Dead and Breakfast (The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles Book 2) (19 page)

“Do not leave here tonight unless you are with me, do you understand?” Dante said in my ear while we slow danced and he held me so tightly I could barely breathe. My desire for Dante was being replaced by a nervous meltdown. I couldn’t see how this was going to work with the two of them here when it was time for me to leave with one of them.

In an attempt to get Dante out of there, I made up a little white lie. “I heard there’s been a murder way out on Chef Highway, almost to Mississippi. Don’t you have to leave immediately to go and investigate?” I asked him.

“Nice try, but I’m off tonight. Hey, did you see the custom cups with the bride and groom’s photo they made for their wedding?” Dante asked. “That’s a cool idea.”

I watched Jiff over Dante’s shoulder every time I was facing his direction. Jiff was talking to Maurice, who came off the stage while the band played the melody. He was facing the dance floor in our direction and watching me dance with Dante while he spoke to Maurice. Their body language was tense and suggested it was more than a howdy talk. Maurice looked around the reception and pulled out his cell phone. He was showing Jiff something on it. Jiff looked up and scanned the room until he got Julia’s attention and then waived her over.

“You know I have a date and he’s taking me home?” I said to Dante. I was using what Woozie called the smart aleck attitude. “Do you want to join us?”

“Yes. That will work, because there is something I want to discuss with the both of you.”

I was horrified and couldn’t even keep up the pretense of smiling while talking. “What do you want to discuss with the two of us?” I couldn’t imagine what he might have in mind since my underwear was still in his pocket. “I don’t know why you waited until now to make your big move, if that’s what this is. Is this supposed to make me realize how much you want me back? So, you do to it in front of Jiff? You are making me extremely uncomfortable.”

I tried to reach in his pocket to retrieve my property discreetly, but Dante put his hand on mine before I could take them and said, “No way. I plan on putting these back where I found them.”

The song ended and Dante led me by my hand over to where my parents were chatting it up with his. My mother was scoping out the room looking for my sister and the twins. My dad had a bottle of wine and was giving Mr. Deedler the briefing on the Fortunato vineyard in Italy. I’d heard it a too many times by now. Dante took an immediate interest in the wine bottle and let go of my hand. It was my chance to get away from him and back to Jiff.
What is it that had men so impressed with the wine thing
, I wondered.

As soon as I was free from Dante’s clutches, Miss Ruth, Dante’s mother, sprang into action and grabbed me in a bear hug saying how beautiful I looked, how much she missed me living next door and how perfect Dante and I looked just now dancing together. Then she started crying. I was being enveloped in Miss Ruth’s big arms and big bosom with my face crushed into her shoulder. All that was not smothered in the hug were my eyes looking over her shoulder at my dad who was doing a big eye roll. We exchanged a quick look while I was still crushed in the hug. Miss Ruth had quite a grip, given the years she spent wrestling things away from her five boys she didn’t want them to play with. I could see that Dante got the not wanting to let go part from his mother. Our dads were both ‘go with the flow’ kinda guys.

As soon as I could pull free I excused myself to go find my date. Dante didn’t break from the wine bottle discussion but had a severe look on his face while the vein in his neck started to pump. Odd, I thought, over wine.

After the full court press from Miss Ruth, I needed a few quiet moments upstairs in the private bridal party room to fix my hair and freshen up. I’m sure I had her lipstick kiss still on my cheek. I needed a minute to decide how to handle Dante’s weird behavior and how to leave with only one man. I was hoping I could get Julia to distract Dante while I left with Jiff. I didn’t want a scene.

As I walked up the steps, I looked over my shoulder and saw Dante, Jiff and Julia conferring over Jiff’s cell phone. I needed to take a few minutes by myself. I wanted this wedding over and my life back to normal, even if normal meant I’d be worrying about Julia and her murder investigation. At least, Dante and Jiff would not be in the same room.

When I came out of the powder room up in the bridal room, Little Tony was sitting at a table.

“I came up here to find you,” he said.

“Well, I’ve been downstairs dancing this entire time. I can see why you missed me since the wedding party is so large,” I said.

“We haven’t had a drink or a dance all night.” Little Tony’s eyes had that drug glazed over look compared to his usual darting eye movements.

“Sure. Let’s go downstairs and dance now.” I tried to walk toward the reception room stairway. He grabbed me by my arm and swung me around away from the stairs and pushed me toward one of the small bistro tables.

“No, let’s have a drink up here. Sit down.” He picked up a wine glass from a set up on a nearby table and pulled a flask from his pocket. He poured red wine from the flask into the glass.

“Oh, is this your family’s wine?” I asked him. “You know my dad really likes that stuff.”

“Yeah, this is it. Drink up.” He pushed the glass into my hand.

I didn’t like the way he was acting but I figured he was under the influence of God knows what by now making him more obnoxious than usual. I decided to sit and have a couple of sips then excuse myself saying I had to get back to my date.

“I’m more of a champagne drinker but this is really good wine. I see why my dad likes it,” I said. I took another sip and set the wine glass down on the table. Little Tony picked up the glass and handed it back to me. “This is a great wedding and Angela made a beautiful bride, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, Angela finally got what she wanted,” he said.

“What about you? Any wedding bells in your future?” I asked him trying to steer him away from the wine. I really didn’t care for Chianti.

“No. Why make one woman miserable when I can make them all happy?” he said, laughing at his own joke.

“Aren’t you drinking with me?” I asked, taking another small sip and setting the glass down on the edge of the table so I could fumble around in my basket for my purse and cell phone. Making small talk with Little Tony was starting to become a chore.

“I can drink this stuff anytime I want too,” he said. “I think you need to drink your wine so you don’t hurt our feelings.” Little Tony had a menacing look on his face.

“Yes, I’ll have a little more. You know I’d never do anything to insult your family, Tony. I’ve known you and Angela since grade school.” I looked into my purse and saw I had a missed call and text from Jiff on my cell.

Then I looked closer at the message from Jiff. “You mind? I have a message and I’m guessing it’s from my date wondering where I am.” As I removed my cell phone from my bag and read the screen,
Maurice says Little Tony is the guy who was following V.
Little Tony knocked the phone out of my hand and it went shooting across the floor.

“You’re not talking with nobody,” he said.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “If you broke my phone, you will be buying me a new one. What is wrong with you?”

“Finish your wine,” he said.

Tony’s actions sent a cold shiver down my spine. I started to feel a little dizzy from the wine at the same time. Jiff was trying to text me it was Little Tony who followed Violet around and probably supplied her with the drugs. He knew the band and he knew Maurice could identify him as having been seen with Violet. I was glad I was sitting down when I had this realization or I might have hit the floor on weak knees. He fit the description of the sleazy guy everyone said had been giving Violet the roofies. Why didn’t I see it before now? How much of the wine did I drink? I wondered if it was enough to render me helpless.

“Drink your wine,” he said again, “and then we’re gonna go for a little ride. We’re going out the back elevator, you and me.” He grabbed my arm.

“Look Tony, you don’t have to be so rough. Let’s go downstairs and join the party, we’ll dance…but I can’t go for a ride. My date is downstairs waiting on me. He’ll be up here looking for me any minute.” I fought to keep my voice steady.

“Yeah, right.”

I tried to get up again, and he slapped my face and pushed me back in the chair. I rubbed my face where it stung and I picked up the glass as if to take another sip of the wine.

“You had to stick your nose where it didn’t belong. You had to keep snooping with your attorney boyfriend downstairs about St. Germain and give your dad a bottle of our wine. You had to make sure everyone saw it.” He pulled a gun out of his jacket and aimed it at me.

“Put that gun away, what’s wrong with you? This is your sister’s wedding. Your father, your father…he’s going to be really ticked off at you if he finds out you have a gun here and you’re aiming it at people.” I thought I might be slurring my words because I really had to concentrate to speak. I looked to the stairway entrance to see if anyone was coming up who could help me.

“He ain’t finding out. You ain’t telling him cuz we gonna be long gone in a few minutes. Now you are gonna finish your wine and take a little ride with me. When I get back, the party will still be going and no one is gonna miss you. You think you’re too good for me…. well after we get to know each other a little better I’m gonna make sure you never open that big mouth of yours again.” He stepped in closer pushing the gun into my chest. It was one of those small, silver Saturday night specials that if you were shot with it, it wouldn’t kill you but it could tear up your insides bouncing all over the place. This was what I recalled from Dante’s Gun Lesson 101.

“Tony, anyone can walk in here right now. My parents and my date are waiting for me downstairs. Did you forget Dante’s here?” I was feeling the effect of the drug from just a couple of sips. I really had to focus on the wine glass and act like I was going to pick it up. I wanted to throw it on Little Tony but I was having trouble making myself do what I was thinking about. I wasn’t sure I could throw it let alone hit him.

“Dante don’t know nothing and he won’t come looking for you until that boyfriend of yours figures out you’re missing. Maybe he’ll think you left with Dante and Dante will think you left with him. Either way, I have plenty of time to get you outta here,” he said pushing his face into mine.

Instead of drinking from the glass I dropped it. Everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. The glass shattered on the floor; Little Tony jumped back to avoid the spill and held his arms out in an effort not to get wine on his suit. I lunged toward the stairway leading downstairs and screamed. I couldn’t tell if the music was playing too loud for anyone to hear me.

Then I was on the floor and Little Tony was trying to get me to my feet. He held the gun in one hand while dragging me with his other hand away from the stairway. When he couldn’t get me to stand, he pulled me by the arm across the floor toward the freight elevator. If he got me into the freight elevator that opened out onto the loading dock, no one would see us leave. I tried screaming again. Maybe there was someone in the kitchen who might hear me down the back stairway.

The freight elevator opened and Dante was standing in it. Little Tony aimed the gun at him while still holding my arm he was dragging me by.

“You really want to shoot a cop?” Dante asked him. He was standing perfectly still with his arms to his side, no weapon drawn and he sounded very calm.

Little Tony looked like he might be trying to decide if that was a good idea or not when I bit him on the leg. He jumped and looked down at me pointing the gun at me. Dante body slammed into him and they both slid across the floor with Dante on top. When they came to a stop, Little Tony tried to wrestle Dante off but Dante outweighed him by a lot. He knocked the gun out of Little Tony’s hand, lifted him off the floor then cold cocked him. Tony hit the floor like a rag doll.

Dante called toward the kitchen back stairs and two uniform police came into the room with their guns drawn. They took over hauling Little Tony away. Dante knelt down and asked me if I was hurt. I shook my head no, but I was drowsy from the drug and just wanted to close my eyes.

The last thing I remember was Dante picking me up in his arms and carrying me down the back catering stairs. I put my head on his shoulder and passed out.

***

I woke up and found myself in a very uncomfortable bed that looked like it was in a hospital room in a prison. The windows were all barred and there was a set of handcuffs dangling off the headboard above my head. Dante and Jiff were standing on either side of me. After looking back and forth from one to the other I said, “If I didn’t already have this killer headache, seeing you two like this would definitely give me one. Where am I and how long have I been here?”

“We’re at the police station,” Jiff said. “We’ve been here about two hours. I don’t think you ingested that much. I wanted to take you to a hospital.” He looked at Dante.

“How do you feel?” Dante asked me. He shot a look at Jiff and added, “I had the coroner come in and take a look at you. He said you’d be all right.”

“The coroner said I’d be all right? Well, that’s reassuring. Am I in the morgue?”

“No, you’re in a medical room used by the police medical staff,” Dante answered.