Chapter 12 #2
“I don’t actually know a whole lot about that case,” he told us. “It ain’t my case, or even my town. I only just heard about it because my partner, Henry, is hangin’ out with one of the evidence techs.”
“I just wanted your take on it,” I said.
I outlined the facts for Charlie with a few interjections from Nancy, clarifying and explaining. Charlie read the transcription of Lucia’s letter, peering through his bifocals for several minutes. Then he scowled at Nancy, chewing his lip thoughtfully.
“Your investigating officer knows about this letter, miss? You told him about the connection with the Baruchins?”
“It’s a her, actually. Detective Lanaghan. And yes, I told her yesterday,” Nancy said. “The letter was bagged up and taken away by the forensics team. They might have even found more of it by now. God, I hope so. It’s our only hope of knowing more.”
Charlie shook his head. “Bad couple of weeks for senior citizens around here. The D’Onofrio lady, the clotheshorse. Now the Baruchins.”
“The clotheshorse? Who’s he?” I asked.
Charlie let out a grunt of disgust. “Nobody knows. Strangest shit I ever heard. Kid finds a body in a vacant lot in Jamaica ’bout a week ago.
Some guy in his eighties, neck snapped. No ID, but the guy was dressed head to toe in Italian designer clothes.
Like, ten thousand bucks was on the guy’s back.
Steffi got on the Internet, did some pricing.
His shoes alone would have cost two grand.
But if he’s a rich bigwig, why doesn’t somebody report him missing?
And if he’s a crook, his prints or DNA would turn up some priors, right?
” He shrugged. “But no. Nothing. It’s like the guy never existed.
But somebody popped him. Now somebody pops Baruchin, plus his wife and mother-in-law, and the same night that somebody comes back to the D’Onofrio house and trashes it again?
It stinks.” He gave Nancy a long, considering look.
“You’re absolutely sure you don’t know what these clowns are looking for, right, miss? ”
Nancy’s lips tightened. “Not a clue,” she said. “Unless it’s these necklaces, and Lucia’s letter seems to indicate that it’s not. The necklaces are the only connection to the Baruchins. Believe me, if I knew more, the first thing I would do would be tell the investigating officer.”
“I’m thinking maybe you and your sisters should stop wearin’ those necklaces, if somebody might be willing to kill for ’em,” Charlie said bluntly.
Nancy’s hand shot up and clutched the thing. “They were Lucia’s last gifts to us.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted you girls to be in danger,” he said.
All the breezy good cheer was gone from Charlie Witt’s face. He was dead serious now. Nancy stared back, polite but stubborn. “Lieutenant Witt, I have a question?—”
“Call me Charlie, honey.”
Nancy gave him an incandescent smile. “Charlie. In the first break-in, the forensics team found a set of fingerprints on my mother’s writing table that did not belong either to her or the three of us.
Do you suppose they might try comparing them with Baruchin’s prints?
Or to this mystery man they found in the vacant lot?
Just to see if they might’ve been in my mother’s house? ”
Charlie looked doubtful. “I don’t see why it would have occurred to anyone, but why not? I’ll call Detective Lanaghan tomorrow and talk to her about it. Just don’t expect any quick or easy answers, miss.”
“Of course not,” Nancy murmured. “I’m just trying to cover every possibility.”
“Right you are.” Charlie turned to Liam with a thoughtful frown. “I wouldn’t let her out of my sight, if I were you, kid. Not for a single second.”
I nodded. It was a relief to have my own instincts verified. It made me feel less like a slavering hound. I hoped Nancy was paying attention.
“That’s what I figured,” I said. “But I’m still working on selling that proposal to her. She’s not convinced.”
“Work harder,” Charlie advised, his voice hard. He looked over at Nancy, his eyes sliding over her décolletage. “Not that it would be such a chore to keep your eyes on that, now, mind you.”
“That it isn’t,” I agreed, though the sharp flash in Nancy’s eyes indicated that I was definitely going to pay for it.
“Kinda hard to take your eyes off her as it is,” Charlie commented.
“Could you two gentlemen please stop talking about me as if I weren’t here?” Nancy asked crisply.
Charlie blinked. “Aww, honey. Was I objectifyin’ you?”
Nancy snorted, and dangerously, Charlie took it as encouragement. “Had this girlfriend once. Always said I was objectifyin’ her when I pissed her off.”
“Charlie,” I broke in, “put the brakes on, please.”
“Never did figure out what the hell she was talkin’ about, but she sure had a nice?—”
“Charlie! Stop!” I snapped my fingers in front of Charlie’s face.
Charlie subsided, eyes twinkling. “Uh, well. Guess I better be heading on home to the wife.” His eyes rested thoughtfully on Nancy as he drank his final swallow of beer, and then his eyes cut to my half-empty pint. “I’d switch to coffee, if I was you, kid.”
We said our goodbyes and headed back toward the other room after Charlie left. I leaned close, murmuring “Sorry about that. Charlie was trying to lighten the mood.”
“I get that,” Nancy assured me.
We sat down with the musicians again. I took Charlie’s advice and switched to coffee, but even so the night quickly took on a dreamlike quality. The music thundered, and whenever I wasn’t playing, Nancy’s slender hand rested in mine, fingers entwined.
We didn’t talk much, with all the noise, but it didn’t matter. Our hands communed.
Some time later, I noticed a disturbance in the group’s energy. The driving tempo of the music never faltered, but every male eye at the table — except for Eoin’s—was fixed on something right behind me.
I turned to take a look, and the mystery soon resolved itself.
Two strikingly pretty women stood there: one a slender, waiflike girl with big gray eyes and a mop of long, fire-red hair; the other fuller-figured, with long brunette ringlets, flashing dark eyes, luscious curves.
Both of them stood by the musicians’ table, staring at me intently. I felt like I knew them from somewhere.
Oh. Of course. Lucia’s other two daughters. I’d seen the pictures.
I glanced at Nancy and found her rolling her eyes. She gestured for me to lean down so she could speak directly into my ear again. “Those are my nosy, interfering sisters,” she called into my ear. “They wanted to check you out. And then roast me.”
Her sisters. She had told her sisters about me. Well, hot damn. That was promising.
I wasn’t quite ready to talk to them yet, so I went ahead and dove into “The Three Wishes,” at Eoin’s preferred dangerously fast pace.
The rush of energy from being displayed to the sisters made me feel equal to it.
I looked at the sisters and gave them a big, friendly “here I am, so check me out” grin.
They gave each other wide-eyed looks, and giggled. Then they took turns whispering into Nancy’s ear and giggled some more. Nancy turned brick red.
I freaking loved it.
I was sorry when they left not long after. They ran off before he had a chance to chat with them, maybe make a good impression. Nancy probably glared them away.
Maybe I’d soon get another chance to charm them. Get them onto my side. In a less noisy environment, maybe. Dinner at my place, maybe. I’d push for that. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but what the hell. I cooked a good dinner, when I made an effort.
I looked at my watch when the other musicians started packing up, astonished to find that it was well past two in the morning. Eoin was already wangling a ride with Nancy’s friends to his next seisiún, hopeless tunehead that he was.
“I should be getting home,” Nancy said.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I offered.
“Actually, no,” she admitted. “I found such a good parking spot for it yesterday that I couldn’t bear to move it, so I just took the subway.”
I stared at her, appalled. “You’re joking, right?”
She looked uncomfortable. “Uh, no. It was perfectly safe. The trains were crowded when I came out. The Seven got me within two blocks of here, and it was full. I always take the subway, whenever I can. It’s so much faster, and I?—”
“You’re not taking it tonight. I’m driving you home.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she scoffed. “I won’t take it home. I had every intention of calling a car to get home, given the weird things that have been happening, so?—”
“Have you not been listening?” My voice got sharper than I meant it to. “Did you hear what Charlie said? I know you’re not stupid, so do you have a death wish?”
Her mouth tightened at my scolding, but there was no way I could have suppressed that.
“I do not have a goddamn death wish, Liam. I just try to get through my days as best I can with the resources I have at my disposal, that’s all.
Plus, I don’t like inconveniencing people.
And what about Eoin? Didn’t he come with you? ”
“Eoin’s fine. Your friends are taking him to a late-night seisiún someplace in Brooklyn. He’ll play tunes all night and wake up God knows where, if he sleeps at all.”
She bit her lip. “It’s so far out of your way. An Uber would be fine. Really.”
It occurred to me that Nancy wasn’t used to the people around her giving a damn whether she got home safely. Not any more than she was used to being kissed.
Well, too bad. She was just going to have to get used to it. I wasn’t going to ease into it. I was full-on, one hundred percent.
When it came to keeping her safe, I was dead serious.