Chapter Fifteen
Pirro both liked and respected Rafe, and he took his advice to heart. After his poker game last night, he’d headed home, intent on reassuring his wife that there were no other women in the world for him, but she’d been fast asleep, a box of tissues by her side.
She was still sleeping when he woke up and left for work this next morning. He headed to the office, which was built on the same land where the spices grew in green houses that regulated the temperatures to ensure healthy plant growth all year round. He had a full day of meetings, and he worked through lunch. By five o’clock, he was ready to call it quits for the day.
He stopped in town for flowers and walked out of the florist, hopeful he’d make Vivian understand his stress had nothing to do with his feelings for her. In his hands, he held a dozen red roses in a crystal vase so large that it blocked his view. He bumped into someone on the sidewalk.
“I’m sorry!” he said, righting himself before he stumbled.
“No worries. We were waiting for you anyway.”
Pirro dropped the flowers, and the glass shattered. Whatever they wanted, it couldn’t be good.
Rafe took a quick shower while Sara checked in with the captain in the city. While she showered, he put marinated steaks on the outdoor grill. Thank you, Mom, he thought silently. He’d snuck in a phone call earlier, asking her to check on the alarm company and stock the fridge. She’d taken over everything while he was out for the day. The alarm upgrade was complete, and now he placed a chilled bottle of wine, grilled steak and corn on the cob on the picnic table outside.
Sara walked out of the house. Her damp hair hung loose around her shoulders, ripped denim shorts showed off her long legs and bare feet, and a large V-neck T-shirt still somehow looked sexy.
“What’s all this?” she asked, her gaze sweeping over the set table.
“Dinner is served. Have a seat.”
“Well, well. This is a nice surprise!”
He shrugged. “It’s basic enough that I can handle it.”
She laughed and dug into her meal. “Delicious,” she said when she’d finished her first taste.
“I’ll tell Mom you like her marinating,” he said with a grin.
“You are a bad boy.” She waved her fork at him in a chiding manner, laughing along with him.
“Don’t I get points for coming up with the idea?”
“That you do.” How could she resist that dimpled grin? Sara wondered.
They finished their meal in silence and, with their wine glasses, moved to the porch swing. She curled her legs beneath her and sipped from her glass, not-so-covertly watching Rafe.
He stretched an arm along the back of the seat, his fingertips grazing her shoulder. “So, tell me about your family.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Really? Why?”
He rolled his eyes. “Why do you always question me when I want to get to know you better?”
She paused, taking another sip of her wine. “It’s just that nobody has asked before.”
“Ahh. Want to know why?”
She nodded.
“Because before me, you’ve only dated men interested in one thing,” he said pointedly. “So, tell me about your family. You said they’re all cops?”
On the job, she admired his interrogation tactics. Off the job, she could do without them. “They’re all cops. My grandfather, my dad, an uncle…” She paused in thought. “My aunt was the first female cop in the family,” she said with pride.
“All divorced?”
She should have known he’d get around to that point eventually. “Yes, all divorced. Well, all but one,” she amended, thinking of her cousin.
“Then I definitely want to hear about him.”
“Her.”
His eyes opened wide. “Really, now.”
Sara let out a sigh. “Yes, really. My cousin Renata. She lives in Hoboken.”
“New Jersey.”
“Yeah. Reni said it’s easier to maintain her family life outside of Manhattan,” she said wistfully. She missed having her cousin close by. “When she lived in the city and Reni was single, we’d hang out a lot.”
“And now?”
She shrugged. “Not so much. Different cities, different lives with her married, me single. But when we were kids, we were like this.” She crossed two of her fingers together.
“And you miss hanging out with her, don’t you?” he said, his tone sympathetic.
He read her so well. “How did you know?”
“It might have something to do with how much you enjoy my crazy family.”
She couldn’t suppress a smile. “Well, I do.”
“Then why don’t you make an effort to spend more time with Renata?”
Because every time she saw her cousin with her husband and kids, Sara left depressed. In the past, she was never quite sure where the melancholy came from. But now, she realized, her sadness stemmed from watching her cousin’s happiness and the family life Sara would never have because of the choices she deliberately made.
Choices that made sense, she reminded herself.
“You’re right. I should spend more time with her,” Sara said to Rafe.
Finished with the subject, she rose and headed inside.
Rafe let Sara go. For whatever reason, the subject of her happily married cousin rattled her. He never meant to upset her, but he couldn’t deny being pleased that here was a chink in the armor she used to defend against happily ever after.
His cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the caller and groaned. “Hi, Aunt Vi,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Hi, honey. Rafe, he’s on the run again!”
He didn’t have to ask whom she was talking about. His head began to pound, and he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“Aunt Vi, I e-mailed you the picture of his car outside Jonah’s house last night. And I told him to go home and make peace with you. Didn’t he do that?”
She sniffed loudly into the phone. “I was asleep last night and this morning. But he came home from work in a mood, barely said a word through dinner. He barely ate my manicotti! And then he said he had to go out. He wouldn’t say where. He just left!”
That’s it. Rafe had had enough of Pirro’s games. “I’ll take care of it, Aunt Vi.”
A few minutes later, he and Sara were once again driving around town looking for Pirro’s car.
“Do you think he’s playing cards?” Sara asked.
“I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s obviously hiding something, and I’m going to get to the bottom of whatever it is.”
Except this time there was no sign of Pirro’s car by any of his poker cronies’ houses, and a distinct feeling of unease settled over Rafe.
“What do you want to do now?” Sara asked.
Rafe made a U-turn and headed back toward Aunt Vi’s house. “Now we wait for him to come home and find out what’s going on once and for all.”
Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long. Pirro’s car turned into the driveway a short time later. It wasn’t late at night, still early enough for Pirro to run any normal errand, but he’d tell his wife about one of those.
Rafe opened his car door and gestured for Sara to come along. “Last time I appealed to him man-to-man. This time we can both interrogate him,” Rafe muttered.
“Pirro!” Rafe called to the man before he could disappear into his home.
“Rafe! You startled me.” The older man’s hand flew to his chest. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re going to have a talk, and this time you aren’t going to stonewall me.”
Rafe waited for Pirro to hem and haw, or stutter while he struggled to find a believable excuse.
“You’re right,” Pirro said instead. “I can’t do this alone.”
Startled, Rafe glanced from Pirro to Sara.
She shrugged as if to say she was equally surprised. “Do you want to go inside?” she asked, her voice gentle.
Good cop, bad cop. They played the old cliché well.
“You’re such a nice girl,” Pirro said, then turned to Rafe. “She’s such a nice girl. You hang on to that one.”
Rafe shook his head, knowing the older man would get off track if he let him. “Do you want to go inside to talk?”
“No!” Pirro waved a hand in the air. “I don’t want Vivian to hear any of this. She’s upset enough, and this will only send her over the edge.” He inhaled a long, tortured breath.
A look at his tired, wan face told Rafe his suffering was real. “What’s going on? Talk to us.”
“Maybe we can help,” Sara said.
“I hope so because I’m at my wit’s end. How could such a simple act of kindness lead to this kind of thing?”
Rafe placed a hand on Pirro’s shoulder. “Why don’t you start at the beginning.” Maybe then he could make sense of the problem.
“Right. Okay. You see, when I married your aunt, I discovered she was…how do I say this delicately?”
Rafe winced, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed. “Just say it fast and keep going.”
“My Vivian is insatiable. It takes a real man to keep up with her. I was afraid I would disappoint her, and so I spoke to my doctor, who gave me a few samples of Viagra.”
Rafe’s cheeks burned. He really did not want to have this conversation with his aunt’s husband.
“Go on,” Sara said, encouraging him and ignoring the embarrassment factor.
“It worked, but I couldn’t fill an actual prescription. I mean, can you imagine if Gertrude at the pharmacy got hold of that kind of information?” The older man shuddered. “A friend told me about a friend who had a friend that had access to an unlimited supply in Canada. He hooked me up, and soon I was…in the groove whenever I needed to be.”
Rafe remembered the comments outside the barber shop and realized he’d been right about Pirro taking Viagra. “But what does this have to do with you sneaking around town at odd hours?” Rafe asked, frustration building along with the accumulation of useless information. He wished Pirro would make his point.
“I’m getting there!”
“Take your time,” Sara said, shooting Rafe a warning glare.
“I shared my little secret with my friends at poker, and they asked me to get them some, too. So I contacted the guy, and soon we had a regular thing going. I’d meet him to place orders and pick up the pills.”
Rafe raised an eyebrow. “And that’s where you go when you’re ducking out on your wife?”
Pirro nodded. “That, and sometimes the guys want to meet privately to place or pick up their orders. Either they don’t want the other guys to know they’re using, too, or they’re afraid of being overheard at home. Plus, they shared the news and my customer base grew.”
“You’re dealing in Canadian Viagra. And that’s what has you so upset?” Rafe asked, appalled.
“That’s not all.” Pirro shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted from foot to foot.
“You’ve come this far,” Sara said, her voice soothing. “You can tell us the rest.”
“Two men approached me at the festival and told me they wanted access to my supplier so they could traffic real drugs from here to Manhattan in the Spicy Secret’s delivery trucks,” Pirro said, his voice cracking. “I said no, of course. I’m not a drug dealer!”
Rafe figured now wasn’t the time to argue semantics. “So…”
“First my Angel’s pie stand burned down, and they made it clear they could get to my family if I didn’t cooperate, so I agreed. I bought myself some time, though. I told them I couldn’t reach my supplier until our scheduled meeting, which was a lie. They came to me and said I had until Friday to put the deal in motion. Or else.”
Rafe wondered how in the world this simple man had gotten himself involved with something so dangerous.
“You did the right thing telling us,” Sara reassured him. “Rafe and I will figure out a plan.”
“They said it would be a pity to hurt her…but I don’t think getting your brother out of the way would bother Biff and Todd so much. I’m so sorry!” Pirro trembled as he spoke.
“Biff and Todd are drug dealers?” Sara’s voice rose into the night.
“Shh!” Rafe reminded her. “Boy, you really stepped in it,” he said to his uncle.
Pirro, looking like an old, beaten man, met Rafe’s angry gaze. “I said I’m sorry!”
“You should have come to me immediately.”
“And have you look at me like you are now? At first, I thought I could say no and they’d go away.”
Man, he was naive, Rafe thought.
“And then I thought I could stall them long enough to think of something. But most of all I was afraid you’d send me to jail, and how long do you think I’d last with a cell mate named Big Al?”
Rafe glanced at the starry night sky, praying for strength. “I’m glad you told me.” Now he had to come up with a plan. “Today is Tuesday. We have four days.”
Sara placed a hand on Pirro’s shoulder. “There’s nothing more you can do now. Why don’t you go inside and get some rest?”
“And reassure Aunt Vi, while you’re at it,” Rafe said. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you!” Without warning, Pirro launched himself into Rafe’s arms.
Rafe awkwardly patted the man on the back. “We’ll figure out a plan,” he promised him.
He and Sara locked glances. She inclined her head, her subtle way of letting him know she had an idea. He wasn’t surprised she’d thought of something so quickly, and, not for the first time, he was damned glad she was here.
Back at Rafe’s house, Sara put a call in to her uncle Jack, who really wasn’t her uncle but was a good friend of her father’s from his police academy days. Uncle Jack was a retired DEA agent and still had contacts in the Drug Enforcement Administration and would tell her who to contact for help.
She hung up Rafe’s cell phone and walked back into the kitchen to find Rafe pouring himself a tumbler of Scotch.
She didn’t blame him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He nodded. “I just can’t believe Pirro’s been supplying Viagra to the old men in this town.” He shook his head in disbelief.
Sara laughed. “He’s a character, but I truly believe he meant well.”
“Did you reach your father’s friend?”
“I left Uncle Jack a message and said it was urgent. He’ll call your cell as soon as he gets it.”
“Thanks. Now that that’s in motion let’s check my machine.” Rafe hit the play button on the answering machine on the kitchen counter. “Sara, it’s Coop. You left this number with me in case of emergency. It’s an emergency. Call me ASAP.”
Beep.
Another message immediately began to play. “It’s Captain Hodges. Call me back,” he growled.
Sara groaned. Rafe agreed. The way today was going, neither message could be good news.