Throwaway (7 page)

“Damn it Gabe,” Jessie jumped even as she
recognized the voice. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Well, you didn’t leave me much choice,” he
grabbed her by the arm and tugged her down towards him.

“Oh dear,” the kid gulped as Jessie’s face
nearly landed in his lap.

“Are you looking to take over Spence’s job?”
she hissed at Gabe.

“Easy there, kid,” Gabe chuckled at the boy.
“I just needed to get Jessie here close enough to talk.”

“We were talking just fine as we were,” she
pointed out.

“Then maybe I just wanted you closer.”

“What do you want?”

“Jeffrey here is going to pull into the
garage and we’re going to get in my Plymouth. I’ll tell you the
rest then.”

“You’re a real jerk, you know that,” she
glowered at him.

“You might have mentioned that once or twice
before,” he leaned up and kissed her on the nose. “I missed
you.”

“It’s hard to take you seriously while you’re
laying in this kid’s back floorboard, you know that?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“I hate you.”

“Aw, thanks honey,” he grinned devilishly and
she rolled her eyes.

It was useless trying to reason with him when
he was in this mood. She didn’t even try to talk to him again until
they were seated upright in his car. Jessie had no sooner opened
her mouth to speak when he was pulling her head into his lap.

“Dang it Gabe, knock it off,” she shoved at
him.

“Calm down darlin’,” he swatted away the
hands that were swatting at him. “I don’t want anyone to see you in
the car. It’s just until we get out of the city.”

She heaved a sigh but stopped smacking him.
Without the distraction of a fight, she was keenly aware of the
firmness of his thigh under her head and the heat radiating from
him. He absentmindedly stroked her cheek with his thumb as he
hummed along with the radio.

As much as she hated to admit it, any
resolutions to steer clear of him skittered right out of her mind
along with the rest of rational thought when he did that. She
couldn’t formulate the first thought that didn’t have anything to
do with the longing that was snaking its way through her.

“We’re here,” he announced as he swung the
behemoth into a parking space. Jessie sheepishly sat up; she hadn’t
intended to lie on his leg the whole way there.

“I don’t know that Nick’s is such a good
idea,” she frowned when she recognized the little Irish Pub. “A lot
of industry people hang out here.”

“But not at this time of night. And if we get
inside before the game ends, we can get $2 nachos.”

“Oh, well, that’s worth risking my life
for.”

“No one will recognize you… here… wear this,”
he reached into his back seat and grabbed a cowboy hat, which he
plopped on her head.

“Do I want to know where you got this?” she
pulled the hat off to study it. It wasn’t the cliché ten-gallon
kind you normally saw. It was dark brown suede and looked like it
might actually have been worn by somebody wrangling a cow or
something.

“There are all kinds of things you don’t know
about me,” he winked. “Come on. We’ll miss our nachos.”

With a look that said she didn’t believe him
for a second that this was a good idea, she jammed the hat back on
her head and followed him across the street into the unassuming
corner pub.

“There’s our guy—right over there,” he
grabbed her hand when she would have backed out the door and tugged
her towards a booth at the back of the room.

“You didn’t tell me we were meeting someone
else,” she whispered fiercely in his ear.

“We never got around to talking,” he gave her
a look that was both charming and innocent at once.

“Thanks for meeting us, Carter,” Gabe shook
the man’s hand as Jessie slid in the seat warily.

“Glad to do it,” Carter smiled.

Jessie knew she must look like a frightened
wild animal, but she couldn’t help it. Every warning bell in her
head was going off full tilt. Gabe seemed to be trying to silently
tell her it was okay. Maybe that’s just what she wanted to see in
his eyes.

“Carter here is the Captain of our Organized
Crimes unit… he’s my boss,” Gabe explained. Jessie went to bolt but
he was in her way and wouldn’t budge.

Her eyes accused him of betrayal.

“Just hear what he has to say. If you want to
take off when he’s done talking, then I’ll even drive you home,”
Gabe whispered against her ear, his warm breath both soothing and
sending chills down her spine. She sought his eyes with hers,
trying to see the truth in them.

“Don’t make me regret this,” she sighed and
settled back down.

Jessie took comfort in the gentle pressure of
his leg against hers beneath the table. She took a deep breath and
looked Captain Carter in the eye. “Organized Crimes, huh? Spence
really stepped in it this time.”

“Did you know he was involved with a local
family?” Carter asked.

“No, but I did wonder where he came up with
the cash for the Mercedes. He’s never been so flush before. What’s
he running for them? Drugs or girls?”

“I’m not really at liberty to answer that,”
Carter coughed uncomfortably.

“Girls, huh. So I guess you want me to keep
my eyes open for newbies… or are they just passing through?”

“How do you know it’s girls?”

“I watched your facial expressions,” Jessie
shrugged and turned her attention to Gabe. “Are you going to get us
those nachos? I want a beer while you’re at it.”

“Sure thing,” he motioned for the waitress.
The look of pride on his face made Jessie feel warm inside.

She took in her surroundings while he
ordered. A fairly steady stream of college kids filed by, obviously
headed for the stairs. There was a certain Irish punk feel to the
place. One of the bartenders was a big, brawny guy with
well-tattooed forearms and a large tat on the back of his bald
head. The other bartender was a cute but gruff-looking girl with
short reddish-brown hair tucked under a brown flat cap. There was a
kitschy, eclectic mix of stuff above the bar that included a cross,
a soccer ball, a piggy bank and a golf bag—along with a lot of
others she couldn’t quite make out.

The lighting was dim and it was incredibly
loud, so loud it was private. She understood why Gabe felt pretty
secure they could talk freely without being heard. Jessie wasn’t
sure she could pick a conversation out of the cacophony if she
tried, only the occasional bubble found its way to the surface. It
was a good place to blend in and go unnoticed.

Seven televisions lined the walls of the
front room, most of them showing the Cards game. A couple played
more obscure stuff the majority of patrons could care less
about.

The bouncer sat at a small table by the front
door, flipping through a book of fake IDs. Behind him, red lights
from the train signal shone through the oval window on the wooden
door.

Large windows along the front of the place
offered a view of the road. The occasional bus would fly by—the
first one startled her.

Two beautiful women walked through the front
door as if they owned the place and Jessie recognized them
instantly. She ducked her face against Gabe’s arm, grateful for the
hat.

“You know them?” Gabe instantly spotted the
escorts. The giveaway wasn’t so much the short, flowing dresses
with low cut bodices. That was a pretty common sight. It was the
perfection of their look—the brightness of the dresses, the
impeccable makeup—and their confidence in contrast to the men
following behind them that signaled the true nature of their
relationship. The women oozed confidence out of every pore. The men
looked like they fully expected to be thrown out at any moment.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” she
reminded him.

“They went in the back. You’re okay.”

“Associates of yours?” Carter’s interest was
piqued.

“They aren’t Spence’s girls. Probably RCG
girls, but I see them around every so often,” Jessie explained.
River City Gazette girls were the ones who didn’t have pimps—they
advertised their services on the back of a local paper.

“We’re prepared to offer you protection from
Spence in return for any information you can get us on his new
business activities,” Carter dove right into the purpose of their
meeting.

“You really think you can guarantee that?”
Jessie asked pointedly.

“Do you have any real guarantee of that now?”
his gaze fell to the bruises on her face.

“I see being irritating is a prerequisite for
employment with St. Louis’ Finest,” Jessie muttered, glad for the
interruption when the waitress brought their beer.

“Spence is in a vise right now; he’s getting
pressure from both sides. He’s only going to get more volatile as
the vise tightens,” Gabe reasoned with her.

“What do you want from me?”

“Just tell us what you see. Any conversations
you overhear. If you hear something, pass it along to Gabe. He’ll
be your handler.”

“My handler, huh?” Jessie bit the inside of
her lip to keep from laughing at that one. “I suppose if I don’t do
this, you’re going to make my life miserable.”

“Something like that,” Carter agreed.

“I’ll think about it.”

“You’ll think about it?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“You have twenty-four hours to ‘think’ about
it,” he relented. “Look, I promised my wife I’d be home at a decent
hour… can you get her home, Gabe?”

“Sure thing, Captain.”

“Listen, Jessie…you haven’t heard anything
about my wife, have you?” Carter turned back to ask after taking
two steps away.

“Not a peep,” Jessie promised, quite proud of
her ability to keep a straight face. As soon as they were alone,
she smacked Gabe soundly on the arm.

“What was that for?”

“You jerk. You used me.”

“Honey, if my intent was to use you, I’d have
gotten what I needed a lot sooner than this. I’ve been remarkably
patient with you so far.”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely.”

The pair seemed to be moving ever-closer to
each other, as if being pulled by an invisible force. Jessie’s eyes
greedily devoured his face. She wondered what his scruff would feel
like against her skin.

“If you’re my ‘handler’ that’s one very big
reason for us to stay clear of each other.”

“Of course.”

“I mean, really, what would be the point of
us hooking up? It’s not like it could go anywhere.”

“To be perfectly honest, I can’t think much
beyond wondering if you taste as good as you look,” he admitted.
“Why couldn’t we go anywhere?”

“Really? You have to ask that?” She sat back
in her chair just in time for the waitress to place a heaping plate
of nachos in front of them. Jessie knew Harmony would work her
nearly to death the next morning if she heard about this
indulgence, so she resolved not to mention it and helped herself to
some food.

“Should I have ordered two plates?”

“You weren’t seriously going to eat all of
them, were you?” she didn’t wait for an answer. “Wow, do these
people know it’s summer? It’s freezing in here.”

“Jessie my girl, whatchya’ doing here?”

Jessie’s heart nearly stopped when she
recognized Dan standing in front of her, a big grin on his friendly
face. “Danny, wow, you play here, too?”

“And here I was telling myself you came to
see me.”

“I didn’t know this was your other gig… but
I’m looking forward to hearing you.”

“Join us, Dan? Jessie didn’t leave many
nachos, though. We’ll have to order more,” Gabe motioned for him to
sit.

“Don’t you give my girl trouble, Gabe.”

“Yeah, don’t give his girl trouble,” Jessie
made a face at him. Even though she worried Dan would accidentally
get her in trouble back on Cherokee, it was nice to see him. And
strangely not a surprise that he knew Gabe.

In his soccer jersey and newsboy cap, the
burly man fit right in the little Irish pub. By his friendly and
unassuming nature, one might not realize how fascinating a story
his was. He’d opened for Bon Jovi and Tom Petty back in the day and
now seemed quite content to chat amicably with the prostitute and
the police officer while waiting for the Cards game to end so his
set could begin.

At O’Malley’s, his sound was very Irish folk.
Here, it was something altogether different. With a wink at Jessie,
he began his set with a cover of Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet.
Jessie rolled her eyes and Gabe grinned smugly at her as Dan
painted a picture she wasn’t sure she was comfortable with.

Was Gabe just another one of her deals? What
would happen when the novelty of being treated like a person wore
off? And what if it didn’t wear off before Gabe got over being a
love-struck Romeo?

But her irritation could only last so long
with Dan’s all-encompassing voice wrapping around her, somehow
managing to break through the chaos of sound to get inside her soul
to soothe her troubled spirit. It was obvious he was in another
place entirely and Jessie had the feeling that if she closed her
eyes and let him, he’d take her there, too.

And then, just like that, the song was over
and the din returned. Dan chomped his gum happily as he seemed to
decide what to play next before weaving the spell all over
again.

Jessie found it impossible to not be swept
away by the music and the man so near to her. But she was also
mindful of the bar’s resident cop that kept walking through. The
last thing she wanted was for it to get back to Captain Carter that
Gabe was cozied up to someone like her. She also didn’t need it
getting back to Spence that she’d been seen with a cop.

“It’s really stupid being here,” she leaned
in close to his ear.

“Probably,” he agreed after a short pause.
“If I take you back to my place, someone we know would probably see
us. You want to go find somewhere in the suburbs?”