The Good Daughter (20 page)

“
The snow’s letting up. I’ll get the dogs out and prowl around. If she’s hiding, they’ll find her.” Eddie opened his door.

Joey climbed into the Town Car to wait with Giovanni while Eddie set his dogs to search. They disappeared around the back of the building.

“
Killing a woman’s bad enough, but I don’t want to whack a pregnant woman,” Joey said.

“
You think Carlo’s gonna want her dead?” Giovanni pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

“
Don’t see any other way. Sandro shows and he’s dead. She’s a witness. Carlo never leaves loose ends.”

“
Damn, you’re right.” Giovanni puffed then blew out the smoke. “I don’t think I can whack a pregnant woman either. Mikey could’ve done it.”

“
Yeah, but he’s no longer with us. Carlo’s pretty fucking crazy over this whole thing. I think he must’ve loved Sandro like a son. This betrayal has cut the boss deep.”

Eddie came back with the dogs, stomping a light dusting of snow off his boots. He stopped by the car window as Giovanni rolled it down. “No sign of her.”

“
We better get out of sight then,” Giovanni said, tossing his cigarette out the window. “We can go down that road that runs beside this place. We’ll be able to watch it from the back.”

“
Or I can go down further on this road, then turn around and park on the side and watch the front. We’ll cover two angles that way and she won’t likely think of me as anything more than a hunter.”

“
Okay. We got binoculars. You see her, you signal us and we’ll move in on her together.”

“
Store opens in an hour. If we haven’t seen her by then, we’ll have to backtrack. Get the dogs out again.”

Chapter 19

Dave lay on his battered sofa sleeper staring at the light patterns created by the TV on his tiled ceiling. He’d hoped the droning of the all-night cable-news channel would drown out his thoughts, or at least cover up the sound of the rats scurrying in the walls of his fifth floor studio apartment. It hadn’t helped in either case. His mind was a sticky mass of hot black tar, the kind mixed with rocks and spread on the cracked Texas roads on a blistering summer day.

Nia. Marisa. Sandro. Marisa. Nia. Marisa. Sandro. Mar--

Straying too often to the Mafia princess, Armstrong.
Not good business, that.

And yet it was a struggle to pull his thoughts away. Was Luigi home yet? Were they together? In bed?

“
Damn it!” Dave squeezed his eyes shut. Focus on the business at hand. Nia. He must do his job. He must make sure he was safe. He owed her.

Forcibly he pulled his memories to exactly why he owed Nia. Aside that they grew up next door to each other, and he’d loved her for as long as he could remember. He needed to remember that he’d made that one huge mistake in his life. He, who always strove for perfection. He’d made a total ass of himself, and for a time, he thought he lost his reason for existing.

His memories were painful, humiliating. A good distraction from Marisa. He deserved the punishment letting himself entertain inappropriate thoughts for even one second. From contemplating making another huge mistake . . . .

It had been a decade earlier, he remembered, and he was home for Easter. The holiday fell late in April that year, and Dallas was suffering an early heat wave. It was at least twenty degrees hotter than it was back in D.C. where he’d been living the last couple of years.

Which is why he was outside, de-winterizing the pool. His parents hadn’t hired the pool service to do the job yet, and he wanted to swim. So, he’d do it himself. Perhaps by tomorrow he would be able to get in the water.

“
Dave, are you here? I saw your car out front. Where are you?”

Nia. She was back from school, home visiting for spring break. His heart rate accelerated. “I’m out here.”

She stopped at the double French doors that opened onto his parent’s patio. He’d never forget how she looked in her wind shorts and baggy soccer jersey, her hair in a ponytail and as usual, no shoes on her feet. Little girl look in an all-woman’s body.

“
Dave, you’re home,” is all she said before she launched herself into his arms. “I knocked but no one answered. I just let myself in.”

“
You know you don’t have to be invited.” Her curves felt more womanly. She felt good in his arms. “Mom’s grocery shopping and Jared’s out in his art room, working on his latest masterpiece.” His voice became sarcastic, and he winked. “Most likely he has a naked girl out there and he’s painting dirty pictures.”

Nia slapped his shoulder. “Don’t make fun of him. He’ll be famous someday.”

“
Famous, my ass. He’s almost thirty and still lives at home. He needs a job.”

“
You know it’s my older brother who talks like that about my younger one, not the other way around.” She pulled away.

Reluctantly, he let her go. “Which brothers?” She had two younger brothers, two older.

She shrugged and grinned. “Well, any of them. Name one. How long are you going to be here?”

He told her, and they chatted while he finished the pool, but soon it became obvious her mind wasn’t totally on the current conversation. He wondered if it had to do with her new “boyfriend”. Dave couldn’t believe how she’d hooked up with the same Italian soccer star she’d had a crush on for years. But now the dude was back in Italy. He was bound to have dumped Nia, or would soon. And when he did Dave could pick up the pieces. He breathed a sigh. He’d almost waited too late.

He decided he couldn’t go back to D.C. without letting her know how he felt. “The pool will be ready to swim in tonight. You want to come over?”

“
Sounds great. We haven’t fixed ours yet. You want the two brats to come?” She jerked her head toward her two younger brothers who were outside playing ball.

No, he didn’t, not at all. “Sure, they can come.”

“
Hey, guys,” she called to them. “Want to go swimming tonight?”

“
We can’t, Nia. We’re going over to Tim’s house.”

She looked back at him. “Guess it’s just me. But I can’t stay too late; Sandro’s supposed to call me about midnight.”

The Italian player was calling her from Italy? Dave forced a smile. “I guess I can survive if it’s only you who makes it over,” he said, thinking how perfect it would be. It was his parents’ bridge night, and his brother had a hot date with a new model. He and Nia would be alone with plenty of time for him to convince her he would be better for her than Sandro, the soccer player.

And if she couldn’t be convinced, he’d let her know he would be there when Sandro dumped her and left her broken-hearted.

Early in the evening, as time drew closer for Nia to come over, Dave started thinking about Sandro. The more he thought about competing with an international soccer star, one she’d had a crush on, no less, the more Dave’s confidence waned. Nia had been in lust with the guy for too many years. Maybe Dave couldn’t compete.

He went to the bar and poured a drink. Bourbon on the rocks. Somehow the drink disappeared so he made another. He was on his third glass when Nia arrived. By now he felt better, much more relaxed, confident even.

They played in the water like old times. She was a strong swimmer, so they could play tag games without fear of her drowning. Finally, she pleaded defeat.

“
You win.” She got out of the swimming pool, grabbed a towel from the table, and plopped onto the lounge. He watched her from the water, waiting for her request.

“
Swim for me,” she said.

He was on the swim team in high school and college. She’d always loved to watch his butterfly stroke. “If I won,” he joked, “how come I’m the one who has to swim?” In truth he was flattered and would have been disappointed if she hadn’t asked.

“
I’ll juggle a ball for you if you want, but I don’t swim as prettily as you do. Go on, stop stalling. You know you want to show off.”

He swam for her.

“
You look so wonderful when you do that. You still practice don’t you?”

He pushed up out of the pool, dripping water. He took her towel and rubbed it over his body before he sat on the edge of the lounge. She scooted over and made more room for him.

“
Yeah, I still practice.” He let his gaze roam over her, taking in her lithe muscular body, barely covered by a bikini held together with flimsy ties. The cooling night air had her nipples pebbled beneath her wet top, and goose bumps raised over the exposed parts of her body. Which was most of it. His Speedos grew uncomfortably tight while silence stretched out between them.

“
Dave, why are you staring at me like that?”

He pulled his gaze from her body. “I want to kiss you.”

She tried to get up.

He took hold of her shoulders. “Stay.”.

“
No. You know about Sandro.”

“
Yeah, I know. But I’m here, Sandro’s not.”

“
Dave, I’m involved.” She tried to squirm away.

“
You really think he’s being faithful?”

She stopped squirming. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”

“
Oh, I don’t know. He’s in Italy. He’s a superstar who no doubt has a legion of groupies... Besides, you’ve never kissed anyone besides him.”

“
I . . . ”

Her blush told him she regretted confessing that tidbit.

“
You need something to compare, don’t you think?” He reached behind the chair and lowered it to the reclined position. His confidence was building . . . from the liquor he’d earlier consumed or from her heady admiration of his swimming. He didn’t know. He just knew he’d loved Nia years longer than Sandro even knew about her.

Nia tried to scoot away. Dave laid a leg across her body, holding her trapped.

“
Dave, I don’t know. Wait. Please don’t.”

He ignored her and kissed her anyway. She lay pliant and unresponsive in his arms. “Kiss me back, Nia.”

“
I . . .”

“
Just once. This can be an experiment. You don’t plan to kiss only one guy in your life, do you?”

Her gaze grew thoughtful. In all his bourbon-laced confidence, he knew he could win her over. He had to. He kissed her again, using slight force to urge her lips apart.

She didn’t struggle. But she still didn’t return his kiss.

“
Please, Nia. Kiss me. I love you. I’ve waited all these years for you to grow up.”

“
You love me?” She froze and something that could have been alarm, if he’d been in the mood to analyze it, entered her eyes.

“
I’ve loved you forever, Nia.”

“
Oh, Dave . . . I had no idea . . .” She drew a breath. “Just a kiss.”

She had the look that she hoped a kiss would pacify him and then she could make her escape. He could have agreed; he didn’t remember. He just knew that when she stopped fighting and started kissing him, he lost control. Somehow he had her naked, and he was naked. He was fingering her. Of course, by that time she was fighting again, but he easily overpowered her. He had to get inside her.

He forced himself between her legs.

She squirmed and fought harder. “Dave, no!”

“
Nia--” He tried to ignore her panicked cries. He didn’t want to stop now. He couldn’t. He pushed against her.

Suddenly, he was shoved backwards and off the lounge. He flailed trying to save himself from splashing into the pool. He heard Nia’s scream as he went under water.

He came up sputtering, ready to kill.

“
Hey, asshole, I distinctly heard her say no. That means stop. They forget to teach you that in FBI school?” His older brother Jared stood glaring at him.

Nia wriggled off the lounge, grabbing the towel and her bikini before she dashed inside the house.

Jared marched forward. “What the fuck are you doing, you jerk off? You’re the example mom and dad keep throwing up in my face, following in dad’s footsteps. The big successful FBI man. About to rape a woman. Not just any woman, but Nia, the girl next door that we all love. Jesus H. Christ, she’s the most famous woman soccer player in the world, and you’re treating her like a whore.”

“
Shut up, Jared. Just shut the fuck up.” Dave laid his head against the tiled pool ledge. He felt sick inside.

Jared left his date, who he’d brought over for a swim, cooling her heels in the living room, while he walked Nia home.

She wouldn’t speak to Dave any more that week, even though he’d gone over and tried to apologize. She refused to come out of her room, leaving him in an uncomfortable conversation with her mom.

A month later, he got her to take his call and accept his apology. Then in a whirlwind romance after the World Cup, Sandro had whisked her off to Italy so fast, that Dave never saw her again, until they moved to New Jersey and into his jurisdiction. He never had to heal her broken heart.

Even now, years later, the memory of the near-rape had the ability to make Dave’s stomach twist in knots so painful he wanted to hurl. He slowly drew in a long breath of air, releasing tense muscles.

When she and Sandro moved back stateside, a desire to see her, to see if her marriage was working, to see if she perhaps hated him, had him seeking her out. Nia welcomed him with open arms. Still crazy in love with her Italian superstar, and proudly showing off her new son.