Page 11 of Stolen Touches

Less than thirty seconds later, a man in black jeans and a black T-shirt sneaks inside the garage. He keeps his back to the wall and creeps toward the service door with a gun in hand. As he reaches the threshold and presses the palm of his free hand to the doorjamb, I step out of the shadows and put a bullet in his temple. The blood sprays across the freshly painted wall, and the man’s body drops to the ground. I lower my gun and, taking out my phone, approach the body.

“Yes?” a female voice answers.

“Nera. I found something of yours.”

“Oh. How unfortunate.” There is a short silence on the other end before she continues, “Well, I guess we’re even. Should we put a stop to this situation for now? I’m having some issues here in Boston. I need to focus on that for the moment and can’t exactly spend the time and effort on hunting the spies you’re sending.”

“Yes. That would be wise. Please pass my best wishes for a quick recovery to Don Leone.”

“I will,” she says, and the line goes dead.

I step over the dead body at my feet and call Nino.

“I have another of Nera Leone’s spies. Send someone to dispose of the body. It’s in the garage under the Brooklyn office building.”

“Right away. Should we expect more?”

“No. Nera and I came to an agreement to pause spying on each other for the time being.”

“Will we be sending a message again?” he asks.

“Yes. The head is enough this time. But wrap it in a fancy red paper. It’s her favorite color.”

“That woman always gave me the creeps.”

“You know the views Cosa Nostra has on women being in a position of power. She needs to be ruthless to put up with all of that.”

“You think she’ll uphold her promise.”

“Yes. Nera is a snake, but she won’t go back on her word. Too bad she’ll be dead soon.”

“You think someone will kill her?”

“As soon as her husband dies. She'll keep the reins until then, but the moment the don dies, she’s done.” I put the phone away and return to my car.

Chapter 5

“I can’t wait to get home.” I sigh and close my locker. “I’ve switched shifts with Harper for tomorrow. I’ll be pulling a double.”

“Why?” Pippa asks.

“She said her mother’s sick and needs a visit. I couldn’t very well say no.”

“You’re too soft sometimes. Harper never agrees to switch with anyone.” She shakes her head. “Did you run into that sexy stranger again? The one from three weeks ago?”

“Nope.” I wave to the girl at the reception desk as we pass.

“I can’t believe he didn’t ask for your number.”

“Maybe he wasn’t interested.” I shrug. “He saw Randy pestering me, decided to help, and that was all.”

“I’m still shocked Randy quit. It was so sudden.”

“I heard he mentioned a family emergency and left town,” I say as we pass through the exit doors. “Thank God.”

Suddenly, Pippa’s no longer walking in step with me. I stop and turn to find her staring at something, her eyes wide.

“Pip? Are you coming?”