Blind Faith (22 page)

Well, well, how quickly things had changed. "I'm fine." Kelly quickly ran inside to shut off the alarm. "Nothing happened," she added when she returned.

The two men looked at the prone woman. "Who is she?" one officer asked.
 
"Her name is Nicole Santos. She's the wife of Miguel Santos who was charged with extortion five weeks ago. She may be having some kind of nervous breakdown."

The young officer slid his gun back into its holster and crouched beside the crying woman. "What are you doing here, ma'am?"

While he tried to coax an answer out of her, the other officer walked around the brightly lit garden. It wasn't long until he found what Kelly had already seen. "Hey, Tim, check this out." He pointed at the gasoline can.
"Looks like we caught ourselves a firebug."

"She didn't have time to do anything," Kelly insisted. "The cap is still on the can."

"It's still attempted arson, ma'am." The officer, whose name tag read Blair, turned back to Nicole. "Mrs. Santos, did you try to burn Miss.
 
Robolo's
house?"
When the woman didn't answer, he took her arm and helped her up while the other officer collected the evidence. "We'll have to take her in," he told Kelly.
"You, too.
Miss.
Robolo
.
Maybe not tonight, but first thing in the morning you'll need to sign a statement."

"I'm not pressing charges."

"Don't matter." Officer Blair shook his head. "Attempted arson is a felony."

Leaning against the wall, her eyes closed, Nicole Santos had finally stopped crying but seemed oblivious to what was going on around her.
 
"Will you at least take her to a doctor and make sure she's all right?"

Kelly asked. "I'm afraid I may have hurt her."

Blair looked at Nicole from head to toe. "She seems fine to me."

"She's pregnant.
Officer.
She ought to be checked out."

"Oh. I didn't know." He nodded. "We'll take her to the emergency room."

"Thank you." She nodded at the other officer, who had returned from the patrol car. "Thank you both."

A small crowd had gathered out in the street. Neighbors, some concerned, others just curious, watched as the two
officers
escorted Nicole Santos to the squad car.

"Everything's under control," Officer Blair said in answer to a shouted question. "Please go home." His arms spread
wide,
he forced them off Kelly's property, back toward the sidewalk. "Come on, people,
go
. It's cold out here."

Reluctantly, one by one, they moved on. Taking the officer's advice, Kelly hurried back into the house, locking the sliding door behind her.

The phone, an invention Kelly was beginning to despise, jolted her awake. It was Nick. He had heard about last night's incident and wanted to make sure she was all right.

"I'd be a lot better if I were allowed to catch up on my sleep," she grumbled.

As usual, he was in a sickeningly good mood. "Stop being such a grouch and be happy you have people around you who care."

"Officer Blair briefed me this morning, though he didn't have to. Your pretty face is on all the TV channels, courtesy of the early-morning news."

That meant her mother had heard as well.
Great.
"How's Nicole Santos?"

"She checked out fine, at least physically. Mentally, she's a mess."

"When is her bail hearing?"

"In a couple of hours.
The D.A. already indicated he won't fight bail, provided she's put under psychiatric care."

"I'm glad."

"There's one more thing. Nicole admitted to the vandalism, but denied sending the notes. I don't think she was lying."

Kelly was silent. Her suspicions had been right, then. The threats had nothing to do with
Chinatown
.

"Yes, and since I know where you're going with this, the answer is no. I will not be put under any kind of police protection."

Her call-waiting signal beeped in her ear, saving her from further discussion. "That will be my mother, Nick. I'll talk to you later." She clicked a button and threw herself into another fire. "Hello, Ma."

"Don't you "Hello, Ma' me," Connie snapped
. "
Just tell me why I had to hear what happened to you last night from that Monica
Malpass
?" Monica Mal pass was the TV 6 morning anchor and, like many Philadelphians, Connie called the local broadcasters by their first names, as though they were family.

"Nothing happened to me last night, Ma. I'm fine." Maybe if she kept repeating those last two words, like a mantra, people would start believing her. "A crazy woman tries to set fire to your house and you call that nothing?"

"She didn't know what she was doing."

"I can't believe you're defending her."

"She's also three months pregnant."

That stopped her, as Kelly knew it would. "Pregnant?
Madonna
mia
.
Is she all right? Did she get hurt?"

"Nick
Mcbride
just called to say she and the baby checked out fine.

Nicole should be out on bail sometime this morning. She's agreed to--"

Kelly sighed. What had she done?
"That
Mcbride
, yes, Ma."
She wanted to change the conversation and find out if her uncle had arrived but didn't know how to ask without giving herself away.

"You should bring him over, honey." Her good mood miraculously recovered, Connie was suddenly all sweetness and charm. "I'm sure your Uncle Gino would love to meet him."

"Uncle Gino is here?" Kelly did her best to sound both surprised and happy.

"No, of course not.
I haven't talked to him in weeks. What's the occasion?"

"No occasion. He says things are slow at the winery and he felt like a visit. But I don't know." She made a
tsk
sound with her tongue. "He's been acting strange."

"He drove me crazy last night, checking all the doors and windows before we went to bed, and this morning he told me I should install a burglar alarm."

"That might not be a bad idea."

"It's a stupid idea, and a waste of money." She paused. "And talking of stupid ideas, your brother called yesterday, just after you and Phoebe left."

"Ronny?" She was beginning to sound as phony as she felt.

"Yes, Ronny. How many brothers you got?" Her tongue clicked again. "He wanted me to go to
Atlanta
for a couple of weeks. Can you believe that?

They're buried under two feet of snow down there."

"I guess he misses you."

"Hmm."
She sounded even more skeptical. "He didn't tell you about it?"

"I haven't talked to Ronny either." One of these days she would grow horns for lying so shamelessly to her mother.

In the background, Kelly heard her uncle's booming voice. "Gino wants to see you," Connie said. "He says to come for dinner. He'll cook something special. Oh, and bring Nick."

Nick? "I can't bring Nick, Ma. He--"

Connie had already hung up.

Twenty-Seven.

What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Nick closed the door to Captain Cross's office and faced his enraged boss. It didn't take a genius to know what had put him in such a state.

"Don't tell me. Moneybags called you again."

"Not me, Nick," Cross yelled.
"The police commissioner.
Webber went straight to the top this time, complaining not only about you but about me as well. You want to know what he
said?
" The captain leaned forward, his jacket pushed back, his fists on his hips, bringing his angry face inches away from Nick's. "He said I was incompetent, that I couldn't control my men and that I should be replaced. How do you like that?"

"I wouldn't worry about Webber," Nick said coolly. "The man's full of hot air."

"And you're one fucking thorn in my side,
Mcbride
. First you harass the man in a state where you have no jurisdiction and then you stalk him."

Cross hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. "What were you thinking?"

"I told you to stay away from Webber! And what do you do? You tail him while he's on a date."

"He was not on a date."

"I don't give a shit what he was doing. You were supposed to stay away from him, not shadow him. The man's got connections. Nick. And he knows how to use them."

"Just because he has connections doesn't mean he should be given

preferential
treatment. And as long as Jonathan Bowman is missing--"

"Bowman is alive and well."

"Cecily Sanders called. Bowman talked to his wife on the phone and told her he wasn't coming home. Ms. Sanders wants her niece and Jonathan to work out this domestic dispute privately and quietly, and I agree."

It was Nick's turn to lose his temper.
"For Christ's sake.
Captain.
I was there when the call came through. That wasn't Bowman on the phone.

It was an impostor."

"You have proof of that?"

"Not yet, but I will. Just give me a few more--"

"I'll give you zip. Not only are you off this case, but you're suspended for two weeks." On that last sentence, his wide shoulders sagged a little and his voice dropped. "I'm sorry. Nick. I didn't have a choice in this."

Nick was silent. He didn't blame the captain. He knew the orders had come from above, and for Cross to defy them would be professional suicide. Quietly, Nick took out his badge, removed his gun from his shoulder holster and placed both on Cross's desk. Then, without a word, he walked out.

Rouge was a small, elegant restaurant on
Kitten-house Square
, half a block away from
Victoria
's shop. At this noon hour, the place was already crowded, but Victoria, who knew the hostess, had managed to secure a table by the window overlooking the park.

"Sorry I'm late," Kelly said as she brushed her lips against her friend's cheek. "The traffic was horrendous."
Victoria
looked good, Kelly noticed. Eyes bright, hands steady. And she had reopened the shop, which was a good sign.

"No problem. I've ordered us some wine--chardonnay because I figured you'd want the fish. Is that all right?"

"Just what I need."
Kelly took a sip of her wine, which was cold and fruity.

"Briefly.
As always they blew the incident out of proportion."

"How can you say that, Kelly? The woman had a half-dozen rags strategically placed throughout your yard and a five-gallon can of gasoline. Your house would have been engulfed in flames within moments if you hadn't stopped her."

"But I did stop her, so let's not talk about it anymore, okay?" Kelly shrugged off her coat and let it fall across the back of her chair.
 
"How's your stay at the Sanders' Palace?"

Victoria
picked up her menu and scanned it. "Cecily is a little overwhelmed by the constant noise and activity. It's one thing to have our little family over for Sunday dinner, and another to have a rambunctious five-year-old underfoot all the time, asking thousands of questions, making remarks no one quite knows how to take and jumping on priceless antiques."

Kelly laughed. "She's not."

"I'm exaggerating. But Phoebe's a handful.
Adrian
's doing his best to keep her under control, but it's obvious he's never been around children. He doesn't have a clue what it takes to either please or quiet a child. She, on the other hand, already has him pegged and knows exactly which button to push. He's probably attending church services right now, praying to his Rumanian God that our stay will be a brief one."

Kelly looked at
Victoria
from above the rim of her menu. It felt good to see her that way, relaxed and cracking jokes. They'd had a long phone conversation this morning and
Victoria
had told her that as long as Jonathan was alive, she would make no decision, and give her husband the benefit of the doubt until he told her, to her face, that he no longer loved her.

"Early this morning.
He found out about the incident at the town house from one of the officers on call."

"No. Why?" Kelly asked as the waitress came to take their orders. She ordered the grilled salmon,
Victoria
the potato-crusted halibut,
then
waited until they were alone again. "What's the matter with Nick?"

"He's been suspended."

"What?"

"God, Kelly, where have you been? The news is all over town."

"Why was he suspended?"

"
Syd
Webber. According to Action News, your other admirer called the police commissioner this morning and told him Nick was stalking him. You can guess the rest."

"Oh, God."
Kelly leaned back against her chair. "I was afraid something like that would happen, but I never thought
Syd
would actually pull strings to get Nick suspended."

"Maybe Nick has been right all along in suspecting that
Syd
was involved in Patrick
Mcbride's
death,"
Victoria
said in a low voice. "And that's why
Syd
wants him out of the way."

"Hmm."