Rock Chick Regret
Page 92

“Hangover cocktail, ibuprofen and Midol. Don’t ask, it works. They give you salve for the tattoo?” he asked.
I was staring at the pills but I looked up at him and nodded.
“Douse it before you come down, you gotta keep it moist so it doesn’t fade.” He reached beyond me, opened the medicine cabinet, rooted through it and came out with a package of new tops for an electric toothbrush. He handed them to me without a word, touched my lips with his again and he was gone.
I kept watching the door, not knowing what to feel.
After my Mom left (or, I should say, was murdered), whenever I was sick, my father sent one of our maids to take care of me. They did it because it was their job not because they cared about me.
But no one had brought me a hangover cocktail in my life.
No one.
Shakily, I sucked down the pills, pulled his electric toothbrush out of its charger, found his toothpaste and went to town on my teeth. Once done, I dug the tattoo balm out of my skirt pocket, pulled up my skirt and peeled back the bandage to salve the tattoo. While I was righting everything, I heard the doorbell ring again.
I sighed, wondering what now, wiped the goo off my hands with a towel, grabbed my mug and walked downstairs.
I stopped at the foot of the stairs.
The living room was filled with people. Detective Marker was there and so were Jet and Eddie, Indy and Lee, Hank and Roxie and Daisy and Marcus.
Someone had uncovered and moved a couch and a coffee table into the living room. There was a box of donuts opened on the table. Everyone had a mug of coffee, apparently courtesy of Jet who was holding the empty coffeepot and on her way back to the kitchen.
“Mornin’ sugar, I brought hangover donuts,” Daisy called, waving a glazed in my direction.
“How’s the tattoo?” Roxie asked, sitting by Daisy on the couch and leaning toward the donut box.
I came unstuck and walked into the room.
“It’s okay,” I answered Roxie as she pulled out a long, glazed cinnamon twist then I looked around. “What are you all doing here?”
“Eddie heard the news. We had to come up to the Highlands anyway for La Reunión so I came with him,” Jet told me on a smile then lifted the pot. “I’ll make more coffee.” And she exited the room.
“Lee heard too,” Indy said. “I came because you left your purse in the Explorer and because I’m nosy.” Then she scrunched her nose, took a bite of a powdered sugar, chocolate icing filled donut and grinned.
“Hank heard too. I thought I’d come to introduce you to Shamus, our chocolate lab. He’s out in Hank’s SUV,” Roxie added.
“Marcus heard too, I decided to bring the donuts,” Daisy finished.
That was super sweet of her, of all of them, because I knew they weren’t there because of Family Meetings, returning my purse, being nosy, wanting to introduce me to family pets or bringing donuts. They were there for me.
This felt nice. Super nice.
Though, the very thought of donuts made me queasy.
I looked at Roxie.
“Why’s Shamus in the car? Why didn’t you bring him in?”
“I didn’t know if you’d want me to but I can go get him now,” Roxie answered, her eyes lighting up.
“That’d be great,” I smiled.
Before Roxie could move, Detective Marker cleared his throat.
“Maybe you can meet the dog in a minute, Sadie. If you don’t mind, we need to talk.”
Oh darn.
I minded.
I minded loads.
But my father taught me never to procrastinate. Get things done in a timely manner and do the tough jobs first to get them out of the way.
I’d much rather meet Shamus but instead I blew out a sigh (even though it was rude) and said to Detective Marker, “All right.”
I walked into the room and sat on the arm of the couch next to Indy.
“Hector told you Harvey was found dead last night?” Detective Marker asked me.
I nodded. “What happened?”
“We don’t know, we’re investigating. It looks like poison,” Detective Marker answered.
“How could someone poison him in jail?” I asked.
“Don’t know that either, they’re lookin’ into it. You know Donny posted bond for Ricky?” Detective Marker carried on.
Indy’s hand went to my knee, she squeezed there and then her hand went away.
I took in a deep breath, weirdly fortified by Indy’s knee squeeze and nodded at Detective Marker.
“You been in contact with your father recently?” Detective Marker asked.
So, this was what this was all about.
I looked around the room and noted everyone was watching me.
The daughter of a killer, sitting in their midst.
I felt bile fill my throat and I swallowed it down.
I looked back at Detective Marker. “It can’t be him; he’s in prison.”
“Have you talked to him? Does he know what the Baluccis’ve been doin’ to you?” Detective Marker pressed gently.
“I got a call from him a few days ago. He didn’t mention it but I did,” I answered. “Not Harvey just Ricky and the rape. Still, I think he’s got a way of staying informed.”
“He didn’t say anything about Harvey or Ricky?” Detective Marker pushed.
I shook my head. “He was more concerned about why I haven’t been in touch, why I haven’t visited him. And he’d heard about Hector and me and he wasn’t happy.”
Detective Marker nodded.
“Do you think he did it?” I asked softly, trying not to think of everyone in the room and what they might be thinking of my father, of me, of what this all meant.
“Lotta folks would do Ricky, he’s not got a lot of friends. Marty and Donny, I could see them being put on hit lists, they’re not friendly guys either. Harvey was just a dumb f**k, annoying and stupid, he rubbed people the wrong way but he wasn’t a threat to anyone. Makes the list of suspects shorter,” Detective Marker told me.
“So, you think it’s my father,” I answered for him, my heart sinking.
“No, we’re lookin’ into every possibility. Including Marty, Donny and Ricky. Their brother might not have been a threat to anyone else but he f**ked up, forced your hand, put himself and Ricky behind bars. Him bein’ stupid meant he was a liability. This wasn’t the first time he f**ked up, weakened the family position. Those boys’d eat their own young; I don’t put anything past them.”
This was true, the Balducci brothers weren’t only insane. They were mean and insane. I knew that better than anyone.