The Good Daughter (36 page)

He released Luigi and stepped away. “So until my men get here to pick you up, enjoy being tied to a dining room chair.” Dave made himself comfortable on the sofa, stretching his long legs across the coffee table. “Join me, Marisa?”

“
Can I have a drink?” Luigi said. “Maybe some pain killer for my head?”

“
Certainly,” she answered.

“
I’ll get it,” Dave said, moving to get up.

Marisa had a flash of inspiration. “No, stay there. I’ll get it. I have some in my medicine cabinet.” In the bathroom, she took the pain killer and another, smaller vial from the shelf. Concealing the smaller vial, she went to the kitchen for a glass.

Once she filled the glass with water, keeping her back to Luigi and Dave, she made a show of opening the bottle, while in reality, she was counting off drops from the vial into the water.

Shoving the sleeping drops out of the way behind a crockery of cooking utensils, she took two pills and the water to Luigi. She realized with his hands cuffed behind him, he couldn’t take the medicine himself.

“
Open,” she told him. “You want one at a time or both?”

“
Both.”

She placed the pills in his mouth then held the water to his lips. He nodded his head when he’d had enough.

“
Damn, those taste like shit.”

“
Yes, they do, don’t they?” she calmly agreed, then sat the glass back on the counter. “I’ll gather all my things now,” she told Dave and disappeared into her bedroom.

* * *

“
Hello, Markie. Guess today is your lucky day,” Steve, the big Texan on the task force, was hard to miss as he walked up beside the parked mobster car. He opened the door.

“
Hey, what’re you doin’? Can’t a guy sit in his car without being hassled?”

“
Not in this neighborhood, partner.”

The guy in the passenger seat next to Markie went for his gun but his door suddenly flung open and he found a gun pressed to the back of his skull. “You don’t want to do that,” Tony told him.

Steve sent Tony an appreciative look, then turned back to Markie. “You two need to come with us.”

“
What for?” Markie asked.

Tony reached into the glove compartment and rummaged around. “Oh, maybe for these parking violations you haven’t paid.”

“
You two ain’t cops. You can’t hassle me about no parking violations.”

“
But we can give you a ride to the police station. I’m sure they’d be very appreciative.” Steve reached in and pulled Markie from behind the wheel, while Tony pulled his guy out of the car on the passenger side.

Quickly and efficiently, the two FBI men disarmed the two mobsters.

“
Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“
You got a permit for these?”

“
Sure I do.”

“
Good, I think the police are going to want to see it.” Steve took Markie’s arm and led him toward the gray government-issued sedan.

* * *

Nicola needed some fresh air. The car reeked of cigarette smoke. They’d been sitting in the confined vehicle, doing nothing more than watching the garage exit of Marisa’s building and puffing one cigarette after another. Now, Nicola’s head was hurting.

“
I’ll be back, man,” he told his companion.

“
Where you going?”

“
Just up for some fresh air. Honk if you see anything, I’ll come back down.” Nicola opened his door and climbed out. His eye caught a furtive movement between two cars behind them. It was there, then it disappeared. He peered hard between the cars.

“
What’s wrong with you?” his companion asked.

“
Shh,” Nicola warned. “I think something’s up.” He stared harder. He saw nothing, yet an uneasy feeling had settled in his chest. “Start the car, we’re getting out of here.”

“
Luigi’s gonna be pissed if we let Marisa get away--”

“
Fuck, Luigi. Something’s not right.”

The man started the car. At the sound of the engine, two men came from between the parked cars, running toward Nicola.

“
Freeze, FBI.”

“
Shit,” Nicola swore then dived into the car. “Get out of here now.” Nicola nearly tumbled out of the car as the tires spun on the concrete garage floor. He managed to pull the door shut as the car sped away. He looked behind them. The two FBI men were chasing on foot. One fired his gun. Nicola ducked.

“
Wait, man, there’s an old lady, don’t shoot again,” Gregg told his partner.

“
Oh, hell, they’re gonna run her down.” At the last minute, the car swerved and missed the old woman.

Gregg and his partner Bobby, still the newbies on the team, ran over to check on her. “You all right, lady?”

“
Get those damned hoodlums.” The old woman wielded her walking stick like a weapon.

“
Yes, ma’am, we’re after them.”

“
You cops?” she asked.

“
Something like that.” Gregg and Bobby ran for their car. The engine barely started before Gregg was spinning out after the two mobsters who got away.

Chapter 29

When Marisa came out of her room with a duffel bag and a wooden box ten minutes later, Dave was standing at the kitchen counter, examining the glass she’d used for Luigi. A quick glance told her Luigi was out cold.

“
Dave?”

He turned. He held the vial in his hand. “You drugged him?”

“
Sleeping drops. I thought it would be more convenient if he were unconscious.”

“
Your own special concoction, I presume?”

She dropped her gaze and shrugged.

“
My God, the man most likely has a major concussion and you’re giving him sleeping drops.”

She looked at Luigi with alarm. “You think it’ll kill him?”

“
I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.” Dave sighed. “But if he survived that damned knock upside the head you gave him, he’ll probably survive this.”

“
I’m sorry, Dave. He made me mad when he threatened to press charges.”

“
Remind me not to make you mad.”

The intercom by the door buzzed. Marisa walked over to press the button.

“
Ms. Peruzzo,” the doorman said, “there’s two men down here who want to come up. A Gregg and Bobby--they wouldn’t tell me their last names, said you knew--”

She glanced at Dave who nodded. “Yes, yes, I’m expecting them. Please send them up, Murray. Thank you.” She turned to Dave. “You better start untying Luigi.”

“
I’m right on it.”

She pulled on her jacket and gathered her stuff. An overnight duffel and a wooden box she’d kept hidden in a secret hollowed out place in her bathroom.

“
What’s in the box?” Dave asked.

“
It’s what I needed to come back here for.”

“
You’re not going to tell me.”

She shook her head, knowing he’d be stunned. “When it’s important for you to know, then I’ll tell you.”

There was a knock on the door. She hurried to open it. “Come on in.”

“
Shit, what happened to him?” Bobby asked, referring to the unconscious Luigi.

“
I thought he needed a nap,” Marisa said, deadpan.

The two men eyed her warily.

“
Come on, get over here and help,” Dave snapped. “He’s dead weight.”

“
Are you sure he’s not just dead?” Gregg asked.

“
He’s still alive. Come on.”

Between the three men, they managed to carry Luigi into the hall. Marisa locked the apartment door behind them, then hurried to press the button on the elevator.

It was an uneventful ride down. At the bottom, Dave pushed the “hold” button. “Bobby, give me your handcuffs, mine are on Luigi.”

Without question, Bobby turned them over.

Before Marisa could figure out the strange request, Dave ordered her, “Hold out your hands.”

She couldn’t believe it. “What?” Anger blossomed, heating her face. “You’re going to cuff me?”

His gaze, filled with regret, pleaded for understanding. “If anybody sees us, I want them to think you’re a prisoner. Trust me, Princess.”

She sighed, trying to keep her nerves steady at the way things were progressing. “No one carries my box but me,” she warned, needing to hang onto some measure of control.

“
Since it has a handle, you can still carry it. I’ll come back for your bag after we get Luigi into the car.”

She set her load down and held out her hands. “All right.”

The cold metal snapped around her wrists. She swallowed, took a breath, then picked up her box.

It didn’t take long for them to stuff Luigi in the back seat of Gregg and Bobby’s car.

“
Listen, I don’t want you to take him in yet. He’ll be squawking too loud when he wakes up. I want him quiet until we get this all pulled together.”

“
You think we oughta take him to a hospital?” Bobby asked. “He looks like he’s in pretty bad shape. That’s a big knot on his head.”

“
That bump on his head’s nothing. He already woke up from that. Marisa gave him some sleeping drops to shut him up so we didn’t have to listen to him,” Dave explained. “Just take him to a hotel room and watch him until I call you,” Dave instructed.

“
He’s gonna be royally pissed when he wakes up again,” Gregg predicted. “Maybe we should take those drops with us.”

“
Just keep a close watch on him,” Dave ordered. “He’ll probably be out a good while yet.”

With a nod, Gregg put the car in gear and drove off.

“
I’m taking Marisa to the hotel to wait with Sandro,” Dave told Tony and Steve, who’d been in the parking garage watching for any more of Luigi’s men. “We’ll set the rest of the plan in action soon. You two be ready for my call.” The men gave their okays, then left for their car.

Dave went back for her duffel bag. “Come on, Princess.”

He hurried her to his car and helped her in. She tried to ignore how much she felt like a prisoner.

“
I’ll take those cuffs off as soon as we are down the road a bit.” He reached for the box.

“
I’ll hold it,” she said, tightening her grip on the handle.

From the look on his face, it was obvious he was very curious about what she had in her box, but he shut the door without a word and hurried to the driver’s side. As he started the car, he pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Sandro and telling him we’re on the way.”

They drove up the ramp out of the underground garage; her heart rate speeded. This was it, not too much longer before it was all over. After so many years . . . .

At street level, there was some sort of commotion causing a traffic jam. “Hold on, Sandro,” Dave said, then turned to her. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I’m going to see what’s going on.”

“
Dave.” Marisa grabbed for him with her bound hands, a surge of worry that he was worried making her nervous. “Be careful.”

He nodded, stepped out and walked to the front of the car to scan the road. Quickly, he hurried back and opened his car door to tell her, “There’s a big wreck ahead. We’ll go another way.”

The man ran out from behind a concrete post so fast she barely had time to call, “Dave, look out!”

Her warning came too late. The man running up hit Dave on the back of the head with the butt of his gun. Dave stumbled and fell against the car.

At the same moment, Marisa’s door flew open and another man grabbed her. She screamed and fought.

“
Calm down, Marisa, we’re trying to rescue you.”

Oh, Dio
. She shut up. Luigi’s men were trying to save her from Dave. She had no doubt they’d engineered the snarled traffic jam to allow them to get to her.
Merda
, what was she going to do? If she fought, then they’d suspect she wasn’t a prisoner. But if she went with them, it would blow Sandro’s plans wide open.

Dave grabbed his head, obviously stunned, but not unconscious. She saw him reach for his gun. She needed to distract the man beside her. “Just a minute, I’ll get out,” she told him. She scooted to the edge of her seat, then prepared to climb out.

In that instant, Dave whirled and fired his gun at the man behind him. Once. Then in a quick move, Dave spun and fired a second shot. Blood splattered on Marisa as the man beside her fell to the ground.

Adrenaline spurted through her but caught in her throat. She wanted to scream but all her fear was balled up, trapped, unable to escape. She tried to swallow. She tried to breathe.

“
Shut the door,” Dave ordered, his voice coming from a long distance.

Her head spun.

“
Marisa!” he snapped in an authoritative voice. “Shut the door.”

Somehow she made herself obey, then he jerked the car into gear. He barreled out into the traffic.

Finally, Dave looked at her. “Damn, you’ve got blood all over you. Were you hit?”