“I know you’re busy, Cain. Think nothing of it. Could I talk you into stepping out for a cup of coffee with me?”
Something about the request made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Jarvis usually just dropped by and dragged her away. When he asked, even so informally, he was usually up to something.
“How about the place close to the house? I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes it is.” Jarvis put the receiver down and faced the windows in his study. Emma had wrung her hands during the short conversation. He wondered if she realized how precarious a situation she had put him in. Cain was a special part of his life, one he would miss if this situation brought about his exile.
“Did she say yes?”
“Twenty minutes at the coffee shop near the house. Let me talk to her first. Then I’ll send for you.”
He knew she was about to protest. He heard the hitch of her breath as she told him she had come to see Cain, which was the only thing important to her.
“Cain has never struck a woman or me in anger. I don’t want that streak to end today. Call it a selfish whim on both our parts.”
“I trust you to do what’s best, uncle Jarvis. My fate is in your hands.”
“As is mine in yours, little one.”
*
“Where do you suppose the mighty Cain Casey’s going alone?” Kyle focused the binoculars in his hands and studied the way Cain’s coat draped perfectly over her shoulders. He saw no guards, no Casey troops keeping watch as the crime boss strolled leisurely down the street looking like any other homeowner on her block. All she was missing was a big happy dog.
“Use another pay phone, perhaps?” The agent sitting with Kyle watched as well so that he could radio the next post to take up surveillance once she was too far away from them.
“Let’s wait and see. Move it, Jones. We can circle the block and pick her up on St. Charles.”
Cain heard the cable van start behind her, making her laugh when no cable guy emerged from her neighbor’s house. Maybe they just throw those nice new digital boxes on your front lawn now and let you fend for yourself. She pulled the brim of her hat lower and glanced quickly down the street for their backup. She stopped at the sewer truck, thinking it was the most logical choice. It suited the way the government conducted its business concerning her family.
“Daniels, do the three of you see her?” Kyle’s voice boomed though all their headsets.
Shelby, Joe, and Anthony popped their heads up from the vast amount of paperwork spread out in front of them and barely restrained themselves from answering, “Who, sir?”
“She just turned right on the avenue, sir. We’ve got her.” Shelby scrutinized the tall woman like Kyle had, but with much different results. She wondered what it would feel like to have Cain wrap her up in that greatcoat. “She just stepped into the coffee shop. Her uncle’s waiting at a table. Maybe it’s just a social visit?”
“Jarvis Casey doesn’t have a social bone in his body, Daniels. None of these Neanderthals do. Try to remember that. No, I’m guessing a last-minute advice session before our little escapades tonight.” When Lionel Jones stopped short, Kyle lost his balance and almost smashed his head into the back door of the van. “Watch it, idiot.”
“Sorry, sir.” Lionel was praying the time would go faster so he could meet Shelby and the others before that night. After spending the day working with Kyle, he was ready to take a job as security guard at an old folks’ home if it meant never having to sit and listen to the pompous ass spout off about all the subjects he thought were interesting. The real action was happening in the other van, and he was missing it, though he was truly grateful to be one of the agents Shelby had confided in for the job none of their supervisors knew about.
*
“Cain, thanks for coming.” Jarvis stood and hugged his niece.
“What brings you out on such a nasty day?”
Jarvis watched as Cain walked toward him, removing only her hat. “Gloomy days are made to talk about love, don’t you think?”
The server came over with the two espressos he had ordered, and Cain spooned some sugar into hers as she smiled and thought of the best comeback she could. “I’ve always thought gloomy days were made for making love.”
“I remember,” said a feminine voice.
The people in the coffee shop and outside it had two radically different reactions to Emma’s comment.
“What in the holy fuck is she doing here?” Kyle screamed so loud they all yanked their headsets off. Even a woman riding her bike near the van stopped to see who had screamed the obscenity. “Get a mike trained in there now. God help her if that little farming bitch messes this up for me,” he said. He had honestly thought when they pulled out of Ross’s yard he had seen the last of the Verde family until they addressed the question of who got Hayden.
“I tell you, uncle, once is a moment of weakness for a pretty face from the past. Twice, though, is an act of stupidity, and that’s not like you.”
Jarvis’s fingers, pinching the bridge of his nose, almost drew blood. Had the woman given him even five minutes, he could have ensured a much more successful outcome. “I told her to wait until we had a chance to talk.” He raised his voice just enough to show his displeasure at having Emma go against his wishes.
“And you thought that would’ve made a difference?” Cain arched a brow at her uncle and watched the man actually blush. “What is it now, Emma? Come to make amends, have we?”
“Please, Cain, just listen to me. Once I’m done, if you tell me to go, I will, and I won’t come back. There isn’t enough forgiveness in the world for me, I know that, but I have to try and make this right.”
“Shut up, Emma. I don’t want to hear it. A pretty face and a pretty ass aren’t going to work for you this time. Granted, the last time I fell for that was eleven years ago. My libido isn’t what it used to be, so give it up. I gave you what you wanted, a chance with Hayden, and you blew it. He doesn’t want to see you again, and I’m sure as hell not going to force him to do something he’d rather eat broken glass than do.”
“I already knew that.”
“Then why waste the airfare?” She turned a little in her chair to look at the woman who had not moved closer.
“To give you back what I stole from you.”
Jarvis stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. “I didn’t know she stole from you, Cain.”
“Go home, Jarvis,” she ordered the old man, not wanting to have more of a scene than they had already, given the other customers. She didn’t need to complicate the operation that night.
“Come on, Emma.”
“No, Emma’s staying for a while,” she said.
Her tone told her uncle to just walk out and not argue. Jarvis left without another word, hoping Emma would be all right.
“I just wanted—” said Emma, only to stop when a big hand went up.
She dropped back into her chair and exhaled so loudly the women two tables over could have heard her. “Come back for round two, have you?”
“Cain, please. I just want you to listen to me. That’s all I want. I know I screwed up, but if I ever meant anything to you, I’m begging you to listen to me now.” Emma stood with her hands out to her sides, her palms up.
“Don’t you know you meant everything to me, and you threw it all away? That I opened myself up to you, and you ripped me to shreds without ever looking back? God, now you come back here and expect me to just forget all that?”
For the first time ever, Emma saw the weariness that seemed to cling to her partner. Cain looked almost defeated with her forehead resting on her palm, and she felt like someone was twisting a knife in her gut because she had made Cain feel that way.