The Cain Casey Series

Chapter Forty-Four

“What’s going on now?” Joe telephoned to ask Shelby. He and Lionel were helping to canvass the Bracato brothers and babysit Anthony. Because Cain had become a virtual saint overnight, Agent Hicks had cut them loose from tailing her.

Shelby laughed along with Claire at the sheer boredom that faced them if their day continued on the same slow scale. “We’re sitting outside the clinic and guessing Cain’s just finished one more follow-up visit, since Merrick and Lou are back down here. I doubt they’ll be deserting their charges in broad daylight.” Running off a couple of eager security guards and an overzealous meter maid had provided their only excitement so far. “How’s it going on your end?”

“Lionel’s thinking of shooting Agent Surly if he makes one more snide comment, and we both agree the grim brothers four can give lessons on how to drop off the face of the planet.” Joe stepped out of a café some of the agents assigned to the Bracatos said Gino liked to frequent and looked for the car the three of them were in. “Why do I feel we’re always two steps behind these guys with no hope of catching up?”

“Because we’re always two steps behind these people with no hope of catching up,” Shelby said, making him laugh. A knock on the back door of the van cut short her razzing. “Joe, let me call you right back. If it’s that woman again, I may shoot her this time instead of showing her my ID.”

“Shelby, heads up. Our targets are mobile again,” Claire said.

Shelby was so busy watching Cain and Emma that it took her a while to realize Merrick had walked up to the van.

“I see our company isn’t the meter maid,” Shelby said. She was seriously considering ignoring the knock, but Merrick and Lou weren’t moving.

Merrick merely smiled as the back door cracked open. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything, but I come bearing gifts.” She held up two cups of coffee but didn’t try to come closer and peek in. “My boss thought a nice warm drink might make all these boring hours pass faster.”

“Make sure and thank Cain on our behalf.”

“Actually, Cain would let you rot out here, but I’ll tell Mrs. Casey you appreciate her thoughtfulness.” Merrick had begun to head back across the street when she snapped her fingers as if she’d forgotten something. “She also wanted me to inform you she was going shopping again and there was a great sale on suits, if you were interested. In case you lose us, we’ll be in the designer section.”

“Thanks.” Shelby made sure the sarcasm was hard to miss. “Tell her no one likes a smart-ass,” she added in a whisper.

It wasn’t soft enough, she realized, when Merrick laughed and shook her head.

“Then perhaps you should ask to be reassigned. Smart-ass seems to be her specialty.” With that, she walked back to her waiting car.

As pissed as Merrick had been when she was first assigned to Emma, she was starting to enjoy her company. Cain, she’d found through the years, had a wicked sense of humor, but after only a few weeks she was finding that Emma rivaled her.

“What, they aren’t coffee drinkers?” Emma laughed at Merrick’s still-shaking head.

“More like they’re still in shock that they’ve run across someone who actually likes to mess with them more than Cain does.” They all looked at the van, which had an electric company name on the side. “After all, you’re not supposed to notice them because of the convincing camouflage.”

“Kind of hard to miss a big-ass electric truck following you around all day. They’d be less conspicuous if they rode around on a huge pink elephant playing a couple of banjos.” Emma waved one last time before accepting Cain’s help into the car.

Even if the FBI was monitoring her every movement, Emma felt too good to be upset about it. A majority of the prayers she’d uttered in the quiet of the Wisconsin nights while she’d been apart from Cain had been answered in the last hour, and nothing was going to ruin that for her.

“Keep this up and your file may be thicker than mine,” Cain said, once the door closed.

“I’m bad, but I’m not that bad, lover.”

The car headed back downtown since Cain hadn’t planned on separating from her partner that day. Even though Emma was going to the mall for a final fitting of her new outfit for the club opening, Cain had vowed to tag along.

“You’re sure you want to watch me try on clothes?”

“I’m more looking forward to you stripping down for me, but I’ll live. Everything for tonight is done, so I freed up my day. Just call me the official bag carrier.”

“You do a good enough job, and I might hire you on a permanent basis.” Emma leaned in closer and ran her index finger down Cain’s chest. “But if you come with me, I won’t be able to surprise you later on tonight.”

“Then how about if I sit outside with the help and admire you from afar?”

Emma trailed her finger back up and was delighted with the shiver it caused. “Just as long as you’re not too far away.”

They both had to laugh at the gagging noises coming from Merrick in the front seat.

“Enough from the peanut gallery, thank you.”

“I’m just thinking.” Emma looked at Cain. “Any more of this, and you’ll have to retire and become a florist or something equally romantic. At least those guys might leave you alone if they hear you spitting out all this mush.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling them all these years, but no one ever pays attention to me. I’m just a big mushball.” Cain kissed the tip of Emma’s nose.

At the mall Emma headed into the dressing room with Kevin leading the way after she introduced him to Cain.

Shelby and Claire stood outside close to the elevators, sipping the last of their cappuccinos and trying to blend in with the other shoppers as best they could, envious when they saw Cain hand Kevin an invitation to the opening of the club that night.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you and Ralph there tonight, Kevin,” Cain said, putting her hand on his shoulder after handing him the envelope. “Any man who’s that talented in choosing lingerie should be rewarded.”

“Judging from Emma’s comments about you all these years, I didn’t think you’d disapprove.”

“You definitely thought right.”

The day had been so boring up till now, especially listening in on this drivel, that Shelby was almost tempted to leave, but she figured Cain would use the opportunity to pull off a major hit while they were out helping Joe and the others.

“Still watching the world pass you by, eh, Agent Phillips?”

The voice caught Shelby so off guard, she almost dropped her cup over the railing. “I’m thinking about retiring if one more person sneaks up on me today.” Trusting Claire to keep things under control, Shelby focused on the subject of more than one thought over the weeks. “How’ve you been, Muriel?”

“Busy, actually.” Muriel looked at where Claire was staring and laughed at Cain, who was making a face at her and crossing her eyes. “I’d ask what you’ve been up to, but I can see things haven’t changed much.”

“It’s a job.”

“I’m sure it is.” Muriel opened her mouth as if to add something, but just as quickly she clicked it shut. “I’ll let you get back to it, since it looks rather riveting. With any luck Cain’ll start some sort of illegal cock fighting in designer shoes just for kicks. If not, I don’t want to think what a waste of my tax dollars this is.”

“Muriel, please wait.”

Shelby’s request stopped Muriel before she got too far away.

“It’s my job. You may not like it, and you can play stupid and not try to understand it, but it’s my job.”

“Why do you care how I feel about it one way or another?”

“Because I thought we were becoming friends.” Shelby eased closer, glad that Claire acted as if nothing was happening.

“I thought so too. Then something reminded me of the enormous gulf between us. As much as I’d like to, I think that gulf is too wide to breach.”

She pointed to Cain. “In the end it’s like you said—it’s a job to you, but to me, it’s my family. My loyalty is to her and my name.”

“Even if that loyalty sinks you, Counselor?”

“Shelby, a word of advice.”

Muriel’s demeanor changed as her voice lowered, making Shelby understand she’d overstepped her bounds.

“Never speak of things you can’t fathom. One of my greatest possessions is a book of family history that goes back generations. It teaches that the Casey clan, for as much as you have watched us, is exactly that to you—unfathomable. We have survived for hundreds of years because we know no other way than to be loyal to our own. So to answer your question, yes, my loyalty is hers even if it sinks me.”

The rebuke was quiet but scathing, yet for some reason it impressed Shelby and clarified something about Cain and Emma’s relationship. No matter how many Barney Kyles came into Emma’s life, she would never again betray her loyalty to Cain, because that loyalty undergirded their relationship.

“I wonder what belonging to something like that feels like.”

“Did you say something?” Claire asked.

“Nothing important.” Shelby took her post at the center railing and watched not Cain, but the cousin who’d joined her. “Think we can finagle one of those invitations for tonight?”

“It’s worth a shot, because something tells me tonight will be exciting only if we’re in the middle of the action.”