I slipped my glasses into place as we pulled into the wide, circular driveway. This part was cobbled with red brick. It must be a nightmare to maintain. Our springs were weird, and the freeze/defrost cycle caused havoc on the city’s roads, making them heave and buckle. I could only imagine how that would impact the tightly-packed brickwork.
As Aly slowed the car, one of the large bays of the five-car garage opened, revealing a man in a blue flannel bathrobe. Uncle Nico? He motioned us into the bay, stepping back so Aly had room to pull in. It put him on my side of the car as she parked, and I tried not to stare as we passed him. He didn’t look like a soulless mobster. The man was maybe five and a half feet tall, thin, and unimposing. His hair was salt and pepper gray, his skin was a darker shade of olive than Aly’s, and his nose was a tad too large for his face.
Aly put the car in park and turned to me. “You ready?”
I shrugged. “Not really, but what choice do we have?”
She shook her head. “None. Let’s do this.”
Together, we got out of the car.
Nico was still on my side, and I towered over him as I rose to my full height.
He stared up at me, brows lifted. “Nice stache, Porno Joe.”
Great. Smart-assery ran in Aly’s family.
A killer rebuttal was on the tip of my tongue, but I held it in check. Trading insults was not the way to ingratiate myself with this man, and thanks to the body in the trunk, he had a lot of power over me. It was best not to anger him right off the bat.
I held out my hand. “Close. It’s Josh.”
He snorted but slid his palm into mine, his grip surprisingly strong. “Too bad. Josh doesn’t have the same ring. I’m Nico.”
I nodded as we let each other go.
“You Italian?” he asked, eyeing me.
“A quarter. My mom is Italian and Algerian.”
He looked me over again. “I thought you might have a little –”
“Don’t say anything racist,” Aly cut him off, rounding the car's hood.
Nico turned toward her with arms outspread and a wide grin that seemed genuine. “I would never.”
Aly shot me a glance, clearly uncomfortable with Nico’s familiarity and the conversation she’d interrupted, but she stepped into his embrace anyway, leaning down slightly to hug him. “Thanks for letting us in. I hate to do this, but we have a bit of a –”
“EH!” Nico barked. “Not out here.” He pulled away from her and went to close the garage. Then he motioned us toward a side door.
We passed through it into a functional yet opulent mudroom, complete with marble flooring and what looked like a full doggie spa in the corner.
Nico pointed at our feet. “Shoes off,” he said. “Moira will have my head if you track that in here.”
I glanced down. Not only were my shoes muddy, but so were my jeans from when I’d puked in the bushes. The house was warm, so I shrugged off my winter coat when I finished kicking off my shoes and hung it next to Aly’s on a hook by the door.
Nico led us from the mudroom to a very ornate, busily-designed kitchen. “Coffee? Wine?”
“Coffee’s fine,” Aly said.
I squinted as I tried to take everything in. The overhead lights were bright enough to glint off all the marble and glass. It was like the Palace of Versailles had thrown up in there. Everything was done in cream and beige, and I couldn’t understand why the mosaic backsplash was full of naked people. It looked like it was supposed to be some ancient Italian design, but some of the pieces were slightly off, so one person’s arm sat much lower than the other, and another guy’s dick was separated from his body by a full tile space. It looked like it was just floating there on its own.
Like a phantom cock in the middle of a party.
Oh, God. Don’t laugh, I thought, pulling my eyes up. Unfortunately, my gaze landed on the mirrored chandelier, and the reflection of the fluorescent lights in it nearly blinded me. What was that phrase about money not buying taste?
Aly elbowed me. “You want coffee or something stronger?”
“Oh,” I said, dropping my focus to her uncle. “Coffee, please.” The thought of wine on an already sour stomach was a no-go, but I thought I could do with some caffeine since I’d barely touched the to-go cup Aly had made me.
Nico strode toward a fancy white and steel machine with far too many buttons. “So, what brings you here so early?”
“We killed someone,” Aly said.
I turned toward her with wide eyes.
She gave me a “What?” expression.
“You didn’t want to ease into that?”
She shrugged. “I must have missed school on the day they taught us the polite way to tell people about bodies in car trunks.”
Nico whipped around. “You brought a goddamn body to my house?”
Aly swiveled toward him. “Yes? Dad said to come here if I was ever in trouble.”
“Fuck!” Nico bit out. “I might have feds watching me. You can’t just bring me corpses like I’m the morgue.”
“Hey,” I said, stepping in front of Aly. He might be her uncle, but hearing him speak to her in that tone was enough to have me second-guessing whether or not I cared about making a good impression. “She didn’t know.”
Nico threw his hands up. “Tell that to the feds!” He wheeled around, yelling as he left the room. “Greg! Stefan! Alec! Junior! Get your asses up! We got a problem!”
Aly sidled next to me, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, glancing down to see her looking chagrined.
“Whoops?” she said.
I squeezed her close. “What were we supposed to do? Call the guy and warn him and the feds who might have tapped his phone?”
Footsteps thundered overhead, Nico’s shouts rousing everyone as he raised the alarm. Someone ran down a set of stairs nearby, and we turned toward the sound as a young man burst into the room, still pulling on a gray t-shirt. He was maybe Aly’s height at 5’8”, with dark hair and a rail-thin frame. Despite his baby face and freckles, something about the hardness in his eyes made me think he was older than he looked.
“Keys!” he yelled, gesturing toward Aly.
“Hey, Greg. Nice to see you, too,” she grumbled, digging around in her purse for them.
So this was Greg. I eyed her youngest cousin. Maybe he was exactly as old as he looked, and the hardness came from what he’d already done for his father. God knew I understood the way parents could prematurely age someone.
“Come on,” he said. “We gotta go.”
Aly extended her keys toward him. “What do you mean, we?”
Greg shook his head. “Keep ‘em. You drove in. You gotta drive out.” He turned toward me. “Where’s your coat?”
“Mudroom,” I said automatically.
He nodded and gestured toward his cousin. “Let’s get out of here.”
Aly took a hesitant step forward, pulling out of my embrace. “What about Josh?”
Greg’s eyes flashed to mine. “I’m gonna pretend to be him so anyone watching won’t get suspicious, and he’s gonna stay here and fill Dad in.”
“Uh-uh,” Aly said. “He’s not getting separated from me.”
“He’ll be fine,” Greg told her. “You think Dad wants to get on your bad side by messing with your boy toy?” He glanced at me again, giving me a once over. “Plus, it looks like he can handle himself. Now, move, Aly. We don’t have much time.”
She turned back to me, expression worried.
I stepped in and kissed her forehead before lifting my eyes to Greg. “I get that you’re in a rush, but I have to know what your plan is.”