“You’re fired, kid. Beat it. Now.”
Linda stared at him. Even his voice was different. Low. Rough. Intimidating in a way she’d never heard him speak before. She tried softening its effect. “It’s all right, Mr. Mau. I won’t be pulling any tricks. I promise. Thank you for your help. You’ve been very professional.”
Mau looked once more at Tony’s set expression. He mumbled, “Whatever” under his breath and fairly raced from the room.
She turned to the guard. “Can we have a few moments alone?”
“You want me to shackle him?”
She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary.”
The guard looked hesitant, but finally said, “I’ll be right outside. Knock on the door when you’re ready to go.” The guard glanced up at the camera in the corner to remind Linda that he’d be watching.
“Thank you.” As he left, Linda walked to the table, taking the chair Tony had offered her.
He leaned back and looked at her from hooded eyes.
“Nice way to treat your lawyer, Tony. He was just trying to protect you.”
“I did the kid a favor. He looked like he would freak if he actually had to go to trial.”
They stared at each other for at least a minute before he finally spoke again. “It’s been a long time, babe.”
Babe. He’d used to call her that when they’d been together and, to her surprise, she’d liked it. But the endearment sounded so different now. So hurtful.
She folded her hands on the table that separated them. Tony did the same. He had scars on his arms as well as his face that she’d never seen before. And one inner wrist still bore the familiar tattoo. An intricate abstract design that hid something more.
“Must’ve been a hell of a shock to see me,” he said.
Her gaze flickered from the tattoo up to his. “To put it mildly.”
“I expected you sooner.”
“Really? I wasn’t sure I’d come.”
“Oh, I knew you would. You’ve read the report, right?”
“Yes.” Several times.
“And?”
“And?” she parroted back.
“What do you think? Am I guilty?”
She gave a derisive snort. “Gee, I don’t know, Tony. There is the fact that you were caught with a bloody wrench on your person. Oh, and let’s see, that’s right. You did confess. Sure seems like you’re guilty to me.”
“Yeah. Sure looks that way, huh?”
She searched his expression and leaned forward. “Are you saying you’re not guilty?”
Tony didn’t answer her.
“I know you had trouble with drugs, Tony, but...”
“But what?”
“But the man I knew—the man I loved—could never have killed anyone, even Mark Guapo, in cold blood.”
“Huh.” He leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head. “And you knew me so well, didn’t you, Linda? Probably about as much as you loved me. Probably as well as I knew you, right?”
She frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The part about knowing you? You never went for the suit type before. Guess that’s changed from the way you and that attorney were making goo-goo eyes at each other over a cup of coffee earlier.”
So he’d seen her and Neil talking before the calendar had started. So what? She had nothing to feel guilty about. She had a right to a life. A life she’d almost thrown away when she’d fallen in love with Tony.
So why’d she feel guilty?
All she wanted to do was run from the room. Instead she said, “I knew you well enough to know that you loved your sister and niece. That you would have done anything to protect them. Is that what this is about? Did Guapo threaten them again?”
Tony’s eyes flashed briefly. “Guapo had no idea where they were. Even I don’t.”
That surprised her. Almost as much as him not being with Mattie in the first place. Why wasn’t he in WITSEC? Was it because he really had gone bad? Or did he just want her to believe that? “That doesn’t answer my question,” she pointed out.
He laughed, lowered his arms and shook his head. “Come on, Linda. You know me, remember? I’m weak. You saw it for yourself, that last night we were together in your kitchen. After I started up again, after Guapo’s men went after Mattie and I killed Michael Sabon—”
“It was never proved who killed him,” Linda interjected, but Tony kept talking over her.
“—I realized the streets just might need a new player. Guapo was still in prison and...” He shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been doing for the past eighteen months. Establishing myself as Sacramento’s newest drug kingpin. So no, killing Guapo had nothing to do with protecting Mattie or