We got back to Vinny’s car, and he turned to Hickey. “Your car’s close by?”
Hickey nodded. “You follow me.” He moved down the sidewalk to his car.
I slid into the front seat of Vinny’s car, and Vinny started the engine. We watched Hickey pull out into the street.
“Okay, here’s the story,” Vinny started as the car lurched forward, throwing me nearly into his lap. “Sorry,” he said.
I took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything.
“One of Hickey’s girls is with Torrey. She called her sister and told her where they are, said she needs some money, wants to get out of there before the feds come in after Torrey. I guess she’s gotten cold feet about the whole thing. She told her sister to call Hickey, she trusts him, and he’ll know what to do.”
“Why doesn’t the sister just send them some money?”
“She doesn’t have any. Apparently she’s just a kid in high school.”
I thought for a second. “Why didn’t Torrey’s girlfriend call Hickey herself? Are you sure it’s on the up-and-up?”
“Hickey says he hasn’t heard from her since the night you met Torrey on Orange Street. I did some checking and she flew under her own name to Rome that night on an Alitalia flight. When she called her sister, she said she didn’t want to risk Torrey finding out that she wants out. She must know Torrey’s guys have been watching Hickey.”
“But Hickey told me that he can’t get at his money.”
Vinny chuckled. “He tried that with me, too. But there seems to be another bank account, one the feds didn’t find.”
I shook my head. “Jesus, I can’t keep this straight.” I paused, then asked, “So where do you and I come in?”
“We’re Hickey’s beards.”
“We’re what?”
“He set this up to meet the sister, but we’re going to make it look like he’s meeting us. Torrey’s guys already know that we’ve been in contact with Hickey, so it won’t look out of the ordinary if we meet him. Then, while we’re in there with him, this girl can slip him the information and no one will be the wiser.”
I shook my head. “I’m still a little confused how you and Hickey managed to hook up on this. And why you’re helping him.”
“I talked to him after Melissa died, and he was scared. He’s pretty sure Torrey killed her, and he made the stupid mistake of telling Torrey he’d been taping their conversations and threatened to take the tapes to the cops.” Vinny paused. “So when I showed up, he offered to help me get Torrey, and in return, I’d do what I could to help get him off as easy as possible.”
“Jesus,” I whispered.
“He gave me the tapes, but I started noticing that I was being followed. That’s why I wanted to meet you at my office that day and give the tapes to you.”
“Don’t do me any favors. I got a threatening note, was almost abducted, and I didn’t even have the tapes then.”
Vinny scratched his head. “I don’t understand that, either. Torrey must have thought I’d told you all this before.” He reached over and touched my cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“These tapes had better be worth all this.” I was trying not to notice that his fingers had sent electric shocks through my body.
“He’s got Torrey on everything. I’m surprised Torrey didn’t figure out what Hickey was doing, but he probably thought he was stupid and wouldn’t risk his own business.”
“So why did he?”
“Why did he what?”
“Why did Hickey risk his business to make the tapes?”
“Why do you think?”
Okay, I wasn’t too fast on the uptake. “To save his own ass.” I paused a minute. “But didn’t you say they were friends?”
Vinny chuckled. “As only criminals can be. Hickey isn’t stupid, and he knew Torrey well enough to know he’s a slick son of a bitch and would sell him up the river without even thinking twice if the shit hit the fan. Hickey wanted to get him first.”
“So what are you getting out of this tonight?”
“Torrey’s location.”
“And I’m here, why?”
Vinny’s eyes glanced from the road to me, and I could feel his stare. He smiled. “I like your company.”
“Give me a break.”
He laughed, then grew quiet. “I wanted to keep an eye on you. Torrey’s getting antsy, he trashed my office, he did try to abduct you, who knows what he’ll try next. If you’re with me, then at least I feel like I can protect you.”
“But I was alone after I left you at the cow hospital until I met you at your parents’ place,” I said.
Vinny smiled. “Only some of the time.”
Shit. He was following me again. I think he was trying to make me feel better, but it didn’t work.
“Why didn’t you tell Hickey I was coming along?”
Vinny shrugged. “Don’t worry about him. He’s cool about it.”
I wasn’t sure
I
was “cool” about it, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. And the thought that I could maybe salvage my dying career with an exclusive story out of all this. I’d never done anything like this before. Some reporters lived at homeless shelters for a week to write stories about their experiences; some hung out with drug addicts to get inside their world. I started out as a town reporter, covering planning and zoning commissions, before moving into the city to cover the court beat, which is pretty cut-and-dried. I made the change to cop beat about four years ago, but I was always an observer, not a participant in any illicit incidents. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to have a double meaning: I was scared, but excited at the same time.
We pulled into the diner’s parking lot behind Hickey. The lights in the lot were out, bathing us in darkness. There was only one other car, on the other side of a Dumpster in the back. We got out of the car, and I glanced at Route 1, which was about a hundred feet away. A couple of cars whizzed past, but it certainly wasn’t rush hour. They probably didn’t even see us tucked back here near the trees.
Hickey was a few steps ahead of us.
“Annie.” Vinny turned to me, but before he could say anything else, something whizzed past my ear, and Vinny pushed me to the ground. He reached behind him, and I saw a flash of silver in his hand.
“What the fuck?” I managed to say just before I heard a popping sound nearby.
“Christ, someone’s shooting at us,” Hickey muttered, the panic rising in his voice. He was on the ground, too.
“Where the hell is the shooter?” I heard myself shout.
More pops. They were coming from the back of the parking lot, near the Dumpster.
Vinny’s gun exploded near my ear. “Stay down,” he said harshly. I wasn’t about to get up.
Suddenly it was quiet. Vinny grabbed my arm. “Get back to the car. Now!” he shouted, and I pulled myself up. I don’t remember getting into the car, but I was sandwiched in the back on the floor between the front seat and Hickey’s stomach as he lay on the seat facing me. In seconds we were moving, Hickey’s flesh pillowlike against my back, Vinny’s neck tense as the car careened out onto Route 1.
“So I guess Torrey wants us dead,” I said sarcastically once my voice came back. I climbed over the seat into the front. “They were waiting for us in the dark. It was a fucking setup.”
Hickey drew in a breath. “She didn’t know you were coming. She thought it was only me and Vinny. So we’re the dead ones.”
Vinny’s mouth was set in a hard line. “No one’s going to die.” He turned to me. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. I didn’t even have time to think about what was happening, which is probably why I didn’t wet my pants.
“Hickey, you okay?” Vinny asked. The car was pulling onto Interstate 95 over the Quinnipiac River bridge (how had we gotten this far so fast?) and we pulled off at Hamilton Street.
“Yeah,” Hickey said quietly. “Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Vinny said. “Obviously, she had us both going.”
We watched the buildings move along beside us until Vinny turned onto Chapel Street, up toward Wooster Square. He pulled up in front of my building and all the doors opened at the same time. I waved them back. “Come on, guys, I think I can make it up to my apartment okay on my own.” I sounded brave, but I was thinking about the ambush and hoped they would insist on coming with me.
I tried to act pissed off as they walked me up to the door. I saw Amber’s curtain move and Walter’s light flicker.
I unlocked the door and the three of us rushed up the stairs, not caring if we made noise. I turned the key in my door and opened it. The light switch was just over to the right, and I flipped it.
It was worse than Vinny’s office had been. The couch cushions were ripped, their insides strewn about the room. My books were in a heap on the floor, I could see bindings were broken. A favorite glass vase from my grandmother was in pieces next to my rocking chair, which seemed to be the only piece of furniture untouched. I felt a sob rise in my throat, and I forced it to change into “What the fuck?”
“Oh, shit, Annie, I’m sorry,” Vinny said quietly.
Hickey just stared at the mess, his eyes wide and sympathetic. I was glad they’d insisted on coming up with me. I couldn’t have taken this alone.
“I’ll kill him,” I blurted.
“You have to stand in line,” Hickey said. “Cops?” he asked Vinny.
Vinny shook his head.
I picked up the phone, but Vinny took it out of my hand. “Torrey’s just trying to scare you.”
“And he just tried to kill me. Next time he might actually do it.” I tried to stay calm, but my voice was rising. I didn’t like being shot at and I didn’t like it that someone was in my apartment, tossing my things around, looking through my belongings. I remembered my nosy neighbors. “Do you think Walter and Amber saw whoever did this?” As I asked, I knew they probably did. They didn’t miss the guy with the mole, and this guy probably made some noise.
“Stay here, okay? Don’t touch anything.” Vinny disappeared out my door, leaving me with a wide-eyed Hickey.
“Does Vinny really think I’ll help him now?” I demanded. “What’s really going on?”
Hickey shrugged. “He seems to know what he’s doing.”
“Doesn’t seem that way to me. This is entirely fucked up.” I moved into my bedroom to encounter even more pandemonium than in the living room.
Every drawer was open, and my heart moved up into my throat as I looked in the one next to my bed. My gun was gone.
Absently, I started picking up strewn underwear, ignoring Vinny’s order.
“You could make a lot of money with that.” Hickey’s voice made me jump, and I turned, clutching a red silk teddy.
“This is none of your business.”
“It most certainly is.” His grin was a little too wide. His attempt at levity was ill-timed.
I shoved the teddy into my drawer just as Vinny came in. I saw his eyes taking in the bed and the underwear I hadn’t had time to put away.
“They said they didn’t see anyone. I guess we should call the cops. Your boyfriend’s probably going to find out anyway and be pissed you didn’t call.”
“He’s not my boyfriend anymore, remember?” I said curtly. “By the way, they got my gun,” I added as I picked up the phone and dialed my ex-boyfriend’s number.
“Tom Behr.”
“How professional.”
“It’s late and I’m busy.” How soon we forget. He used to like it when I called him late.
“My apartment is a mess. Someone broke in. I’m officially reporting it.”
“You always have a crisis.” It sounded like he wasn’t going to do anything about this.
“Fine. Forget about it. I’m taking back my report.” I slammed the phone down and turned to see Vinny and Hickey wide-eyed behind me.
“What’d you do that for?” Hickey asked.
“I can’t deal with this anymore.” I picked up my purse.
Vinny shook his head. “You’ve got to report the missing gun.”
I nodded. “I know. I just can’t think about it right now. I have to get out of here.”
“Where are you going?” Vinny and Hickey followed me back into the living room.
“I’m going to stay in a hotel.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Vinny said. “I live just across the park. You can stay at my place.”
“Yeah, and what would your fiancée think about that?”
Vinny scratched his chin. “I could stay at her place.”
It wasn’t exactly the answer I wanted, but being cheap, at least I wouldn’t have to spring for a hotel room. “Okay, sounds good.”
He looked surprised for a split second, as if he didn’t expect me to accept so easily, but then a smile appeared. “Good.” He turned to Hickey. “I’ll take you back to your car. Let’s all meet at my place in the morning, about nine, okay? On to Plan B.”
His voice was light, but his eyes were darting around my apartment, taking everything in. “We can get this place cleaned up, too.”
I thought I saw the blue flashing lights of a police car pull up in front of my building as we went into Vinny’s. Screw Tom. He’d just have to break the door down.
Vinny’s bed was the most comfortable I’d ever slept in. He’d set the alarm for me, but when it went off, I hit the snooze button and rolled back over. His sheets smelled like fabric softener, just like my grandmother’s used to. For a single guy, he was very tidy. Even when my apartment wasn’t broken into, there were always dirty clothes piled somewhere, an empty glass here, a plate with half a muffin over there, newspapers strewn about, usually near where I’d been sitting last. I didn’t know what it would be like to live with Felix Ungar. I’d probably go crazy, and I would have to sabotage the relationship somehow.
Rosie’s face smiled at me from the bedside table when I opened my eyes for the second time. I squinted at her, noticing now that she was about as thin as I was, on one of my good days anyway, and she had a crease in her forehead. But her breasts were definitely bigger, her legs longer. She looked like the kind of woman who could wear a paper bag and look fashionable. I ran my hand through my mass of snarls. Maybe I’d try to comb it today.
Or maybe not.
I wanted coffee, but I didn’t want to get up to make it. I wanted someone to deliver it to me, along with a three-egg Western omelet and some home fries.
“Are you going to stay in bed all day?” Vinny’s face appeared in the doorway, startling me. “Breakfast’s getting cold.”
Breakfast? Really? I swung my legs over the side of the bed, suddenly aware of my attire. Vinny had given me a T-shirt and sweatpants to wear to bed. They made me look like a cow.