Death of a Chorus Girl (The Delacroix Series Book 1) (21 page)

“Tell me what?”

Joe sighs and swallows hard.  “I just assumed.  He’s so hung up on you and from what I’ve heard, it sounded like he told you all of the secrets he keeps from everyone else.  I shouldn’t be the one to say-”

I cut him off.  This doesn’t seem like something I can wait for Richard to confide in me.  “You already started, Joe.  Obviously, there is more significance to your father’s death other than the loss itself.  What should I know?”

Giving me a taste of some of the loyalty I observe in his brother, Joe sticks to his guns.  “It’s not my place to tell you, whether I believe you should be aware or not.  It’s Rich’s burden and if he wants your help in carrying it, he needs to be the one who shares it with you.”

Empathy Delacroix: More Secrets

I
don’t interrogate Richard immediately upon seeing him at the hospital.  I am too preoccupied with his condition.  Joe and I walk into his room as they are taping up his ribcage.  His entire left side is varying shades of black, blue, and purple.  My stomach instantly lurches at the sight and I grip Joe’s arm to steady my anxiety.  At the sound of the door opening, Richard turns to see who it is and his eyes soften at the horror that engulfs my face.

“Em, I’m alright.  Doctor says I have to stay overnight due to the concussion.  Then a couple weeks of bed rest followed by four more of desk duty.  I was hoping you’d be up for playing nurse?  Seems I’m in need of a caretaker.”

His devilish eyes and devious smile and Joe’s emphatic, “No!” overwhelm my senses.

Richard and I both pierce him with bewildered stares.  “Rich, you can’t stay with Em if you’re not going to tell the family of your relationship.”  The fact that Joe is the only family member aware of my existence was a surprise.  He assured me it has nothing to do with me, everything to do with his family, and Richard will explain his reasoning later.  It leaves me with nothing to do but wonder what other secrets Richard is keeping.  “I’m not going to play blocker for mama, and you know she’s going to hear about it.”

“Because it’s made the news cycle.”  With a light-hearted laugh, they continue in stereo, “Was my Rich involved?”

Joe then finishes, “Calling the precinct is how she kept tabs on pops.  You can’t blame her for doing it with you now too.”

The nurse finishes up and helps shift Richard back into a laying position with him cringing the whole time.  Once settled his right arm instantly stretches out, indicating he wants me to curl up in the space next to him.  I want to do so but look to the nurse for permission.  “Be careful of his left side,” she concedes with a stern expression and commanding voice.  “No pressure on his chest.  And absolutely
no hanky panky.”
She leaves and my cheeks turn crimson as do Richard’s, but Joe is unfettered by the insinuation and barks a deep laugh.

After I settle in beside my boyfriend with his fingers laced through my own, Joe sets into Richard.  “You are recuperating at either your home, or mine.  If you want time with Em,
I’d
recommend yours.”

“Then mine it is,” Richard agrees.  Joe nods, announces he is going to talk to the doctor, then exits, giving us the gift of a quick minute alone.  “You’ve been awfully quiet, bellezza.” Richard’s husky voice accuses as his nose outlines the tip of my ear.  “What’s on your mind?”

I rest my head on his shoulder and lie.  “Nothing apart from expected concern.  Surely I’m allowed to worry about you.”  I pack away my less obvious doubts and fears for a more appropriate time and place.

Richard Giordano: My Home

The phone rings and the caller ID says it is the captain.  “How are you doing, Rich?” he asks.

“As fine as can be expected,” I reply.  “How are things there?  Are we all set for tonight?”

Em has been insistent on attending the
Covered
event this evening and while Teddy is going with her, I still have my concerns.  “We will have uniforms stationed at the corners and Frisco can handle herself.  Nothing is going to happen.”

There is something in his voice that tells me I’m not getting the entire story.  “Spit it out, sir,” I demand.

Luckily, the captain doesn’t call me on my impertinence.  “Peter Bentley’s DNA is a match to some of our open cases where we suspected a particular
investor
.”

I can read between the lines.  Our “investor” is Charles Fitzwallace.  “Perfect,” I snarl in frustration.  “I want an undercover on Em or else she is not going!”

“That’s a little overboard, don’t you think?” the captain challenges.

“A little overboard?” I fume, but softly so as not to alert Joe, who is sitting downstairs playing nursemaid so Em can come over before the event.  “Did it occur to you that
if
Steve is our mole then he may have set the whole thing up with Bentley to get me out of the way?!”

“It did,” the captain admits.  “Look, they are going to be in a hotel at a public event with Frisco not letting Em out of her sight.  I’ll get her wired so that at the first sign of trouble the uniforms can converge.”

It isn’t what I want, but it will have to do because Em is not going to not go to the event.  “Nothing better happen to her, to any of them,” I growl before hanging up.

My emotions are raw when Em arrives a few hours later.  She waltzes into my bedroom, a beautiful blue dress draped over her shoulder.  “Hey, lover,” she coos in my ear after hanging her dress in my closet and dropping a small bag in my bathroom.  “I have missed you.”  She drops a quick kiss on my lips.  “I wish this event wasn’t tonight.  I’d much rather stay here with you.”

These few hours are the first where Em and Joe could coordinate schedules.  It sucks that I have to spend them watching her get dressed to go to a fancy party without me, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.  “You don’t
have
to go, Em.  I’m sure we can come up with some twenty-four hour bug for you to contract.  Call Sabene.  She has to know of something.”

She laughs and pulls off her sweater and skirt.  My mouth waters at the sight of her in her bra and slip.  “I can go, you know,” I grumble from the bed, where I’m lying in a pair of sweat pants and propped up by pillows like some invalid.

“No, you can’t,” she calls from behind my bathroom door.  “I’ll be fine.  Teddy and Sabene aren’t going to let anything happen to me.  You, yourself, stated Teddy knows what and who to look for.  And while this information won’t put you completely at ease, Tom isn’t going to leave me alone with Fitz for a second.  He’s too concerned I’ll be tricked into signing the producing contract.”

“Have you made your decision then?” I ask with my arms crossed over my chest.

“I don’t know.  In truth, if it were anyone other than Fitz, I would have signed the contract by now.  I just can’t help but feel there’s more to his offer than ‘supporting my talent’.”  Em reappears in the doorway and laughs at the sight of me.  “Aren’t we behaving like a petulant child?  You know if you would just tell your family about us, we could be at my apartment right now.”

I huff in response and ignore her unintentional jab at my childish soft spot.  “Okay, but I doubt location would keep you from going tonight.”

She saunters over to me and sinks onto the bed.  “What’s gotten into you?  This is about more than missing a party.”

I can’t tell her about the connection between Steve, Fitzwallace, and Bentley, but I don’t know what to say to explain my fears.

She attempts to ease my insecurities after minutes of agonizing silence.  “I’ve been to hundreds of these events.  Nothing bad has ever happened to me.  Unlike with your career where your brother let slip you end up injured a few times a year?”

I jolt and freeze at her pointed inquiry.  So much for easing my fears.  “It’s a hazard of the job,” I acknowledge with closed eyes and rest my head against my headboard.  Em’s hands run over my brow, along my cheekbones, and across my lips.  I kiss her fingertips every time they pass.  “I’m careful, Em.  You’ll get calls from time to time, but I swear you’ll never get
that
call.”

“You can’t possibly promise that and I’m not naïve enough to believe it.  However, I am interested in how you better your odds.  Tell me about your father’s death.”

“I already did.  He was shot on a case,” I answer with practiced contriteness. “It’s not something you need to know.”

“Isn’t it though?”  The hurt in her voice draws my eyes, but I stubbornly refuse to burden her with my demons.  Minutes of uncomfortable silence pass before she sighs and moves to get off the bed. 
I can’t let her go like this.

Just before she gets out of reach, I slide my arm around her bare waist.  “It’s not like your secrets,” I confess in a faraway voice.  “I… I don’t… I was…”  I struggle over what to say as my vision sinks into my memories of that wretched day when pops died in my place.

“You were there, weren’t you?” she offers with a delicate and heartfelt compassion jarring me out of my head.  “Your brother’s reticence to discuss it made me wonder why.  It’s the only logical explanation I could come up with on my own.  You were there and therefore you think it was your fault.”

I take a deep breath. 
I can trust her with this.  I love her and she loves me.
  “Pops was investigating a hit and run.  The guy wasn’t even a suspect, just a neighbor.  I cleared his apartment but I was eager to be in on the action so I missed the false wall in his closet where this kid grew his marijuana.  I walk back into the living room, announcing the apartment as clear when pops shoves me to the ground.”  My voice cracked throughout my confession so far but getting to the climax of my woeful tale causes it to break.  I choke on a sob and tears fill my eyes.  Em doesn’t do anything.  She just sits, patiently listening to everything I have to say.  “The kid fired and the bullet severed pops jugular.  He bled out in my arms, blood pouring from his neck and mouth.”

The wound never healed.  It is just as raw today as it was four years ago.  My family constantly told me it wasn’t my fault, but that did nothing to dull the pain.  My actions stole pops from my mama, kept him from seeing Joe get married.  I was responsible for one of the darkest periods in my family’s history.

“Richard, it wasn’t your fault.”  My tears run down my face in rivers at her words.  “I get it, I honestly do.  I blamed myself for years for my parent’s deaths.  If they hadn’t come to see me at Julliard.  If we hadn’t walked down Broadway.  There are too many what ifs that can change the course of history.  But it is time to forgive yourself.  Time to let the demons of your past go and look forward to a future, with me.”

Empathy Delacroix: The Unexpected Knight

I take in the scenery, wishing Richard were here.  It is his fault that I now find this investment event an actual chore.  Never before have I found these things boring.  Never before have I found myself watching the time pass minute by minute.  And it isn’t like I am even going to see him afterward.  I can wish all I want for him to stop hiding me from his family, but after talking to Teddy in the cab on the way to this snooze-fest, I sort of got it.

“Rich’s mama?” she repeated when I asked.  “She’s intense but in a good way.  Those boys are her life, even before their pops died.”  A small part of me is jealous of her using the brother’s term for their parents.  Both Sabene and Richard had been up front about Richard’s and Teddy’s past together.  I was quite assured that though he dated her longer than most, the only thing between them is a deeply valued and close friendship.  Yet even knowing that, and I’m ashamed to admit it, what truly puts my mind at ease about their relationship is knowing they never slept together.

Sabene had put her hand on mine, bringing me out of my groundless jealousy.  Teddy was still talking so it seemed she hadn’t noticed.  “…get together every month but then she likes to get with the girls once or twice a month also.  I still get calls every now and again when she comes into the city.”

“What can you tell me about Bobby?” I probed.  Richard hardly ever talked about the middle Giordano brother.

Teddy was relaxed while talking about their mother.  She tensed the minute I asked about Bobby.  “There’s a history there.”  She paused as if that was all she was going to say. 
Seriously?  They’re brothers, of course there’s a history
.  Lucky for me, the pointed silence worked on her.  “Bobby’s not like Joe and Rich.  He’s brash and goes after what he wants, no matter what it is.  Now like the rest of the Giordano family, he’s charming and extremely good-looking.  Which not only works on the lady’s but it also allowed him to make a name for himself in the DA’s office.  He’s not a bad guy per se, Em.  It’s more like he’s a thirty-one-year-old teenager.”  That wasn’t quite the impression I got from Richard, but that’s all she would say on the matter.

I leave my memories behind and return to the false pretense of observing the room. I wonder who the police are after.  Truthfully, that is the other reason I am uncomfortable being here alone.  I know I said nothing is going to happen to me, but I was actually trying to convince myself more than Richard.

“Em,” I jump at Tom’s voice.  Even sandwiched between Teddy and Sabene I am sick to my stomach.  The knowledge that I socialize with a suspected criminal makes me long for the security of my detective boyfriend.  “He’s asking for you.”

Sabene’s hand gives mine a squeeze as I take Tom’s arm and let him lead me away.  Richard’s begrudging voice runs through my mind the whole time,
Don’t go anywhere without Frisco, Sabene, or even Tom
.  “What does he want?” I ask.

“My guess?  For you to sign the contract.  People don’t keep him waiting, much less possibly tell him no.  Where’s the detective, or did you two already break up?”  The way Tom examines me out the corner of his eye tells me how much he hopes the answer is “yes.”

“He was injured on the job a few days ago which excluded him from joining us tonight.”