AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not recently.”
“Then they worked for your boy.”
Polidori’s calm face flushed red and he leaned across the desk. “Leave Mario out of this,” he ordered, his lips barely moving beneath his neatly trimmed mustache.
“He could be in it up to his eyeballs,” Logan replied. “Rumor has it he was involved with the Danvers girl—t
he older one—a few years back. She was underage at the time—sixteen, if memory serves—when the romance went sour.”
Polidori’s nostrils flared. “My boy was in Hawaii when the little girl turned up missing.”
“Convenient.”
“He knows nothing about the kidnapping.”
“Everyone in town knows about it, Tony. It’s been in all the papers, even hit national television. I’ll even bet it made it into the news on Waikiki.” He pinned Polidori with one of his hard-ass, bad-cop stares. “The way I see it, someone just wanted to fuck Witt Danvers. So I’ve been checking into things, digging up people who have a grudge against the guy, and guess whose name keeps showing up at the top of the list?”
“I don’t need to listen to this.” Polidori reached for the phone.
“Is Mario around? I’d like to talk to him.” Logan finally felt that he had the upper hand. He reached for his drink. So he was on duty. What the hell.
“You have nothing to say to Mario.”
“I can talk to him here,” Logan said, rimming his glass with his finger. “Or I can cuff him and haul him down to the station.” He frowned thoughtfully, as if considering. “Still a lot of reporters hanging around there. Hungry guys. Looking for a story. But it’s your choice.”
“You’re a pig, Logan.”
“And you’re a liar.” He leveled his gaze at the shorter man in the expensive suit. “So what else is new?’
Polidori dropped the receiver and straightened his jacket. Logan could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. God, it felt good to make the bastard sweat a little.
“If Mario cooperates here, I probably won’t have to run him in. If not—” Logan lifted his huge shoulders and watched Polidori over the rim of his glass. The whiskey was expensive. Smooth and warm, it burned a familiar and welcome path to his stomach. “—Well, it wouldn’t look too good in the society papers if all that old trash about your son was brought up again.” He smiled into his glass. “Scandals have a way of raising their ugly heads time and time again. People in this town have long memories.”
Polidori’s eyes narrowed just a fraction. “You’ll keep this quiet?”
“I might be a pig, but I don’t lie.”
With a snort of disbelief, Polidori dropped into an oxblood chair, pressed a buzzer hidden in the drawer of his desk, and a guard appeared. After a rapid-fire exchange of Italian in which Mario’s name was repeated several times, the guard slipped away. Logan sipped his drink. Within minutes, Mario appeared in the doorway.
About twenty-six, he was taller than his father by a full head and his eyes were a lighter shade of brown. Curly dark hair, easy smile—the playboy son of the rich father. When he wasn’t racing cars, or sailing the Caribbean, Mario ran the family restaurant downtown. And he was edgy. A restless energy kept him moving. Drugs? Adrenaline? Or plain old, kick-you-in-the-gut fear?
Anthony motioned toward Logan’s chair. “You know Detective Sergeant Logan.”
“We’ve met,” Mario said, his gaze flicking toward Logan for only a second. Logan didn’t bother to get up.
“He thinks you might know something about the Danvers kidnapping.”
“In your dreams, Jack,” Mario said, resting a jean-encased hip against the edge of the desk. His foot never stopped bouncing nervously. “I was in Hawaii.”
“You know Joey Siri and Rudy Gianotti.”
“They used to work for me.”
“Doing what?”
“Whatever I asked,” Mario said with a charming smile of even white teeth. “Mainly odd jobs down at the restaurant. I fired Rudy six months ago—he was into drugs, uppers and downers. Caught him dealing and cut him loose. Joey had a fit, claimed he wouldn’t stick around if I let Rudy go. So I fired him, too.” He shoved away from the desk, moved to the window. Avoided the policeman’s gaze.
“That was it? You’ve never seen them again?” Logan finished his drink.
