Chapter 4

Tony emerged from the basement, intent on washing up for the Thanksgiving meal when the words former Navy SEAL had him turning toward the tiny television perched on one end of the kitchen counter. Ruby, Corinna, and his mother heard it, too. The kitchen, already filled with the aroma of roasting turkey, fell quiet as they all turned their attention to the news story.

". . . The rash of break-ins attributed to a gang of teens resulted in his death. John Staskiewicz left the Navy SEALs six years ago, returning to Fishtown, the neighborhood he grew up in." The photograph of a handsome bearded man in fatigues appeared on the upper-right side of the screen. "This is the first time the break-ins have resulted in murder. According to the autopsy, Staskiewicz was shot in the head while sleeping. Anyone with information pertaining to his death is requested to call the police. Back to you, Chris."

As the anchorman moved on to a new topic, Ruby turned three-quarters to send Tony a searching look. "Did you know him, honey?"

Tony shook his head while wiping the incredulity off his face. "No, not personally." He could have sworn, however, that he'd just seen the distinct name Staskiewicz written somewhere.

As he cast his thoughts back, the memory came to him of a return label affixed to a rectangular box that had been sitting on one corner of his commander's desk just the other day. Had to be the same Staskiewicz, and now he was dead. But if the police thought some young petty thieves had shot a trained Navy SEAL in his sleep, they were seriously misled. Tony filed away the incident to discuss with Commander Monteague later in the day.

"Food's almost ready, Antonio. Go wash." His mama shooed him out of the kitchen.

Ruby trailed him into the empty hallway. "Did you manage to fix it?"

He pictured the washing machine he'd worked on all morning while showing her the grease under his nails. "Not really. I gotta get a new part tomorrow when the stores reopen, but at least I know what's wrong. It needs a new tub bearing. Then the cylinder won't wobble like it's demon possessed."

"You're so clever." Ruby slipped her arms around him, using the embrace to whisper, "Did she say anything about her health?"

Figuring out the problem with the washer had been easy. Getting his mother to admit that her heart might be causing the fatigue she complained of wasn't. "Not really. She tried telling me she was just getting old. When I said I'd pay for her doctor visits, she went all quiet on me." Ruby didn't seem to be listening too intently. "How was the parade?"

"Amazing."

Her averted gaze revived the suspicion that she was hiding something. He searched her pretty face for clues, but she released him, going back into the kitchen to help his mama before he could ask her any more questions. With a shrug, Tony hurried upstairs to shower and change.

By the time he rejoined the women, the only table in the house, just big enough for four, had been set with a lace tablecloth and porcelain dishware brought from Puglia by Tony's grandparents. Their Thanksgiving feast was set out along the kitchen counter, buffet-style.

"Cut the turkey, Tony," Mama ordered. "It's time to eat."

Tony obliged, slicing up the turkey with a knife in bad need of sharpening. Mama led them in a blessing, and then they piled their plates with food and sat down to enjoy it.

His mother glanced critically at Ruby's plate. "That's all you're gonna eat?"

Ruby looked down at her meal and up at Tony. She had loaded up on green beans and white meat, the kind of lean foods she usually ate to keep her figure trim for the cameras.

He rushed to intervene. "She'll get seconds, Mama. Have some cranberry sauce on your meat," he suggested, passing Ruby the cut-glass relish plate.

Ruby took it with an inscrutable expression, dished up a spoonful of sauce, and plopped it next to her meat.

"Potatoes," Mama insisted, still frowning. "How're you supposed to make babies when you're so skinny?"

"Mama," Tony interjected on a warning note.

Corinna piped up, "I'll eat her portion of the potatoes. And her portion of pie, too."

"Oh no you don't." Ruby surprised them by jumping up and spooning a heaping mound of mashed potatoes onto her plate, before dousing it with gravy. Tony held his breath as she retook her seat. Was she playing games? Calling his mama's bluff?

To his surprise, she proceeded to eat every last bite of food on her plate. She even had a slice of pumpkin pie.

An hour later, they lay across his bed, too replete to do anything but take a nap. Ruby lay with her head on Tony's chest, talking on her cell phone to her sister and then to her two-and-a half-year-old nephew, Ryan, who was astonishingly verbal for a toddler.

Tony wanted to speak to his commander. "Is Monty there?"

With a curious glance at him, Ruby asked Opal if she could put her husband on the phone, and then she relinquished the call to Tony.

"Evening, sir." Tony greeted his SEAL Team Six commander with a mix of familiarity and formality. As his brother-in-law, he got to call him Monty, but never on Dam Neck Naval Annex where the team trained. "How was your Thanksgiving?"

"Great. And yours?"

"Excellent. My mama outdid herself this year."

"So did Opal. We've got my folks visiting."

"That's what I heard." He cut to the chase. "Actually, I have a question for you. Did you ever know a SEAL named John Staskiewicz?"

The silence on Monty's end supplied an answer even before his CO confirmed it. "We served in Afghanistan together. Why do you ask?"

"You know he's dead, right?"

"What?"

Tony cringed at the dismay in Monty's voice. "I'm sorry. I just heard it on the news."

"How'd he die?"

"Good question. According to the media up here, he was shot in his sleep by a gang of teens who've been breaking into houses, but you know as well as I do that's not likely." Realizing that his wife was listening avidly to their conversation, Tony transferred the cell phone to his other ear so she couldn't hear Monty's response.

"When was this?" The CO sounded more suspicious now than dismayed.

"Probably two nights ago since they already did an autopsy. I, uh, I saw his name on that box on your desk." Tony held his breath at the confession.

Monty went strangely silent. "Listen, Bambino."

Tony could hear him withdrawing to a private area of his house. Bambino had been Tony's code name in the Teams ever since he became the youngest SEAL to graduate from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.

"What I'm about to tell you stays between the two of us. Can Ruby overhear us?"

Glancing down at Ruby, Tony saw that her eyes were closed. She was pretending to doze, but, knowing her, she was straining to overhear every word. He doubted she could hear James's voice, but he thumbed down the volume, just in case. "No, sir."

"I worked with John Staskiewicz about ten years ago, as did Chief Harmony and a SEAL named Saul Wade. The four of us formed a firing squad sent to Dishu to eliminate a high-profile Taliban chief. We were working under the direction of a CIA case officer, who must have gotten his intelligence wrong because the target wasn't in the building when we hit it, just a bunch of families, mostly women and kids. One kid wouldn't stop crying and the case officer wigged out and shot him. The bullet went through the kid and killed the mother, too."

"Whoa." The visual in Tony's head sickened him. If Ruby hadn't been listening intently earlier, his reaction guaranteed she was listening now. He turned down the volume one more notch.

"The case officer then threatened to turn the tables on us if we reported him, so we made him a deal. We'd write off the incident as an accident, so long as he promised to leave the Agency. We figured that would be the end of it. Unfortunately for everyone, he went into politics, and now he's the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, Lennard Katz."

"No way." Tony let his incredulity show.

"What's more, he's on the short list to becoming our next vice president. When Staskiewicz realized Katz's political ambitions, he decided to go back on his word and write an exposé. And now you're telling me he's dead."

Tony struggled to digest that a politician determined to protect his reputation had murdered the former SEAL. "So, what are you going to do with that box, sir?" Monty hadn't said as much, but Tony guessed it contained the dead SEAL's exposé.

"Well, I could just turn it over to NCIS, but Katz has so many powerful people in his back pocket, nothing would probably come of it. I guess The Washington Post is my best route. I'll have to think about that. Anyway, thanks for telling me about John. He was a solid guy." James blew out a breath on his end. "I'm going to make some phone calls and try to find out where and when his funeral will take place. I'd like to attend it."

"Probably be up here in Fishtown where he lived. It's not far from my mother's house."

"Yeah, Stasky had a similar accent to yours."

Tony could hear the sorrow in James's voice. "I'm sorry about the news, sir."

"Thanks. It's sobering, but I appreciate you telling me. See you Monday."

"Hooyah." As Tony lowered the phone from his ear, Ruby's head popped up. He'd known she wasn't sleeping.

She propped a hand under her chin and searched his gaze avidly. "How well did James know him?"

Tony feigned ignorance. "Know who?"

"The SEAL who was killed, of course. Did they work together?"

Tony shrugged. "He said he'd worked with the guy back in Afghanistan."

"Hmm." She didn't look too surprised to hear it.

With only twenty-five hundred active-duty SEALs worldwide, most SEALs had at least heard of each other.

"But he didn't know this Stasky guy was murdered till you told him," she accurately guessed.

"Staskiewicz," Tony supplied. "It's Polish."

"Right. And Staskiewicz gave James a box? Any idea what's in it?"

Tony heaved an exasperated sigh and closed his eyes. "You know I can't talk about this."

"But this is a civilian matter because Staskiewicz retired from the Teams, and then he was killed. The only reason why you couldn't talk about his death was if it related in some way to— Oh. It is a military matter."

He opened his eyes again. "Yeah. And like I said, I can't talk about it."

"Then I'll torture you until you do talk." With a determined look on her face, Ruby delved a hand under his shirt and proceeded to tickle him.

Tony didn't so much as flinch. "You can't break me. I've been trained to resist interrogation."

"Oh yeah?" She jumped to her knees and redoubled her efforts.

Tony bore the torture for as long as he could stand it. Bursting into laughter, he grabbed her wrists, flipped her onto her back, and rolled on top of her.

"Oh." To his alarm, she blanched, then whispered, "I have to throw up."

He lifted his weight off her, watching with concern as she hung her head over the edge of the bed while covering her mouth.

"Trash can!" Tony sprang out of bed to retrieve it. By the time he shoved it under her, she was drawing deep breaths, some of her color returning.

"I'm okay now. I think I just ate too much."

He left the basket by the bed just in case, then sat next to her. "You didn't have to eat that much just to please Mama, you know."

"I know." She averted her gaze and gnawed her lower lip, making him think she might say something more on the subject of his mama's overbearing attitude. "I'd better take a nap," she declared, instead. "All that turkey made me sleepy."

"Tryptophan. You're not the only one." He crawled back over her, putting his back against the wall and pulling the blanket over them.

With a contented little sigh, Ruby snugged closer as he spooned her. "You sure you won't tell me what James said?"

Tony smiled a little. "You're relentless. Listen, I'm gonna put that new part in Mama's washer tomorrow morning, and then I think we should head home by noon to beat the traffic." Ruby stiffened in his embrace. "What, you want to stay longer?"

"I'm thinking we should go to the Staskiewicz's funeral first, if it's this weekend."

"Why? I never knew him."

"But James did. You should go to represent the Teams."

Since when had manifesting solidarity mattered to Ruby? "We'll see. What would you do tomorrow if we don't leave till Saturday or Sunday?"

"I'll take Corinna to Macy's tomorrow for their Black Friday sales. Maybe I can get all our Christmas shopping done early."

"Hmm." She'd never been one to do anything early. "Just be careful out there on the streets. Remember this city is bigger than what you're used to. You know how easily you get lost."

"Macy's is a mile and a half away, Tony, and Corinna will be with me. I can't possibly get lost."

"Well, keep your phone turned on so I can find you." The best thing he'd ever done was put Ruby on his cell phone plan. It gave him peace of mind to know he could find her anywhere with the Find My service.

"Stalker." Ruby's slurred reply was scarcely comprehensible. In the next instant, her slow, shallow breaths suggested she was sleeping.