“But it might hurt you.” She gulps as she places down her glass and brushes away her tears. “You, Madalina, Dario, you’ll all look at me differently. I don’t want you to go back to being mad at me again.” Her eyes lower to her lap and she snuffles.
“Don’t be silly, that's not going to happen. Just be honest. I need to know who did this.” She still looks doubtful when I raise her chin with the crook of my finger.
“I promise, I won’t get ma–”
“He’s a cop, okay?” she blurts out. “My dad is…wasa cop.” She stares back at me as if she’s waiting for me to explode, but I’m far too shocked to be mad.
“A cop? What kind of cop?” I check, trying to make some sense out of what she’s telling me. Doyle is a fucking arms dealer, not a cop!
“The kind that your type has to be wary of. Which is why I never told any of you in the first place. I knew when I first started hanging out with Madalina that your family were…you know.”
“I know,” I assure her, creasing my forehead and trying to comfort her while she explains.
“Well, I also knew that if you knew my father was ATF, you’d see me as a risk, and I’m not. I swear to you, Nic, I’m not. I barely saw my father. He’s always chosen his work over me, he’s barely been in my life, and I wasn’t going to let who he is stop me from making friends.”
A-T-Fucking-F!
None of what she’s saying is making sense. If Jeremy Doyle was an ATF officer, what the fuck is he doing selling guns for the Russians, especiallyin our city?
“I know I lied to you, and that it looks bad, but I would never have told him anything. I valued my friendship with Madalina too much, and now...I’d never want to hurt you, Nic.” She looks petrified, and I can’t stand it.
“It’s okay, come here.” I wrap her back up in my arms and hold her tight. Dario isn’t going to be happy when he hears about this.
“He must have been watching me, to know I was there. He and my mom don’t speak anymore and it’s been so long since I heard from him, I was starting to worry. But he came to me tonight because he thought he had to save me. What if his department is investigating you?” A whole new fear breaks over her face.
“I don’t think that's happening, and he had nothing to save you from, you were never in any danger with me. What he did, was bring danger.” I try to ease some of the tension in my body. His trying to take her from me was foolish and dangerous, especially considering the people he was involved with. Did he think she would be any safer with him? It also seems that me and Dario have underestimated Jeremy Doyle, it turns out that it’s us who have been watched by him.
“Do you really think it was a professional?” She looks at me, trying to be brave.
“It certainly looks that way,” I tell her, taking her hand and raising it to my mouth, again.
“Try and get some rest, the baby needs you to be strong and I know that's hard, right now, but I promise I can fix this,” I assure her.
“How can you fix this, Nic? You can’t bring him back.” She turns her head away from me and as I sink back in my chair I remain silent because she’s right.
“What thefuckhappened?” Dario closes the doors to his office so the girls can’t hear us. This place is like a fortress, bringingLorna straight here seemed like the logical thing to do. Right now, my girl is broken and Madalina always seems to know how to piece things back together.
“You think this was Amanté finishing a job I couldn’t?” I’ve come up with all kinds of theories on my way here, this is just one of them.
“Amanté was desperate for the name of the man who shot his daughter, blowing Doyle’s head off wasn’t the way to get it,” Dario points out as he pours us both a drink.
“Fletcher called, said his guy in L.A. called from the scene. You were right, it was a professional hit. The bullet came from a Sako TRG, most likely our killer was sitting out on a boat, waiting. Whoever it was must have been paid to follow Doyle. I suspect the Russains. He could have taken off with their money when he left The Bronx.” Dario makes some guesses of his own.
“Look, I found something out on our way here, and you can’t be mad when I tell you.”
“Nic, I run this fucking city. I canbewhatever I want,” he reminds me, and as I take the drink from his hand, I knock it back before I break the news.
“I learned from Lorna on the plane that her father was a cop. An ATF cop.” I watch the anger flare in Dario’s eyes.
“I’ve been trying to make sense of it all the way here and I’m wondering if he was at that house doing some undercover bullshit that might have gotten him killed tonight.” I offer another of my theories.
“How thefuckcan Lorna’s father be a cop and us not know about it? I had intrusive checks made on all of Madalina’s friends and family before I married her. I have people working for me in the ATF department, Nic.” He slams his hand on the desk in rage.
“Well, for a start, Lorna doesn’t know him as Jeremy Doyle, the man’s never been a constant in her life. He’s a ghost, Dario.If he’s working as an undercover officer, who knows what level of protection he’s had? Even your people on the inside might not know he exists.”
“This is a fucking mess.” Dario sits in his chair and swishes the liquid around his glass. “We’re never going to solve this. We’ll never know who bought the gun that killed Mia Greco, and we’ll never know if Doyle was working against the Russians or for them.” He massages his temple.
“Not unless I ask them.” I look across at him and he shakes his head like he’s out of patience. “Amanté’s going to be mad, I’m the one who failed him. I should talk to him too.” I add, knowing how ill-tempered the man can be.