Bobby POV

I got out of the shower with two new revelations in my brain. One, I fabricated a plausible cover story for why Alex and I were both in Richmond. And two, Mariella was going to kill Frankie. I dressed quickly and went out into the room.

"The cops confiscated the guns," I began as though Alex were in my brain with me and knew what I had been thinking about. She didn't even blink.

"Right," she said with a nod. I looked around and realized Logan was missing, but I shrugged it off when Alex encouraged me to continue.

"Okay, so the car is not being held for any official reason. Frankie could get it out of impound as soon as he's out on bail because he's the registered owner," I told her.

"So why would Mariella need peanut butter to distract the dogs if they're going to go through proper channels to get the car?" Alex concluded with a smile. So, so quick, my Eames.

"Exactly. We need to nab Frankie before she does. We need to find out specifically where those drugs are headed. Otherwise, she'll kill him to tie up the loose end, wait for tonight to take the car, and then be to New York by sunrise."

"What if he doesn't know about the drugs? He's pretty low on the totem pole. He might be dumb enough to believe it was only guns."

"He probably is that dumb, but I'd bet they still had him going to the same place."

Alex nodded again and then reached for her holstered weapon and clipped it to her waistband.

"Where's Logan?" I asked. As if on cue, Logan came into the room.

"You guys ready?"

"Where'd you go?"

"I took care of those mopes downstairs," he said with a grin.

"Took care of them?"

"Relax. I didn't shoot anybody. Let's just say they won't be following us." Logan's phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Hey babe," he answered. Carolyn. I put on my shoes and finished getting ready while Logan talked to her.

"Okay, so she doesn't think Mariella's going to kill Frankie," he said when he hung up.

"Why not? We were just talking about that. Why go through the trouble with the peanut butter if he is alive to get the car himself?" Alex asked.

"Well, for starters, the Bureau is tapping Masarro's phones."

"God, they've been listening to that man for how many years now and they can't get any dirt on him?" Alex asked. Logan rolled his eyes at her but continued.

"Anyway, Carolyn called in a favor and was able to listen in on the past twenty-four hours. No one has filled in the old man about what's going on here."

"So he doesn't know about me and Alex?"

"Doesn't look that way. Carolyn said that she researched Mariella, pulled everything she could find. The girl practically grew up at her uncle's knee. She's the heir apparent to the family business, despite their usual reluctance to have a woman for a Don."

"So she would be comfortable taking matters into her own hands when she decided to have Paulie offed," Alex said.

"And maybe that's why she's not mentioning our involvement. Maybe it's an embarrassment to her when she's trying to earn respect. So how does Frankie figure into that?" I asked.

"Mariella's got a kid, up in New York. The old man's wife is looking after her."

"And?"

"And Frankie's the father. It's going to take more than losing a few guns for her to cap her baby's daddy. Especially when the real racket is drugs."

I thought about that for a few minutes, and I realized things still made sense. The plan for the dogs was just back-up in case Frankie didn't make bail, or in case the cops didn't want to let the car go. But the new information did make me rethink my plan of attack.

"I'd love to stand around here and chat about this all day, but I think we've got an arraignment to get to," Logan said. I nodded.

"Let's pack our bags first. We might not be back."

We cleared out the room and then took the stairs down to the lobby. Logan motioned for me and Alex to wait while he took a look around. A minute later, he opened the door.

"Come on. It's all clear."

We followed him out a side door of the lobby and into the parking lot. There was a commotion around front, but I didn't stop to look. I had a feeling I knew who was behind it. We climbed into Logan's SUV and as we pulled out of the parking lot, I heard a siren. A fire truck was approaching.

"What the hell did you do, Logan?" Alex asked. She was trying to hide an amused smile, but wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"It's possible that there may have been a small fire started in the front seat of the goon squad's car," he told us with a grin. I couldn't help myself. I laughed out loud.

"How did you know which one was their car?" I asked.

"Come on, man, really? Detective here, remember?"

All seriousness was back when we approached the courthouse. Logan had shown us the file photo of Mariella De Luca. He wasn't kidding when he said she was a looker.

Alex and I slid low in our seats so as not to be overly visible to anyone watching. We didn't know where she was, but hopefully thanks to Logan, she didn't know where we were either.

"Tell me again why we didn't just turn this over to the Richmond PD?" Logan asked as he searched for a parking spot that would have an unobstructed view of the entrance.

"Because then we couldn't be sure. This way we'll know they're caught," I reasoned. And if Mariella keeps quiet like I think she will, then Alex will be out of danger.

"Okay, so what's the plan here, boss?" Logan asked. "Paulie must have described you two to Mariella. Otherwise why bother with the goons in the lobby. So I'm guessing I'm the one headed in to watch the court proceedings, right?"

"That's right. Find out if the judge sets bail for Frankie, and then send me a text. We'll stay out here and watch for Mariella, but we're going to let her bail him out if she can."

"And then what?"

"Hopefully he'll get bail so that they'll go after the car and we'll just follow them. Right now, we don't have anything on them. We need to have them get the car before we do anything."

"And then what?" Logan asked again. He was starting to frustrate me.

"And then we follow them."

"All the way to New York?"

"That's right. Then we'll find out the destination of these corridor drug runs. We'll be back in jurisdiction so we can arrest them ourselves. And it'll be a major bust, so we'll have some leverage with the brass if any of our questionable actions come to light."

"What if we're wrong about the drugs?" Alex asked, always the voice of practicality.

"We're not wrong," I replied.

"I sure as hell hope not," Logan said. Then he got out of the car and went into the courthouse.

Twenty minutes later, Mariella strolled down out of the parking garage, down the sidewalk and into the courthouse. She was even better looking in person. She was tall and model-thin with long dark hair that fell straight to her waist. She was dressed fashionably and expensively.

"She looks like she just stepped off a magazine cover," Alex said. "Gorgeous and ruthless. That's a dangerous combination."

"She's confident. She doesn't know her thugs lost track of us. Or she thinks she scared us off."

"That's good. It'll be easier to follow her if she doesn't know we're watching."

I sent Logan a quick text to give him a heads-up, although I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in hell that he would miss her. No man with a pulse would. Forty-five minutes passed before I got a text back from Logan.

"Bail is set at a million dollars," I read aloud.

"I wonder how long it'll take her to come up with a hundred grand for bond," Alex mused.

"Usually takes at least a couple of hours," I replied. But thirty minutes later, Mariella came out with Frankie in tow. She didn't look very happy with him, but she let him hug and kiss her once they were on the sidewalk.

"How in the world did a guy like that get a girl like her?" Alex asked after witnessing their display of affection.

"I have no idea," I mumbled. I continued to watch as they made their way down the sidewalk and into the parking garage. I noticed Logan wasn't far behind. Alex slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Are you wondering how a guy like you could get a girl like that?" she asked me, shaking my concentration. I took a moment to look at her, surprised by her sudden insecurity. But she certainly spent enough time building up my self-confidence, so I wasn't about to waste an opportunity to give her the words she needed as well. After all, it was the truth.

"Alex, I could spend hours listing off everything that I love about you and why I don't even look at other women in that way, but let's save that for later. Suffice it to say that I would never want her, or a woman like her."

"Why not?"

"She's not you," I replied simply with a shrug of my shoulders. I held her gaze for just another second before turning back to look at the garage. I saw Logan trotting down the ramp.

"I'm sorry, Bobby," she said, her face slightly flushed from my compliment. "I forgot I was Eames for a second there. We're not really in the place to be having that discussion, are we?"

She looked down to pull on her seatbelt as Logan hopped into the backseat, putting the brakes on our conversation.

"Black Cadi," Logan said, breathing heavily. "And good thing they decided to steam up the windows for a minute before coming out of the garage or I might not have made it."

"Only one exit, right?"

"Right."

The three of us kept our eyes on the garage and waited for the Cadillac to leave. I was turned in the passenger seat with one hand on the dash, and without looking down, I put my left hand on the seat, palm up. It only took a second before I felt Alex's hand clasp mine. She gave it a squeeze and I squeezed her back. We held for just another moment and then let go.

"There they go," Logan said from the backseat. We let them get a couple of blocks away and then Alex pulled out onto the street.

And the game was on.

TBC...