Page 42 of Taking Care of the Target

“Do I get to change first?”

“Like any good apology dinner bribe, you get whatever you want.”

She started out of the Jeep, then abruptly turned back and put her hand on the side of his face. “Just so you know, Vince DaMarco, I see you. The real you. Even if you don’t.”

***

Jim sat in a corner booth facing the door of the restaurant so he would see Mancini come in. His gaze bounced from the bright colored sombreros to the sunbursts and pictures on the golden walls and then back to the door.

When his partner called and said they needed to meet up, he sounded like he’d downed a case of Redbulls. Since they were both in Trenton, they’d decided on a local Mexican joint instead of making the drive to headquarters in Newark. The trip was an hour in good traffic, and it was getting old day after day, especially when they still had nothing to show for it.

The door opened, and Mancini walked in. He charged over and sat across from Jim. “I screwed up. I think I screwed up big.”

Jim automatically set his hand on the butt of his gun, checking it was there, even though he knew it was. “Is someone following you?” he asked, glancing at the door.

“No. I made sure. But I…Well, you mentioned the waitress, and so I’ve been poking into her past here and there. Today I was in her neighborhood around the time she goes to work, so I followed her…” Mancini reached for the basket of chips and took one, but he tapped it against the table instead of eating it.

“And?”

“I thought I was being careful; I was so focused on her. I think she might’ve seen me this morning, so I backed off. But when I was waiting for her to get off work…” He went to tapping the chip until only crumbs remained.

Jim clenched his jaw, trying not to shout at the kid to spit it out. “What happened?”

“I was sitting there, my window down, and out of nowhere, this guy hauls me halfway out of the car and starts grilling me about following Cassie. I was so thrown it took me a few seconds to realizeCassandrawas Cassie, and the guy yelling at me was Vince DaMarco.”

Jim leaned forward, his heart quickening at the possible lead. “Vince DaMarco’s watching Cassandra Dalton?”

“I…I’m pretty sure he’s dating her. I was fumbling through a story about being a P.I. when she came out of McCarthy’s. Yesterday I tracked down some of her classmates and asked them a few questions, so when he demanded to know who hired me, I told him it was one of her friends from college who just wanted to find her.”

“That was good, thinking on your feet like that.” Jim tossed a chip in his mouth, trying to make heads or tails of the information. “Officer Duffy met with her today and claimed she still didn’t remember anything. You think she and Vince have been dating the whole time? That she’s just got the cop fooled, along with the rest of us?”

“I don’t think so. When Vince asked about her college friends, she mentioned not remembering them. None of her classmates knew much about her. They just said she was quiet and got good grades. A few of them mentioned her job at Rossi’s—they’d obviously heard rumors—but when I asked if she ever mentioned anything strange, they said she got mad if anyone implied her boss was connected.”

“Think she was covering for them?”

Mancini shrugged. “I don’t know. But she looked pretty worried for me when she ran over. I’m actually glad she showed up, because I’m not sure Vince would’ve let me off so easily otherwise. She calmed him down, and I got the hell out of there. He did give me his number to give to my imaginary client. The question is do we have someone call?”

“You trust one of those college kids to not screw up the story?”

Mancini sighed and shook his head. “No. One sharp word or look from Vince and they’d crack and confess all, and then we’d really be screwed. And if he sees me again…” He swallowed, making it clear the guy had shaken him.

Vince DaMarco was clearly capable of following through on threats, but he spent all of his time at the restaurant, which made Jim doubt he was very high up in the chain of command, if he was a made man at all.

Maybe he was in the process of changing that. His hours at Rossi’s had tapered off, and he was either dating or watching Cassandra Dalton. Possibly both. The question was, how much did she know about him?

Nothing made sense. It was like they had all the pieces to the puzzle, but they still didn’t fit together.

“Do we bring her in?” Mancini asked.

“If we do, we might just end up getting her killed.” Jim grabbed another chip, the loud crunch mixing in with his loud thoughts. “Hell, I don’t know which way is up anymore.”

“Did our undercover agent get anything from Dante Costa’s girlfriend?”

“No, and she hasn’t gotten a call from Rossi’s about the waitress position, either, so it looks like having her work there as a mole is a bust.”

Mancini’s shoulders deflated, and Jim fought the urge to let defeat take his down, too. “Don’t worry, kid. Little things lead to big things. We just gotta step up our game.”

On the outside he tried to convey the we’ll-get-them vibe, but inside he was starting to think they’d never catch a break.

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