The explanation was rough but understandable enough to Cain. She kept her eyes on Jesus as she handed Lou the gun. “You need me to stay?”
“I won’t be long, but I want to finish and clean up. It’s the least I owe Rick.”
Cain picked up Jesus’s wallet before leaving with Katlin. To get back to the house quicker, Katlin took the interstate, keeping two miles under the limit. The windows on the Tahoe SUV she’d taken out were tinted dark enough in the back that Cain made no attempt to get down as they drove past the van parked across the street from the gate. In the garage Cain waved to Katlin as she headed to the pool house for the rest of the night.
“Give Merrick my apologies for keeping you out so late.”
“Sure thing,” Katlin said, her voice sounding muffled as she walked away.
“Were you right or wrong?” Emma asked a short time later when Cain got back in bed.
“A little of both, I guess.”
“Then more right than wrong, I hope.”
Emma felt like warm silk against her skin. “Do you know why Napoleon lost his last war?”
“Honey, it’s past three,” Emma said with a trace of a whine.
“Supply chain. He stretched his troops too far for his supplies to reach the advanced divisions. No matter what the other theories are about the subject, that’s my opinion.”
“That’s nice, and that has to do with tonight because?”
“I need to start figuring some of this out, or we’re going to stretch ourselves too thin. There’s no way to keep the feds on the other side of that fence and take down Nunzio Luca and the Luis family all at the same time, without falling short in one or more areas.” Cain rolled onto her back and Emma went with her, covering half of Cain’s body with hers.
“There’s a way. You just haven’t thought of it yet.”
“Thanks, lass. It’s nice to have someone who believes I know what I’m doing.”
The room was still dark, but Emma obviously didn’t have trouble finding Cain’s lips. “I happen to think you’re brilliant, but if you don’t know what you’re doing,” she teased, “then leave me in the dark.”
“That’s a deal,” Cain said, and laughed. Despite the hour she wasn’t tired.
“Since we’re both up, how about we have coffee and talk?”
“How’d you know I wasn’t sleepy?”
Emma rubbed her stomach before she sat up. “I’m your wife, so I can tell the difference between alert and sleepy. Besides, if we get up now we can fit in a nap later today.”
After Emma turned the coffee pot on, they sat together in the kitchen. Their hands were joined as they sat at the small table set in the bay window overlooking the gardens out back, and every so often they’d see one of the guards patrolling, leading a large German shepherd.
“Tell me what you know, mobster,” Emma said.
“Which part?”
“Whichever part you think has the potential to do the most harm.”
The coffee pot sputtered, signaling it was done, and Cain got up to fill the two cups Emma had set out with the added ingredients they liked. She picked them up and cocked her head in the direction of the sunroom. It was still three hours till sunrise, but they’d be more comfortable on the sofa.
“I had a talk with one of Rodolfo’s men tonight, and he admitted to being at the airport with Anthony Curtis. According to him, Anthony ordered the group they were with to kill Rick because he’d seen them waiting for someone,” Cain said. She was filling in the blanks for Emma, but by talking out loud she was seeing the information from a new viewpoint.
“Anthony ordered Rick killed?”
“If that was the case, my plan of action would be easy. No, Anthony’s an ass but he’s not dumb. He’s playing some kind of twisted game of chicken, and at the airport the truck heading toward him creamed him.” She put her cup down, then Emma’s, so they could stretch out. “But Anthony’s not out of this. He’s hurt himself and is going to be more dangerous now.”
Emma put her hand in Cain’s robe and ran her fingers along her stomach again. “Why?”
“Because I don’t believe he ordered anything, but he was there. He watched Rodolfo’s dogs take Rick away and kill him. In Anthony’s world that makes him culpable, and he knows that. But I don’t think he’s aware his employer knows he was there.”
“That’s the other thing I don’t understand. Why was he there?”
“Jesus said Rodolfo sent them, but he didn’t know for what.”
Emma lifted her head and laughed. “Jesus told you? If you got to talk to him you should’ve asked better questions.”
“Funny girl,” Cain said, pinching one of her cheeks. “I don’t buy that, but that’s the story he stuck with no matter how many different ways I asked.”
“How do you find out the truth? Ask the Virgin Mary?”
Cain had to laugh at that one. “You need more sleep if you’re this punchy, but to answer your question, I see only one way. I’m going to ask Rodolfo as soon as I get a meeting with him.”
“He’d just tell you?”
