“It’s good for you. Calms the nerves, eases digestion. That sort of thing.”
“They teach you about tea in the military?”
“Nope,” he said. “That was all my mother.”
“Oh,” I said. “Your mother. Where does she live?”
“Passed away when I was twenty.”
I blinked. He was an orphan. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. She lived long enough to see me get chosen as a SEAL. That was a good day.”
“Do you have a lot of good memories of your mom?”
He nodded. “I do. She took care of me when my dad died.” He glanced at the clock then back at me. “What about you? What are your parents like?”
“They’re nice,” I said. “Typical parents. Dad works for a bank and my mom works for a real estate lawyer.”
“Were they supportive when their daughter wanted to become a weather girl?”
I laughed. “No, actually. Dad thought it was stupid. Mom was better, but even she was worried about me.”
“You showed them.”
I shrugged and sipped the tea again. “I guess. Mostly I just wanted them to be proud of me.”
“And are they?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Good.” He stared at me intently for a moment, like he was studying me. “We need to talk.”
My phone vibrated again but I sent it to voicemail. “Okay.”
“What does he keep saying?”
“Apologizing. Wants to meet.” I laughed ruefully. “I guess he thinks I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot,” he said seriously. “It’s good you called me.”
“Yeah. I think so, too.”
“Tell me about Tony.”
“There’s not much to say. I met him through work when his club was promoting a product on our show. He seemed nice, took me out a few times. We dated for a while before moving in. I had no clue he was involved with drugs.”
Gates nodded and I felt so stupid. How could I not see it? Tony always had nice things and was always buying me small but expensive presents. They came out of nowhere, diamond earrings, cell phones, iPods, stuff like that. I never really questioned it, since his night club was doing so well.
But how did a guy his age own a freaking night club to begin with? Tony’s parents were normal Italian people living out in Staten Island. They couldn’t offer him a loan. I never really asked him how he got involved with the club. Hell, I never really asked him anything. I never asked how he had so much money or where all that cash came from.
I was so, so stupid. I trusted him and I never should have. I could feel the tears coming on again and I had to fight them back.
Gates came around the island and put his hands on my shoulders. “Hey,” he said. “You can’t do that now. I know you’re dealing with some heavy shit, Pipes, but you need to hold it together for me. You need to tell me everything you know about this guy.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Associates, friends, family. Anybody he deals with. Where he keeps his money, where he gets his money. Anything you can think of.”
I took a deep breath, looking into Gates’s eyes. He was so competent, so in control, and I felt that relief wash over me again.
“Okay,” I said, and started talking.
The story of Tony spilled out of me. I told Gates every single detail that I could remember, every story Tony mentioned, every friend and business associate. I talked about the presents, about his expensive car, about his cash. I dredged up memories I didn’t even know I had and then some. I talked for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, until finally I was out of things to say.
Gates listened carefully the whole time, nodding once in a while. He didn’t interrupt to ask questions and he didn’t get bored. He simply watched me, nodded along, and listened.
When I was done, I felt drained. Gates put his hand on my thigh and I felt a spike of desire run up through me.
“That was good,” he said. “I’m going to have some questions for you, but we can do that later. For now, that was really good.”
“What will any of that do, though?” I asked him.
“You want to live a normal life, right?”
“Of course.”
“We need to find a way to get you out of this mess. We need to find something we can use against Tony.”
“I don’t know what that could be.”
“I’ll find it.” His eyes went dark for a second. “Or else I’ll create it.”
I didn’t know what he meant and was about to ask, but my phone started ringing again.
“Tony,” I said, and went to shut it off.
“Wait,” Gates cut in. “Answer it.”