking about it at all, except for to ask for her number.  No, there is one person he would fact check with; one person who can blow this whole damn thing up in my face. “Yeah, I talked to Steve, once I got back to the office and couldn’t find the CI paperwork," he answers after I ask.  “Which is why we’re having this here chat,” he admits while waving a hand between the two of us.  “You want to know the punchline to this whole thing?  Steve agreed with
Fitzwallace!
  Said that dazzling temptation is so gone for
you
that I shouldn’t even waste my time!  Showed me a picture from some gossip magazine where my little brother is engaged in a game of tonsil hockey with this same woman.  Now, I’ve been around a lot of CI’s and I’ve seen one or two fall for their handler after a while, but never have I seen one as agreeable as to kiss a cop that way in the beginning.  I gotta ask,
bro
, what’s the story with Empathy Delacroix?”

Joe pipes up behind him before I have a chance to answer.  “She’s the Broadway volunteer for that program at my school.” 
Shit!
  I completely missed him joining us.  He must have only heard her name and is therefore trying to cover for me with the only information he has.

Bobby’s head snaps around so fast his neck pops.  “You’re involved with her too?  Jesus, is that the chick you were talking about when we went fishing?”  His head oscillates between Joe and me, searching to see which of us is lying.  Bobby’s focus leaves Joe and returns to me, which is when Joe mouths an apology at me.  “Can someone explain to me how she popped into all three of our lives?”

“Who’s in your lives?” mama’s curious voice sounds behind me.  A glance over my shoulder confirms not only mama, but also Mel flanking her.  “Boys?”

In unison, from years and years of practice, we answer, “No one, mama.”  And with years and years of practice, she rolls her eyes and shakes her head.  Luckily for me, this provides my escape.  “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the pain meds are starting to wear off and I’m really tired.”  Joe leaps at the chance to get me out of there.

Once we are settled in the car after dropping Mel off at their house, he turns right at the cross street to take me home.  “No, left.  I’m going to Em’s.”  Joe tries to argue with me but given the fact that Em and I need to work out the details of our cover
before
I see Steve or Bobby again, it is important I see her.  Joe turns right anyway.  His complete dismissal of my request and the last half hour at mama’s pushes me over the edge.  “You can take me home, but I’ll just get in my car and drive to her place myself.”

“Not if I don’t let you,” he snarls back.  “You’re in no condition to drive and when I get you home I’ll sit on you if I have to.  All to make sure you stay put.”

We rarely fight, having the same low-key personality helps with that.  Unfortunately, neither one of us are in touch with that part of ourselves currently.  Joe is trying to look out for my health.  I am trying to get to my girl.  “What the hell does it matter?  You’re taking me to the doctor tomorrow.  Em can instead.  The whole charade is practically blown anyway. 
She
met Bobby!  I have to find out what that damage is.”  He stops right in the middle of the street when I drop that bomb on him and refuses to drive anywhere until I fill him in.