Page 56 of Six
Not that he hadn’t expected that, but he wasn’t looking forward to it. “I’m all yours, Doctor,” he said, leaning back in the chair and letting the fatigue that came with an adrenaline crash wash over him.
Together, Nora and Violetta went to work. Violetta concentrated on cleaning the blood off his leg while Nora focused on the wound itself. He kept his eyes closed throughout the process. It helped him keep his thoughts away from the pain. But it also helped keep his attention away from the fact that Violetta was, once again, kneeling before him.
Despite her gentle touch, pain lanced through his body as Nora poked and prodded the cut. “Internal stitches and then skin glue,” she finally pronounced.
“Not that I’m not a tough son of a bitch, but I’d love you forever if you have some numbing shots you can give me?” he asked with a grin.
Nora chuckled. “You’ve been stitched without it, I take it?”
He felt Violetta’s eyes on him as he nodded. “More times than I care to admit.”
Violetta once again muttered something in Italian. He couldn’t make it out, but whatever it was, it made Nora smile.
“Lucky for you,” Nora said, “I have everything we need.”
Twenty minutes later, Nora placed the last dab of skin glue on his thigh, sealing the wound off and bringing the two sides of his skin together. “You doing okay?” she asked, sitting back and snapping off the gloves she’d put on.
“Yep, never better,” he replied, his head resting on the back of the chair and his eyes closed again.
“Here, take these,” Violetta said. He popped his eyelids open to find her standing over him with two pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
“What are they?” he asked. He had zero interest in taking anything that would put him to sleep.
“Just ibuprofen,” she said. “Prescription strength, but nothing stronger than that.”
Gratefully, he took the pills from her and washed them down. “Any chance someone can grab my sweatpants from my bag?” he asked.
“They’re already here,” Violetta said, handing them over.
Gingerly, he rose and managed to get his sweatpants on without too much pain—the glue on his skin pulled and felt awkward, but it held.
“Devil has prescribed you some antibiotics since we have no idea where the knife has been,” Nora said as she washed her hands. “Joe and Cyn ran out to get them before you arrived. They also swung by your apartment and packed some additional clothes, since we all presumed you’d be staying here this weekend.” He raised his eyebrows at that. Nora smiled. “There isn’t a lock in the world that Cyn can’t pick,” she said, answering his unasked question.
Gavin made a note to himself about Cyn’s skill, then looked to Violetta to see how she’d react to her friends’ presumption. He honestly hadn’t planned to stay, but he certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They had a lot of work to do before they filed the suit on Monday, and not having to drive back and forth to his apartment would save some time. But it was Violetta’s house, and he didn’t know how she’d feel about having him in her space for the next several days.
To his surprise, she said nothing, just turned and walked out of the bathroom. Nora shrugged at her friend’s uncharacteristic silence and followed her out. Alone in the room, Gavin gave himself a good once-over in the mirror. He was a little pale, probably from the loss of blood and the pain, but all in all, he didn’t think he looked any the worse for wear. Leaving the bathroom, he walked to the living room, where he found Joe holding out a glass of whiskey.
“I thought you might need this,” he said.
Gratefully, Gavin took the drink, then glanced around the empty room. Joe nodded to the office, and Gavin turned around to see Devil, Nora, and Violetta all looking over Cyn’s shoulder as she typed something.
“What’s that about?” he asked, taking a sip of the excellent whiskey.
“Cyn is emailing Franklin about what’s going on. She thinks we’re going to need the FBI’s help when it comes time to bring these men down.”
Gavin frowned. “We could have gotten DePalma on several murder charges and likely conspiracy ones as well. But now that he’s dead, I think the only avenue we still have open is the alien tort claim, and that’s a civil suit against the company. Why would the FBI want to be involved?”
“Money laundering,” Joe answered. “It’s one of the many things we discovered while you were out. It appears that Shanti Joy regularly takes funds from a few shady characters and launders it through the company.”
“There are also criminal fraud and misrepresentation charges that can be brought,” Violetta said as she and the others joined them. “Devil’s family does a lot of business in the region, and she has an uncle in the security sector. He’s digging into it and thinks he can get enough evidence to argue that Shanti Joy, as a company, has perpetrated fraud and engaged in misrepresentation that meets the federal standard. You should be sitting down,” she added with a pointed look at his leg.
He fought a smile and did as she asked. “It sounds like you found out quite a bit while Violetta and I were gallivanting around. Is it time to trade notes?”
“It’s time for dinner,” Cyn said as a Violetta’s phone beeped, letting them know someone was coming up the drive. “We ordered pizza from Tucci’s. Alexander said he’d have Tommy bring it over.”
Tucci’s was the one Italian restaurant in Cos Cob. Gavin had never been there, but given that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, he was pretty sure he could eat an entire pizza—an American-sized one at that—on his own. “Who’s Tommy?” he asked as Violetta and Nora went to answer the door.
“Alexander is the owner. Tommy is his son. They don’t usually deliver, but they’ll come to Six’s house anytime,” Cyn answered. “Alexander’s family in Italy were having some problems with the local organized crime organization, and Six helped them out. If Alexander weren’t a happily married man, I’m pretty sure he would have asked Six to marry him years ago.”
