'You didn't need to know it. '
'Why? Is that another secret of the sisterhood?'
Rachel slapped her hand on the table, shaking her mug so that tea spilled onto the table.
'Damn you, Lou! I drag your ass out of the river before you drown and find you a doctor in the middle of the night on fucking New Year's Eve so that you don't have to go the hospital, where you belong, and you've got to crack dyke jokes.'
Mason raised his hands in surrender. 'I'm sorry. She was terrific. You redefine terrific.'
Rachel grabbed a dish towel from the kitchen counter and wiped the tea that had spilled from her mug.
'Yeah, well, she is terrific and she couldn't exactly send a bill to your insurance company.'
'I am suitably humbled. Tell her the door swings both ways. Make sure she knows where to find me if she needs me.'
'I'll do that. Now, tell me what in the hell happened out there.'
'Off the record?'
Rachel threw the dish towel onto the table in surrender. 'Off the record.'
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
'It was about a quarter to twelve and I was coming to look for you when Beth Harrell appeared out of the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea. She asked me to take a walk with her.'
'And since you are cursed with a penis, you had no choice.'
'Jealous?'
'Of her? Not a chance. She's not my type.'
'You don't give a guy any hope, do you?'
'Get this through your testosterone-drenched brain. No guy has any hope with me.'
Mason sighed. 'You have made me a believer. So Beth and I take a walk. We end up out on the end of the prow. She snuggles up, the rockets red glare, and she makes a pass at me.'
'A beautiful woman comes on to you and you decide to jump into the river. Are you sure you're not gay?'
'You should live long enough to find out. In spite of what you might think about the curse of the penis, I turned her down. It wasn't pretty. She's got a fair dose of self-loathing inside that perfect body. She left and I gave her a good head start. The next thing I know, someone is shooting at me. The river was my only way out. How did you find me?'
'I guess it's time for my little confession.' Mason's eyes widened. 'No, you moron, I didn't shoot you, but that's starting to look like an attractive option.'
'Latent heterophobia?'
'More like overt smart-ass phobia! Ed Fiora sent a bunch of invitations to the newspaper. I took one so that I could ask you to go. I threw you in just so I could watch what happened. I didn't think you could resist going after Fiora. I thought I could get a good story.' She looked down and away, a red stain creeping across her checks. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. 'I'm really sorry.'
Mason let out a long, slow breath. 'You didn't make me come with you and you didn't make me go out on that prow with Beth Harrell. But you did save my life, and that should balance anybody's books. How did you manage that?'
Rachel looked up. 'My God, you are a mess of a human being! You come on to any woman with a pulse, you can't go two minutes without being a smart-ass, and you forgive way too easily.'
'Makes you want me for a brother, doesn't it?'
'Yeah,' she said softly. 'It really does.' They sipped from their mugs for a moment. 'I saw Tony Manzerio fetch. I want to hear all about that, by the way. Then I just kept my eye on you. When you went outside with Beth, I went out another exit, figuring I could get close without being seen.'
'You saw what happened?'
She shrugged. 'I'm in the voyeur business. When she left, I was going to hustle back to the front of the casino and wait for you. Then I heard the shots and saw you jump in the water. I'd been to that casino a lot and I knew there was a boat tied up at the pier. There wasn't time to call the Coast Guard. I ran for the dock, which wasn't easy in this body condom I'm wearing. The rest is commentary.'
'Did you see who was shooting at me?'
Rachel shook her head. 'All I know is that it wasn't coming from my side of the deck. Whoever it was couldn't have been much of a shot. It would have been hard to find an easier target.'
'Unless the shooter wasn't trying to hit me. Maybe the idea was to get me to jump, let the river do the rest.'
'I still don't understand why you wouldn't go to the hospital and let the police take care of this.'
Mason didn't say anything. He drained the rest of his mug and set it down on the table.
'Yes, I do. I am so dumb sometimes. You don't want to involve Beth Harrell in another scandal. You think she might really have something that you want.'
'I do, but it's not what you think. You were watching me all night, but I don't think Beth was. The casino has video cameras everywhere, and Fiora monitors them. That's how Tony Manzerio knew where to find me. If Fiora had me on videotape making love under the stars with a key witness against my client, the court would kick me out of Blues's case in a heartbeat. When that didn't work, he went to plan B.'
'Then the whole thing is on videotape. The shooting, everything.'
'I'll take odds that those tapes are gone by now. I have to find out what's going on between Ed Fiora and Beth Harrell.'
'Of course. You'll drop by, talk about old times, and she'll spill her guts.'
'Something like that.'
'This I've got to see.'
'Sorry. No press. Don't pout. You'll still get your exclusive when it's all over. There is just one thing you may want to think about.'
'What's that?'
'If Fiora saw Beth and me on videotape, he saw you too. I'd be very careful.'
'Happy New Year to me,' Rachel said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Mason didn't know whether Beth Harrell would see him, but he liked his chances when the doorman at her building turned out to be named Jim and not Margaret.
He hadn't slept, too jazzed by his near-death experience. Unshaven and carrying bags under his eyes that been packed for a long trip, he didn't look like someone on the guest list for a New Year's Day breakfast. And it was seven a.m., too early for company. Jim squinted at him, ready to tell him that they didn't have a public restroom.
'Would you tell Beth Harrell that Lou Mason is here to see her?' Jim hesitated. 'It's okay. We were together last night and I've got something I promised I'd return this morning on my way home.'
Jim's raised eyebrows said he didn't believe a word of it, but he called Beth on the house phone, telling her she had a guest. 'I'll send him right up, Ms. Harrell.'
Riding the elevator, Mason wondered if she would tell him the truth and whether he'd recognize it if she did. She was a witness and suspect in Jack Cullan's murder and a possible conspirator in the attempt to kill him. She was also beautiful, troubled, and borderline irresistible, a combination that made him want to hold her close and keep her at arm's length at the same time. Rachel would have told him to leave his penis in the car.
She answered the door wearing a long white robe, tied loosely at the waist, and nothing else, finger combing her tousled hair.
