Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
“Elena, wait up!”
Jal staggered after her friend, her heels seeming to find every crack in the sidewalk.
She tried to keep her eyes on Elena’s caramel-colored leather jacket, but the crowd just seemed to wrap around her as she passed, obscuring her from view.
She had never understood how Elena could move so quickly in the sky-high heeled boots she was wearing.
Jal sighed and swept her hair out of her face with one hand and reached behind her for Lexi with the other.
Her friend grabbed on while they slid between a man in a dark puffy jacket and long, thick braids and an older woman in a felted dress coat who smelled strongly of some musky perfume.
Jal wrinkled her nose as the scent tickled her sinuses and threatened to make her sneeze.
They flanked Elena where she stood right at the yellow line of police tape and followed her gaze across the street to a dilapidated repair shop that stood with its doors open. Light spilled out across the cracked concrete driveway, illuminating at least a half-dozen police officers milling around.
They’d arrived just in time for a pair of officers to emerge through one of the open bay doors, escorting a burly man with a black goatee from the building with his hands cuffed behind his back. They each held an arm as they led him to a marked patrol car and stuffed him inside.
“Why don’t they have any lights on?” Lexi asked as the car drove off.
Jal looked up and down the street. “You’re right, I don’t see any more marked cars.” She looked accusingly at Elena.
It had been a good night so far. After dinner at a restaurant Elena liked in the Heights, they went to a salsa club until Jal thought her feet would fall off.
Elena had spun from one partner to another, showing off that rhythm that coursed through her blood.
Then, she had gotten a text and said they had to leave, though she’d refused to say who it was from.
Halfway home on a crowded downtown train, she’d grabbed their hands and practically dragged them through the open door and across the station to the cross-town 2 Train heading for the Bronx, the last place Jal wanted to be. There were far too many memories best left behind here.
“What are we doing in Hunt’s Point, Elena? What is this place?”
“It’s where Andy has been working since he got out of jail.” Elena replied cheerfully. “And from the looks of it, he fit right in.”
Lexi chuckled. “Please tell me they took him, too.”
A corner of Elena’s mouth turned up and she turned enough for Jal to see the twinkle in her eye. “Not yet.”
Jal’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean ‘not yet’?” she asked. “The police have already raided the place, and I assume, taken away everyone that was inside. If Andy had been inside, he’d be in a squad car. Unless he wasn’t working… Are you telling me that he made a run for it?”
Elena put a hand on her shoulder and gave her the look that told her to take a deep breath before she went off the deep end. Jal scowled and filled her lungs with air that reeked of car exhaust and musky perfume. She coughed.
Elena smirked. “All I know is that Ciaran texted me and said to get here as soon as we could. He has a surprise for—” She made an indignant, sputtering noise at the sudden face full of curls.
Jal spun around, searching the crowd for the familiar sharp features she had woken up to this morning, for the whisky-colored eyes she could stare into for hours and still not be able to figure out their true color. Brown or gold. Amber or citrine. All fell woefully short to describe them.
A flurry of radio chatter jolted Jal back around and she tried to stamp down her disappointment at not spotting Ciaran. All of the visible officers scattered like the world’s biggest game of hide and seek had just started.
Within moments, the street was empty except for the milling crowd, mostly hidden in the space between streetlights, murmuring quietly to themselves.
For a few moments, nothing happened. No other cars passed on the street, not unsurprising at this late hour, though Jal couldn't rule out that there was some out of sight police barricade. The murmuring of the crowd slowly died as a palpable tension grew in the air.
Just then, a rumble began in the distance and a row of headlights pierced the darkness to their right. A sleek muscle car rolled forward, stopping in the street just short of the garage’s driveway, the white paint job reflecting the light spilling out through the doors like a beacon.
Jal leaned forward, straining her eyes to get a good look at the driver, but she couldn’t make out more than a burly outline that clearly wasn’t Ciaran’s. The driver rolled forward a little, his eyes fixed on the garage.
“He smells a rat,” Elena muttered. “Come on, come on, just a little more.”
“Who does?”
The car protested sitting in one place and started to sputter. The driver revved the engine, shattering the silence with a deep, throaty growl that, at any other time, would have been music to her ears.
A second growl followed before the car settled into a contented purr, rolling slowly forward until one front wheel kissed the concrete. The driver paused there and honked the horn once.
A loud crash sounded from inside the shop, as if someone had knocked over a parts tray, and the ringing of metal on concrete seemed to almost echo through the night.
Jal winced, but her attention was fixed on the driver, who sat bolt upright with a barked curse audible even from where they were standing, and frantically shoved at the gear stick.
The car emitted a sickening grind as it lurched forward, screeching to a stop a second later as a marked patrol car, who had been hiding at the side of the building, threw on its lights, and shot into the street.
The lights were enough to illuminate the interior of the car, painting Andy’s olive complexion sickly white and cherry red.
The whites in his eyes were briefly all Jal could see before they narrowed into squinty-eyed rage.
He threw the car into reverse, the tires spinning as he tried to escape back the way he’d come.
He only made it a few feet before he stomped the brakes again to avoid another patrol car roaring up behind him.
An officer emerged from the front car and pulled his weapon from the holster at his waist, holding it low as he advanced. “Turn off the vehicle and drop the keys out of the window!”
Other officers converged on the car like so many ants, some with their weapons pointed at the car, most of them shouting similar orders. Jal silently prayed that he wouldn’t do anything stupid and damage such a beautiful car trying to escape.
Andy hesitated only a few heartbeats. His eyes closed, the muscles in his throat working as he swallowed hard. Slowly, the rage leeched out of his face, leaving behind a calmness that Jal knew was even more dangerous.
He revved the engine one more time, but only to kick it down to idle before he twisted the keys and the rumbling ceased. They hit the street with a clatter. The streetlight struck sparks off the enameled cobra, coiled to strike.
The officer took a step closer. “Place both of your hands through the window and open the door from the outside.”
Andy complied, and slowly unfolded his large frame from the driver’s seat, stepping to the side so the officer could cross the last few feet and push the door shut.
He holstered his gun so he could take one of Andy’s meaty arms and spun him to face the vehicle.
It was an impressive feat given her ex was at least four inches taller and forty pounds heavier.
The flashing lights struck sparks of gold from the shield around the neck of a detective as he approached, brandishing a pair of handcuffs. Jal recognized Takeda by his almond-shaped eyes and dark black hair.
Hunt’s Point was at least a half dozen precincts outside his jurisdiction, though she was glad to see him being the one to see this through. Despite his partner’s eagerness to arrest her, Takeda had been nothing but kind and sympathetic.
Takeda handed the cuffs to the officer, and with each click, something inside her released, at least until Takeda spoke. “Andrew Paolinelli, you are under arrest for conspiracy, grand theft auto, and assault.”
“Assault?” Her heart kicked hard in her chest. Lexi put an arm around her shoulders, rubbing soothing circles on her upper arm. Where the hell is Ciaran?
As Takeda took one of Andy’s elbows, Elena muttered under her breath, “please resist arrest, maybe one of them will shoot him.”
Still, Jal heard and whacked her friend on the arm. “Elena!”
Elena rubbed the spot. “What? We’re all thinking it.”
“He’s not—" Her retort died in her throat when the officers led Andy toward the front patrol car and her ex’s eyes locked with hers.
His footsteps slowed, then stopped, and the feline smile that spread across his lips made her glad for the handcuffs, the officer’s firm grip, and that she was on this side of the police tape.
At first, her instinct was to wither under the furious fire that gleamed in his dark eyes, but then her friends each took one of her hands. Though their support flowed through the contact, she found that, for once, she had plenty of her own.
Jal straightened up to her full height, lifted her chin high, and let a different fire, one of triumph, flare to life in her own expression.
“I should have known you’d be behind this, Samantha.”
Elena started to speak, but Jal squeezed her hand, and she closed her mouth.
“It’s Jal,” she replied. “And I hope they put you away for good this time.”
A growl ripped from his throat as Andy took a step in her direction. Jal held her ground while the officers hauled him away. In the corner of her eye, Elena lifted a hand and fluttered her fingers in a wave that had always made Andy see red.
It had the intended effect. He made a second attempt to wrench free of the officers’ grasp, but Takeda slammed Andy into the police car, his torso and face plastered across the hood with a forearm across the back of his neck.
“I could add resisting arrest to the charges,” Takeda warned loud enough for them to hear.
Andy grunted in response and his body seemed to deflate. He didn’t resist as Takeda stood him up and led him to the door the patrolman held open, stuffing him inside.
Takeda glanced at Jal as he swung the door shut and gave her a raised eyebrow. Jal ducked her head, but she was smiling. So much for not leaving Manhattan. She thought, hoping that Takeda would let it slide.
As if he heard her thoughts, a corner of his mouth lifted and he nodded his head once in a formal way that in decades past would have involved tipping a hat. The two officers got into the patrol car and drove off, lights flashing and sirens blaring.
The adrenaline left her in a rush, and Jal’s knees started to shake. Her friends sprang into action, wrapping their arms around her, trapping Jal between them so she didn’t fall.
She sighed with relief and dropped her head to Lexi’s shoulder and her friend pressed her cheek to the top of her head. “It’s over.”
“Damn right it is!” Elena crowed.
Lexi nodded, the motion rubbing across Jal’s hair. “I hope we never see that bastard again.”
Jal’s eyes drifted shut, sending a tear of relief that had been clinging to her lashes down her cheek. She wanted to be excited, she really did, but she was still worried about Ciaran, and about whether Andy was really, truly out of her life.
Elena smiled softly and brushed the tear away with her thumb. “Come on, let’s go to Lima to celebrate,” Elena urged them. “Papá had that pollo guisado you like so much on the specials board today. I’m sure there’s some left.”
Jal shook her head. “Much as I would love that, I need to find Ciaran,” she pulled out her phone. “Something must have happened to him, or else he would have been here.”
Elena took it from her hand and held up a hand when Jal protested. “Don’t worry about him,” she replied and started heading in the direction they had come. “He said earlier that he had something to take care of and he’ll meet us there.”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Elena swung her arm out dramatically at the garage, the white Mustang parked in the middle of the street, and the swarm of police officers. “Hello!”
Jal grabbed her arm and linked theirs together. “Okay, fine. But you’re making me a margarita.”
“As many as you want, nena.” She replied. “As many as you want.”