“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“When Pirro leaves, I’ll say it’s time for us to go, too. I can’t follow him directly—he knows my car, and it’ll be too obvious, but I know all the men in his poker game. We’ll wait a few minutes and drive by each house until we find his car, snap a picture on my cell and be done with it.” He sounded more amused than annoyed by the plan.
“Works for me.” In fact, Aunt Vi’s drama was just the excitement and distraction she needed from the chaos of her own life.
PIRRO WAS IN NO mood for poker or his friends, but the only way he could spread news was through their game. Jonah Frye had the perfect location for poker in the summertime, a barn in his backyard that he’d converted into a hangout for the boys. The fact that they hadn’t been boys in years didn’t seem to bother any of them as they gathered together to eat, drink and play.
Pirro waited until they’d played a few hands and everyone was relaxed to make his announcement. “My supply’s going to decrease for a while.”
Ernie slapped his cards onto the table. “That’s unacceptable. I’ve been courting Mary Braunstein. It’s been a year since Sydney passed on, and she’s almost ready for that next step. I can’t have my pecker at half-staff!”
Ernie just loved using the word pecker, Pirro thought. “What happened to the last batch of pills I gave you?”
Ernie flushed red in the face. “Gone. I had to take ’em every time we went out for dinner. You know, just in case she decided it was time to open the door.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to stall her.” Because Pirro wasn’t meeting with his supplier as scheduled.
“Why can’t you get us the pills?” another of his friends asked.
Pirro groaned. Lies upon lies. “Because my supplier’s out of them,” he lied. “As soon as I can get my hands on some more, I’ll let you know.”
“Fine,” Ernie said, and the rest of the men grumbled.
Pirro had a hunch not all of them needed the pill; it had just become an insurance policy for all of them, so they could get it up no matter what. Well, they’d have to make due.
Meanwhile, he needed to lie low and keep stalling those nasty men. He couldn’t even think the words drug dealers without wanting to gag. They’d bought his quick-thinking excuse, but he still needed to figure a way out of this mess.
He’d contemplated talking to Rafe. The cop had dealt with men and situations like this before, but Pirro wasn’t blameless. He’d known what he was doing wasn’t totally aboveboard. But he wasn’t a bad man. He’d made sure all his friends had taken a physical and had their tickers checked out before giving them the meds. Now he was forced to look at how Rafe might view his dealings, and he was embarrassed by what he found.
“Pirro, it’s your turn,” Ernie yelled. “You going deaf?”
No, but he might be going to jail.
As a cop, Rafe might have no choice but to arrest him, a thought that made Pirro panic. He was getting on in years. He was soft. He couldn’t possibly go to the slammer.
He played his hand in a fog, hoping he could come up with a plan to save them all.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NO GREAT SURPRISE TO RAFE: Pirro was in fact playing poker. Rafe snapped a photo of Pirro’s car outside Jonah Frye’s house to show his aunt as proof. But he also wanted to talk to him and convince him to set things straight with his wife so Rafe wouldn’t have to get involved playing private investigator again.
He cast a sideways glance at Sara. She sat beside him, patiently resting her head against the window, as they waited for Pirro to come out of the barn.
“Did you ever consider private-investigation work?” Rafe asked her.
She turned toward him. “No, but until today I haven’t really been willing to consider any alternatives.”
“What changed your mind today?” he asked, surprised.
She still stared out onto the street. “I realized how self-absorbed and selfish I’ve been, thinking my whole life is over because I can’t do a job I love.”
Hmm. “Why the change of attitude?” And what else might it apply to? he silently wondered.
“Angel. Imagine being told you could never have children.”
He narrowed his gaze and ignored the kick start in his heart at her mention of children. “You want kids?” he asked, surprised.
After all, kids were usually the result of a long-term relationship, something Sara emphatically did not do.
“Not me—Angel. We were talking about what I wanted out of life, and I said I never had to give it much thought. That I always wanted to be a cop, but, thanks to my knee injury, that might not be possible. She said she knew a lot about reevaluating life because she’d always wanted to be a mom. And then she found out she couldn’t.” Sara inhaled deeply, then breathed out, almost a sigh.
“Sara…”
She shook her head. “I just feel so selfish, pitying myself because I might not be able to be a cop. She can never have children. That’s a much bigger blow, and look how she’s bounced back! She’s even happy. So that’s why I think it’s time I look at what other options are open to me in the future.”
She was clearly struggling with her issues, and a mixture of pride, pleasure and a little bit of pain rushed through Rafe, all at the same time.
“You should never compare yourself to someone else,” he said in an attempt to comfort her and give her a good dose of reality. Everyone’s problems were equally real to them.
“Angel said the same thing. But if there are lessons to be learned, I’m not averse to learning them. If she can overcome her tragedy, I can pull myself together and find another purpose.”
“Yeah, you can,” he said gruffly.
He knew better than to point out that there was suddenly a bit of optimism in her attitude. Or that if she could reevaluate what she wanted out of her career, maybe her personal life wasn’t all that different. He’d put a new rule into effect: no discussing anything that would throw either of them off balance.
Whatever conclusions she drew, she’d have to come to them on her own.
They returned to silence until finally Pirro walked out from behind the house.
“I’ll be right back.” Rafe jumped out of the car and caught up with his uncle at the end of the driveway.
Sara waited in the car.
“Rafe, what’s wrong?” Pirro asked.