Fidelity (Infidelity #5)

“Come back to my office and we’ll have some privacy,” her husband offered.

I looked around for someone else, for Jimmy or Luca. No one else was there. It was almost as if instead of a business meeting, this was simply a family gathering. For some reason, that didn’t fill me with hope.

“Thank you, Bella,” I offered. “We’ll need to see.”

Once we were behind the closed door, Vincent said, “Oren, I didn’t know you’d be here. Didn’t we discuss apron strings?”

“I asked him to join us,” Lennox volunteered. “I’m here to thank you. Sincerely. This is new to me.”

“Showing gratitude is new?”

“No, sir. Asking for help.”

Vincent smiled as he nodded. “Take off your coats and have a seat. I meant what I said. You’re Angelina’s boy. You heard Bella; we would like to get to know you. Perhaps your girlfriend too?”

With our coats draped over a chair, Lennox and I found a seat on a sofa, as Vincent settled into a plush chair that reminded me of a throne. His office was regal, fitting of his title.

“You were saying,” Vincent said to Lennox, “that asking for help is new?”

“It is. The situation was out of hand. It became even worse before… before—”

“Before Alton Fitzgerald died,” Vincent said. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you think my men helped you with that out-of-hand situation?”

I looked to Lennox and back to Vincent. Was this a trick?

“We asked,” I said. “Both of us.”

“And I told you it takes time. There’s a process. The first step is understanding the man. My men needed to know who he was.”

My pulse sped up. “Are you saying it wasn’t you?”

“Oren, I haven’t done that in many years.”

Lennox shook his head. “Sir, I came here to let you know that I’m willing to repay the debt.”

“After receiving your call, only days after the news of Fitzgerald’s death, I assumed as much. You see, Lennox, you were in Savannah when he died,” Vincent explained. “You’re family. I would never, Luca would never, our men would never, carry out a job and leave one of our own as a possible suspect.” He leaned forward. “It wasn’t on the news, but I’d imagine that the police… they questioned you? No?”

“They did,” Lennox said. “But I had an alibi.”

“You see, we wouldn’t have been able to guarantee that. You were with the girl?”

“I was. She’d been hurt. She fell earlier that day. The doctors wanted her to spend the night at the hospital. I stayed with her.”

Vincent’s round cheeks rose. “A good man.” He turned to me. “You raised a good man.”

“Thank you. I think Angelina gets most of the credit.” I still couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. “If not you… who?”

He shrugged. “I suspect the woman they have in jail? After all, the police wouldn’t make a mistake, would they?”

With the color returning to his cheeks, Lennox said, “I still asked. I’m in your debt.”

“No, you’re not. I don’t take payment for deeds uncommitted. You and I are even, Lennox. I only ask that you call me more. Get to know Luca again. Maybe bring your girlfriend to dinner? We’d like to meet her.” He turned to me. “There is something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you.”

“Your men,” I volunteered. “Thank you for their time.”

“They brought me something,” he said, standing.

We waited as Vincent waddled over to his desk and came back with a Ziploc bag containing what appeared to be a burner phone.

I reached out, holding the corner of the bag. “What is this?”

“It’s a phone my men found as they escorted someone away from your property.”

The phone was small, black, a standard-issue flip phone. “Do they know who the man was?”

“A scum. A leech. The kind with no loyalty.”

“Did you see what was on here?” I asked. “Did you get any information?”

“A little from the phone. More from the man once my men helped him find his voice.”

“Who did he work for?” Lennox asked.

“A man who will never bother you or your girl again.” He turned to me. “I once heard him described as an abusive fuck.”

Dread connected the pieces of the puzzle. “Fitzgerald. You’re sure?”

“He had Alexandria followed. The man had been doing it for over six months. Have your people look. That phone is full of text messages. Cryptic at best. Luckily my men can be persuasive.”

“That’s how they knew where she was,” Lennox said. “My people figured that Fitzgerald had tracked her phone, but then discovered the phone’s locator was off. We’d scoured our own people, but everyone in our loop came up clean.”

Vincent nodded. “He’s no longer a problem, the man or the one who hired him.”

“How can I thank you?” Lennox asked.

“Dinner. Let us meet your new love.”

“Yes.”