Deep in Death: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (20 page)

“I don’t want you to get your hopes up because it doesn’t look good,” he began, his head lowered with misery. “I’m really sorry to tell you this, but…”

Jackie chuckled, confusing him, then stepped out of his way and motioned inside the room. He glanced up to find Ramos and Uncle Joey smiling at him.

“Holy shit!” he blurted. “You’re not dead!”

Uncle Joey smiled and hurried to greet him. “Sorry, but I had to let the Passinis think I was dead.

“I just…um…” he swallowed. “I just identified your bodies at the morgue. Sorry about that.”

“That’s perfect. Now everyone will think we really are dead.”

Nick took a seat in the empty chair, his face white with shock. “What happened? How did you escape?” he asked. As Uncle Joey explained the story again, Nick’s breathing returned to normal and soon he had completely recovered. “Someone sure went to a whole lot of trouble to kill you and make it look like it was the Passinis,” he said. “How are we going to find them?”

“We can start with a list of everyone on board,” Ramos said. “And go from there.”

My stomach chose that moment to growl, and everyone turned their gazes to me. “Uh…I haven’t had breakfast yet. Do you know what happened to my salted nut roll?”

Ramos smiled and pulled it out of his pocket. He was hoping I’d forget about it so he could eat it. “Um…yeah, it’s right here.”

“You were going to…um…” I let out my breath. “Geez…thanks Ramos.”

He snickered and handed it over, thinking that the least I could do was give him half. I pursed my lips and tore open the package, then took a big bite. “Hmm…this is good.” Unfortunately, everyone else was watching my bad manners and thinking I was being rude.

“Uh…I can go back to the machine and get another if anyone wants one,” I said, wanting to redeem myself.

“I think I’ll call room service,” Jackie announced. “Then we can all have something to eat. What would everyone like?”

“I’ll have a salted nut roll,” Ramos said, his eyes glinting with challenge.

My lips twisted, but I narrowed my eyes at him. “Sure. But first I want my Diet Coke.”

“Oh yeah…it’s in the fridge, but I had to dump the ice,” he answered.

“Fine.” I found the ice bucket by the fridge and picked it up. “Anyone else? No? Okay, I’ll be back.” I opened the door with a shake of my head, and caught that Ramos was enjoying himself and thinking I should be glad he hadn’t poured my soda in a cup with the ice I’d spilled on the floor.

I glanced back at him with venom in my eyes and he just grinned, thinking it was sure fun to tease me, and maybe he’d better come along so I didn’t spill ice all over the floor again. I quickly shut the door before I said something to give our little game away, and hurried down the hall to the ice machine.

This time getting ice and a candy bar was a completely different experience from just a few short minutes ago. It amazed me how quickly everything had changed. I was still a little angry that they hadn’t told me last night, leaving me to suffer with grief the whole night long. But it was water under the bridge now.

I got back to the room and knocked. Ramos let me in and I handed him his salted nut roll. “Thanks,” he said. “I ordered you an omelet too. I hope that’s all right?”

“Thanks, it sounds great.”

As we finished up our food, my cell phone rang. “It’s Kate,” I said and quickly answered.

“Shelby? Why haven’t you called me?” she asked. “Did they find the bodies?”

“Um…where are you?” I asked.

“At my place.”

“Did you get the lists?”

“Yes.”

“Great. You need to come to Jackie’s hotel room. We’re all here and we can go over the lists together.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be there soon.”

We disconnected, and I turned to Uncle Joey. “You want Kate to know you’re alive, right?”

“Yes. Of course,” he answered. “But not the Passinis. I want them to suffer for a while. Maybe even be suspected of murder by the police. It would serve them right for trying to double-cross me.”

I could understand his sentiments and knew I’d probably feel the same way. I hoped that didn’t make me a bad person. Since the explosives didn’t have anything to do with them, it was obvious they were being framed. That meant that whoever did this knew them pretty well and was probably an associate of theirs. It would sure be nice to get the lists and figure it out.

As we finished cleaning up our breakfast dishes, Kate knocked at the door. My heart pounded, knowing it was the moment of truth. I hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at me for not telling her they were alive over the phone. Again Jackie pulled the door open and let Kate in. Her somber expression flooded with shock to see Uncle Joey and Ramos. She even squealed and hopped up and down on her feet…kind of like she was seeing a couple of ghosts.

Once she got over her surprise, Uncle Joey related the story of their survival and the explosion. With renewed interest, they poured over the lists. “Are you sure this is everyone who was on the boat?” Uncle Joey asked Kate.

“Yes,” Kate answered, growing tired of him asking the same question over and over again.

“Even the servers?”

Kate pointed out the servers on another page. “Right here. And just below that are all the people from our company.”

“I can’t believe any of them would do it, but you never know.” Finally Uncle Joey glanced my way with a hard expression. He was thinking this was a job for me, and probably the only way they had any hope of finding the person responsible.

“It looks like we’re going to have to use our secret weapon if we want any answers,” he said, looking straight at me. Everyone turned their gazes my way. I nodded to the unspoken question, and Uncle Joey smiled. “Good. This is what we’ll do…”

***

The next evening, I was sitting in a mortuary with two caskets that held the remains of the bodies Nick had identified as Uncle Joey and Ramos. I didn’t know how they did it, but the Passinis pulled some strings and got the bodies released to us for a memorial service before we took them home.

It was a little creepy, knowing there were real remains in those caskets, some of which were blown up into little pieces. Even worse was knowing the bodies were the Passini security guards. I had no idea how the Passinis got the bodies out of police custody, and since it probably involved something illegal, that was fine with me.

Earlier, Kate and I had talked to all of the servers and crew who had been on the yacht that night and eliminated them as suspects. Now we were at the funeral home where Kate had made sure all of the guests from the tragedy would come to pay their respects. Several had gathered, with more trickling in all the time.

It was my job to listen to them and find out which one had planted the explosives. At the time Uncle Joey suggested it, it seemed like a good idea, but now I wasn’t so sure. Especially with thoughts of what the bodies looked like coming from most everyone. Seeing what they were thinking in their heads kind of curdled my stomach.

Jackie portrayed the grieving widow to perfection, with Kate and me standing in as her nieces. I felt kind of guilty for deceiving everyone, mostly because of how genuinely sorry they felt for us. On the other hand, I didn’t feel a bit guilty for the two women who came through separately to pay their respects to Ramos. They were both beautiful and, with tears flooding their eyes, they thought a few things I’d rather not know. My face flushed red and I couldn’t get my shields up fast enough.

I noticed a man come in by himself and glance around as if expecting trouble. Finding none, he quickly made his way to the casket under Uncle Joey’s picture. He stood with his head bowed, but his lips were moving and I tuned into his thoughts. Again, my ears turned red, but this time it was from the rash of four letter words slipping from his mind. This guy had strong feelings for Uncle Joey, but I couldn’t tell if they were good or bad. I mean…from all the swearing it seemed like they were bad, but maybe that was how bad guys talked to each other and it was really good.

I had to get close enough to find out and maybe ask him a few leading questions, so I stood just to the side and behind him and tried to piece thoughts that didn’t contain swear words together. I got that he knew Uncle Joey from way back when, but something had come between them, and they hadn’t spoken for years. He took a risk coming here, and he hoped no one noticed him since it wouldn’t do to be seen paying his respects to his enemy, even if he was an old friend.

I quickly turned away before he noticed me staring, and fiddled with a pot of flowers on a table. His gaze wandered toward me but soon slid away, and he abruptly turned and left. It was like a breath of fresh air once he was gone, and I sighed with relief. I glanced at the casket and noticed a piece of paper that wasn’t there before.

Making sure he was gone, I snatched it up, and hurried to a chair in a small corner. The writing was hard to read, but I made out most of the words and realized it was a tribute of sorts.
“From one bad SOB to another, RIP.”
The signature baffled me since it was mostly a bunch of flourishes and dots. Maybe there was a D in there, or an R, but I couldn’t be sure. I slipped it into my pocket, deciding to give it to Uncle Joey later. Who knew? Maybe it was a long lost friend who’d reached out one last time, and Uncle Joey would want to renew the acquaintance?

Four new people, three women and one man, arrived at the end of the line, so I made my way over to Jackie and Kate. From what I could pick up, these were some of the employees from Kate’s office, and I listened with interest. For the most part, they were feeling sorry for Kate and thinking she was probably blaming herself for the whole incident, and rightly so. They certainly didn’t need the Passini Shipping Company, and getting saddled with that group was going to take a lot more work than they wanted to give. They were relieved and hopeful that the merger had been called off.

The man with them was thinking the opposite and hoping the merger had gone through. It made good business sense, and now that the Passinis looked like they were responsible for the explosion, he hoped Kate would take action against them…hopefully by squeezing them out of their company altogether. If he knew Kate and Manetto’s organization, the Passinis wouldn’t be around very long. It was just the opportunity he needed…

“Hi Zack,” Kate greeted him. “I’m so glad you came. This is Jackie, Uncle Joey’s wife, and my…cousin, Shelby.”

Zack’s brows rose. He had no idea Manetto was married. When had this happened? He hoped it wouldn’t change anything. “Nice to meet you both,” he said. “I just wish it was under different circumstances.”

We murmured our thanks and Kate continued. “Zack is really the one running the company,” she said. “I would have been lost without him.” Zack mentally agreed, and with animosity thought that it was his company no matter what she said.

“Oh yes,” I said. “Kate told us about you. You’re her office manager?”

The title aggravated him, just like I thought it would, and his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Well…you must do a wonderful job. Kate speaks very highly of you.”

He nodded his thanks, then spoke directly to Jackie. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Mr. Manetto will be missed.” He chatted for a few minutes more and then moved respectfully to the casket. His actions betrayed his satisfaction that Uncle Joey was dead, and piqued my interest. There was definitely more to him than he let on.

I stepped to his side and glanced at Uncle Joey’s photo above the casket. “I can’t believe he’s really gone.” I tried to make my voice light with sorrow. “I don’t know what we’ll do without him.”

Zack raised one brow questioningly. “Were you close?”

“Yes. He was a really good uncle…almost like a father in a lot of ways.” I tried not to snort while I said that. “He wasn’t supposed to die, especially getting blown up like that. I hope we find the person responsible.” I turned to pin him with a hard gaze. “Uncle Joey’s death will not go unpunished.”

Zack was thinking that for a sweet-looking thing, I certainly had a bloodthirsty streak. He never would have pegged me for that type, but he figured it must run in the Manetto gene pool. Good thing he had his bases covered. “I understand completely, and I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

Zack nodded and turned away, eager to leave now that he’d made his appearance. He joined the ladies he’d come with and, after conferring together, they all left to get drinks. Between them, they were speculating about how Uncle Joey’s death was going to affect the company and the merger, and Zack wanted to make sure no one thought he was any different.

Well, something was definitely up with him. I couldn’t say for sure that he had planted the bomb, but he certainly had something to do with it, and I was positive I could find out with a little more questioning. I knew what bar they were headed to, but going there without backup was not a good idea. I’d just have to wait until I could discuss it with Uncle Joey and Ramos.

After he left, Kate kept giving me expectant glances and asking in her mind if I’d found the bomber yet. It made me wish that this mind thing could go two ways just so I could tell her to back off. I was ready to take her in the other room and let her know what I’d heard when the police detective from the docks came in.