Flawless (New York Confidential #1)(94)

“I’m fine if he’s just locked away to rot slowly, thinking about the fact that I’m alive and well and enjoying my life,” Kieran said. She was shaking, and she felt sick. Jimmy had been a customer forever.

He’d probably been using them forever, too, learning things to help him cheat and steal—and kill.

She was glad she didn’t have a weapon, because she was afraid she would have used it, she was so angry.

She spit on him instead.

“Did you see that?” McManus demanded. “I want her charged with assault.”

“You have to be kidding,” one of the cops muttered.

“I didn’t see a thing,” the other said.

“You know what? I didn’t see anything, either,” Marty said, and he grinned down at Craig, who smiled back at him, then started trying to get up.

Kieran watched her spittle drip down Jimmy’s face, then went back over to Craig and knelt down beside him. An ambulance was coming.

She would be in it with him.

As she took his hand, she looked at the woman, who was staring angrily at McManus. “You are a moron!” she said. “If you hadn’t had such a stick up your butt about this stupid girl—”

Marty jerked her cuffs, and she cried out.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all.

“Who the hell is she?” Kieran asked Craig.

He managed to smile at her and squeeze her hand. “I believe she’s about to be an inmate at a federal prison.”

“He did it! He killed them all!” the woman cried.

“Bitch!” Jimmy said. “You were the one who wanted Maria dead!”

Detective Mayo and assistant director Eagan walked in just then, followed by a pair of EMTs, and suddenly the night was alive with people and action.

Kieran followed Craig into the ambulance, but before the doors could close, Declan put out a hand to stop them.

“Only one escort, I’m afraid,” the EMT said.

Assistant director Eagan stepped up and said, “I think we can make an exception.”

The EMT, clearly faced with a power greater than his own, gave in.

Declan climbed in and hunkered down on the floor while Kieran held Craig’s hand and the EMT checked his vitals.

The siren blared as the ambulance raced through the late-night streets.

*

The impact of the bullet had caused three fractured ribs. Other than that, he was fine, and happy to vent his annoyance at being forced to stay in the hospital overnight.

Kieran told him that he was a horrible patient, but really, it wasn’t so bad. Julie and Mary Kathleen and the Finnegan men all stayed at the hospital through the night, going from his room to Bobby O’Leary’s.

Even Mike came, and Craig was glad to have him there to field questions about the case and explain what they knew about Sylvia Mannerly and Clean Cut Office Services.

When morning came, they learned that Sylvia and Jimmy had actually met online through a dating service, of all things.

They’d discovered how much they had in common. As in a desire to pull off enough robberies to get rich enough to retire to the tropics.

They’d agreed on copycatting the original gang but going further and killing witnesses, because witnesses could get you caught.

But when Kieran had become involved and that involvement had led to the original thieves being caught, Jimmy had been convinced that she knew something, that she’d overheard something and was going to get him caught, too.

From there it had just been a short step to him deciding she had to die.

The next day, Craig was let out of the hospital, but he was, as Mike had been, forced to take medical leave.

And that meant he was free when Kieran asked him to go and see someone with her.

The someone was Tanya Lee Hampton. They met her at a small duplex in the Bronx with a little playground in front. Her two toddlers were there, and they were delighted with the presents Kieran had brought them. They talked about Tanya’s legal situation, which was looking up. Her lawyer had made a deal with the district attorney’s office; she was on probation and would do community service. But Dr. Miro had also found her a job that she could do with her children. She was going to become a secret shopper, testing out restaurants and stores that that were geared toward kids and families.

When it was time to go, Kieran and Tanya hugged tightly, and Kieran thanked her as they exchanged a speaking look.

“What was that all about?” Craig asked her as they walked back to his car.

She was thoughtful and then turned to him.

“We have to accept that sometimes we’re going to have secrets. It comes with our jobs. Like the other night. I’d never even heard of Sylvia Mannerly or whoever she really is. You can’t tell me everything all the time. And in my line of work, people have to be able to talk to me and expect confidentiality.”

He couldn’t deny the truth of what she said.

Whatever lay between the two women, he thought, it had obviously ended well, and he would let it lie.

He smiled at her. “You know, I have some time on my hands. Time I could use to do some traveling.”

“And I have a job.”

“I’ll bet you could take some time off if you wanted to.”

She laughed, and he realized just how much he loved the way her whole face brightened and her beautiful blue eyes sparkled.