9. Archer #2
They all chuckled, and then we said our goodbyes and left for home.
Buckled in, we made our way through the gated exit, and I tried to break the deafening silence in the car.
“So, is it everything you thought it would be?” I asked her.
“Huh?”
“Your career, I mean,” I clarified.
There was a thoughtful pause before she responded. “ I think so, yes. It’s had its ups and downs for sure.”
“How so?”
She chuckled darkly. “ It can be cutthroat sometimes, with people trying to make their mark in this business. I’ve met some divas—both male and female—but not as bad as some stories I’ve heard.
I’ve been fortunate to be able to find some really good coworkers and friends at the places I’ve worked—ones who wanted to help advance each other’s careers instead of one-upping them. ”
I was happy she had found good people to surround herself with, though I wondered if that was just a side effect of her personality.
She had such a friendly, helpful aura about her that it made it hard not to like her and want to be around her.
If I were a betting man, I would say other people could see that too.
“One of my very first assignments my news director gave me at my second TV station was to go cover the new aquarium that opened in town. I was really excited about it because usually most of my job is covering all the terrible things that happen in the world. For once, this would be a fun story. I decided to have fun with it and asked the staff if I could go into the penguin enclosure.”
Her pause had me looking briefly her way. She had her eyes closed and was shaking her head as though she couldn’t believe what she was about to tell me.
“I take it that it didn’t go the way you planned.”
“They were so cute. All of them just waddled right up to me, so, naturally, I bent down to get close to them, microphone in hand, and one of them bit the foam topper off with its beak and then dove into the water—not only sneaking off with the top of my microphone, but also splashing me in the process. All the others decided to get in on the fun and dove in the water as well. I left the aquarium that day with a broken microphone, soaking-wet pants from the knee down, and a terrible nickname thanks to my photographer.”
“Oh no, you can’t stop there,” I butted in. “ I need to know the nickname.”
“No way,” she argued back. “ Not gonna happen.”
“Hmmm,” I said, tapping my chin as though I was thinking out loud. “ Second station would have been Cincinnati . With my great private investigative skills, this should be pretty easy to dig up. I’m sure Talia and Dan would get a kick out of it.”
She gasped. “ You wouldn’t!”
“I’ll make you a deal,” I told her as I put my index and middle finger together and held them up. “ Scout’s honor, I will not tell a soul your nickname if you tell me in the car right now. But if I find out on my own, I may not be able to make that same guarantee.”
“You’re such a liar—you were never a Boy Scout ,” she accused me.
I grinned at her while watching her glare at me briefly before I turned my eyes back to the road. Of course she was right, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of admitting that.
She sighed dramatically. “ Ugh . Fine . My photographer, Blayne , told everyone what happened and dubbed it Operation Mic Swipe . My nickname was… crime -sicle.”
I heard her groan at the same time a laugh burst out of me. Okay , now that was funny.
* * *
We walked into my house just minutes after I told her we would have company. She seemed less than thrilled but also curious as to what they had to say, especially at this time of night.
Four men stood in my living room when we walked in— Wade , Jack , Vince , and his dad, Frank .
“I took your dog out when we arrived, Anna , so he should be good to go,” Jack announced.
I appreciated his foresight because I wanted to get this conversation started so we could end it quickly as well.
“Oh. Thank you,” Ace said from beside me.
Vince made the introduction between his dad and Ace while I grabbed a couple of beers for the room and a single Dr . Pepper for Ace . I was trying to step up my game since Ruthie had pointed out my less-than-stellar hospitality skills.
“Alright, talk. What did you find?” I asked the room as I sat down in the living room with everyone else.
Ace was sitting in a chair with Percy in her lap. Vince , Frank , and Jack were on the couch, and Wade was standing up against the back wall. Taking the only seat left, I sank into the recliner opposite Ace just as Vince started talking.
“Dad and I have been working our bounty hunter connections since we heard about the hit put out on both of you. Mainly we’ve been trying to find out if Pagano himself is actually here in town or if he’s paying his lackeys to take care of the mission for him.”
I had thought the same, so I was glad they were inquiring about both.
“Had a man call me tonight—an informant I’ve known for years—to let me know that he saw Pagano himself at a poker night here in Atlanta ,” Frank said. “ Only , it wasn’t the Pagano we assumed. It wasn’t Joey , but his brother, Matteo .”
What did he just say?
“He was there telling people his brother was out of prison now and he was here to tie up some loose ends so they could move on with their business without worry.”
“Well, this complicates things a bit more,” I mumbled.
“How so?” Ace asked, scanning the room before talking again. “ Every single one of your faces looks like this is worse. Why ?”
“Not that I wanted a hit out on us, but I’d rather have Joey at the helm than Matteo ,” I explained. “ Joey is the family fuckup. There’s a reason he went to prison but no one else from his family did. The others are too smart. Too calculated.”
Ace still looked just as confused as she had before I’d spoken.
“There’s more chance for error if someone dumb is behind this—like Joey ,” Wade chimed in. “ Which gives us a better chance to intercept or prevent him from accomplishing his goal of taking you both out.”
Ace nodded in understanding.
“I put out a few more feelers so that people know to be looking for Matteo in addition to Joey ,” Frank added.
“I called Axel and Diego and have them working on some background for Matteo now, too,” Vince said.
“Wait…” Ace interrupted and paused as if putting some pieces together in her mind. “ Pagano … That name sounds…vaguely familiar. Is it…. That’s the case you were working on when we met?”
“Yes.” My response was more like a mumble.
“ He was part of the mafia group I testified against. We had evidence, but some of it, the defense argued, was circumstantial. It was ultimately my testimony and Manny’s that put him away.
He should have gotten life in prison with no parole for the crimes he committed, but he got off on two of the four charges due to a technicality and only ended up serving just under five years for killing two men.
Though he’s probably killed way more than that—those were just the ones we knew about and had evidence of. ”
“Manny…” She paused as recognition hit her. “ He was your roommate when we met, yes?”
I just nodded in response.
She gasped and then looked straight at me. “ Did he threaten to kill Manny , too?”
I was dreading this topic. All eyes moved to me, and Ace was smart enough to pick up on it.
“What? What are you all not telling me?” she asked, hesitation in her voice but also determination.
“Manny’s already dead,” I replied somberly.
Her sharp inhale filled the room. I saw Vince’s eyes narrow with concern.
“What happened?” Ace asked as she looked into my eyes and clearly saw something.
“The Paganos got to him?” she asked, her voice full of emotion—mostly sadness. “ Was that before I started staying here with you or since then?”
I really did not want to answer this.
“When did he die, Archer ?” she asked, her voice stronger now and more determined.
I closed my eyes, taking a breath before answering her, but Vince beat me to it. “ It was years ago, Anna , not recently.”
She closed her eyes, her head dropping down a bit. Mere seconds later, her head popped back up and her eyes went straight to me. “ Oh my God ,” she said, likely having just put the pieces together.
“Don’t worry about Manny , Anna ,” Vince added. “ We’ve got you covered.”
Clearly, Vince thought she was fearful of it being recent, but I knew why she’d said that. She was putting all the pieces together now, not just the ones in the present.
“When?” she stressed, looking at me.
I knew this day would come, but I had hoped I would have had her alone for this conversation.
“When, Archer ?” she demanded.
“The day before I filed for divorce,” I told her honestly and decided to give her everything.
“ He was shot in a drive-by. Witnesses described the shooter as one of the Pagano Family’s well-known lackeys.
The next day, all the witnesses recanted their story and the case went cold.
We buried him the day you and I signed all the paperwork. ”
She paled and stared right at me. I could see her breathing pick up as she connected the rest of the dots. “ You divorced me on purpose.”
“I didn’t want ‘till death do us part’ to be a reality so soon,” I responded. “ I loved you, so I divorced you to save your life."