Final Breath

your husband doesn't talk to you about his work. It's why you came here, isn't it, Sydney? You wanted to find out why your big hero-husband was associating with a small-time hood like Polly. Well, now you know. He was involved in a heist--and murder. And then he let a sweet guy get shot to death. Why don't you do a story on that, Sydney?'

Dazed, she just shook her head.

'Anyway,' Aurora muttered. 'If your darling Joe gives you a beautiful new mink coat or a sparkly diamond bracelet on your next birthday, now you'll know where the money came from.'

Sydney felt sick to her stomach. 'Why haven't you told any of this to the police investigating Polly's death?' she heard herself ask.

Aurora leaned forward. 'How old do you think I am?'

Sydney hesitated. She could feel the color draining from her face.

'I'm forty-three,' Aurora answered for her. 'And I'd like to live to see my forty-fourth birthday. I'm not saying the cops checking out Polly's murder aren't honest. But why take a chance, y'know?' She gazed at Sydney, her eyes narrowed. 'Say, you don't look so hot.'

With a shaky hand, Sydney pulled two twenties out of her purse. 'This ought to cover my tab,' she murmured, setting the money on the tabletop. 'Don't worry. It's not my husband's money. It's mine. Thank you for your time.'

Her legs felt unsteady as she got up and moved to the door. She was nauseous and dizzy. Staggering out of Anthony's Cha-Cha Lounge, she didn't even make it to her car. Sydney grabbed hold of a light post, braced herself, and then threw up on the sidewalk.

She still felt queasy driving home. Even after drinking half a bottle of Evian water and sucking on a peppermint from her purse, she still had an awful taste in her mouth--and a sore throat. She knew Aurora's story was probably true. Three weeks ago, she'd been in Boston on a Movers & Shakers story. For one of those nights while she'd been away, Eli had slept over at Brad's house. That had probably been the night of the raid--or heist, as Aurora called it.

'Please, God, let it not be true,' she kept whispering during the long drive home. She tried to convince herself that there was an explanation, some reason Joe couldn't tell her what was going on. By the time Sydney turned down North Spaulding, she was crying. Something so dear to her had died back there inside that crummy bar in Cicero.

As she approached the house, she noticed a strange car in their driveway. Sydney pulled in and parked behind it. She took another Kleenex out of her purse and wiped her eyes and nose. When she looked up, she saw Eli shuffling out the front door. He gave her a listless wave.

She quickly checked herself in the rearview mirror, wiped her nose again, then climbed out of the car. She glanced at the white Taurus in front of her. Sydney had been on the road enough to recognize a rental car when she saw one. But the Hertz logo on the frame around the back license plate left no room for doubt. She gave Eli a quick kiss. 'Hi, Eli,' she said. 'Whose rental car is that?'

Eli shrugged, and kicked the tire. 'I dunno. This weird guy's in the living room, talking to Dad, and they asked me to leave.'

'What?' she murmured.

Eli followed her into the house. She saw Joe standing in the living room with a can of Budweiser in his hand. He still had his tie on from work, but it was loosened. He appeared startled to see her. 'Oh, hi, honey...'

She squinted at him. 'Do we have company?'

Frowning, he heaved a long sigh. Then he nodded in the direction of the kitchen. 'It's this joker from Seattle, who hasn't seen you in a year. He says he's your brother.'

Kyle came around the corner from the kitchen, and Sydney let out a gasp. She threw her arms around him and started crying. Her brother hugged her. 'It was all Joe's idea,' she heard Kyle say. 'He's been hatching this for a while. He even insisted on paying for my flight. Hey, Joe, next time, first-class might be nice...'

She turned and embraced Joe. 'Thank you, sweetie,' she said, past her tears.

'I've been such an unbearable grouch lately,' he whispered, kissing her. 'I'm going to start making it up to you, honey.'

Sydney just nodded. She thought about what Aurora had said: 'So if your darling Joe gives you a beautiful new mink coat or a sparkly diamond bracelet on your next birthday, you'll know where the money came from.'

She couldn't stop crying. But she told herself it was all right. She wasn't giving herself away. Her family probably thought they were tears of joy.

That week while Kyle stayed with them, Sydney couldn't help wondering if Joe had planned the visit just so she'd be distracted and preoccupied--and less likely to pursue this Polly business any further. If that was Joe's plan, it sure as hell worked. Kyle's visit put everything on hold. Her brother kept asking her if she was okay, and saying she looked tired. Was she sleeping all right lately? She couldn't tell him the truth. Kyle thought Joe was wonderful.

'Okay, let's see,' Kyle said, over drinks at a gay bar called Sidetracks. Joe had insisted she and her brother have a night on the town together while he looked after Eli. They sat at a counter by the window. Nancy Sinatra was singing 'These Boots Are Made for Walking,' and Kyle had to shout over the loud volume. 'Joe does the laundry, and folds it better than Mom used to. He helps with the dishes. He doesn't bitch or moan about having to take care of Eli while you're away. Plus, he's so cool about me being gay. It's such a non- issue with him. And looks-wise, on a scale from one to ten, he's about a twelve plus. Plus he's still crazy in love with you after all these years, any fool can see that. Could I clone him, please? I want a Joe of my very own.'

'Well, you haven't been exposed to him in the morning, while he's eating his Cheerios,' Sydney argued, raising her voice to compete with the music. 'He has to make sure every piece of cereal gets dunked in the milk, and he keeps clanking his spoon against the bowl between shoveling the cereal in his mouth. All that clanking, it's enough to drive you nuts. God help that man if a dry morsel of cereal passed his lips. And at night, when he's getting ready for bed and he takes off his wristwatch, he smells his wrist afterward! How gross is that? I don't know if he's sniffing for sweat or the leather wristband smell against his skin. But it's weird-- and disgusting.'

'I'd put up with that,' Kyle told her.

Put up with that? Though she was complaining, she secretly loved those idiosyncrasies. Those were the weird, quirky little things about Joe that no one else knew. She cherished them-- beyond his good looks and good deeds. And if she thought about it too much, she couldn't help crying, because this man she loved so dearly had obviously done something vile and deplorable.

But she couldn't admit any of this to Kyle.

When her brother had to go back to Seattle at the end of that week, Sydney cried inconsolably. Yes, she was going to miss him, but there was another reason for her tears. There would be no more distraction, no more stalling. She would have to face this awful thing Joe had been hiding from her.

At the time, Sydney had thought she wouldn't see Kyle for at least another year. She'd had no idea when she'd put her brother on a plane at O'Hare, she would be seeing him again--and temporarily moving in with him--in only five weeks.

Sydney glanced in her rearview mirror as she turned down their street. Eli wordlessly reached up toward the sun visor to press the gate-opening device for the Tudor Court Apartments. She didn't think that gate would keep Number 59 out. If he was the one who had broken into their apartment on July Fourth, he could certainly get in again.

She didn't want to call the police about this guy, not until she was positive he was stalking her. She'd already phoned 9-1-1 about their possible break-in last week; she didn't want to call them again about a possible stalker. They'd think she was a nut.

Turning in to the driveway, Sydney stopped to watch in the rearview mirror as the gate closed behind them. 'What do you say to a pizza tonight?' she asked Eli, trying to sound nonchalant about it. 'I can call Uncle Kyle and see if he's free. Maybe he can bring over a DVD.'

Eli shrugged. 'Sure.'

He didn't sound too thrilled about it. Then again, it wasn't like one of his friends was coming over. Sydney had