Big Daddy Sinatra 3: The Best of My Love (The Sinatras of Jericho County) (11 page)

“He
can’t stand the Gabrinis is what I’ve heard.
 
My dad once said Uncle Mick wouldn’t help a Gabrini across the
street.
 
It’s some old shit I don’t know
shit about.
 
My dad talks to Uncle Mick
every now and then I think, so he may know, but I know this: Mick Sinatra cast
his lot with the mob and cut all ties with everybody else.
 
The mob is his family now.
 
At least that’s how my dad sees it.”

“That’s
how I’m seeing it too,” Makayla said, nodding.
 
“He would be of zero use to our investigation going forward.”

Brent
considered her.
 
“So what’s the game
plan?
 
Why would you need to talk with
anybody about anything?
 
Why wouldn’t you
just go before the judge and tell him that releasing that man is a lousy idea
and the state is against it.
 
It’s your
job to make sure Luke Sinatra stays locked up, right?”

“Wrong,”
Makayla said.
 
“It’s my job to make sure
the truth comes out and fairness prevails.
 
Whatever turn that takes.
 
That’s
my job.”

“As
commissioned by who?” Brent asked.
 
“The
governor?”

“Through
my boss, his attorney general, yes,” Makayla responded.

Brent
remembered something.
 
“That’s right,” he
said.
 
“You work for Neal Grassley, our
state’s attorney general.
 
But I thought
he took that job in the Obama administration.
 
I thought they appointed him assistant AG.”

“Only
rumors at this point,” Makayla said.
 
“Nothing has been announced.”

“So
in the meantime?”

“In
the meantime, I work.
 
I review all files
to determine the extent of the prosecutorial misconduct, and I make my
recommendation to my boss, he tells the governor, and then I tell the public in
open court.”

“But
if Neal Grassley gets appointed assistant AG and goes to D.C., you’re going
with him?”

“That’s
the plan, yes.”

Brent
hated to hear that news for some odd reason.
 
He nodded, as if it was no big deal, but he was sorry to hear it.
 

Her
cell phone began ringing.

“Excuse
me,” she said as she reached into her shoulder bag and retrieved her phone.
 
Brent looked at her enticing breasts as the
line of her cleavage stood out along the crisscross of her blouse.
  
The lady in red, he thought, and red did
wonders for her smooth, brown skin.
 
But
something had led her to the bottle, and not that long ago.
 
He wondered if it was guy-related or
life-related.
 
Looking at this beautiful,
incredibly well-endowed specimen of a woman made him reasonably certain.
 
Guy-related, he thought.

“Sorry
about that,” she said as she tossed her phone onto the table.
 
“I was expecting a call.”

“That
wasn’t it?” Brent asked.

“That
wasn’t it,” she said.
 
She had already
let it ring out and go to her Voice Mail.

The
waitress returned with Brent’s Coke, took both of their dinner orders, and
walked away again.
 
Makayla leaned forward.
 
“The thing is, Chief,” she started, but Brent
interrupted her.

“Call
me Brent,” he said.

When
Makayla had been checking the Caller ID on her phone she could see, from her
peripheral vision, how seriously he was checking out her boobs and body.
 
If he thought he was sneaking a peep, he was
not real good at sneaking.
 
She knew
there was some interest there.
 
But she
reminded herself yet again: she didn’t come here to fuck.
 
She came here to work.
 
“The thing is, Chief,” she said in defiance
of his request, “I’m appreciative of your cooperation so far.
 
You and Eddie and your staff have provided me
with all of the old files I requested, and that’s been helpful.
 
Very helpful.
 
Thank-you.
 
But I need to delve
deeper.
 
I need to talk to the best
eyewitness we have.
 
Your father.
 
And from all that I’ve been told that task
will be easier said than done.
 
Was I
informed correctly?”

 
“It depends,” Brent said.
 
“Do you want to talk about how he can help
get his father out, or how he can help keep his father in?”

Makayla
leaned back.
 
That was a fair
question.
 
“What about both?” she asked.

Brent
was already shaking his head.
 
“Not gonna
happen.”

“I
don’t get it,” she said, genuinely puzzled.
 
“The man did a terrible crime, true that.
 
But he’s served nearly thirty-six years for
that crime even still.”

“The
man killed my father’s mother, and another
 
human being,” Brent reminded her.
 
“Even still.”

“So
are you ordering me to back off of your father?”

“I’m
not ordering you to do anything.
 
I don’t
have to tell you either.
 
He’ll tell
you.”

Makayla
nodded.
 
“Yeah, I heard your father was a
very brutal, and a very unforgiving person.”

“He’s
not brutal, nor is he unforgiving.” Brent hated when people sized up his father
based on legend rather than facts.
 
“But
he does believe that right is always right, and wrong is always wrong.
 
His father took a life out here.
 
He figures he should at least do Life in
there.”

“I
also heard,” Makayla went on, “that you’re a lot like your father.”

Because
he knew his father, and the heart of the man, Brent actually considered that a
compliment.
  
“Thank you,” he said, to
her surprise.
 
Then he exhaled.
 
“Now what about you?”

Here
we go, Makayla thought.
 
Usually whenever
she was dealing with various males in her profession, it was an uncomfortable
moment.
 
Many of them, even the married
ones, never hesitated to test her resolve.
 
Was she amenable to rolling in the hay with them, or was not she?
 
She never was, especially with the married
ones, and was always quick to tell them so.
 
But with Brent it was oddly different.
 
There was a part of her that was pleased by his interest.
 
And it was that part of her that took
over.
 
“What about me?” she asked.

“Do
you have a husband, or do you have a boyfriend?”

Makayla
considered him.
 
“Who says I have
either?”

“I
do.
 
Husband or boyfriend?”

Makayla
smiled.
 
“You aren’t a real good sleuth,
Chief.
 
I’m not wearing a ring.”

“Boyfriend
then.”

Makayla
hesitated.
 
Why not let him believe what
he wanted to believe?
 
But for some reason,
she didn’t want him to believe that particular untruth.
 
“No,” she said.
 
“No boyfriend.”

“Since
when?”

Makayla
considered him.
 
“What exactly are you
asking me, Chief Sinatra?”

His
eyes met her gaze with an undeniable shock of lustfulness.
 
He was interested and he was not hiding
it.
 
“I’m asking if you’re available.”

She
smiled.
 
“Is that the real reason you’re
glad you ran into me?”

He
smiled too.
 
“No,” he said, “but it’s as
good a reason as any.”

She
appreciated his bluntness.
 
She usually
was not as direct, her line of work was not conducive to it, but she felt
liberated somehow around him.
 
“And if I
am available?” she asked.

Brent
was not sure about her level of interest.
 
She was interested, he decided, but to what degree, was the question.
 
Was she interested in teasing only like some
women he’d met along the way, or the act itself?
 
He wanted the act.
 
“If you’re available,” he said, “I would like
to get to know you better.”

She
decided to match his boldness and raise the stakes.
 
“In or out of bed?” she asked him.

Brent
smiled.
 
He liked her comeback.
 
This was no coquettish little female he was
dealing with.
 
“Both,” he responded.

She
nodded her head, but he could tell it was not a done deal yet.
 
“Actually,” she said, “I’m on the rebound.”

Brent
smiled.
 
“Aren’t we all, sister,” he
said, and Makayla laughed.

But
after dinner, as he drove her to her house, it was serious business for
him.
 
They were two consenting
adults.
 
She would soon go back to her
life, and he would continue with his.
 
He
was interested, she was interested, neither were tied down.
 
Why the hell not?

They
walked up to the small door of the small house she was renting.
 
“So how long do you anticipate staying in
Jericho?” he asked.

“I’ll
be in and out for quite some time.”

“Gathering
evidence?” he asked.

“Mainly,”
she said.
 
They made it up to her front
door.
 
“But also interviewing witnesses
that are still around.”
 
She looked at
him.
 
“Like your father, for
 
instance.
 
Can you arrange it?”

“You’ll
have to take that up with him.
 
He’s not
going to be cooperative, I can tell you that.”

She
nodded. “We’ll see,” she said.
 
Then she
unlocked her door.
 
“Well,” she
said.
 
“Thanks for driving me back,
Chief.
 
And I guess I’ll be seeing you
around.”

“I’m
going to work with you from here on out,” Brent informed her.

She
was pleased by his decision.
 
“Ah,” she
said.
 
“No more Sweet Eddie?”

Brent
smiled.
 
“No more Sweet Eddie.
 
At least not for now.”

She
nodded.
 
“Okay.
 
But he was very helpful.”

“Good.”

Then
they stared at each other.
 
Brent had his
hands in his pockets and could feel his dick throb just thinking about being
with her.
 
“May I come in?” he asked.

Makayla
considered him.

“I’m
not going to play games,” Brent said.
 
“You know what I want, and I know what I want.”

“And I
know my boss didn’t send me here to screw the head of the police
department.
 
He sent me here to handle
this case.”

Brent
moved closer.
 
So much so that he could
smell her fresh, perfume scent and that scent alone was making him even more
excited.
 
His erection was obvious and,
as he moved even closer, was touching her.
 
“Then handle it,” he said to her.
 
“And screw the head of the police department while you’re at it.
 
They aren’t mutually exclusive.”

She
wanted to smile, but she was in major horny meltdown too.
 
She was tempted mightily, but she knew it
would be the mistake of mistakes.
 
“I
don’t think so, Chief,” she said.

Brent
didn’t want to hear that.
 
He wanted her
so badly it was beginning to ache.
 
“Just
because you’re on the rebound?” he asked her.

“I’m
on the rebound after a very long relationship.
 
A relationship that ended only a few months ago.”
 
She frowned.
 
“I can’t do another big affair.
 
It’s too soon.”

“Who
said anything about a big affair?” Brent asked.
 
There was now no daylight between them as he wrapped his big hands
around her small arms.
 
“I’m not asking
you to commit to anything at all, Makayla.
 
I’m not feeling that either.
 
I’m
only asking for a night.”