Page 11 of Romancing the Rumrunner
Tony laughed and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Yes, ma’am.”
“What are you doing here? You were just here to see me yesterday. Everything all right?”
Tony smiled and patted her hand. “Sure, Ma. Everything’s aces.”
“Hmm. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to visit, that’s all.”
Her quizzical gaze pierced him straight through. His ma could see through anyone and anything. He laughed. “Never could pull anything over on you.”
“No, you couldn’t. Don’t know why you still bother trying. Now tell me what’s going on in that head of yours that has you coming up here in the middle of the week when you should be working.”
Tony sighed and leaned forward a little more, placing his other hand over the top of hers. “Jameson stopped by my office yesterday.”
His mother’s eyebrows rose at that. “I’m guessing he didn’t come in to offer you a job.”
Tony shook his head. “Not full time, no. But they do want me to do something for them.”
“And you don’t want to do it?”
“I’m not sure.” He let go of her hands, sat back, and rubbed at his face. “They offered me more than I make in a year doing P.I. work.”
Mrs. Solomon’s wrinkled eyes widened. “They must want you pretty bad.”
“I don’t think they have any other options. They want me to get some information about a man.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard for you.”
“No,” Tony said, frowning.
“But?”
“But…they want me to get close to this man’s girl, get the information out of her.”
Mrs. Solomon patted her son’s hand. “And you don’t feel right using a woman like that.”
“If she’s part of his organization, she’s just as much of a criminal as he is and deserves to be locked up.”
“But you don’t think she is?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only met her once. She’s a bit cagey, could definitely be hiding something. She’s been mixed up with some shady characters in the past. But, there’s something about her…”
“Really?” Mrs. Solomon smiled faintly and Tony groaned.
“It’s not like that.”
She shrugged. “So you say.”
“Ma,” he warned, and she held up her hands.
“I’m not saying anything about anything.” She reached over and took his hand again. “You are a good man. I’ve never known you to do anything you didn’t feel was right.”
Tony opened his mouth to argue but she stopped him. “Everyone makes mistakes, my boy. You need to let the past lie in the past. You’ve more than made up for what happened, more than you needed to. Accidents happen; you were no more responsible than anyone else.”
“That’s not the way the department or the Bureau saw it.”
“Idiots. Every last one of them. You were the only one with any brains in that place. And the fact that they are coming to you now just proves it.”
