Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“I’ll give them my cellphone number,” Marina said. She set down her drink. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go and have a nap before dinner.” She rose and went upstairs.

“So, how was your day?” Holly asked Grant.

“Okay,” he replied. “And yours?”

“Less than okay. I’m getting the distinct impression that Harry is holding out on me again.”

Grant looked uncomfortable but didn’t say anything.

“He and I supposedly had an agreement to share information,” she said, “and it’s not happening. I tried to talk to him about the background check on Pio Pellegrino, and he cut me off and hung up.”

Grant stared at the ceiling and sighed.

“What?”

“I’m trying to think of a way you could have found this out, other than from me.”

“Find what out?”

“You’re going to have to keep this to yourself, Holly; if Harry should find out . . .”

“Grant, what are you talking about?”

“Pio Pellegrino’s real name is Pietro Falcone; his father kept his old name, Ignacio. He was known in New York as Iggy the Finger.”

“Iggy the Finger? That’s colorful. What does it mean?”

“If Iggy wanted a guy taken out, he would point his finger at him and wiggle his thumb, like the hammer on a gun. He always smiled when he did it, but the guy who got the finger got dead.”

“Why did they change their names?”

“Iggy was high up in the New York mob, one of three or four top guys. He got off on a murder rap about four years ago and just faded into the wallpaper. We finally stopped tapping his phones, it got so boring. Then he just dropped off the map.”

“What about Pio?”

“His daddy’s boy. He had a clean sheet, but he was a main go-between for the old man. They disappeared together. A year or so later, Pietro opens the restaurant in Miami, and he has a success. Nobody made him and the old man for a while, and when we did, we figured they were retired.”

“And how long has Harry known about this?”

“From the beginning.”

Holly felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. “You mean, he knew who Pio and the old man were before I told him about them?”

“Yes.”

“That miserable son of a bitch. Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“I guess it’s just Harry’s natural reticence,” Grant said.

“Well, it’s obvious from the connection with Trini Rodriguez and the hiring of Carlos Alvarez that they’re both into something,” she said.

“Well, yeah.”

“Does Harry know what it is?”

“Not really.”

“Do you?”