Genuine Lies (71 page)

“If you kiss me, I’ll do my best to give them back to you.”

He bent down to her, intending to keep the kiss light. But she wrapped her arms around him, drew him in. With a low sound of desperation he hauled her against him and poured all of his needs, his gratitude, his promises into that one meeting of lips.

“Hate to interrupt,” Frank said from the doorway.

Paul didn’t glance around, but brushed his mouth over the scratches on Julia’s cheeks. “Then don’t.”

“Sorry, pal, it’s official. Miss Summers, I’m here to inform you that all charges against you have been dropped.”

Paul felt her shudder. Her hand had fisted against his shirt as he looked up at Frank. “Sure, after she collared the killer for you.”

“Shut up, Winthrop. And to offer an official apology for the ordeal you’ve experienced. Can I have one of those sandwiches? I’m starved.”

Paul glanced at the plate of cold cuts Travers had left on the table. “Take it to go.”

“No, Paul.” Julia pushed him away far enough to sit up. “I need to know why. I have to know what she meant by some of the things she said. She’s talked to you, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah, she talked.” Frank bent over to build a huge sandwich of chilled ham, salami, chicken breast, topped with three cheeses and thick slices of beefsteak tomatoes. “She knew we had her. Got anything to drink with this?”

“Try the bar,” Paul told him.

Impatient, Julia got up to fetch him a soft drink herself. “When she talked about killing me, she said she’d make it quick. That she’d been taught by the best. Do you know who she meant?”

Frank took the bottle she offered and nodded. “Michael Delrickio.”

“Delrickio? Nina was involved with Delrickio?”

“That’s how Eve met her,” Paul said. “Sit down. I’ll tell you what Travers told me.”

“I think I’d better.” Unconsciously she took the chair under Eve’s portrait.

“It seems Nina’s background wasn’t quite what she’d led you to believe. It hadn’t been poor, but it had been abusive. Her father had left her mother a sizable bequest. But it wasn’t enough to buy off hate. Nina’s mother took out that hate on the child—physically, emotionally. And there was a stepfather for a while. All of that was true. What she left out was the fact that her mother tried to poison her against Eve, telling Nina how she’d betrayed Charlie, caused his death. When Nina left home at sixteen, she was very confused, very vulnerable. She worked the streets for a while, then went to Vegas. She worked a floor show and turned tricks. That was where she met
Delrickio. She’d have been about twenty then, sharp as a tack. He saw potential and began using her as a hostess for his more important clients. They had an affair that went on for several years. Somewhere along the line she fell for him. She didn’t want to entertain his clients anymore. She wanted a straight job, and some sort of commitment from him.”

“The lady showed real poor taste,” Frank said over a mouthful of sandwich. “And poor judgment. Delrickio kept her in Vegas, and when she caused a scene, he had one of his boys teach her a lesson. That quieted her down for a while. The way she tells it, she still had a thing for him, couldn’t let go. She found out he was boffing some other babe and she went after her, cut her up some. Delrickio liked her initiative, and strung her along.”

“Then Eve came into the picture,” Paul put in. He stroked a hand up and down Julia’s arm, slowly, rhythmically, as if he were afraid to break contact. “This time it was Delrickio who fell hard. When Nina wouldn’t shake loose, he had some of his muscle try to convince her. Eve got wind of it, and since she’d just found out—through Priest—how far Delrickio would go, she went to see Nina herself. Nina was in the hospital, pretty racked up, and the whole thing spilled out of her.”

“And when Eve found out she was Charlie’s daughter,” Julia said quietly, “she brought her here.”

“That’s right.” Paul looked up at the portrait. “She gave Nina a fresh start, friendship, had Kenneth train her. And for all the years in between, Eve lied for her. When Eve decided she wanted to clean up the lies, that she wanted the truth to be part of her legacy, Nina panicked. Eve promised she would wait until she trusted you before she told you everything, but she felt Charlie deserved honesty. And she reasoned with Nina that she was a symbol of how far a woman could come.”

“Nina couldn’t handle it,” Frank continued. “She liked the image she’d developed. The cool, competent career woman. She didn’t want all of her upper class contacts to know she’d been a whore for a Mafia don. She didn’t plan to kill Eve, not consciously, but when she found out she’d put the
whole story down on tape and was going to give it to you, she snapped. The rest is easy.”

“She followed Eve down to the guest house,” Julia murmured. “They argued. She picked up the poker, hit her. Nina would have been scared then, but very organized. She’d have wiped her prints off the weapon, taken the keys—because she’d have remembered how I’d fought with Eve the night before.”

“She heard you drive up,” Frank told her. “Saw you walk into the garden. That’s when she decided to throw suspicion on you. She got the hell out. She was the one who turned the security back on. It scared her when she found the main switch off. She figured it would complicate things, so she turned it on again and went back to work. Oh, and she made sure to call down to the kitchen, so Travers and the cook would know she was busy transcribing letters.”

“But she didn’t know Drake had seen her.” Julia leaned back and closed her eyes.

“He tried to blackmail her.” Frank shook his head as he built another towering sandwich. “She could afford the money, but not the loose end. With him dead and you heading for prison, she knew she was away free. Travers was so loyal to Eve that she would never have told anyone about Nina’s background—and she’d have no reason to.”

“I heard them,” Julia remembered. “The night of Eve’s party I heard someone arguing. Delrickio and Nina. She was crying.”

“Seeing him again didn’t do much for Nina’s state of mind,” Frank put in. “She still loved the sleaze. He told her she could prove it by getting Eve to stop the book. She must have really started to crack that night. I got to figure some of her mother’s poison was still swimming around in her system. When she couldn’t stop Eve one way, she stopped her another.”

“It’s funny.” Julia said half to herself. “It all began with Charlie Gray. He gave Eve her start. His was the first story she told me. And now it ends with him.”

“Don’t spill that sandwich on the way out, Frank,” Paul murmured, and gestured to the door.

“What? Oh, yeah. The D.A. notified Hathoway,” he said as he rose. “He said to tell Julia to call if she had any questions. He was taking his son to a ball game. See you around.”

“Lieutenant.” Julia opened her eyes. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. You know, I never noticed before how much you look like her.” He took another huge bite of the sandwich. “She sure was one fine-looking lady.” He went out, eating.

“You okay?” Paul asked.

“Yes.” Julia drew a deep breath. It still burned a little, but it reminded her she was alive, and free. “Yes, I’m fine. Do you know what I’d like? I’d like a very tall glass of champagne.”

“That’s never a problem in this house.” He walked over to the refrigerator behind the bar.

Rising, she walked over to stand on the opposite side of the bar. Eve’s robe slid off one shoulder. While she watched Paul, Julia adjusted it, smoothed it—her fingers lingering for a moment as if she were touching on old friend. Though he smiled a little at the gesture, he said nothing. She wondered if he had noticed that Eve’s scent still clung to the silk.

“I have a question.”

“Fire away.” Paul ripped the foil off a bottle and began untwisting the wire.

“Are you going to marry me?”

The cork exploded out. Paul ignored the froth spilling over the side, and watched her. Her eyes were cautious, the way he liked them best. “You bet.”

“Good.” She nodded. Her fingers slid down the silk until her hands linked together on the bar. Wherever she had come from, wherever she was going, she was her own woman first. “That’s good.” Steadying herself, she took another long breath. “How do you feel about Connecticut?”

“Well, actually—” He paused to pour two glasses. “I’ve been thinking it’s time for a change of scene. I hear Connecticut’s got a lot going for it. Like fall foliage, skiing, and really
sexy women.” He offered her a glass. “You figure you’ve got enough room to put me up?”

“I can just squeeze you in.” But when he started to touch his glass to hers, she shook her head. “Ten-year-old boys are noisy, demanding, and have little respect for privacy.”

“Brandon and I already have an understanding.” Comfortable, he leaned against the bar. He caught her scent, and only her scent. “He thinks my marrying his mother is a pretty good idea.”

“You mean you—”

“And,” Paul continued, “before you start worrying about me dealing with the fact that I’m not his natural father, I’ll remind you that I found my mother when I was ten.” He laid a hand over hers. “I want the package, Jules—you and the kid.” He brought her hand to his lips, pleased when she spread her fingers to caress his cheek. “Besides, he’s exactly the right age to baby-sit when we start giving him brothers and sisters.”

“Okay. The deal’s two for one.” She clicked her glass against his. “You’re getting a hell of a bargain.”

“I know.”

“So are we. Are you going to come around here and kiss me?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Well, think fast.” She laughed and held out her arms for him. He scooped her up and kissed her beneath the portrait of a woman who had lived with no regrets.