17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Leigh

L eigh had no idea what he was doing when he stepped out from behind the beam hiding him and Tolly from view. All he knew was that if he didn't make his presence known right that second, they were going to kill a fourteen-year-old kid.

"No wonder you have so many holes in your organization," Leigh said as he descended the stairs, causing every head to turn—and every gun to point at him. He was packing tonight, too, he wasn't stupid, but taking it out now would be. "You're relying on these two to do your dirty work, Vinny, and for what? A kid you can't muzzle? Sweeney's laughing all the way to the bank over this one, trust me. And I'd say he'll be here in about…." Leigh smugly looked at his watch. "Two minutes."

At least Leigh was a good liar, but he couldn't be sure if Moretti bought it. Everyone else looked like they might—except Ralph, who only looked terrified and was crying. They must have grabbed him from home. Leigh should have known they wouldn't let him out easy.

"Hurley," Moretti said with a sneer, lowering his weapon though all five of the others remained aimed. He might as well have been a clone of his younger brother, just in a nicer suit. "You're sticking your nose everywhere lately, aren't you? I don't know what you did to our guys the other day, but they couldn't even remember going to see you. Came limping back all dazed and bloody."

It was different men with Moretti tonight. He probably hadn't been happy with the other three for failing to take Leigh out.

"How'd you get out of the river anyway?" Moretti asked. "Leo was pretty confident he'd offed you. A regular Houdini act? Or did you have help?"

"He's got this cute young bodyguard hanging around," Rosa spoke up, less nervous looking than some but with a sharp eye moving about the room. "Maybe it was him."

"Please," Jake scoffed, "that pretty boy's just around to keep Hurley's bed warm."

Tolly hadn't come down the stairs. He was staying hidden—or so Leigh thought until he saw shadows moving behind the others as if someone had snuck around the second floor and dropped down without a sound.

Leigh couldn't give away what he'd seen. He had no idea how to fix the situation, since Sweeney was not coming and neither were the detectives, but it would have been too risky to call them with Ralph in the crossfire. If Tolly could even the odds, though….

"Don't you believe in fairy tales?" Leigh held his ground, feigning confidence he didn't feel to put Ralph at ease. "I grew gills and swam back to shore. Happens all the time."

Moretti cleared his throat, and the goons with him squared their guns on Leigh more seriously. "I'm gonna need a bit more than that, coz I don't think Sweeney knows a thing or you'd have brought more backup."

Tolly crept up on the largest goon first; Leigh could clearly see him now and took a steadying breath.

"Who says I didn't?"

The goon howled as Tolly struck him in the back, everyone spinning in surprise, but Tolly had more than a large enough shield in the man. He snapped his arm back, relieving him of his gun, and kicked him forward into the next goon, who he charged before anyone could react. Kicking the second goon in the face as he stumbled from the first man falling on him, Tolly snatched up one of the downed guns and seized Moretti by the front of his suit, spinning him around to press the muzzle of the gun to his temple—all in the span of about ten seconds.

The final goon stared dumbstruck at his fellows moaning on the ground, one with a broken arm, another with his head nearly cracked open from that kick. Jake faltered just the same, realizing Leigh's backup was indeed the pretty face he'd dismissed, but Rosa scanned the room again, working on a plan, Leigh could tell, so he pulled his gun finally and pointed it at her. Much as he had never thought he wanted a partner, he couldn't deny the logic in Sweeney's mandate for pairs.

"I don't believe all of you have met Mr. Allen. Trust me, Jake, I don't need more than just him and me to take you all out, so maybe we need to have a firmer discussion about the easy and hard way this might go down."

Ralph backed away, drawing the attention of the remaining goon. This could all unravel too quickly. Were there too many people for Tolly to sing? Could he not risk it with Leigh and Ralph there? Did Leigh even want him to?

He wasn't sure, but they couldn't take the chance of anyone finding out what Tolly was. He knew the hardness in Tolly's eyes was a front, but he also knew that if Leigh asked him, he'd pull the trigger and take Moretti out on his behalf, and Leigh didn't want that.

"Sweeney had a special mission for me," Leigh lied with that same confidence. "Wanna guess what it was?"

"He knows we've been playing him," Rosa surmised with her quick eyes and mind spinning like a top.

"There's still more of us than there are of them," Jake growled.

"Not if Sweeney knows." She turned to point her gun at Moretti—"I told you this was a stupid idea."—and shot him in the head.

Everything stilled, time frozen like a picture, until Tolly released Moretti's body and he dropped, dead weight, to the floor.

Rosa turned her gun on Jake, allowing Leigh to point his gun at the final goon. Tolly eyed the two on the ground, but neither had any intention of causing trouble, so he hurried to Ralph, who was staring wide-eyed at Moretti's body like he couldn't look away.

Tolly made him look away by tucking him against his shoulder, and the last goon threw his gun on the floor.

"Rosa—" Jake tried.

"Call Sweeney if he's not already on his way," she said to Leigh. "He wanted you to off Vinny. Now you have. I'll take your side if you take mine. It was all Jake. I played double agent. I was loyal. Deal?"

"You bitch ."

"Right back at ya, baby." She winked at Jake. "Is it a deal?"

Leigh couldn't think. He could barely keep his hand from shaking.

"We did this to get away from Sweeney!" Jake cried.

"And how do you think that's gonna play out if he's caught us? Well, you'll find out. Hurley, is it a deal or not?"

Tolly cast him a plaintive look as if to ask, Are you sure?

Leigh could call the detectives now, couldn't he? Could he? It was such a mess with Ralph there and a body. He didn't know what to do.

So, he said, "Deal," and called Sweeney instead.

He was glad Alvin wasn't with them when they arrived, but Sweeney came himself with Mark and Selene and some grunts for cleanup. They took the goons and Jake away. Jake was swearing up a storm at Rosa, but Leigh played along that he'd planned this with her help and he'd been the one to shoot Moretti, even if he was in a daze through it all while Tolly continued to hold Ralph.

"Aww, does the youngen need a pick-me-up?" Sweeney headed their direction, but Leigh grabbed his arm to stop him.

"No flowers tonight, boss. Let me take Ralph home."

Sweeney wasn't often sensible minded, but he rewarded a job well done. "We'll talk tomorrow. You did good. You too, As You Like It !" he called to Rosa. "As for Ralphy-boy…."

"He's done," Leigh said. "Figured helping you with Moretti would keep you off his back as he's getting older on the streets. He's no runner. He doesn't want to be. He's just a kid."

The next generation was important for people like Sweeney, starting loyalty young, having a stock of dispensable grunts to choose from as others got caught or killed, but Leigh was the hero tonight—even if it was nothing but a lie—and everyone with him was included.

"Pity," Sweeney said, "but well earned. You need a favor any time, kiddo, you say the word!"

Ralph barely mustered a shaky nod, not once having slipped from Tolly's side.

Then they were free, while feeling like the furthest thing from it.

Walking back to the apartment, Ralph had never been so quiet in all the time Leigh had known him. It wasn't all that late by the time they reached home, but his parents wouldn't be in until closer to 3:00 a.m.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" he asked numbly.

"Leave a note so your folks don't worry," Leigh said. "I'll get some extra bedding."

He was surprised by how quickly Ralph fell asleep on the sofa, though the amount of time he'd spent in the bathroom retching into the toilet might have helped. Leigh placed an extra blanket over him just in case before going to bed with Tolly.

Half of him wanted to throw up too. All these years, he'd never seen someone die right in front of him, had always managed to avoid getting his hands that kind of dirty.

Were they dirty now? Was he culpable? What else could he have done?

"What are you going to tell the detectives?" Tolly asked as they lay in bed, side by side but staring at the ceiling.

"I don't know. It might have gotten so much bloodier if I'd called them. With Ralph there…."

"You did the right thing."

"Did I?"

Tolly's hand moved beneath the covers to find his. "I am glad you were not the one to kill him. Tonight, instead, you did everything in your power to save someone."

Only Tolly would see it that way, but the sentiment made Leigh's eyes feel hot. "You sure you made the right call saving me ?"

"Every moment I am with you," Tolly said with an honest smile.

Leigh let him snuggle close that night, though it took a long time before they fell asleep.

It was déjà vu the next morning when a knock at the door woke them.

Instantly, Leigh was up and panicking, wondering if it was Moretti's side or Sweeney having learned the truth and not being happy about it, but the real owner of that heavy knock was worse once Leigh looked through his peephole to see Perez banging on his door.

They'd found Vincent's body. That would have been on purpose, a message from Sweeney without any way to point fingers. They wouldn't find Jake's.

"Where were you between the hours of ten and midnight last night?" Perez asked when Leigh let him inside. Tolly stood back in hurriedly donned sweats, while Ralph sat on the sofa, still bundled in blankets.

"Here," Leigh said. "They can both vouch for that. We were all here, right?"

Tolly and Ralph both nodded.

"The hell you pullin', Hurley?" Perez snarled. "You said—"

"You said you'd trust me," Leigh hissed at him quietly. "Give me more time."

"Someone's dead ."

"You mourning Vinny Moretti? I'll give you the killer, but I need time to make sure nothing else blows up in my face. Please." He pulled Perez back closer to the door, speaking as quietly as possible. "They were gonna kill Ralph. I had to think fast. Give me a little more time to sort this out."

Perez was a good man. Rough and not easy to get to know, but he meant well, and he did care about the kids in this neighborhood getting caught up with warring mobsters. "You realize that was near enough to a confession?"

"It wasn't me who pulled the trigger."

Deep scrutiny stared back at Leigh, but in the end, Perez sighed. "I got nothing real to bring you in on, but it wouldn't take much for that to change. Clock's ticking, Hurley. Don't let me down again."

It felt like a clock had been ticking since Leigh dropped into the river. He had no idea how to fix this, but at least he'd bought himself a little more time.

"Take a sick day," he said to Ralph. "Spend time with your folks. Veg on the couch."

"But I—"

"I'll keep you updated, but I don't want you giving anyone any more excuses to pull you back in. Got it?"

"Okay. It's really not the worst thing, right?"

"What?"

"That he's dead. He was a bad guy. And… he was gonna kill me, wasn't he?"

Leigh saw a lot of nightmares in Ralph's future. He wished he knew how to soothe them. "Sick day. Netflix and comfort food, got it?"

"I got it," Ralph said quietly, then thanked Tolly with a swift hug before he slipped out the door to head home.