Maggie Lee (Book 11): The Hitwoman Hires a Manny (20 page)

I’d just tucked her into her pink princess bed when Aunt Leslie came in.

“I’ll stay with her for a bit,” Leslie offered.

Needing a few minutes to deal with my own grief, I smiled at her gratefully.

Since I’d noticed, as I’d carried Katie into her bedroom, that Armani had trapped poor Angel in a corner, I took Leslie up on her offer and went to rescue my manny.

When I couldn’t find them, and Susan told me that she and Griswald had the cleanup well in hand, I retreated to the basement for a couple minutes of quiet, rest time.

I didn’t find it.

The moment I sat down on the couch, the dog curled up at my feet and the cat jumped into my lap.

“We need to talk, Sugar.” Piss stared at me with her good eye.

Considering she rarely made any demands, I sensed that something was really bothering her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not a kid cat.”

“What?”

“I’m not a kid cat.”

“Chocolate?” DeeDee panted hopefully.

“Give me a break,” God groaned from his enclosure.

“Let Piss talk,” I warned the others, rubbing the spot behind her ears.

“Kids and I just don’t work.”

I could feel the tension thrumming through her small body and wondered if it was a child who was responsible for her old injuries. “Don’t worry,” I soothed. “You won’t have to interact with her. You can stay down here and Katie will stay upstairs.”

“She’s a kid.” Piss flicked her tail. “She’s not going to
stay
anywhere.”

“I concur,” God piped up.

I shot him a dirty look for daring to interrupt.

“It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to choose between me and the girl, so I’m going to leave,” Piss announced.

I stopped petting her. “What?”

“We both knew that this was never permanent, Sugar.” Her tone was light, but strained. “It’s time for me to move on.”

DeeDee whimpered her displeasure.

I understood. I felt like my own heart was breaking. “You can’t.”

She narrowed her good eye at me. “Cats don’t like being told what they can do, and especially dislike being told what they can’t do.”

“But you're family,” I told her. “We love you.”

“Love!” DeeDee agreed, jumping up and licking the cat’s face.

She half-heartedly swatted at the dog’s nose, but didn’t hurt her canine companion.

“We’ll work something out,” I promised. “I’ll get locks for the doors so that Katie can’t possibly get in here.”

“My mind’s already made up,” she meowed softly.

“Leaving when you are?” DeeDee whined pitifully.

“Soon,” she replied.

“That’s why she’s been eating more,” God guessed. “Fattening herself up before her journey.”

I knew from the way the cat’s whiskers twitched he was right.

“You’ve been planning this?” I gasped. “And you didn’t say anything?”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind.”

Irritated, I shoved her off my lap and leapt to my feet. “So you thought you’d just make a unilateral decision without consulting any of us.”

She arched her back, the hair standing on end. “I didn’t realize I was expected to consult.”

Thinking about the vet’s office she’d lived at before, where she’d been tortured by his assistant, I said angrily, “I gave you a home.”

“You knew it wasn’t permanent.” She jumped up on the back of the couch so that she was closer to eye-level with me.

Frantic knocking at the basement door interrupted us. “Maggie? Maggie, are you down there?” Susan called.

Before I could answer, the door flew open.

“Tell me again about those doors being locked,” Piss drawled before diving off the back of the couch and disappearing underneath.

“Privacy!” I bellowed at Aunt Susan. “You need to wait for permission to open my door. I have the right to expect a modicum of--”

“Is Templeton here?” Susan interrupted.

“Of course not.”

“Oh dear.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. It sounded suspiciously like the understatement of the year. “Oh dear?”

“If he’s not with you, he’s disappeared.”

“Crapstastic,” I moaned.

“Language, Margaret,” Susan reprimanded. “I must inform Lawrence that he’s officially missing.” She slammed the basement door and started calling for Griswald.

I dropped to my knees and peered under the couch at the cat huddled in the back corner. “Do not go anywhere before I get back.”

When she didn’t respond, I had to beg, “Please, Piss. Promise me?”

“Promise,” she hissed grudgingly.

I got to my feet as God said, “Take me. You’re going to need my help to save him.”

Scooping him out of his terrarium, I said, “If Rivalgi has him, we may be too late already.”

I ran up the basement stairs, heart in my throat, unsure of what would happen next.

Susan and Leslie were consoling a weeping Loretta, who had giant streaks of mascara smudged all the way down her face, in the dining room.

Marshal Griswald was pacing the length of the foyer while yelling into his phone.

His nephew, Detective Griswald, was out on the front porch yelling at a uniformed police officer.

Checking in on Katie, who was somehow sleeping through the cacophony, I found both Marlene and Doc curled up in each other’s arms, on the floor beside her bed.

“We’ll stay with her,” Marlene whispered as Doc gave me a thumbs-up.

“Thanks,” I whispered back and left them to it.

Angel and Armani were nowhere to be seen.

I slipped out the kitchen door to get away from some of the noise. I needed to think.

“How had Rivalgimanaged to grab Templeton in broad daylight, in a house full of people?” I asked God.

“Maybe he didn’t,” the lizard replied.

“Maybe he left on his own,” I murmured. The second option seemed more likely. In the excitement of the party and cleanup it wouldn’t have been difficult to slip away. “But where would he have gone?”

God stayed silent.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Angel said from behind me.

I jumped, startled that he’d snuck up on me. I spun around to face him. “Where’s Armani?”

“She went home.”

“Of course she did,” I muttered. “Just when we could have used some psychic assistance.” 

“You really believe in her gift?” Angel asked.

I couldn’t very well tell him that her predictions had saved my ass on a number of occasions, so I said, “Her intuition is accurate.”

“I take it they’re no closer to figuring out what happened to Templeton?”

I shook my head.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Really, Maggie.” He stepped closer. “If there’s anything that Katie needs, that you need, just say so.”

I looked up into his dark, steady gaze and realized he genuinely meant it. I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t even know what to do. I wouldn’t know where to look. He spends most of his time with…” I trailed off as a seed of an idea started to sprout.

Angel waited expectantly. “What?”

“Can you call your uncle?”

He blinked, surprised by my answer.

“Can you call your uncle for me? It’s important.”

“He can’t help you…” he warned.

“I just need him to answer a question.”

“Why?”

I couldn’t tell him that not long ago his uncle had warned me to not let Templeton play in a certain high-stakes poker game. I’d convinced Templeton to stay home that night, which was lucky for him considering the feds had busted the game and three people had been shot. The story had been all over the newspaper. But I couldn’t tell Angel any of that.

“You asked what I needed and I’m telling you,” I said quietly.

Angel searched my face. I could tell he didn’t want to involve his family, but he’d already pledged his help. Grudgingly he pulled out his phone and dialed the number.

“Nephew!” Delveccio boomed through the speaker.

“Miss Lee has a question for you,” Angel said formally, before handing me the phone.

“Is there a poker game?” I asked his uncle.

“Maggie?” The mobster was clearly confused.

“It’s important. Is there a poker game?”

A moment of silence stretched between us. Then another.

He wasn’t going to tell me. Delveccio wasn’t going to give me the information I needed to save Templeton.

Frustrated, I shoved the phone back at Angel and stalked away. Not that I really had anywhere to go. I couldn’t go to the front of the house, not with the cops there. I couldn’t go back inside, my aunts were laying in wait. So I stomped through the backyard, all the way back to the rear property line.

Once again I found myself angry with Patrick Mulligan. If he hadn’t disappeared, I could have at least asked him for help, but with him out of touch, I’d run out of options.

Footsteps approached from behind.

I sighed. “I’m sorry if I put you in a bad position with your family.”

“I’m never in a good position with them,” Angel replied. “You should have stayed on the phone.”

“What for?”

“Because he eventually answered you.”

I whirled around to see if Angel was serious. He was watching me carefully.

“What did he say?”

“He said that poker was no game for a lady. That you should take up something you’re better at…like treasure hunting.”

“Treasure hunting?” I repeated, realizing that Delveccio had been speaking in code.

“That’s what he said.” Angel regarded me curiously. “Don’t tell me you know what that means.”

“I know what it means,” God piped up from his hiding spot between my breasts.

Alarmed, Angel stared at my squeaking chest.

“Godzilla,” I explained as though it were perfectly normal to tote a reptile around in one’s bra.

Angel’s eyes bugged out a little. “The lizard?”

“The jewels,” God continued, oblivious to how uncomfortable his speaking made the human beings. “He’s talking about the jewels.”