Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards by Mallory Monroe

and a pair of jeans, and a sports jacket.   He looked scrumptious, she thought.   Then she looked into his eyes.   “The verdict came back this morning.”
    “What
verdict?”
    “Sal!   I told you the jurors were in deliberations
three days ago.   I was on verdict watch
when that shooting took place, remember?”
    “Oh yeah,
right.   They just reached a verdict?   It took them three days?”
    “That’s not
excessively long,” Gemma reminded.   “They
worked Saturday, but were off Sunday.”
    “So what’s
the verdict?” Sal asked.   “Did you win?”
    “I
lost.   The verdict was guilty.”
    “Ah, I’m
sorry, babe.   Was your client guilty?”
Sal asked.
    “Probably.”
    Sal was
pleased to at least hear that.   “Then
justice was served, right?”
    Gemma
nodded.   “Hopefully.”
    But Sal had
Blanche on his mind.   He cranked up.   “So what was her beef?”
    “It was a
he,” Gemma said, “and he was on trial for murder.”
    “No, I mean
your new client,” Sal said, trying not to sound too concerned.   “What’s her deal?   What did she want?”
    Gemma found
it odd that he would be that interested, but ever since that shooting he’d been
overly-protective and interested in everything she was up to.   He even followed her home from the office
Friday night and sat at the center island while she cooked their dinner.   “She wants to sue her child’s father for
child support.”
    Sal didn’t
expect to hear that.   “A paternity case?”
    Gemma looked
at him.   “Yeah.   Why?”
    “Nothing.   She just seemed too old for that.”
    Gemma
laughed.   “She’s not that old, Sal, now
come on.”   Then she looked beyond
him.   “Wait before you pull off,” she
said when she saw Barbara Jiles, her paralegal, hurry out of the building and
up to Sal’s Porsche.
    “What does
she want?” Sal asked.
    “Something
important,” Gemma said, “or she wouldn’t bother.”
    Barbara
arrived virtually out of breath.   “You forgot
to show me SARS, boss,” Barbara said as Gemma pressed down the window.
    “Oh,
right.”   Gemma looked at Sal.   “It’ll only take a couple minutes.   SARS is this new computer program we got
installed, but I need to show her how to get into it.”
    “I won’t have
a thing to do if she doesn’t show me, Mr. Gabrini,” Barbara said with a smile.
    “We wouldn’t
want that,” Sal responded dryly.
    Barbara
wanted to roll her eyes.   Even though
that lawsuit was dropped, she believed everything those workers said about
him.   He always came across as a little
racist to her.
    But she
didn’t go there with Gemma.   Not
ever.   She never mixed it up with women
about their men.   She, instead, followed
her boss back into the building so that Gemma could give her a quick tutorial.
    Sal took the
opportunity to phone Angelo Romano, his main man, about something far removed
from computer programs.   “Check on
Blanche for me,” he ordered Angelo.
    “Blanche?”
Angelo asked.   “Blanche Delilah?”
    “Who else?”
    “Why,
boss?   What’s going on with her?”
    “I just saw
her leaving my wife’s office.”
    “Damn.   Out of the blue like that?”
    “Just like
that,” Sal said.   “I need to know what
that bitch is up to.”
    “Knowing
Blanche it’s probably nothing good.”
    “Get on it,”
Sal ordered.   “There’s too many moving
parts.   There’s too many things happening
and I don’t know what the fuck is going on.   Now Blanche shows up.   Find out
what she’s up to, and find out now.”
    “I’m on it,
boss,” Angelo said.   “I’m on it.”

 
    That
evening, when Gem and Trina were in Champagne’s, their high end boutique,
hanging their new shipment of dresses on the racks, Blanche walked in and told
what she was up to.   She walked over to
Gemma, and asked if she could talk with her.
    “Here?”
Gemma asked, as she continued to hang up dresses.   Blanche was a client.   She didn’t mix one business