Page 89 of Maddy's Justice

“I don’t know. She’s convinced Labelle is a crook,” Kane replied.

“He is, but he must be a well-connected crook. Keep an eye on her.”

TWENTY-NINE

Tony Carvelli fumbled around with his hand groping around to find his cellphone on the nightstand. The first time it rang, his mind told him he was dreaming, and he didn’t wake up. It stopped and less than a minute later started up again. That is when he reached for it although still half asleep.

“Yeah,” he growled, then cleared his throat and said, “Carvelli, what?”

“Tony,” he heard a female voice say, “did I wake you?”

“No, I was just sleeping.”

“What? Never mind. It’s Paxton. Get up. It’s after eight.”

“Who is this really? Paxton wouldn’t call this early,” he said.

“Tony!” she yelled.

“Okay, okay. Give me a second.”

Carvelli put his feet on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He had a bottle of water on the nightstand, took a large drink and put the phone back to his ear.

“What’s up, babe?” he asked.

“I have a problem,” she replied. “I need some help and I don’t know who else to turn to. Could you come to Chicago today?”

“Are you in trouble?”

“No, not exactly. Something’s not right and I don’t want to talk over the phone. Please?”

“Okay. I’ll, um, give my client a call, the one I was working late for…”

“Marc?”

“No, someone else. Let me get up and get going. I’ll call you with my flight information. Should I pack a bag for an overnight?”

“Well, I was kind of thinking that you might do that. Then, um, you could save hotel money and stay at my place,” she replied.

“Deal,” Carvelli quickly agreed.

“We’re going to Schaumberg,” she said. “You remember?”

“Sean. Sure. I’ll call when I’m on the way.”

Carvelli had scrambled to get to the airport for a 10:14A.M. United flight to O’Hare. Of course, the thought of spending the night with Paxton helped to motivate him. He made it through security at 9:52 and was walking as fast as possible through the airport.

“Hey,” he said into his phone as he walked along with the crowd, “I’m in Chicago at 11:45 on flight number 1176 United.”

“Got it,” Paxton replied. “I’ll sneak off and pick you up. I’m, ah, well, really looking forward to seeing you.”

“Me, too,” Carvelli cheerily replied. “I gotta go. I’m still not at the gate.”

“I’ll be there with bells on,” she said.

“And nothing else?”

“Hey there’s an idea. Hurry up”

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