Lloyd Corricelli - Ronan Marino 01 - Two Redheads & a Dead Blonde (22 page)

“Where were we?” she asked.

“We were discussing my glorious past history.”

“Oh yes, well I did some checking on you.”

“Really? Trying to make sure I was worth your attention?”

“A girl needs to know who she’s going after.”

“You’re going after me? That’s good information to know.”

The waiter brought her another drink and she took a big sip, more like a gulp.

“I made some calls. One can’t be too careful in this day and age, Ronan Arthur Marino. Where’d the Arthur come from?”

“My father really liked the book
The Once and Future King.
”

“So he named you after King Arthur?”

“My middle name anyway.”

“So you’re Italian and Irish mix?”

“Yeah, a volatile mix too. I have a problem with getting drunk, writing poetry then going out and breaking legs.”

She almost spit out her drink laughing.

“That is great. Who knew you’d be so funny?”

“Me. Meanwhile, you checked me out and only found my middle name? You need some better sources.”

“Oh really? You were a star second baseman at both Lowell High and in college, graduating from Lowell with a degree in Criminal Justice,” she said, all the while looking like she had somehow one upped me. “The records say you had a less than stellar academic career.”

“You know us jocks. School isn’t exactly the first priority when you play sports.”

“No desire to play professionally?”

“The desire was there but there were competing priorities,” I explained. “I never actually got drafted, probably because of where I played, but I always thought I could have made it.”

Playing baseball had been my greatest desire throughout my childhood into college age and giving up the dream had been something that I’d long suffered regrets over. I recognized it was far too late to go back and change things and it quite honestly didn’t bother me as much as it did five or ten years ago. The way I looked at it, if I had tried to make a go of it there were things I’d had a positive effect on in my Air Force career that in the big cosmic scheme might have gone the other way.

I’d generally accepted my fate even if every now and then the eternal “what if” question burned somewhere deep in the back of my mind. It often came in spring when even after over a decade away, I felt like I should be out on the diamond. It was often the smell of fresh cut grass or leather that triggered the feelings. I’d played on a number of softball teams over the years but it was a poor substitute for what I really wanted.

Diane took another sip of her drink, sat back and smiled at me.  I could tell she wanted to let it sink in that she knew more about me than I’d thought.

“Is that all you got?”  I asked.

“Oh, I’m just getting started, Ronan. You went to Officers Training School after college and were commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force assigned as an agent with the Office of Special Investigations. You started out doing undercover drug investigations all over the country often posing as a dealer.”

“Who’d you talk to?” She ignored my question and kept going.

“You were hand selected to head up a special OSI unit devoted to counter-terrorism and were one of the first agents ever to graduate from Army Ranger School. I heard it’s a pretty tough course. Lots of Army guys can’t even finish it.”

“True and I hated mostly every second of it. But it was important.”

“Why?”

“My team was going to have to work with the Army on the ground and getting my Ranger tab gave me instant credibility with them. There were also skills they taught me I needed to stay alive in some very nasty places.”

“I see. I couldn’t get too many details from your last four years other than it looks like you were in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“It’s classified.”

“Why?”

“I did things that you and your fellow debate team members might not appreciate.”

“Then I probably don’t want to know. My contact also said you have a black belt you earned during an assignment in Japan and won a Bronze Star with a device for valor at Tora Bora. I read about that battle. It was a bloodbath.”

“It was but I’d prefer not to really talk about it, at least tonight.”

“I understand. You have two Purple Hearts too. Did you get shot?”

“A Purple Heart doesn’t mean you were shot, it’s any injury in combat.”

“You’re not going to tell me?”

I shook my head no and smiled a little. She already knew way more than most people other than my family. Even though the Bronze Star was in the local papers, she did have some good sources.

“Maybe you can show me the scars later,” she said.

“Perhaps.”

“I also found that you’re divorced.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No, her loss could very well be my gain.”

She finished her drink and waved over the waiter for another. I declined a fresh beer.

“You’re not drinking, Ronan.”

“I’m driving and I don’t have a get out of jail card like you probably do.”

“Oh that’s harsh. You’re carrying your gun too, so what’s that all about?”

“A friend of mine recently died and I’m looking into it.”

“Anyone I’d know?”

“It was in the
Sun
.”

“Not the girl they found in the river?”

I nodded yes.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That was terrible. Were you involved?”

“We’d only been dating for a short time.”

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have been so persistent about you taking me out.”

“You knew everything else about me.”

“That wasn’t in your military or school records. God, it must have been tough finding that out. And the drug stuff too that they found. I imagine you didn’t even know she was junkie, huh?”

I wasn’t interested in talking about it and tried not to be rude. If I were in her position though, I’d have to ask.

“She wasn’t a junkie. Anyway, that’s why I have the gun. There are people who apparently don’t appreciate me looking into her death.”

“I thought it was an accident? Is there more?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it anymore, Diane.”

“You said someone doesn’t appreciate it. Is that what happened to your eye when I saw you at the hockey game?”

I nodded. The waiter brought our appetizer and her new drink and I ordered one more beer to go with dinner.

As I looked across the table at Diane, I felt guilty for being out with another woman so soon after losing Karen. Inner conflict was the source of many of the problems I’d faced in my life. If I could have only dumped my conscience or at least traded it in for a less active one I might have been a lot better off. I wouldn’t be the man I am without it though.

“Maybe we could talk about something else,” I said.

“Certainly, I didn’t mean to push.”

“Why don’t we talk about you, Leslie Diane Dunedin?”

She looked surprised. “How’d you know that name?”

“I have my sources too. Why’d you change your last name?”

She shrugged. “Too many people were mispronouncing it and in my business, it’s good to have something easily remembered so I shortened it.”

“I guess that makes sense. So you graduated from Malden High and then went to Northeastern graduating with a degree in Political Science. Unlike me you graduated magna cum laude.”

“I needed good grades to get into law school so I worked my ass off. Who did you talk to?”

“Hey, I have my sources too. I’ll bet you didn’t have as much fun as I did in college.”

“No, but who says I’m not making up for it now?”

“You also graduated from Harvard Law, second in your class.”

“Should have been first,” she said between sips of her drink. “The guy who beat me out cheated on a final and didn’t get caught.”

“How’d you know?”

“I saw him but didn’t turn him in. It was all I could think of at graduation. How I screwed myself over. I made a vow that day that I would never allow that to happen to me again.”

“I’m sure. After law school, you went to work for a law firm in D.C. where you came to the attention of one Congressmen LaValle.”

“And I’ve been working for him ever since. It looks like we’ve come full circle in our conversation.”

The main course arrived and the topic changed to modern music, art and some things I had no real interest in like stocks and the market. We laughed a lot and it felt good to forget my problems for a short time.

The food was very good and I wouldn’t object to eating there again; in fact, I’d make a point of it. Diane picked at her food, barely eating half the eggplant but she did manage to put down a couple of more drinks. Her eyes didn’t show the slightest hint that the alcohol remotely affected her.

When the check came, I reached for it but she grabbed it first.

“I also know how much money you have, but I invited you,” she said. “I’ll get this.”

“Did they teach you that at a NOW seminar?”

“Did you ever consider that I just want to pay so you feel obligated to sleep with me?”

“Was that for shock value?”

She just smiled and winked. Maybe the drinks were starting to get to her.

On the way out to my Jeep, she took my hand and pulled herself close to me.

“There are those who’d steal my virtue if not for a man such as you to protect me.”

“I’ll flex my muscles and scare them off.”

“Excellent plan.”

“So where do we go from here? You want to get another drink?”

“There are plenty of drinks at my place,” she cooed.

“Only if you promise to be a good girl.”

“I’ll be so good.”

Damn. Every second I was with her, she became hotter and hotter and I could feel a dull aching in my loins. At least that’s what they claim that feeling is in those corny romance novels my ex-wife read. I started to feel the guilt again but that was easily overwhelmed by my libido. That partially explained why I’ve gotten involved with the wrong women my entire life. My sex drive always overwhelmed any good sense I might have had until it was too late.

The entire way back to her apartment, she had her hand on my thigh. The woman was ultra-aggressive and not going to take no for an answer; not that I planned on turning down her advances. I parked on the second floor of the deserted garage and turned to ask her something. I never got the question out as she grabbed me and almost forced her tongue down my throat. She would have done me right in the garage but I insisted we at least go up to her apartment. It took some convincing and promises I knew I’d later break but she finally agreed.

Women often claim men tend to think with their penis. If that’s true, my hypothalamus was planted squarely between my legs at that moment. My conscience continued to fight its own battle with Karen’s memory. How soon was too soon? How loyal should I be to someone I’d only been dating for six weeks and had kept some pretty dark secrets from me? Sadly, my mind worked that way. If this had been a movie, it would have been just like
Animal House
with a devil planted on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The devil was about to win the argument.

I doubted Diane had the same moral and ethical issues weighing on her mind. She simply wanted to get laid. For the second or third time in my life I wished I were Tony. I always perceived that he could screw or kill anyone without remorse or debate.

We got to her apartment and she fumbled with her keys. By the time I shut the door, her dress was on the floor and she was climbing up me like a cat on a new pair of drapes. In all my years of observing people, women in particular, I’d come to the conclusion that most looked better with their clothes on. Clothing did a good job of hiding scars, cellulite, sags and other imperfections. Diane was the rare exception to that rule. Her body was near perfect.

Her stomach was flat and muscular and her navel was pierced with a little gold hoop. There was a small butterfly tattoo on the right cheek of her teardrop ass, confirming my earlier suspicions. Her breasts were small but perky and her nipples were erect and ready. Between her muscular thighs was a wispy little patch of trimmed red hair. When she began to nibble on my ear that was it, I completely gave in.

She removed my jacket and threw it on the couch. I took off my gun and placed it on the sofa table in her entryway. Her eyes darted briefly to it as she undid my pants and unbuttoned my shirt. My shoulder was stiff from the stitches and I groaned a bit as she pulled off the shirt and saw my bandage.

“What happened?”

“Business related.”

That must have satisfied her curiosity and she slid her hand down my shorts. I took off the rest of my clothes and left them in the entryway. She led me to the couch, laid me down and began kissing my body.

“I love men with big hairy chests. Scars are sexy too,” she cooed as she rubbed her fingers over the one on my chest.