House of Blues

always
dealt with Mr. Daroca at the fish place, but Mrs. Garibaldi's been
calling the restaurant a lot lately—for Dad. They've been having
all these long, whispered conversations over the last few weeks.
    " In fact, I think it's something to do with our
getting the concession. He negotiated with her, I'm pretty sure of
that, I heard him. But I don't know what her job is."
    " Tell me about the second time you saw her."
    "While Evie and I were talking, she came with
some of her henchmen. And took them both away." Her eyes
moistened. "I hope they don't beat Evie or anything. She
actually did something for Sally and me. I think she realized the
baby needed to see her mother—that's really something after what
she did. But then she was drunk."
    " When she kidnapped Sally?"
    " Yes. She told me. She told me everything about
it. She did it because a guy she met had told her a lot of lies and
given her false hope. So she thought she could get Sally back and
they could all be a family."
    "That's why she kidnapped Sally?"
    Reed shrugged. "Evie was never all that clear a
thinker."
    " I'm still confused. Why did she come here?"
    "Once things went wrong, all she could think of
was to ask her boyfriend for help. But when she got here, he locked
her up. She doesn't know what's going on either. She says this is his
house, but he's a cop. That doesn't make any sense. How could a cop
have a house like this? I mean, no offense, but does that seem
likely? And why would a cop hold three people prisoner, including his
own girlfriend and a baby?" She stopped talking and remembered
Skip.
    " Four."
    The back of Skip's neck prickled; her scalp crawled.
She felt cold all over. "A cop? This is a cop's house?" Had
she been recognized? Was that why she'd been captured?
    "Well, he told Evie he was a lawyer, but I know
him from the restaurant and I know he's a cop. Married too." She
sighed. "Poor Evie; she always gets in the worst kind of
scrapes."
    " You don't know his name, do you?"
    "Sure. Maurice Gresham."
    Bingo.
    He wasn't just a cop, he was a detective in Skip's
platoon. He was the one Cappello thought was dirty.
    "I always did wonder how he could afford to eat
at the restaurant so often. Maybe he has family money."
    Right. Marcello family money. The Marcellos were
the celebrated South Louisiana arm of the mob.
    This is some kind of mob deal. It's some kind of
clubhouse; a meeting place. Maybe Gresham owns it or maybe Garibaldi
does—on paper. That's a fine point—the issue here is that a dirty
cop and a Dragon have got me taped to a bed. And I'm only one of
four.
    She shook her head.
    Reed said, "What's wrong?"
    "Nothing. Just thinking."
    Just lying. Something's badly wrong. Whoever heard
of the mob taking prisoners, one of them a Homicide cop? Whatever's
going on here is plain crazy. It's not mob stuff, it's something
else.
    Something worse.
    But what?
    Okay, think.
    We're locked up because we know too much. It must
be the casino board members. They must be in deep with the mob, and
Reed saw them here. So maybe Anna stowed her away till she could
think what to do with her, and she had to stow Evie because she knew
about Reed.
    Then there's me. I tracked them here, so I'm even
more dangerous than they are right now. But how did they know I'm a
cop?
    Her mind answered the question almost immediately:
The gardener saw the gun in my purse. When I opened it to give him
the money. Damn the kid with the ice cream! I wasn't even a little
bit nervous about Auntie Anna.
    So what's the deal with her? Reed said Anna had
lost some of her self-possession the second time she saw her.
    But who wouldn't? Boy, are we a hot potato!
    Why don't they just kill us?
    She knew the answer to that. It wasn't the mob's way
to kill, except for revenge or over money. But they might if they had
to.
    The real reason they'd done nothing probably was that
they were waiting for orders. Gresham probably didn't count at all,
was just an errand boy at the cop shop.
    That left Anna.
    Who was she?
    One thing, she was a woman; that meant she wouldn't
have any real power in the mob. But who did?
    The answer hit her like a thunderbolt:
    Gus Lozano.
    The missing Gus Lozano.
    Suppose he was the one whose answer they awaited?
What was it likely to be?
    At this point, what could it be?
    Depends how important Gresham is to them. If they
let us go, Anna goes down, so does he, and very likely so do their
three tame casino boarders.
    But maybe the casino guys don't go. Sure,