“What’s that?”
“Evan phoned me just after you called this evening. He’s suggested a sit-down at the Corner. He’d like to invite you to attend.”
Erin’s stomach tightened. Evan O’Malley was Carlyle’s boss, the head of the family. She’d never met him in person.
“Was that an order he gave you?” she asked.
“He phrased it as a request,” Carlyle said.
“When?”
“Tomorrow night. Eight o’clock.”
“That soon?”
“He doesn’t like his movements known terribly far in advance,” Carlyle said. “It’ll be an informal gathering. We’ll use the back room. It’ll be a social gathering, an evening of cards.”
“What kind of cards?”
“Evan’s quite fond of poker. Texas hold ‘em, specifically. You needn’t be concerned about the wagering. I’ll be happy to stake you.”
She stared at him. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “You want me to play poker with a mob boss?”
“And his lieutenants,” he said. “And myself, of course. I imagine most of the others will attend, too. You’ll know Corky, naturally. Then there’ll be Mickey, Liam, and maybe Veronica. And Finnegan.”
“Why are we doing this?” she asked.
“You know perfectly well,” he replied. “As long as we’re peddling the fiction that you’re my source within the department, Evan wants to get a look at you. Cards are his way of taking the measure of a lad, or a lass.”
“And you think this is a good idea?”
“I think it’s necessary. I’ve managed to postpone this meeting as long as I can, getting him used to the idea of you. I’ve prepared the way as much as I can. Now it’s time to see the thing through.”
Erin shook her head. “You remember I’m not actually working for the O’Malleys, right?”
“Oh aye,” he said. He paused to take a bite of gnocchi and another sip of wine. “You do know the best way to lie, don’t you?”
“What’s that?”
He looked her straight in the eye. “Don’t. Tell the truth. Tell all the truth you can.”
“And let the other guy fill in the blanks with what he wants to believe,” she agreed. “But you’re better at it than I am. You make it look easy.”
“There’s nothing easy about it, darling,” he said. “I’d be lying myself if I told you there was no chance of trouble. Some of the most dangerous folk I know will be in that room. But you’ll have allies, too. Corky’s in my corner, and I’ll watch your back. We’ll manage it, no fear.”
She smiled a little shakily. “This is making me wonder if this whole thing is worth it.”
“Meaning me? Us?” He reached across the table and caressed her cheek. Her skin tingled at his touch. “Surely you don’t mean that.”
“No,” she said, but a little part of her still wondered.
* * *
That night, after Carlyle had gone home, Erin lay in bed and tried to think. Rolf was curled up at her feet, but the bed felt empty. Six weeks, and she still wasn’t even sure what to call the thing she had with Carlyle. An affair? A fling? He said he loved her, and to Erin’s knowledge, he’d never told her an outright lie, but even if that was true, was it enough?
They were playing an extremely dangerous game. They’d agreed there were two ways to satisfy his colleagues. The first was to pretend he’d turned her, made her into a dirty cop on the O’Malley payroll. She’d never taken money from Carlyle, but money laundering was one of his jobs in the O’Malleys, and she knew he could cook the books a little further so it looked like she was getting payoffs. To keep up the fiction, she could feed the Irish Mob little tidbits of information, and make sure their rivals went down. The other option was to play the part of a lovesick woman whose head had been turned by a handsome Irishman.
They’d decided to focus on that angle. It had the advantage of being mostly true. However, it was also riskier, in that the other O’Malleys might not buy it. No wonder they wanted to see her face to face.
In the meantime, of course, she had to keep doing her real job, while avoiding tripping any switches at Internal Affairs. She had a friend there, Kira Jones, a former Major Crimes detective, but Erin didn’t know whether she could trust Kira to warn her of trouble upstairs.
If the NYPD got suspicious, her career was in jeopardy. She might be fired, or even prosecuted, depending on what happened. If the O’Malleys found out she wasn’t really working for them, they’d probably try to kill her, and Carlyle, too, for good measure.
The bottom line was, if she didn’t love Carlyle, she had to be out of her damn mind doing what she was doing with him. No matter how good the sex was.
She smiled to herself. The sex was good, no doubt about that. Great, even. But was it worth risking her life?
Tomorrow, she’d find out whether she could fool a bunch of violent, paranoid gangsters. That thought didn’t help her get to sleep.
Chapter 4
Following a restless night, Erin and Rolf were the first members of the Major Crimes team to arrive at work. The top message in Erin’s inbox was a notification that Norman Ridgeway’s autopsy was done. The advantage of working Major Crimes was that their cases went to the front of the queue. Erin fortified herself with another cup of coffee. Then she and Rolf went down to the basement, into the domain of the Medical Examiner.
Sarah Levine didn’t even look up as Erin and her dog entered her lab. The ME was peering at a sectioned piece of some human tissue or other, intent on her work.
“Morning,” Erin said.
Levine blinked and stepped back from the microscope. “That’s true,” she said after consulting the clock over the door.
“You’ve got the Ridgeway results?” Erin prompted. Rolf stayed at her side, but his nostrils were twitching. The ME’s lab had some of the most interesting smells in
