“It looks to me like you’re not quite done with your paperwork,” he said.
“That’s because I’m illegitimate,” she said. She left the office while Vic and Webb were still staring at her, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about.
* * *
Erin drove to the Barley Corner, not even knowing what she was going to say when she got there. Her thoughts were a haze of guilt and confusion. Rolf, picking up on her mood, shifted uneasily in his compartment and whined softly.
She parked in the police space outside the pub and went in, walking fast. The Corner was filling up for the noon rush, and she didn’t see Carlyle right away. Caitlin was up front. She grinned at Erin.
“Hey, Erin,” she said. She’d had a soft spot for Erin ever since a gang of hitmen had attacked the Corner while she’d been there. Erin and Carlyle had fended them off while Caitlin and Danny had huddled behind the bar.
“Hey,” Erin said. “Your boss around?”
Caitlin pointed. “Usual spot.”
“Thanks.” Erin threaded the crowd and saw Carlyle. His face lit up when he saw her, and he got up from his barstool.
“Hello, darling,” he said.
“We need to talk,” she said.
He saw it in her face. “What’s happened?”
She glanced around and saw half a dozen guys who might be Mob-connected.
“Upstairs,” she said.
He nodded and led the way to the back stairs, ushering her through the door and making sure it locked behind Rolf. They went up to the living room, where Rolf sat beside the couch and watched them.
“Do you want anything?” he asked, gesturing to his personal drink cabinet.
Erin shook her head. “They killed Paulie Bianchi this morning,” she said bluntly.
Carlyle froze in the act of reaching for a whiskey bottle. “Who?”
“Paulie Bianchi!” she snapped impatiently. “Sewer Pipe’s kid!”
“Nay,” he said. “I meant, who killed him?”
“Vinnie the Oil Man.”
He nodded. “I see.”
“No, you don’t,” she said. Then the words came out in a flood, so quickly she could hardly control them. “We cut a deal with his mom, so she confessed to killing Lorenzo. Lorenzo was trying to kill her first, but everything got screwed up and the stupid dentist ate the candy, and now Lorenzo’s dead, and Nina’s in jail, but Paulie walked on the drug charge, which would’ve been fine except for your asshole buddy Liam and his goddamn tipoff. Then I hit the drug shipment with the street Narcs, and Vinnie figured the only way we’d have known was if Paulie had talked, and there he was, getting let out of jail like he’d made the deal himself. So bang bang, that’s it for Paulie.”
Carlyle walked slowly over to Erin and put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.
“Erin, darling,” he said. “Paulie Bianchi worked for the Mafia. They’re a suspicious lot. They don’t need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Doubt’s quite sufficient for them to act. They killed him.”
“I got him killed,” she said.
“Are you weeping for the lad?” Carlyle asked quietly. “He was a petty criminal, a dealer in narcotics. I believe your lads would call this a ‘misdemeanor homicide.’ Paulie was in the Life.”
“You’re in the Life!” she shouted at him. “What am I supposed to do if you get whacked?”
He shook his head. “I’m a bit more experienced than young Paulie,” he said. “I know my way around these lads.”
“That makes you safe?”
“Not safe,” he said. “But a little safer, aye.”
“This case,” Erin said. “Jesus Christ. It’s just such a chain of screw-ups, beginning to end. It started with the wrong guy getting killed, and now it’s ending the same way.”
“Who’s the right guy?” Carlyle asked.
“Your buddy Liam, and whoever the source is who gave him the tip on the drugs,” she said. “He’s got someone in Vinnie’s organization, someone important.”
“More than likely,” he agreed. “Would you feel better if Liam was the one lying on the ground with a few extra holes in him?”
“I feel shitty either way,” she said. “I got a shady tip, acted on it, and a guy got killed. What the hell does it matter who it was? Shit, I guess I’m in the Life now, too.”
Carlyle’s face hardened. “Don’t say that,” he said. “Don’t even think it. Don’t ever say that, unless you want it to be true. I love you, Erin, and if it came down to it, I’d take bullets for you. You know that. If being with me drags you down, you’d best walk out that door and never come back, because I’d not forgive myself.”
“But you won’t stop being a gangster,” she said.
He gave her a slight, sad smile. “It’s not as easy as all that. If I walk away, now of all times, when I’ve just gotten involved with a copper… Well, darling, didn’t you just come to me with an example of what can happen?”
“You wouldn’t be betraying them,” she said stubbornly.
“Did Paulie betray his people?” Carlyle replied. “Erin, you need to remember, in this world, the truth matters less than most people think. It’s the perception that matters.”
Erin nodded. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”
Carlyle actually laughed softly. He put his hand on her shoulder again, and this time she softened to his touch.
“Darling, if you know anyone on this earth who isn’t, be sure to point them out. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not a one of us is getting out alive.”
“Don’t you dare get yourself killed,” she said. “Because if you do something stupid and get whacked, I swear, I will drag you out of your coffin and kill you again. And if you think I’m leaving you to deal with these assholes alone, you’re out of your damn mind.”
“Erin, have I ever told you how much I appreciate your romantic sentiments?”
Seeing his poker face as he said it, she couldn’t help it. The tension broke and she fell against him, laughing almost hysterically. He put his arms around her, and she held him
