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“What can I do?” he asks.
“Tomorrow, Rose and I have to continue our search. If you have anything that belonged to Clarissa or were given anything from her, we need to see it. Maybe a box arrived in the mail or something?”
Erik shakes his head. “I can’t think of anything like that.”
“We didn’t want either of you upset. But it’s your call whether you want Penny in on this or not.”
“My wife is no dummy. She’s probably grilling Rose for information right now. Rose wouldn’t leave a brand-new shop, her dream, to come home for a visit. Chances are Penny’s already got her spilling the beans.”
“Probably.”
“We might as well go in and face the music,” he says with a wry grin. “In the morning, we’ll all start looking.”
“The hope is to find it. But just so you realize, the odds are against us. For all we know, Clarissa could have pawned the key for cash. Or it may have been stolen, seeing as she wasn’t living in the best of neighborhoods.”
He nods and gets up from his chair. I do the same and follow him inside. Erik wasn’t wrong. We walk into Rosie telling her mother the entire situation, including her shop being trashed. She leaves out the part about the body being dumped. That would have thrown both her parents over the edge, and they’re already freaked.
Penny’s the type of woman who needs to keep her hands busy, so when Rose is finished, she goes back into her kitchen. While Erik is having time with his daughter, I decide I should try my hand at calming Penny down.
“You’re banging those pots pretty hard,” I kid. Penny looks over her shoulder and opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She looks wrecked, tired and broken. I take a few steps closer and turn off the burner. I wrap a consoling arm around her shoulders and in a calming voice say, “I’m taking care of this.”
“It’s the mob, Michael. How can you take care of this?” She sounds despondent. “I’ve already lost one daughter. I can’t lose another.” She hiccups, tears on the verge of falling.
I hold her by her shoulders. “I love her. And I will not lose her. I know you don’t know the men I call my brothers, but they’re decent, solid men, and they don’t back down when one of the family is being threatened. Rose is family, and so are you and Erik. This is the way we work. Our president, Guard, he’s a force like no other. You need to believe me when I say we have the situation under control.”
“What if the key isn’t here?”
“We have a plan B.”
Penny’s lower lip trembles. “You need to look after my baby girl.”
“Until my dying breath.”
“You love her?”
“With all that I am.”
She studies my face and releases a deep breath. Then she moves around me and turns the stove back on and stirs the ground beef. “I’m making spaghetti Bolognese. It was one of your favorites.” That’s the strength of the Mariner women. They suck it up and move on. I’ve seen it time and time again with Rose and Penny.
“Still is.” I smile and get one back.
“Good. We’ll enjoy a reunion dinner, then we’ll get to searching,” she says, regaining her composure.
Beauty and resilience, something both Penny and Rose have in common.
“Whatever you say,” I tease.
TWENTY
This Can’t Be It
ROSE
Thunder insists that we spend the evening together and reminisce as a family. He says, “Tomorrow will come soon enough. Tonight is about us.” Dad agrees, and we talk into the evening about the shop, the club, and getting caught up on the family stuff my parents have been doing.
When it’s time for bed, I expect Mom to put Thunder and me in separate rooms, but both our bags are in the bedroom the farthest away from them. Thunder takes it all in stride, whereas, I have to admit, I am a little taken aback.
My parents aren’t prudes, but I thought that hearing about Thunder and me would take some getting used to. Apparently not!
