Better Off Dead (9 page)

“I don’t think he’s the one doing something illegal.”

Luvici stood, his face red again, this time with rage.  “If you think you can just come in here and accuse me of...of...”

“You know,” Lucy chirped conversationally, “Kenny turns seventeen next month.”

Luvici’s skin turned pale and sweat broke out instantly on his forehead and upper lip.  He mopped a hand over his forehead as he sat back down, and he stammered repeatedly before he finally got out, “But he’s your age.  He’s a senior.  Seniors in high school are eighteen.”

Lucy shrugged.  She had him... 

“I’m eighteen, sure.  But that’s the funny thing about the United States Educational System.  I was born a month too late, so I couldn’t start Kindergarten until the next year.  Where Kenny, he was born a month earlier, the next year.  So he started a whole year before he should’ve.

Luvici was practically the color of chalk, and his hand shook as he rubbed the back of his neck over and over again.

“He’s really...”

“Sixteen?  Yeah.”  Lucy pursed her lips and nodded her head helpfully.  “Jailbait.”

Luvici shook his head. 

“I mean, your wife might be tolerant of...you know, things like Darla.  But if you were even implicated in a child molestation case.”

“Wait just a goddamn minute!”

“Well, I’m sure she could handle the shame, the scandal.  I’m sure she’d be just fine with her friends at the country club whispering behind her back.”

Luvici was turning green, and he was holding his head in his hands.

Time for the kill.

“And I’m sure Caroline’s father would be thrilled to hear about this.”

Luvici’s head shot up, his blood-shot eyes boring into Lucy.

“Caroline’s father is Ramon Castelli, right? 
The
Ramon Castelli?”

Ramon Castelli wasn’t just Luvici’s father-in-law, he was a real live, fit you with cement shoes gangster.   

Lucy was about to suggest ways Ramon might “thank” Luvici when the greasy lawyer said: “Okay, you win.”

Lucy leaned back in her chair.  “I win?”

“You win, Miss Hart.  Anything...”  His hands were shaking.  “I’ll do anything at all.  Just don’t...”

Cool. 
“Okay, then.  What I want is enough money to go to a good school, purchase a great new wardrobe—fall, summer and spring—and a car.  I was thinking something flashy yet economical on gas…maybe a hybrid.”

Luvici started chuckling mirthlessly.  He chuckled long enough to peeve Lucy off again.

“What’s so funny?”

“You.”

Lucy squared her shoulders.  “Why am I so funny to you?”

“Well shit!”  He slammed his fist down on his desk, making Lucy jump.  “I told you before, I’m tapped out. 
Broke.
  It took everything I had to pay back that psycho Scarlet.”

“Oh...”  Lucy genuinely felt confused.  “But you said anything at all.”

“I meant as in legal representation.  I thought—
maybe
—you’d want to try to get your precious Daddy out of jail.  Maybe sue someone over something.”

Does that mean you didn’t do everything you could for him? 
The thought was like holding a red hot, double edged sword.  On one hand, she was instantly angry he hadn’t done right by her father.  On the other hand, her father didn’t give a damn about her...not anymore.  So why was she letting herself get upset over him?

Lucy closed her eyes, shook her head and took in a long, slow breath. 
Get this crap out of your head!
You can’t give up this easy...

Sure you can,
the mean little voice chimed in. 
I’m sure you can just go back to McDonalds tomorrow.  Things will be just like they were, like nothing ever happened.

Lucy wished the mean little voice was real, as in something or someone she could reach out and strangle.

That wonderful heat bloomed in her head again, the heat that ignited whenever she got really annoyed.  It made everything sharper, more focused—and it made her feel strong.

“Fine.  No cash, no problem.”

Luvici’s eyes got round with surprise.  “No problem?”

“Nope.  None at all.”

Luvici let out a breath and slumped in his chair with relief.  That lasted three seconds.

“But since you’re offering me your legal services in more of a barter/blackmail scenario, then you’ll need to find me some sort of deal.”

“A deal?”  His eyes darkened as he started to understand he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“Yeah, a nice fat deal.  Maybe...I don’t know...”   Lucy really didn’t know.  She’d planned out the whole blackmail the shyster lawyer routine, but she wasn’t a legal eagle.  What kind of deal would get her the money she needed, but didn’t involve actual work, or something unimaginably dangerous?

Then she thought of something she’d read about online.  Something she’d thought was not only a tacky piece of petty crime, but that seemed to involve no actual work at all.

Perfect.

“I’d like you to set me up one of those arranged marriages.  You know, where I marry a rich, illegal alien for a big-fat-hefty sum of money...and then six months later we get divorced.”

She could literally see the gears twirling around in Luvici’s head. 
There might just be more than a hamster on an exercise wheel in there...

“That’s something I don’t usually delve into.”

“But you have some experience in the matter?”  Lucy was suddenly sitting on the edge of her seat.  She could just make out the sparkling diamond at the end of the tunnel.  “That’s something you could set up for me?”

Luvici nodded.  “Sure,” he said, reaching for the cigarette he’d set down when they started talking.  It had burned out already.  He picked up his pack and tapped out another one.  His hands were still shaking as he sparked it up, but after one enormous inhalation a sort of calm settled around him.

“I just don’t think you realize all that goes into one of these arrangements.”

Pregnant pause.  She had to prompt Luvici to continue.  “As in?”

“Well, for starters, the Immigration Department is a real bitch about this sort of thing anymore.  They’ll put you through the ringer.  They’ll investigate every aspect of you and your groom’s lives, including family, friends, and work acquaintances.”

The family thing struck a fairly dissident chord for Lucy.  How on earth would she explain this to her grandmother? 
Gram will kill me...

“And the penalty for trying to pull this over on the US Government and failing is steep.  Five years imprisonment and a fine…”  He let that hang in the air for a moment. 
              Lucy felt her mouth go dry. 
Prison? 
She’d be just like her father.

Luvici continued.  “Then there’s the mandatory two years you’d have to be married, and living as man and wife with this would-be suitor.”

“WHAT?”  Lucy’s voice exploded from her mouth.  “Did you say two years?”

Luvici gave her a shrug and raised his eyebrows.  “Two years is the mandatory minimum.  Plus you’ll have to go through the fed’s scrutiny for that entire time.”

Two years... 
The thought made Lucy’s stomach churn.  That’s a hell of a long time to pretend to be married to a stranger. 
And even if I could make my family believe it...

“So, how much are we talking about here?  Payment wise.  It would have to be a lot, right?”

Luvici bit his lip as he mentally calculated.  “I’d say...somewhere between fifty to sixty thousand dollars.”

There was a zero missing in that figure.  Lucy wanted to go to a good school, the kind that ran around a quarter of a million dollars to graduate from.  Not to mention she wanted to have nice things: great clothes, an apartment with a view, and a new car.

Fifty or sixty grand would only get her to a state college, in a dorm, with a used car.  She wouldn’t even have enough to guarantee she finished.

“The lump sum of that would be paid only after the two year...”  Luvici paused, obviously trying to come up with a better word than the one on the tip of his tongue.

“Sentence?”  Lucy finished for him.  It was the word that was on the tip of her tongue too.

“There would be some small disbursements, but the balance would be withheld until the end.”

“Peachy,” Lucy fumed.  “So I sit around playing Little Wifey for two years before I’d get to even start my life?”

“Breaking the law isn’t as easy as it sounds.”  Luvici snubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray, and then cracked his knuckles.  “And don’t forget, one little slip up and Immigration will bend you over until your knees bend both ways.”

Ewwwww!  So freaking gross... 
“Thanks for the visual.”

Darla’s nasal voice buzzed over the intercom. 

“Mr. Enoch is on line one.”

For a moment Luvici looked down at the phone console on his desk like it was a snake ready to bite him.  Seconds ticked by.

“Franky?  Did you hear me?”  Darla shrieked.  “You know I hate talking with that guy!”

Luvici smashed the intercom button with his meaty forefinger.  “I freaking heard you!” he barked.  Lucy could’ve sworn he growled like an animal as he picked up the receiver and pushed the button for line one.  “Dante, I was just going to...”

The blood drained from Luvici’s face again.  If anything, he was even paler than when Lucy had brought up Kenny Fry and Luvici’s father-in-law.

“I know,” Luvici croaked, hand shaking as he reached for his smokes again.  “It’s just...you can’t find that kind of girl just standing on the street corner.  If you could, then I’d have a freaking chorus line of them for him to choose from.”

Lucy didn’t hear the voice on the other end yell or scream, but whatever it was saying to Luvici was making him shimmer green.  Even his eyes seemed to be trembling in their sockets.

And then he looked at Lucy.  He looked downright surprised to see her.  Whoever it was on the phone must’ve been scary enough to make Luvici forget what he’d been doing.

I really, really never want to meet someone like that.

And then Luvici’s eyes got that sharp, shark-like glint to them again, and his cracked lips peeled back into a rather disturbing smile.  “I think I might just have what you’re looking for.  Can I call you back?”  Luvici listened to the voice on the line, looking fairly anxious.  “Sure, I can put you on speaker phone.”

With the press of a button Luvici set the receiver on the console and said, “You’re on speaker, sir.”

“My name is Dante Enoch,” a most cultured voice spoke.  “Whom am I addressing?”

Luvici gestured for Lucy to speak.

“Lucy Hart,” she almost choked.  Then with a quick little cough she said it again.  “I’m Lucy Hart.”

“Well, Miss. Hart.  I’m an Attorney, and I represent the Enoch family‘s interests.”

The man’s brittle yet refined voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. 
Great, another lawyer...

She looked to Luvici and mouthed, “Who?”

Luvici shook his head with annoyance.  “Enoch Incorporated has its hands in almost every type of business you can think of.  It’s a multi—”

Dante’s voice cut across Luvici with an edge of warning.  “Let’s just say the family is well off.”

She wagged a chastising finger at Luvici, mouthing “Bad Boy.” 

I wonder if they have one of their “hands” in the cosmetics industry.
  The diamond sparkled in her mind’s eye.

“What I am looking for, Miss. Hart, is a suitable young lady to play a part of sorts.  Have you had an acting experience?”

“Sure,” Lucy said to the chilling disembodied voice.  “I was the lead in the last three end-of-year productions: Clueless, Bring It On, and Rent.

“You can sing?”  Dante asked.

“Nope.”

“Ah huh,” His sigh had a definite edge of disappointment.  “Any other experience?”

“Well, I have had boyfriends, and they all believed I would sleep with them.  But not one actually got to.”

Luvici groaned and his head fell into his hands again.

“Fascinating, Miss Hart.  I can’t wait to meet you.”

The feeling’s not mutual, creepy lawyer guy.

“Francis...”

Francis?
  Lucy couldn’t stop the smile from blooming across her lips.  Luvici shot her his middle finger.

“Yes, Mr. Enoch.”

“The usual place, in let’s say...an hour?”

Luvici gulped and shot Lucy a look of horror, looking her over from head to toe.  “Of course.  No problem, sir.”

“Don’t be late.”  The line went dead.

“Shit!”  Luvici growled.  He kept looking Lucy up and down.  “Shit!  Shit!  Shit!”

“So you’re meeting this guy in an hour?”

Luvici shot out of his chair and grabbed his rumpled jacket from a coat rack in the corner.