Chapter Thirty-Seven
My face hurt. I remembered the feeling from when I found Daniel’s texts. I iced my face, broke out a new toothbrush, and went the fuck to work. Shit, I’d done this before. I was an old hand. I wasn’t going to shake off Antonio that day, and maybe not that week. But I had to, didn’t I?
Despite my game face and strong words of self-reliance, Pam saw right through me.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Can you get me a meeting with Arnie?” I asked. “Fifteen minutes. Tell him it’s urgent.”
“Don’t forget your eleven thirty with Daniel Brower.”
I noticed she didn’t call him a dickhead, and I raised an eyebrow. Pam stared at me, and I looked over her shoulder. I recognized the faces on her computer screen.
Two mug shots. Bruno Uvoli and Vito from the valet service. I leaned in. Vito’s mug shot was for an arrest for the sexual assault of an eleven-year-old girl. Bruno’s DNA had been found at the scene of his cousin’s death, ten years earlier. No charges.
They’d been shot down assassination style in an abandoned suburban house in Palmdale. They’d just been found, but it was assumed they’d been killed the previous afternoon.
Antonio. All I could think about was Antonio assassinating two men and finding out I’d almost done the same.
“Miss Drazen?” Pam sounded concerned.
“Did you get me Arnie?”
“Ten fifteen. Are you all right? You turned white as a sheet.”
“I’m going to go catch up on my email. Hold my calls.”
I didn’t check my emails at all. I wrote Arnie a short, concise letter of resignation. I was done wasting my life with anything I didn’t love.
* * *
Arnie kept me far longer than fifteen minutes, trying to work out consultancies and flexible hours, more pay, a promotion, a new title. He asked me where I was going. When I said, “Nowhere,” he believed me and wished me luck in the most sincere voice I’d ever heard him use.
I saw Daniel’s team before I saw him: a handful of men in suits huddled by the window and a woman I recognized. Short, slim, with a professional dark bob, and sensible shoes. Clarice. From her outfit, no one would ever guess she liked being called a filthy whore while sucking a taken man’s cock.
I felt absolutely nothing about her presence, and that was a relief in itself.
“Hi, everyone,” I said as I approached. “I’m ready. Who’s joining me?”
“Just me,” Daniel said. “It’s my only chance to get rid of these guys.”
Clarice grimaced in a valiant attempt at a smile. I led Daniel into the glass conference room where Antonio had threatened to kiss me in front of everyone. We sat at a corner of the desk, me at the head and him at the side.
“You rang?” I said.
“How are you?” he asked. “Besides in no mood for small talk.”
“I’m fine. I see you hired Clarice back.”
“She was the best speechwriter I ever had. I figured if you weren’t coming back to me…”
“Makes sense.” It did. It made all the sense in the world. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t tell her about anything about what happened between us or about my relationships.”
“You said it was over with you and Spinelli.”
“So? She has a big mouth, and every thought she’s ever had is on her face.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I know. Honestly, there’s no pillow talk because there’s no pillow. I have no time right now for any of it. Did you see the latest polling?”
“Heard about it.”
“It’s partly Clarice,” he said. “She knows her job. But it’s also taking action against crime. Caution doesn’t play. That’s a fact.”
“I would have talked you out of it.”
“Yeah, well, there you have it.”
I didn’t realize I was still attached to my work on his campaign until that underhanded non-insult. “Ouch, Dan.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to give you a hard time.”
“Oh, good.”
He leaned forward, getting into his business posture. I saw that his fingernails were cleanly cut, and his hair didn’t flop, and his hands didn’t seek purchase on old habits or tics.
“You left some notes behind with Bill and Phyllis,” he said. “You had a lot of questions about a cluster of buildings in Mount Washington. They brought it to my attention a couple of days ago.”
I remembered how to tamp down my emotions and how to control my expression. “I didn’t find anything. That’s why I didn’t bring it up.”
“I know. But some of that property was managed by a law firm with one client who was killed by the current owner,” he said.
“You lost me on the killing part.”
“I’m going to let a judge decide that. In the meantime, I’m getting together a warrant. I wanted to let you know ahead of time. If you left a tube of lipstick there, or a tampon or whatever, you’d better go get it.”
I laughed a little to let him know what I thought of his warning.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re protecting me?”
“Yes, I am.”
“They’re not going to forget Catholic Charities. The press might have brushed it off as an interesting photo op of nothing, but if my stuff is on that property, dots get connected. How would it look if it comes out that you sat on your hands for almost a month while a war started? It’s going to look like you swept it under the rug because I was involved.”
He set his face in a look he’d never given me before. It lacked any compassion or grace. It was the look that scared witnesses. “I want to be clear, so I’m only saying this once. This is the last time I will speak to you as an insider. This is your last concession. If I need to subpoena you, I will. If you have a shred of DNA over there, remove it, because once I walk out of here, I won’t hesitate to drag you down with him.”
I stood and held out my hand. “Thank you for your consideration, Mister Brower.”
Instead of shaking it, he held my face and kissed my right cheek then my left. Though Daniel was as American as apple pie, it felt like a final good-bye.