Lie or Die: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (3 page)

“I don’t know,” he said defensively. “I just hate to see anyone I know in trouble. I don’t think she really would have killed you. Some people are all bluff. They make threats they would never carry out.”

“So her pointing a loaded gun at me was just a threat?” I fumed.

He huffed in frustration. “Okay, you probably have a point, and it doesn’t do any good to argue about it. But since we are arguing, could you please stop listening to my thoughts?”

His voice was pretty loud by then, and it surprised me. “Did you have a bad day?”

“Not really,” he said, but he thought,
not until I got home
.

“Until you got home?” I said, outraged. I didn’t want him to hide behind those unspoken words. “It’s okay. I get it. I’ll just go get dinner ready.”

“Shelby, it’s not…”

“No, I get it.” I interrupted him, and rushed into the kitchen. He didn’t follow me to smooth things over, and a little part of me wilted. I knew that something had to change. Either I had to put up my shields around Chris, or he had to stop getting mad every time I listened to his thoughts. This was the situation we were in, and it wasn’t going to change. How we handled it was what would make us or break us.

It hit me that I was the one who was stupid. If I didn’t get my shields up around him, the simplest thing to do was not respond to his thoughts. Why did I always do that anyway? It was like I was purposely trying to make him mad. That was just dumb. From now on, I would keep my mouth shut and only respond to his spoken words.

I relaxed my shoulders and sagged in relief, knowing I had a plan. It might be hard, but it was something I could do, especially since I couldn’t expect Chris to just accept that I could read his mind all the time. That probably wasn’t fair, even if deep down I wished he’d just get used to it. No, it was up to me. I could do it.

The rest of the evening went better. I put up my shields and Chris began to relax. Later, I realized how much of a strain we’d both been under, and I was more determined than ever to be as normal as possible.

To do that, I decided it was best not to tell Chris about my visit to see Uncle Joey tomorrow. When it came to Uncle Joey, there were times it was better Chris didn’t know. Replacing two of Uncle Joey’s dead people wasn’t that big of a deal, and certainly not something I had to worry Chris with. I could handle Uncle Joey on my own. I hoped.

Chapter 2

I left for Thrasher Development a little early. Not that I didn’t want to be late, but it didn’t take me that long to get ready. Mostly because I didn’t have to put on the wig and glasses I’d worn when I first started working for Uncle Joey. Since everyone knew who I was, it didn’t matter anymore, although I still felt vulnerable. But at least I wasn’t wearing black. My white denim jacket, layered over a pink cami and paired with a short ruffled skirt, went perfectly with my new boots.

On the drive there, I noticed a car following close behind. I was nearly to the office when it dawned on me who it was. Felt? What was he doing? Was he purposely making my life difficult? It was too late to shake him off, so I turned into the parking garage. At least without an electronic sticker on his car, the door wouldn’t open, and he couldn’t get in.

He sped past, but I knew he’d find out what I was doing here, and I pursed my lips in frustration. I didn’t need him to pry into my relationship with Uncle Joey. I needed to figure out a way to lose Felt, but besides telling Uncle Joey to get rid of him, I wasn’t sure that would happen. Still, there had to be something I could get on Felt that would make him back off. I sighed, knowing it was just one more thing to worry about.

I stepped into Uncle Joey’s office, and all thoughts of Felt fled my mind. I was early, and Jackie wasn’t at her desk. I could hear her talking to someone down the hall near the office where all the security equipment was kept. Since Ramos had gone to Seattle, it must be someone I didn’t know.

Just then, Jackie stepped out of the office, and noticed me standing by her desk. “Shelby!” she said. I smiled and waved. “There’s someone you need to meet.” She turned back to the office, and soon a man followed her down the hall. His body filled up the hall, and I realized he was huge. About six feet six inches tall, and built like a soldier or bodyguard.

Jackie made the introductions. “Shelby, this is Douglas, our new security advisor.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

“Likewise,” he answered, extending his hand. His hand was so big, mine seemed to disappear inside, but thankfully he didn’t squeeze too hard or he might have broken a bone or something. So this is Shelby. That thought came through clearly, surprising me. I smiled brightly, and pulled my hand out of his grasp. How did he know about me?

“What about Ramos?” I blurted. “Isn’t that his job?”

Jackie chuckled indulgently, hoping I hadn’t offended Douglas. “Yes, but Ramos had to go to Seattle for a while. While he’s gone, we needed someone with his expertise to fill in. Douglas came highly recommended, and we are very lucky to have him.”

“Thank you Jackie,” he said, inclining his head. “And please, call me Doug.” He was thinking that his mother was the only one who called him Douglas, and it always made him feel like a little boy. Mostly because that was the name she used when he was in trouble.

My neck was getting a crick in it from looking up at him, so it was a relief when Jackie motioned me down the hall toward Uncle Joey’s office. Doug headed back to the security office, and I leaned toward Jackie to ask what was going on. “If Ramos is only gone for a week or two, why are you hiring someone else? Ramos will think you don’t want him anymore.”

She glanced at me with her brows drawn together, like I was an idiot. “Joey doesn’t want to take any chances now that Miguel is here. Besides, Mexico taught him that he could use a little more security.”

“Oh,” I said. “Okay. So you’re going to keep him around when Ramos gets back?”

“Yes,” she answered. She was thinking that it wasn’t any of my business, but she could understand since it concerned Ramos. He had saved my life a time or two, so naturally I would be looking out for him. “Joey wanted to see you in his office before the meeting,” she said.

I followed her to his office, where she knocked before opening the door. “Shelby’s here.” She ushered me inside, and firmly closed the door behind me.

“Have a seat,” Uncle Joey said, without glancing up. He finished writing, and threw down his pen. “There, that should do it.” He glanced up at me and frowned. Why wasn’t I sitting down like he asked?

Good grief! I casually strolled to the chair in front of his desk and sat down. Glancing up, I caught him smiling at me, pleased that I’d obeyed his unspoken request.

“Who’s Doug?” I asked.

He frowned, taken off guard by my question. “My new security man. Did you meet him?”

“Yeah, but he made me uncomfortable.”

“Why? What was he thinking?”

“Oh, nothing really,” I said. “He just seemed to know who I was already. Did you tell him about me? I mean, nobody knows what I do, right?”

“No, of course not. But Jackie might have said something about you coming in today. That’s probably it.” He was wondering if he’d hired him too fast, and decided to do a more thorough background check on him.

“That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. “You can’t be too careful, even if he came highly recommended.”

Uncle Joey studied me. “Yes, well, if you get anything from him, be sure and let me know. In the meantime, I have my hands full with this promotion. There are a few things going on with my organization that have me concerned, so it’s important to know what everyone’s thinking in the meeting today.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said.

He was thinking it was the big trial that worried him. He knew most of the evidence was circumstantial, but if there was a leak in his organization…he caught me staring at him and frowned. He almost said something, but a sudden thought occurred to him, and his eyes lit up.

“We’d probably better get into the meeting,” I blurted, not liking where his thoughts were going.

“You’d know,” he said. “If you were at the trial, you’d know if someone was lying.”

“What trial? What are you talking about?”

He smiled like the Cheshire cat, and I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “We’ll talk about it later. Everyone should be here by now. We’d better go in.” He stood, and motioned me toward the door. “After you.”

I huffed, knowing he had me over a barrel, and there was nothing I could do about it. Disgruntled, I made my way to the conference room. As I entered, Ricky stood and smiled. He was glad to see me, and wondered if I still had my stun flashlight. He’d bought one just like it for his girlfriend. I almost reached into my purse to show him I had it, but resisted the impulse, just smiling back instead.

Victor and Marc weren’t as enthusiastic to see me, but they nodded politely. I glanced around the room, surprised that the others weren’t there. Uncle Joey took his seat, and we took that as our cue to sit down.

“As you know,” Uncle Joey began. “I have appreciated all you’ve done to take on the extra load left by Johnny and Walter. Now it’s time to replace them with people we can trust. As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve chosen Johnny’s nephew, Jimmy, to take his place. As for Walter, I thought it best to choose someone familiar with the books in that part of the neighborhood, so I asked Nick Berardini to take his place.”

It was hard to catch all of their thoughts at once. They all seemed good with Jimmy, but Nick was another matter. I waited for them to voice their opinions, but they all just nodded instead. Frustrated with their silence, I spoke up, asking the question that was on all of their minds. “Why not Nick’s father?”

Uncle Joey’s brows rose in surprise, and everyone stared at me. Ricky was thinking I had a lot of guts to question Manetto. It just wasn’t done. When the boss made a big decision like this, nobody questioned him, even if they had questions.

Uncle Joey was wondering how I knew about David. He was sure he’d never mentioned him before.

I held his gaze, and tilted my head toward the men, lifting my brows. His eyes lit with understanding, and he took a deep breath. He got it, but his lips thinned. He wasn’t sure he liked how I put him on the spot. How did that make him look in front of his men?

I pursed my own lips, holding in my exasperation by sheer will. Wasn’t this why he wanted me here? Fine. I was not going to say another word.

“I was hoping to keep this quiet a little longer,” Uncle Joey finally responded. “But now I see that this is something we need to talk about. What I tell you stays in this room. That goes for all of you.” He pinned his gaze on me, and I found myself nodding just as eagerly as the rest of them.

“David is doing a special job for me that requires a certain amount of discretion. As most of you know, a complaint has been filed against Adam Webb, the head of Webb Enterprises. In fact, the trial is starting next week. I have a business arrangement with Adam that needs to stay private. David is doing what he can to keep it that way.”

He leaned back in his chair. “While this trial is going on we will have to watch ourselves extra carefully. Don’t trust anyone outside of our business associates. If someone starts asking questions, I want to know about it immediately.”

He waited for a moment to let that sink in. “Good. There’s also the matter of Kate and Hodges. I just found out yesterday that Hodges is dead, and Kate has disappeared. I’ve sent Ramos to Seattle to find out what he can, and hopefully find the money they stole. In the meantime, I’ve hired Doug Carter to help with security.”

Marc was thinking that if things were a little dicey, right now might not be the best time to hire someone new. I thought he had a good point. I glanced at Uncle Joey and inhaled to speak, but he narrowed his eyes at me with a warning in his head to keep my mouth shut. It stopped me cold.

“Doug came highly recommended by someone who owes me, and I feel confident in his abilities.” Uncle Joey stopped, realizing he was explaining himself. He never explained himself. He was the boss. He knew how to take care of business, and his men trusted him to do that. Didn’t they? Were they always questioning him in their minds? Or was it just me? That sort of thinking had to stop. He didn’t get where he was by making mistakes. He had friends in places most people didn’t even know about. That was what made him the man he was today. He deserved their respect, not a bunch of questions.

Oh-oh. This was bad. Ricky and Marc straightened in their chairs. They could tell Uncle Joey was upset, but none of them knew what to say. Vic picked up on the tension and glanced at Uncle Joey nervously, then looked at me, thinking that whatever was going on, it was probably my fault.

I inhaled sharply. Why was he blaming me? Of course, thinking about it objectively, it probably was my fault. Uncle Joey confirmed it when he spoke his next words. “I need to speak with Shelby for a moment.” He stood and left the room with the command, come with me, echoing in his thoughts.

With great reluctance, I followed him to his office. Now what? Why was he so touchy anyway? I was only doing my job. Still, my stomach clenched with apprehension.

He opened the door, allowing me to enter before him, and closed it tight. Taking his seat behind his desk, he waited for me to sit down, his fingers tapping on the desktop. “I think we need to set some things straight,” he began. “First of all, you are not to speak during our meetings. I don’t want your opinion, or that of my people, until after the meeting is over when we can talk privately. Is that clear?”

“Sure,” I said. I thought about explaining myself, but decided against it. Uncle Joey did not want to hear it. He was angry, but lucky for me, not all of his anger was directed my way. There were other things he was worried about, and it didn’t take much to set him off.

He took a deep breath, and got his anger under control. “Good. There are many things about my organization that you don’t know, and I think it would be better for you if we kept it that way.” His point made, he switched back to the matter at hand. “Now…I take it the only objection they had was about Nick’s father?”

“Yes,” I quickly agreed. “They seemed fine with everything else.”

“Good,” he said. He was thinking that maybe my abilities would be of better use to him in other ways than these meetings, where I wouldn’t hear something that could make me more of a liability than an asset. We had an agreement, but he knew I worked with the police, and he wouldn’t put it past me to stab him in the back if I got a chance.

Surprise ran over me. Why was he letting me hear all this? He knew I was listening.

“Would you do it, Shelby?” he asked.

“Stab you in the back?” I blurted, caught off guard. “No…I wouldn’t do that. We have an agreement.” I hoped that was the right thing to say. Sometimes it was better to lie, especially when the alternative could be death.

“I’m glad to know that. Just keep in mind that while you work for me, you are under my protection, which for you seems to be a good thing.” Uncle Joey was thinking that although Ramos had saved my life, it was because of him that he’d done it. “Plus I’m paying you.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “I can see I spoke out of turn in the meeting, but I was just trying to do my job. Now that I know you don’t want me to do that, I won’t…unless you specifically ask.”

He nodded, his lips curving into a slight smile. “I’m glad we understand one another. I have a lot on my plate, and I don’t want to have to worry about you.” There was a certain amount of loyalty in his organization, and although he’d grown fond of me, he wasn’t sure I’d ever feel that way toward him. He couldn’t let his feelings get in the way of business. It was probably due to having his son, Miguel, along with Jackie, in his life. It was making him soft, and he couldn’t afford that. Not now, not ever.