Page 51 of Romancing the Rumrunner
Tony took a deep breath. “Russo has been sniffing around.”
Jameson gave a low whistle. “Mario Russo? Where did you run into him? The shop?”
“No.”
Jameson glowered at Tony. “Sit. Now.”
Tony slowly sat down, gritting his teeth hard enough to chip a tooth. He didn’t know the best course of action to take and being at a loss was not something he was used to. The more he’d gotten to know Jessie, the less he’d considered her a threat. Hell, the woman practically fainted before every performance. There was no way she was a hardened criminal. And he’d been almost convinced enough to tell Jameson so.
Until he saw her getting up close and personal with one of Willie’s main guys.
Now, what he thought he knew had gone all to hell and the last person he wanted in his face saying, “I told you so,” was Jameson.
Jameson sat behind his desk and leaned forward, linking his hands together. “Where did you see Mario Russo?”
Tony sucked in a breath through his nose. Unless he flat-out lied to Jameson, he wasn’t going to be able to get away with keeping Jessie out of this. And he wasn’t even sure he should.
“Solomon, we have worked too hard and spent too much damn money on this case to come up empty now. I swear to God if you don’t start squawkin’ and spill everything you’ve found out about that woman and who she works for, I’ll personally make sure you never investigate anything more important than a lost poodle again. Your career will be over. You understand me?”
Tony glared, his jaw aching from clenching it so tight. But he jerked his head in a semblance of a nod.
“Now, let’s try this again. Where did you see Mario Russo?”
What he was about to say made him physically ill. But he didn’t have a choice. And the way things were looking, Jessie probably deserved to be turned over. He’d known from the start she was hiding something. He just never imagined how far her subterfuge might go.
“I saw him meeting with Jessie in her shop last night.”
The delight that lit up Jameson’s face sent a rush of fury through Tony so hot that he had to grip the arms of his chair to keep from wrapping his hands around Jameson’s throat.
“Finally!” Jameson slammed his hands down on the table. “We’ve got her.”
“We don’t have anything. We’ve got a guy walking into a butcher shop and then walking back out ten minutes later. Hardly damning evidence. We have no idea what they were discussing.”
“Then you need to find out. You and I both know that a man like Russo isn’t going to be out running his own errands. If he was there visiting your little skirt, then it was pure business and I guarantee it wasn’t legal.”
“He might have been threatening her.”
“So what if he was?”
Tony’s face must have betrayed his rising fury because Jameson actually sat back in his chair.
“For all we know they never split up. Or maybe he wants her back. What difference does it make? Unless you have any hard evidence that her life is in danger, we aren’t going to make a move and risk blowing everything we’ve set up here. I don’t know what the hell you’ve got going on with that dame,” he said, “but you were paid to find out the dirt. If your methods have bitten you in the ass, that’s your own fault and you can just deal with it. But mark my words, if you keep any pertinent information from me that will impede this investigation, I’ll not only have your career, I’ll throw your damn ass behind bars.”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“Good. Because I stuck my neck out for you to get you this gig. The last thing either of us needs is for this to turn into another Lucille situation. Got it?”
The mention of Lucille was like a bucket of ice water being dumped on Tony’s head. Hewasdefending Jessie the same way he’d done with Lucille. And look where that had gotten him. At least with Lucille he hadn’t had any hard evidence. He couldn’t say the same about Jessie. What he had might be speculative and circumstantial, but it was certainly enough to prove something was going on. Yet here he was, caught in the same trap.
He rubbed his hand over his face, wishing he’d never agreed to this damn job. What the hell was the right thing to do? He didn’t want to lean too far in the other direction and ruin Jessie’s life if there was really nothing going on.
No, maybe he didn’t need to hand over everything he had on Jessie just yet. But he could give Jameson something. Until he found out the truth about Jessie.
“As I was saying,” Jameson continued, “if she was being threatened by him that just proves that she’s dirty. Willie’s men don’t go around threatening innocent women. If Russo is in there leaning on her, then there is a reason for it, don’t you think?”
Tony nodded. He hated to admit it, but Jameson had a point.
“She didn’t look like she was being threatened,” he said. “In fact, they looked…friendly.”
