“Something unusual’s going on,” he says. He cuts a glance at me. “Your pet project didn’t go to work today.”
“Delphine stayed home?”
“That’s right. Hasn’t left her place all day.”
Thatisunusual. Almost no one’s more dedicated to their job than she is—with the exception being me. She has rarely, if ever, refrained from turning up at city hall. No stomach bugs or snowy days have ever stopped her. Few vacations taken over the years. It’s especially strange coming off the back of a big win like locking up Giorgio Belini.
Last night, Delphine was supposed to join me at Grimaldi’s for dinner. I’d slipped Grimaldi a fat check in order for him to shut the restaurant down and reserved it only for us. Delphine never showed. She’d been working late again.
I’dalmostgone over to her office. Just to be an ass and disturb her.
The shocked, wide-eyed look on her face when she first saw me the other night was priceless.
It’s a moment I’ve saved in my memory banks. She’d looked so good standing in her office, dressed in that hip-hugging pencil skirt with her hair pinned up. She’d been looking out the window without even realizing I was looking at her. I’d taken a liberty or two, invaded her personal space, touched her cheek.
She’s lucky I hadn’t kissed her. I didn’t do what I really wanted to do and bend her over her desk and—
“Why didn’t she go to work?” I ask.
Stitches shrugs. “Beats me. But… that’s not even the worst part.”
“Stitches, I told you stop stalling. Tell me what the fuck’s going on. If you don’t, you’re about toneedsome stitches.”
“Okay, okay! No need to be so hostile,” he says, straightening his wire-framed glasses. “So you remember Bernardo was supposed to be on shift last night? Well, his son wound up in the emergency room. Some kind of hit and run. His kid was playing catch with some neighborhood kids outside his house and a car hit him and took off. Bernardo had to call Oscar, but there was some, uh, miscommunication.”
A tightness pulls at my chest. “Which means?”
“Nobody was watching her last night.”
Delphine might believe we’ve had nothing to do with each other for twelve years, but that’s far from the case. She has no clue the extent I’ve gone to for her.
An invisible presence in her life.
Some might say it’s not my place. I say it’s a precaution taken by a man protecting his assets. If threats are made against one of those assets, naturally I’m going to take action.
Delphine, by virtue of who she is and our past, fits that description. I don’t like many things. But when I do take interest in something, it’s not done so lightly. I can be obsessive. I can be intrusive. I’ll take risks and test boundaries.
I haven’t dedicated my life to revenge on Lucius for shits and giggles.
It’s for Delphine’s benefit that I keep tabs on her. I assign guys to shadow her. They lurk out of sight, ensuring any threats are taken care of, and that she never suspects a thing. Delphine tends to be too idealistic—she doesn’t understand just how dangerous this city can be even for the average citizen. Let alone someone trying to rock the boat too hard.
She thinks the verdict against Giorgio Belini is a big win, and it is.
But it’s also put a target on her back like never before. Something she still doesn’t grasp even after I paid her a visit the other night.
Stitches’ revelation that nobody was keeping tabs on her makes my hands ball into fists. Bernardo and Oscar are lucky they’re not here right now. Their foolish mistake calls for me to decorate the walls with their blood.
“Find out why,” I say in a low, controlled tone. “Find out why she missed work today and verify nothing’s wrong.”
“But, Psycho, how are we supposed to find out? The girl’s holed up in her apartment—”
“Find. Out. Why.”
The expression on Stitches’ face tells me he’s not looking forward to his new task. He pulls himself up from the sofa and takes his glasses off to wipe them on his shirt.
“I’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ve got an old pizza delivery costume in my trunk. I delivered pizzas in med school.”
“Have Bernardo and Oscar report here. We’re going to have a friendly chat.”