Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,34
what about Cotillo?”
“We’ve got plans for him,” Paul said. “I have friends in Jersey, too. They’re doing some scouting for me. The agency turned one of our best field agents onto the case, and he’s digging into Cotillo’s background. With any luck, he’ll find something we can use for leverage while we wait for Tony’s trial to come up.”
“Tony fled the country,” Mikey said sadly. “That’s going to go against him. Flight from prosecution.”
“He didn’t fly, he was flown—by us,” Paul said with a grin. “So that’s not a charge he’ll be facing.”
Mikey sighed. “His past isn’t lily-white. Neither is mine. So far, Cotillo hasn’t ever been charged with a crime, for all we know.”
“That’s right,” Paul returned. “For all we know. That’s why we’re digging. There’s a federal prosecutor also on the case, and using his own investigators to look at Cotillo and his associates. Eventually, somebody’s going to talk.”
“So long as they don’t talk about me and Tony and what’s in our pasts,” Mikey said with a resigned breath. “I’ve been a bad man, Paulie. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite me.”
“Not that bad, and you don’t have a single conviction,” Paul told him.
“No,” Mikey conceded with a sad smile. “But that doesn’t mean I haven’t deserved one.”
Paul put a lean hand on Mikey’s broad shoulder. “We go one day at a time and leave tomorrow to itself. Right?”
Mikey smiled. “Okay. Right. Well,” he added, “I’d better take Bernie home. So much for the movies.”
“We have movies on DVD and pay-per-view,” Paul reminded him with a grin. “You can watch them together right here, where it’s safe. And the door has a lock,” he added with amused eyes when Mikey blushed.
* * *
Mikey told Bernie about it when he took her back to the boardinghouse, reluctantly. “I’m sorry we had to break it up tonight,” he said gently. “But Paulie says we can watch pay-per-view at his place, whenever we want.”
“I’d like that,” she whispered as he drew her close.
“Me, too, baby.” He kissed her hungrily and then put her gently away. “I’m going back over to the house for a while. But we’ll make a new movie date later, okay?”
She beamed. “Okay!”
* * *
Later, over supper at the house, Mikey drank a second cup of black coffee. He was unusually quiet.
“What’s biting you?” Paul asked.
He shrugged. “I was thinking about Cotillo and his stooges. You know, I never stopped having Santi drive me in the limo. I’ve been pretty visible here...”
“Disguises don’t work with people like Cotillo,” Paul replied. “Besides, this is one of the safest places in the world when somebody’s hunting you. It saved Sari and Merrie.”
“It did,” Sari added to the conversation. “It will save you, too, and Tony, I hope. Merrie’s very fond of him, you know.”
Mikey smiled. “Baby Doll’s fond of everybody. It’s just the way she is.”
“That’s true.”
“Why are you so morose?” Paul asked his cousin.
“I worry about taking Bernie out now that I know I’m being watched by Cotillo’s hoods,” he said, pushing his coffee cup around.
“We told you that you could bring her over here any time you like,” Sari reminded him with a smile. “She’s so sweet. I love working with her.”
Mikey seemed to perk up a little. “You really meant that? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Sari replied. “There are plenty of places to walk within sight of the house. We have calves she can pet and cats in the barn, and there’s also the sunroom.” She cleared her throat and didn’t dare look at Paul, because some momentous things had happened there before the two of them married.
Mikey chuckled. “Okay, then,” he said. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Paul told him, his dark eyes twinkling. “So. How about Saturday?”
“Saturday sounds fine,” Mikey replied. “You guys are terrific.”
“Thanks,” Sari said.
“You’re terrific, too, Mandy,” Mikey added when the housekeeper came from the kitchen with a cake pan.
Mandy grinned. “Nice of you to say that, and I baked you a chocolate cake, too!”
Mikey hesitated, looked guilty. His face drew up. He didn’t want to tell her.
“Mandy, he won’t say, but he gets terrible migraine headaches,” Paul told her gently. “Chocolate is one of his triggers.”
“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Mandy began.
“You’re a sweetheart, and it’s the thought that counts,” Mikey told her with a smile. “I love chocolate. I just can’t eat it.”
“Well, I’ll make you a nice vanilla pound cake tomorrow. How’s that?” she teased.