“Yes.”
Okay… I didn’t know how to feel about that.Two nights in a row he’d pushed his way into my routine.I should be angry, but I wasn’t.Instead, I was happy he hadn’t abandoned me.
“If the cops come by, drop the name, Rufus.He’s our regular weekend bouncer.They know him pretty well.Say that he asked you to sit here, okay?”
His eyes searched mine.“You’re asking me to lie?”
Yes.Duh.“No, I’m telling you that the cops get really nosy around here.They’ll pull up and have you frisked and cuffed if you don’t know whose name to drop, got it?”I knew these streets.
That earned a smile.“Understood.”
“Good.I’ll make you Chicago street savvy yet.”
I didn’t want to leave, but closing wouldn’t wait.The longer I lingered here, the later it would be until I tugged the sticky door shut and locked the last deadbolt.But Ringo licked his lips.And that motion beckoned me closer.I put my hands on his window frame and crouched a little.
“Ringo?”
“Yes.”He shifted closer, not saying yes in response to his name, but yes to stealing a kiss.
His eyes locked on mine.But he stopped just outside of range.“You gotta breach the distance.I’m not doing all the work.”
I shoved him away and fled inside the bar.
Now Iwasmad at him.
10
Ringo
Never underestimate women.This was impressed upon me from a very early age.Un-sainted mother aside, Don Manca raised me on tales of Sardinian pirate queens, spooky crones who dressed in black and took their euthanasia gig from door to door, and one really scary goddess who not only wove the thread of your life, she cut it, too.Add to the mix all the aunties, grandmotherly types, and everyday women who loved those crazy outlaws, and I should have picked her out right away.
A Fed.
Sure, Ellie didn’t come right out and say it.That made things a little difficult to understand, but she knew enough to warn me from the middle-aged woman with pampered feet.One of Mario’s cousins owned the same pair of heavy-duty, all-purpose walking shoes.They didn’t slip, they didn’t creak, and they made it easy to run, climb, kick, and be a general nuisance.She was also cleared to do jobs on her own.
Which meant, dangerous.
And as soon as I saw those shoes, I knew my problems in Chicago had just multiplied.The agent knew where Ellie lived.I knew that because she got into the car I followed last night.She took her time before driving off.I stared at her empty space, wondering what her angle was.
“Hey stranger, you looking for a good time?”
Ellie leaned against the car on the driver’s side, breaking my concentration.
“Get out of the street.”I shifted to exit the car and get her back on the sidewalk where she’d be safe...er.
“Give me the keys.”
“You’re not driving my car.”
“You had alcohol tonight, buddy.I’m driving.”
“It was an hour ago.”I opened the passenger door for her.
Ellie scanned me up and down and relented.“I’m getting in under protest.If you wreck with me in the car I’m haunting you.”
“It takes a lot more than two ounces of premium whiskey to get me drunk.That’s one thing I inherited from the lush.”I helped her get her seatbelt free so she could buckle it.
She caught my hand.“Is your mother really that bad?”
