Twenty-eight
Jack hung up the phone again. NOPD didn’t want him to call them. They would call him. Unless he had a matter to discuss other than Errol Petrie’s murder, which was under investigation, or the whereabouts of Celina Payne, whom they could not as yet consider missing.
“Still no satisfaction,” Cyrus said. “Why does someone have to die before they do anything?”
“Don’t,” Jack told him. “They said they can’t put out a bulletin on Celina yet.” He was afraid to leave in case she showed up, and afraid not to leave in case she didn’t.
Dwayne shook his head repeatedly from side to side. “We have a right to ask for action.”
“They say they’re
following leads
on Errol, but they don’t have any comments at this time.”
“If they won’t look for Celina, we’re going to have to try ourselves. Where would we start?” Dwayne hitched back a drape and looked out of the window.
Jack pulled him away. “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?”
“More, apparently,” Dwayne said. He set to work with his teeth on his fingernails. The latter were already nonexistent. “I can’t stay here doing nothing much longer.”
“I don’t want you on the streets alone,” Jack told him. Dwayne raised one eyebrow. “Why, Jack, I didn’t know you cared.”
“Don’t mess around,” Jack said. If his fears were realized, Win had at least one renegade soldier—unless Win himself had decided to teach “the snot-nosed kid” a lesson. “Antoine spoke to you, Dwayne, and to Celina. I think that’s a problem. Until I’m sure it isn’t, we analyze every step before it’s taken. Don’t ask me to elaborate, because I can’t yet.”
Cyrus clapped Dwayne’s shoulder. “We’ve got enough to worry about. Listen to Jack. He knows what he’s sayin’.”
“You two stay here,” Jack told them. “I want to run over to my place and check on Amelia and Tilly. If Celina doesn’t show up—and we don’t hear anything by the time I get back, we’ll have to figure out how to start searchin’ for her.”
Dwayne turned his back, but he nodded.
“Call if you do hear something,” Jack said to Cyrus. “Leave a message with Tilly if I haven’t got there yet.”
With a silent prayer that there would be a message by the time he got home, a message saying Celina was fine, he went outside and down the steps.
At the bottom of the steps he stopped. To his right, a figure crawled among the shrubs. “Hey, podner,” he said, preferring not to go too near, “if you’re looking for a bed, there’s a shelter. You want me to make a call?” They’d pick the poor devil up and take him wherever was most appropriate—or expedient.
He made to run back up and use the phone, but a whimper stopped him.
He breathed in, then couldn’t exhale. In one swoop, he dragged his “poor devil” from the shrubs and stood her upright. “Celina! My God, Celina. Oh, Celina. Oh, thank God.”
A black fabric bag covered her head and was fastened about her neck with string. He fumbled to get the string untied, but his fingers wouldn’t move fast enough.
She butted him with a shoulder, made another sound, and turned away.
He hadn’t even registered that her hands were tied behind her back. The knots were simple but efficient and he quickly had them untied. Her arms didn’t immediately move, and when he brought them forward, she moaned.
Placing her hands under his shirt, against his skin, he guided her head onto his shoulder, worked the small knots in the string, then removed the hood. Underneath, a gag explained why she’d been unable to speak. He removed it quickly and disciplined himself not to hug her. Instead, he took her hands between his and peered at them, at deep grooves where the rope had been. He rubbed her wrists gently, grimaced at her shuddering gasps. As the circulation returned, there would be pain.
“Can you talk?” he asked.
“Yes. My arms hurt. And my hands.”
“Who did this to you?”
“If I could tell you, I don’t suppose I’d be here, would I?”
She sounded hoarse but very lucid. “You don’t know who it was? Strangers? Can you describe them? The police are going to need something to go on.”
“No police.”
She wasn’t lucid. “We’ll talk about that. Let’s get you upstairs. Dwayne and Cyrus are there. They’re as crazed as I’ve been.”
Celina resisted his attempt to shift her. “I said no police,” she told him. “Promise me now.”
“You aren’t—”
“Jack! I’m not a lot of things at the moment. But I’m scared. I am so scared I wish I could hide anywhere that would feel safe. There isn’t anywhere safe. They can get me if they want to, I know that now. You must promise not to call the police.”
“Chère,
you know we have to report this.”
“You aren’t thinking.” She began to rub her own hands and wrists. “This wasn’t random. This was a setup. I left your place, walked right into a diversion, and got pushed into a van waiting in an alley.”
He touched her hair. This had to be a warning aimed at him. Win had all but promised it could happen. But he’d also more or less promised it wouldn’t. What had changed his mind? Sonny Clete could have decided to preempt Win’s next move and turn rogue.
“Jack.” Wincing, Celina settled a hand on each side of his face. “You aren’t hearing me. They must have been watching your place. They knew I was there and saw me leave. And they aren’t novices at picking people off. Next time it’ll be a different setup. I don’t want there to be a next time.”
“And you think not tellin’ the cops is the way to avoid a next time?”
“I think those people are beyond the law. What made them do that to me didn’t have anything to do with the world I know. I’m not sure...Your father was killed by gangsters. Isn’t that what I was told? You must know about that kind of people.”
What had made him think it would be easy to make sure she never made connections between him and his father’s world? “My parents died when I was a kid. I wasn’t involved in the way my father made his money.” Stopping her from pursuing this track was imperative.
“Could there be a reason for someone like those people—the people your father knew—could there be a reason for them to be afraid of you?”
No instant answer tripped to Jack’s lips. He detested where this was going, but she wasn’t likely to stop. “Do you know what you’re asking? I don’t think I do.”
She dropped her hands to his shoulders. In a very small voice she said, “Those men sent you a message.”
The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He would wait, let her make all the steps on her own now.
“I don’t want Dwayne or Cyrus to know what I’m going to tell you. I don’t want them more involved than they already are. Jack, if you do anything those men don’t like—anything that will cause them trouble—they will kill me.” Her fingertips dug into his muscle. “And they’ll kill Amelia.”
The night was utterly still.
“Amelia?” No one would touch his little girl, dammit.
Sonny Clete believed you, Jack.
Sonny had bought the story that Win was showing favoritism to Jack, and Sonny took that to mean he could be squeezed out as heir apparent to the boss if he didn’t protect himself. What Jack hadn’t foreseen was that Sonny would move against him rather than against Win. That would have to be changed.
“Jack?”
“Don’t worry. I know how to keep you and Amelia safe.” He’d better not make any mistakes after this.
“We’ll make sure we all stay safe,” she told him. “I want to help. Only cowards use women and children to get what they want.”
“You are really something, Miss Louisiana. Cool, no matter what.”
“I’m not always cool. And I’ve never been so terrified. But now I’m mad, Jack, and I’ve never been so mad. Who are these people who think laws aren’t made for them? I’m going after them. You watch me. I’m going to hunt them down and make sure there isn’t a person in the world who doesn’t know their faces. I’ll figure out how they can be brought to justice without putting anyone in danger. They aren’t going to be able to find a place to hide, never. That’s when they get out of jail. They do awful things in jail to men who attack women. I hope they take them apart in there. I—”
“Celina,
chère—”
“I’m going to launch a campaign to clean up crime in this city. It’s time New Orleans grew up. Enough is enough. We shouldn’t want to be known as a dangerous place to be. We—”
He kissed her very carefully but very determinedly, and when he paused for breath and looked into her glittering eyes, he saw the tears that all the words had held back. “Cry, love. We’ll deal with those turkeys together. But it isn’t going to happen overnight. And you aren’t going to be running around on your own in the near future. Please let me be in the driver’s seat for a while, okay?”
She nodded yes.
His heart pounded. Amelia would have to be watched whenever she left the house. And Celina. He said, “Cyrus and Dwayne are out of their minds, too.”
“I’m not out of my mind.”
“I didn’t say you were,” he told her hastily. “I meant we’re all pushed to the max and this has been a terrible night. The police wouldn’t mount an active search because you hadn’t been gone long enough.”
She pounded a fist on his chest. “I’m going after them too. I’m going to organize a citywide committee to look into the NOPD. There are things going on here that could bear a close examination. And I’m the woman to do it because I’m
mad,
Jack. Those hoods think they’ve frightened me into submission, but they’re wrong. I’m coming out fighting. Just as soon as I figure out how.”
He smothered an irrational desire to laugh. She was incredible. Anger obviously worked very well to carry her through difficult
—
no, impossible times.
“Let’s go up and put your brother and Dwayne out of their misery.”
With his arm around her waist, they climbed upward more rapidly than he would have expected. He rested his hand on the side of her belly and spread his fingers. Junior was putting on weight. “This guy is growing,” he said. “I’d better get a doctor over to take a look at you and make sure everything’s okay.”
“It is okay. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow, and I’ll keep it.”
“We’re going to a wedding on Friday.” Even as he said it, he decided the wedding would come to them in Chartres Street. She halted and looked up at him. “Just like that?”
“I thought it was a cute delivery.”
“Oh, yes. Cute. We’re going to a wedding on Friday. How do you figure that’ll be the date?”
“I’ve worked it out, and that’s when it’ll be.” He would do anything to take her mind off the terror she’d been through. “You just leave things to me.”
He opened the door and took her inside.
Dwayne and Cyrus came into the hallway and Dwayne let out a whoop. He rushed at Celina, but skidded to a halt just short of grabbing her. He gaped at her. “What’s happened? What have they done to you? Who did it?”
“Kidnapped,” Celina said, her voice still hoarse. “Tied up. Left in the dark with a bag over my head and made to think I was on top of a stool, when I was really standing on a piece of wood on the ground. Noose around my neck. I thought it was tied to a rafter, when it wasn’t. I was afraid to move because I expected to fall and hang. Threatened… manhandled. Don’t ask. It was horrible, but now I’m
so angry I intend to use their disgusting behavior to put them away forever.”
“They don’t put people away forever,” Cyrus said.
His sister responded, “I don’t want to listen to reason, so don’t bother.”
“We’ll see they go somewhere forever, sweetcakes,” Dwayne said, his eyes hard. “I’ve got friends—large, dangerous friends. They’d love a righteous excuse to use force.”
“Hey,” Jack said. “The reprisals will have to wait. I’ve got to take care of Celina.”
“Finish,” Dwayne said. “What else?”
“Threatened,” Celina went on. “Driven around on my face in a van. And then thrown down under the bushes in the courtyard with a gag on so 1 couldn’t even call for help.”
“I’ll kill them,” Dwayne said. “Slowly.”
“They must be brought to justice,” Cyrus said. He pushed Dwayne aside and embraced Celina. “Sorry, kid. Not adequate, I know, but I’ve been scared out of my wits. We all have. You’ve got to do exactly what Jack says. At least until we can feel you’re safe again.”
“She’s safe now,” Jack said, wishing he felt as sure as he sounded. “Until we get satisfaction about Errol—and make sure whoever did this to her is behind bars—Celina isn’t going to be out of my sight.”
“That’s a fine idea,” Cyrus said, “but I hardly think it’ll be easy to pull off. After all—”
“Yes, it will,” Jack said, silencing him. “We’re getting married on Friday. Until then Celina will be with us at my place. And after that she’ll be with us at my place. When she isn’t with me somewhere else.”
The expressions on the other men’s faces would have made him laugh if he had it in him. “Glad you’re both so excited for us.”
“Friday?” Dwayne said. “As in
this
Friday?”
“This coming Friday.”
Cyrus cleared his throat and didn’t say a word.
“Later we’ll ask you to bless the marriage,” Jack said, proud that he could still think clearly enough to cover all bases. “But there isn’t time to get everything done that needs to be done for a church wedding by the end of the week, and we don’t want to wait—for obvious reasons.”
Cyrus nodded. “I’ll be there.” He stroked Celina’s hair and Jack marveled again that such unlikable people as Bitsy and Neville Payne had raised two great children.
“I need to check on Amelia.” He felt an urgent need to see that she was safe. “I’m going to take Celina with me, but I’d like to ask you to stay with Cyrus, Dwayne. Someone needs to be here all the time in case the police decide to make a stab at solving the case. Any problems with that?”
He expected a smart comeback, but Dwayne said, “Whatever you think. I’ll call Jean-Claude. In fact, I’ll call him right now and ask him to come and take you two home.”
“That’s not—”
Dwayne waved Celina to silence and placed the call. “He’ll be right over,” he said when he’d hung up. “Then he’ll go back and close.”