Page 60 of Volatile Vice
“Mr. P—my boss…”
“Yeah?”
“He’s… He’s…uh…dead.”
The phone falls from my hand and lands on the carpeted hallway with a soft thud. I pick it back up quickly. “Oh my God, CJ. What’s going on?”
I haven’t told CJ about the dead lawyer in my bed. They couldn’t possibly be related, could they?
“When did it happen?”
“The forensic team thinks it happened sometime Friday night.”
My blood runs cold. Friday night is when Brick Latham was killed. Murdered, and then placed in my bed.
My mind races. This is all way too much of a coincidence…
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah. He was in Houston on business. The maids found him dead in his hotel room Saturday morning. But like I said, the forensics team thinks the time of death was sometime Friday evening.”
“Does this mean you’re out of a job, CJ?”
“Not necessarily. I don’t know yet. Mrs. Puzo is busy taking care of the details, of course, and the girls… Well, they know their father’s dead. But they weren’t very close to him, hardly ever saw him. I’ve been spending a lot of time with them, trying to get them to understand what’s going on, but without upsetting them.”
“Isn’t that what their mother should be doing?”
CJ scoffs through the phone. “In a perfect world, yes. But she’s such a socialite. Not even the death of her husband can disrupt her schedule. She’s not really their mother. In name only, if you know what I mean. She barely knows them.”
I don’t know what CJ means. My parents were hands-on. They taught me everything I know about ranch work, homemaking, and how to be a good person.
“So anyway, what’s going on with you? Why did you have to cancel?”
“You’re not even going to believe this,” I say. “But do you remember that date I had with that lawyer?”
“Yeah.”
“I ended up canceling it at the last minute, because I was with?—”
“You were with Vincent Gallo.”
I nearly drop the phone again. “I…”
Her voice gets playful again. The CJ I remember. “Don’t try to deny it, Ray. I saw the sizzling chemistry between you when he showed up at the Puzos’ home. I knew you had sex. And who could blame you? The man’s a stud.”
God. Vinnie. The Puzos’ home. He was there, asking to see CJ’s boss. He had no idea I would be there.
Is he behind Mr. Puzo’s death?
Oh God…
“Ray? You there?”
I quickly gather my wits. “Yes, I’m here. And yes, there was something between Vinnie and me, but no longer. The point is that I broke the date with the lawyer, but he didn’t get my text in time and he ended up at our house.”
“Oh, talk about awkward.”
“It was way more than awkward, Ceej. He…” I gulp back the nausea that threatens to erupt out of my throat. “Someone killed him, CJ. Someone killed him.”