Mario - A Story - 20

“Oh hell.” Mario shot up and took out his phone. “Maria doesn’t know Jonah’s dead. I have to call her.” He dialed and waited, his free hand fisting and un-fisting as he thumped it on his thigh.

Tate moved away enough to let him have some room and listened while Mario explained everything to his sister. It was obvious from the look on his face that she was saying all the right things in reply and by the time he’d hung up he seemed a bit more relaxed. “Better?” Tate asked.

“Some, I suppose.” Mario smiled wanly. “Between you and her I might get through this. I mean, that is…” He bit his lip, a gesture Tate was quickly finding endearing.

“I’m not walking out on you. After all you did hire me to help you,” Tate said in what turned out to be a vain attempt to lighten the mood.

Mario shot Tate an angry look as he replied, “Yes I did. Well I guess you’re going to make a small fortune off me now, aren’t you?”

“Mario…” Tate grabbed his hands which were once again balled into tight fists. “I’m going to help because I want to. I was trying to make a joke, a very bad one apparently. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

“Yeah you should have. You can’t keep your feelings bottled up. All it does is give you ulcers.”

“I don’t think I’ve been keeping them bottled up. It seems to me I’ve been letting them all out and you’ve had to listen.”

Tate smiled. “Do you hear me complaining?”

“Well…no I guess not. You should be though after all the whining I’ve been doing. You should be telling me to straighten up and grow a pair. Hell I should have told myself that the first time Jonah lit into me. Then I wouldn’t be in this predicament now.”

Tate snorted. “Straighten up? That might be the last thing I want you to… Damn I must be more tired than I realize. That sounded like the worst pick-up line in the world, especially now.”

Mario actually smiled then. “It was pretty bad, even if you didn’t mean it as one.”

“Who knows, maybe subconsciously I did.”

Mario searched his face. “And maybe, when all this is over…”

“I can come up with more bad pick-up lines?”

With a small smile and a nod Mario said, “And I might even take you up on one of them.”  

“Deal,” Tate replied softly. “Now however I should get home. I want to start checking out that roommate, and the names on the list you gave me, first thing in the morning.”

“Ugh. Oh, not that, just thinking my morning starts in just a few hours. God I hope those detectives don’t show up again.”

“Quit worrying. If they do call me, I know people.”

Mario chuckled as he stood up. “Now that sounded like a bad gangster movie.”

“Did rather, didn’t it.” Tate got up as well, glanced around for his bag and when he found it he slung it over his shoulder. “Either way, call me in the morning? Just not at six-thirty.”

“I will. Thank you.” Tate unlocked the door, opened it and waited for Tate to leave.

Tate stepped past him onto the stoop then turned to brush a light kiss across his lips. “A promise for the future,” he murmured and before Mario could recover from his surprise Tate was down the stairs and heading to his car.

“Damn,” Mario whispered, touching his lips. “Just…damn.”