Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont wasn't quite sure how to handle the request from the priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. The priest had specially asked for Joe LaFiamma. It wasn't an undercover job, more like a moonlighting job. And moonlighting jobs were frowned upon. She couldn't go to the Chief with this, or could she? As she recalled, he had a daughter that lived in that parish.
On her way back to her office, Beaumont mused silently to herself about her very short, very to the point meeting with the Chief. "Yes, LaFiamma would be perfect for the job. He's Catholic. He grew up with punks like this. Present it to him, and don't take no for an answer."
LaFiamma had the day off, so when she returned to her office she called him and left a message, telling him she would be stopping by to talk with him. She arrived at Joe's apartment later than planned. She presumed the man who answered the door was Joe, and she was halfway through her spiel when a voice from above said, "Be down in a minute, Lieutenant."
Joanne Beaumont stared at Tony Angelo LaFiamma. He grinned, and replied, "Sorry, I should have told you I wasn't Joe. Happens all the time at home. No one can tell us apart."
"Lieutenant. This is my cousin Tony from New York; he's here for the weekend. We were just on our way to pick up Father Mike at Our Lady and go to dinner, you're welcome to come along if you like." Joey said picking up his jacket that lay across one of the kitchen bar stools.
"You know Father Mike?" The brunette questioned.
"Oh yeah," Tony responded with a grin, "he was a ... with a church we went to as kids."
"Guess that explains why he asked for you then," Joanne replied looking from one to the other.
"Asked for me? What do you mean?" Joey asked slipping the lightweight gray jacket over his muscular frame.
"Father Mike came to the office this morning. He needs a part-time youth director of sorts to work with some gang members that are harassing older members. The Chief has given the go-ahead for you to do it. It would start tomorrow night." She watched Joey's reaction and was surprised with what happened next.
Joe: It's your turn. I did this before.
Tony: I did it last time remember - St. Timothy's.
Joe: Then it's still fresh.
Tony: I don't live here remember.
Joe: Damn.
"Joe?" Beaumont asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I'll do it Lieutenant. I'll talk to Father Mike about it tonight. You're going to have to make up something for Lundy though. Sometimes he wants to engage in investigative work on the weekends."
-----
It was one of those soggy, misty August morning, in Houston, that LaFiamma hated; when the humidity was so high it might as well be raining. For a change he had worn his black muscle shirt under a little weight shirt that he sometimes wore as a jacket. He and Lundy had been cruising for an hour, not really driving anyway, when the microphone on the dash barked, "9214!" The sharpness of the dispatcher's voice brought them both out of a mid-morning stupor.
Reaching for the mike, Lundy lazily answered, "9214."
"LaFiamma with you?" The voice on the other end asked.
"'Course!" Came Levon's rough answer, wondering why the woman thought his partner would be anywhere else.
"We sent McCandless and Guiterrez to a disturbance at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church about an hour ago. Beaumont wants you and LaFiamma to follow up on the call."
"Ain't they got other officers closer? We're...."
Before Lundy could finish LaFiamma bent sideways and barked, "Yea, we'll take it."
"What do you mean, we'll take it? We ain't even near there!" The once sleepy now hostile blond shot back.
The Italian quietly glared at his Texas partner. "Because I know the church, Lundy. Now turn around!"
"Yea - and what? You ain't been inside a church since you got here?" No sooner were the words out of his mouth, and then Levon saw a shadow fall across Joe's face.
"You don't know anything about me, Lundy. You go home to your little ranch on the weekends and hibernate with your horse. Me, I do other things. And Saturday night church is one of them."
"Golfer's church! You go to golfer's church?" The blond cackled as he weaved between traffic.
LaFiamma fumed silently. Only Father Michael and a couple of church members knew that the newly recruited part-time youth director at Our Lady was a cop. And of course, his lady boss, Lieutenant Joanne Beaumont. Which is why, Joe figured, the call came to them in the first place.
"Hey! Pull in the side here, not the front." Joey said as they approached the big Old Catholic church.
"Like you knew!" Came the growled response.
"Just DO IT, cowboy!" The sharpness of LaFiamma's tone startled Lundy and he silently obeyed, pulling the Jimmy under a shade tree out of the hot Texas sun.
"Now what, hotshot?" Levon blasted indigently.
"Now ... you get out of the Jimmy and walk around back ... ease yourself into the side door you'll find right around the corner. And don't make any noise. No telling what is going down inside. You got that, Lundy? Don't want to endanger our comrades any more than they already are." Joey retorted, opening the door and moving out of the Jimmy. Still in his seat, Levon gawked as Joe stepped out of the Jimmy and took off his jacket. Then slipped out of his shoulder holsters and using the straps of the shoulder harness wrapped the guns and holsters together before tucking them under the front seat that he had just occupied. Levon continued to stare as Joe took the light jacket he'd taken off and wrapped it around his waist, knotting it over his pants.
"You nuts! " Levon gulped, "You never go anywhere without those guns."
Lundy's jaw dropped even further when Joey began to wet his fingers and pull up strands of his hair forming them into curls. The transformation continued as Joe ran his hands through his hair, twisting and curling it, his partner gasping in surprise, jumped out of the Jimmy and walked around to where Joe was standing.
"Jezzz... you're ... you're HIM! You ... I ... I was here last week to pick up a friend. I didn't ... " For the first time in many months the Texan was speechless
"Joanne know about this?" Lundy finally asked, then answering himself, he responded, "Course she does, otherwise you wouldn't be here. That's why they called us in the first place right? But ... but that guy's name is Tony."
"My middle name is Anthony remember, Tony for short. Four cousins my age are also named Anthony and we all look alike. We even confused our mother's. We've passed tests for each other. If they were standing here, you wouldn't be able to tell us apart. Even Aunt Theresa can't. To this day, she doesn't know if it was Tony or me that helped her the day she broke her hip on the ice. And we ain't talkin."
"Tony was visitin' me a couple months ago, and we came to Saturday night church. Some punks were lippin' off at some older members, and Tony stepped in to teach them some manners. We know Father Michael from Chicago. He asked Tony if he'd be interested in a job. 'Course he said no, he's not from here, doesn't want to move. But then the two of us looked at each other, disappeared to the Men's Room and came out as twins. Father Mike went to see Joanne, so here I am. And don't worry partner, even though I'm not wearing my guns - doesn't mean I'm not armed."
The transformation finished, Joey said, "Roll up that window, but leave it cracked a bit, don't want the windows to blow in this heat when we open it again. And lock it up, I don't want anything to happen to these guns. Like I said, you're goin' in the back. I'm going to ease in the front door quiet like. I'll wait until I know you're inside before I make my move."
Just as Levon rolled the window, the mike barked for "9215."
Joe reached across the front bench seat of the 4X4 and answered, "9215. What's up Lieutenant?"
There was silence for a moment, than Joanne replied, "Joe, just found a telephone message on your desk. Your cousin Tony is in town. It says he'll meet you at ..."
"Our Lady," 9215 answered with a sigh. "Thanks Joanne, that gives us another good guy. Lundy will check back in with you in thirty minutes. If he doesn't better bring SWAT." LaFiamma clicked off the mike and returned it to the dash.
"Don't forget to leave a window open, Lundy. Don't want my ammunition going off inside this hot box."
Levon nodded and locked the Jimmy, "Why am I checking in, in thirty minutes?"
"Whatever is happening in there ... or going down, you are the one in the shadows that can bring the Cavalry."
Nodding, Lundy quietly moved off. Joey gave his shoulders a shake, turned on his heel and jogged to the front of the church. The doors were big, and old, and heavy, he cautiously eased one open a few inches and stepped inside.
-----
Glancing at his watch, LaFiamma flattened himself against the rough brick wall, and slowly edged through the shadows until he could see the group of people gathered in the front of the church. His body jerked when through the shadows; the face of The Lady appeared to be looking straight at him.
Being born into an old traditional Catholic family, LaFiamma had heard plenty of stories of the saints of the Catholic Church. But none touched him as much as the visions and miracles of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He had promised his mother two things before she died, one was a trip to see the image of The Lady in Mexico City, and the other was to go into the military service if that was the only way to break out of being forced into a family business. Her worry was, once she died, Uncle Mikey would put pressure on him to go into one of the family's businesses. His mother never got to Mexico City, but a month after the funeral Aunt Teresa took him. He never told anyone about the vision that was given him that weekend. A vision that confirmed the second promise he had made to his mother.
From the shadows, LaFiamma watched the activity at the front of the church. Two gang members that he thought had been turning their life around had Estaban and Joe-Bill on their knees handcuffed to the altar rail. Father Mike was standing at the end of the rail staring at ... the man sitting in the first pew.
[Tony! Hey bro]
The dark-haired man, with curly black hair, half turned in his seat, raised his left hand and ran it through his hair.
[Signal - no one is hurt - yet]
-----
If Levon didn't recognize him when he came here two weeks ago, Joe doubted that Estaban and Joe-Bill would. Still they might figure that one of us is Joe LaFiamma, but even if they did, they wouldn't blow it. LaFiamma glanced up behind the priest and saw Lundy in the shadows.
A light touch on his left shoulder made Joey jerk his head around. No one was there. He blinked as he turned back. He could have sworn The Lady gave him nod. It was time to move.
-----
Stepping out of the shadows, at the end of the fourth pew, Joey boldly strutted towards the front of the church bellowing, "HEY, BRO! Where you been? Been waiting in front of the church for an hour already!"
-----
The two juveniles, who had been kneeling in front of Tony jumped to their feet, and turned their attention to the intruder. They stood blinking in disbelief as the twin of their captive approached. The distraction gave Lundy the cover he needed to move closer.
"Oh Jesus," Estaban muttered, "Now there are three."
Joey ignored, Pitman and Bull, his eyes were on his cousin to make sure he hadn't been harmed. Then the chatter, jibberish started, Joey quizzing Tony about what was going down.
Estaban and Joe-Bill glanced at each other, in low tones one said, "it ain't Italian or Spanish, or any language I heard of before. "
"SILENCE!" Pitman shouted, "Who are you? What you doin' here?"
Joe looked at the punk dressed in dark blue jeans, short-sleeved faded red tee shirt, and hair slicked back. "What, you don't know Tony?" LaFiamma barked back in a slurred rough New York accent. "You should. I put your ass up on the rail couple weeks ago for lipping off to Mister Lotterman?"
Pitman and Bull looked at each other. This guy in the pew had told them the same thing. Maybe there were two not one. "Yeah, that's what he said!" Bull said gesturing at Tony. "Sooo, then which one of youse is a cop! "
[So I've been made. Two months and the jig is up.]
Tony slowly moved to a standing position, and said, "That'd be me."
"You?" Joey laughed, moving up to the edge of the front pew. "Yeah, I suppose for the times you were in the brig you might consider yourself one. Or the stint you did for the Feds, which didn't come with any authority. A cop, you ain't."
"And you think you are?" Tony shot back at his cousin. "Struttin' around Syria with your made-man rifle shootin' wings off flies!"
"WHAT A MINUTE! One of you guys is Sergeant Joey LaFiamma of Houston PD. It's him we want."
Joey and Tony clammed up and turned to face the two baddies. Neither said a word.
"Now look!" Bull shouted, producing a knife out of nowhere. "We're going to find out, if we got to slice up all five of you, and we'll start with the two dirt bags cuffed to the communion rail."
"Why?" Tony asked in a calm low tone.
"Yeah, why you want this Sergeant Lay Fee-am-ma?" Joey quizzed, pronouncing his name the way Lundy did.
"Cause he pulled a fast one. Coming undercover here. Tryin' to get the goods on us."
Tony: Joey did you do that?
Joey: Joseph! If you went undercover anyway it sure wouldn't be in a church!
Tony: Now look, I ain't gonna be cut up for you.
Joey: Now look, I ain't gonna be cut up for you, once was enough, I won't do it again.
Tony: Wha you say we take these punks and stick that knife where the sun don't shine?
Behind the altar, Lundy did all he could to keep from laughing. It was like watching the Three Stooges only there were two. A quick glance at his watch, told Lundy he should be outside to tell Joanne not to come. But he couldn't move, if his partner needed back up he wanted to be there.
A slight grin also crossed the face of Father Michael, for he remembered several such scenes when Joey and Tony, and two other look-alike LaFiamma's drove the church crazy.
"ENOUGH!!" Bull shouted, lashing forward with his knife, catching the edge of Joe's left forearm. Blood spurted onto Bull, Tony and Pitman.
-----
Tony's reaction was instantaneous. One foot kicked out with deadly force, striking Pitman in the groin who fell in agony at the feet of Father Michael. Then he whirled around and was just about ready to strike Bull, when Joe said, "He's mine."
"You're wounded." Tony growled, glaring at his cousin.
"SO?"
"Come on, Joey, you always get to take the last man down?" Tony LaFiamma lamented.
"Okay."
Bull looked from one to other, the next thing he felt was pressure on his chest that propelled him backwards and onto the floor in a neat heap next to Pitman. The knife spiraled out of his hand, landing inches from Joe-Bill's boot.
Joey stared at the wound. It wasn't deep. It wasn't much really. He willed it to stop bleeding, and it did. (For anyone who doesn't believe this can happen, my husband does it all the time, which truly amazes the people at the blood bank where he donates.)
Joe-Bill's scratchy voice broke the silence that followed, "How come no blood's dripped to the carpet?"
Tony looked up from the pile of trash he had just dumped at Father Mike's feet and said, "Cause if the cuts not bad, he can ... we can, stop the bleeding with mind control."
-----
Beaumont's voice echoed in the empty church, "Bring the medics quick!"
Tony turned to see SWAT members emerge from the shadows, and a beautiful brunette approach down the center aisle. "Why didn't you tell me the Cavalry was out there?"
"Cavalry? Lundy was suppose to..." Joey gasped looking around for his partner.
"... check in an tell them not to come." Tony responded finishing the sentence as he always did. Drove the Marine guys crazy. Always referred to us as the Italian twins.
"Yeah."
"Ma'am," Tony said tightly, "don't worry the bleeding has already stopped... no big deal, the medics can look if they want."
-----
Emerging from the shadows for the first time, Levon stared at the SWAT team in full battle gear standing around the edges of the church, they looked like warrior angels Grandma Minnie said were always on the fringe ready to go to war for you. He moved to the two officers at the rail and asked Estaban whose cuffs they were, then reached into Joe-Bill's pocket and released the two.
-----
To Levon it seemed like an eternity before Joey turned toward him. Gesturing with his wounded arm, Joe growled to his partner, "Thought you were suppose to check in and keep the Cavalry from coming?"
"Hell when that knife came out - you think I'd leave you without backup?" Groused the blond.
Before Joe could answer, Tony replied softly, "He's your partner here - remember? Not me."
"Yeah, well, it would be nice to have someone who understands where you're coming from. He sure don't, and nor is he interested." Joey barked back, reluctantly letting the paramedics look at his arm. Both medics agreed with Tony, it wasn't much and had already stopped bleeding.
-----
SWAT packed up and left. Lundy gave a report to Joanne, and then he walked to the Jimmy to get his partner's guns. When he returned to the church, the two LaFiamma's and the priest were standing where he had left them.
-----
"So what else can we do for excitement in this town?" Tony asked with a grin. "How about horse back riding? Bet you haven't done that in a while?"
"LaFiamma on a horse?" Lundy chortled, approaching the threesome.
"What, you didn't tell him you could ride? He's got a ranch, man." Tony chastised his cousin, shaking a finger in Joey's face.
"Didn't you know? Only Texans have horses, no one else in the country really knows how to ride?" Joe answered without turning to face his partner.
"Damn, Joe, you weren't kidding when you said he was a redneck, were you?" Tony responded, turning a toothy grin to the cowboy.
"REDNECK! WHO'S A REDNECK? Hell, he's from Chicago!" Lundy shouted back into Tony's face.
"What - you don't think we have horses in Chicago?" Tony blasted back, stepping away from Joe to meet the cowboy head on.
-----
"C..H..I..L..D..R..E..N..!" It was a woman's voice, sharp, pure and clear.
-----
Everything stopped. They looked around but saw no one. Puzzled even Father Mike began to walk to the back of the church to see who had wandered in.
It was Joseph Anthony who got the message loud and clear, "Remember what happened the last time we were caught arguing in front of the Virgin Mary... we'd best leave NOW."
-----
As Lundy and the two LaFiamma's walked out of the church and into the afternoon sun, Levon asked his partner, "Can you really shoot the wings off a fly?"
Tony burst out laughing, but it was Joey who responded. "Yeah, almost. I was a marksman, sharpshooter in the Marine Corps."
Joey stepped back as Levon unlocked the Jimmy, "Phew, HOT ... open the windows.... God I hate this heat." As Levon began to roll down the windows, Joey slipped his guns back under the seat.
-----
"You were in the Marines?" Levon gasped as he rolled down the windows.
-----
"You know - you two should start talking to each other. I mean you're going on two years as partners. You got a lot of things in common and you don't even know it." Tony said as he eased himself into the back seat.
"What, talk to him? All he does is argue," Levon remarked nodding to Joe.
"Uh, huh, argue - like you were just doing in church? One wonders how you two have survived this long?" Tony replied shaking his head, while he buckled up.
"It is a mystery that even befuddles us," Joey answered with a grin.
-----
"So, what now, cuz? Back to the station house to fill out reports?"
-----
"Might as well get it over with, huh, Joe?" Lundy remarked, making a U-turn in the street and heading back into traffic. "You might want to change back to yourself before we get there."
"Back to myself?" Joey knew exactly what his partner meant but instead of answering he looked back at his cousin and said, "What's he talking about Joey? Back to myself?"
Stunned, Lundy glanced at the man in the front seat and realized he wasn't wearing guns. Glancing into the rear vision mirror told him that man wasn't wearing guns either. Looking back at Joey, the Texan said, "You took the guns out of my hands when I brought them into the church."
Tony: How do you know it was him? Where are the guns anywhere?
Joe: They're under the seat, aren't they?
Tony: No the redneck brought them into the church.
Joey: Well we didn't leave them in the church, so they must be here.
Tony: Look under the seat.
Joey: Well, hot damn! Here they are!
"LA FIAMMA!" Levon shouted, the word bouncing off the walls of the hot vehicle.
"Yes," came the soft dual answer of both men.
"You --- p; two always like this when you are together?" Lundy quizzed turning into the parking lot of Reisner.
"Yeah, pretty much so," Tony replied, "And most everybody has the same statement you do - get me out of here - kill them - or hoow can I commit suicide. We've driven family members mad. And that was when there were four of us. Now there is only Joe and I. We do it for the fun of it."
"What happened to the other two?" It was an innocent enough question, but the answer brought silence accompanied by pain.
Joey reached under the seat and retrieved his guns. "One is in jail. The other is a vegetable in a nursing home with a severed spine, which is why the other one is in jail. The one in jail is a cousin. The other one is Tony's brother. We were all born the same week. When we were about twelve we discovered that we had kind of an ESP between us. We knew what the others were thinking and going to say. We started finishing sentences that one of the others started. Grandma LaFiamma said it was something in the genes, and that it came along in so many generations. It worked well for Tony and me in the Marine Corps. They referred to us as the Italian twins."
"Which reminds me," Tony said as he climbed out of the back of the Jimmy, "why don't we invite Levon to dinner tonight."
Joey grinned at Levon's statement. "We'll even wear name tags."
-----
"Yah and knowin' you, even that won't be right. Thanks I'll pass. Just ridin' with you two has made me a yo-yo?"
"What do you mean, made you a...."
"Don't even go there, LaFiamma!" Levon groused walking in front of the two into the station.
-----
Through the front doors, and into the Lobby everyone stared, neither LaFiamma ventured a name or a word. It was like the Texan had them on a string and was pulling them in his direction. And to make matters worse, Joe and Tony nodded to the stares and pointed to Levon's back. As the threesome entered the elevator, someone yelled, "Hey Lundy, what'd they do?"
The Texan turned and came face to face with Joe and Tony. Without a word, Joe nodded and Tony pushed [2] for the second floor.
"Yer havin' fun with this, ain't you LaFiamma?" Levon muttered, feeling like a mouse cornered by two tomcats.
"You and your friends have fun at my expense, all the time, Levon" Joey said quietly. "Let's just say its payback time."
-----
The elevator jerked to a halt, the doors opened and the 'twins' turned to see a variety of people including Sergeant Annie Hartung in her shiny wheelchair.
Joe-Bill's voice was heard from down the hall, "If anyone can tell them apart, me and Estaban will buy 'em dinner."
-----
A soft smile spread across Joey's face, then across Tony's. It was Tony who said the name, "Annie." But he wasn't Joey. Annie knew that. When Joey said her name, it sounded like pure sunshine. Reaching up, Annie lightly, gently touched Joey's hand. "Joey."
"You got me, Annie." The displaced Chicagoan answered softly as he bent down and gave her a kiss on her cheek, then straightened up and introduced her to Tony.
"It was the twinkle in his eye, wasn't it," Tony LaFiamma said, "Joey's mother always knew which one of the four of us he was. She said it was the twinkle in his eye."
"There are four of you!" Gasped the lady in the wheelchair.
"There was. Now there are only two," Joe answered, gesturing with his hands to his cousin. "How about that paperwork, partner. Let's get it done."
-----
"Levon can do it!" Lieutenant Beaumont's voice filled the hall. "He saw the whole thing go down, he can fill out the paperwork. This is your weekend off, LaFiamma, start enjoying it. Anything he doesn't know, I can fill in." She saw the questioning look on Joe LaFiamma's face. "A little old lady saw you sneaking into her church. Figured something bad was going on. Called the cops. They called SWAT about the same time I did. We were inside from the time you moved off the wall."
Tony: Dang, cousin, we're getting rusty, not hearing the Cavalry come in?
Joe: Rusty? Hell, Captain Luther would have us doing 500 pushups just for starters!
Tony: Maybe Our Lady blocked them out.
Joe: Good point. Other things were at hand.
"Sergeant LaFiamma!"
The chatter stopped. Joe's head jerked up into the face of his Lieutenant. "Yes, ma'am."
"Take your cousin and go home - to your apartment or wherever. Now!"
Tony ventured, "We were going to cook dinner for Levon."
Joanne looked past them to where Lundy stood, and saw the cow-eyed statement on his face. Smiling, she replied, "I don't think so. Not this trip. Maybe next time."
"Ain't no fun here at all. Next time, you're off. You're coming to New York." Tony remarked putting his arm on Joe's shoulder. "Course we could cook for Annie."
"Annie got a free dinner coming tonight. The handcuff twins are taking her out. What do you say we go home, shower, get gussied up and hit the streets." Joey grinned and pointed to the stairs. "See you Monday," he said nodding to his partner.
-----
Silence filled the hallway as all watched them disappear into the stairwell. "Can you imagine dealing with FOUR of them?" Annie exclaimed.
"Four?" Levon yelped. "One is plenty. Them two in the Jimmy drivin' over here was enough to drive me batty. I'm getting this paperwork done and headin' home for a nice quiet night."
-----
On the way down to the parking garage, Joey introduced his cousin to all who stared at them walking in. Explaining they had been undercover. Tony stared at the Cobra as they walked up to the black beauty parked in the underground police garage. "I heard you got it back. Now, what's this bit about hitting the streets?"
"Figured if they knew we were out on the town, no one would come looking for us as we cook dinner for Lundy."
"We ARE going to cook for him then. But - your Lieutenant said --. But she knows you right. You ever go against her before. What a dumb question. What are we having?" A devilish grin spread across Tony's face as he climbed into the Cobra.
-----
"Have a good night, Levon," Joanne said as she closed her office door and headed for home. "And if Joe..."
"If they're there - I'll shoot em!" Levon barked, closing the folder and putting it into his OUT basket. Adding, "Joanne ... did you know LaFiamma was in the Marines?" Seeing her nod yes, he asked, "How come nobody knows about it?"
"Covert operations, Levon. He can't say anything about."
"Yeah, he said on the way home he was a sharpshooter."
Beaumont looked around and saw no one but Levon. The place was empty except for the two of them. Quietly, she replied, "I don't know about his cousin, but the confidential memo that I read said he was a sniper, and a good one."
-----
"He can shoot the wings off a fly then?"
"Probably can."
-----
In the shadows of Lundy's porch, Tony watched Levon pull the red Jimmy into the driveway and stop in front of the porch. Levon stepped out of his vehicle and took two steps at a time up the stairs. He was just about to unlock the front door when a cooking aroma whiffed past his nose.
"If they're in my kitchen..." he muttered.
In a low, guttural voice, Tony said, "If you do anything to put a damper on the pot roast dinner Joey has cooked for you, I'll put you face down in that manure pile of yours. The best thing that could have happened to Joey was being transferred down here. He's come into his own in a way he never could have in Chicago. Now give me your keys. I'm taking your truck."
Levon did a slow turn, not knowing what to expect. Tony stood a few feet away, dressed in black, almost invisible in the shadows.
"Your truck will be at the airport, on the service side. I got beeped while on an errand for Joe. He's upset that I have to leave already. Don't want to take the Cobra it would disappear again. You got a good partner there, Levon. You two work well together. Like he and I use to before we went in the Corps. Where I still am." Tony stood there, his hand held out waiting for the keys.
Levon didn't know why, but he gave Tony his keys. He'd never given them to anyone before and now he was giving them to Joe's cousin.
"Now get in there. Roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn ... that was his dad's favorite meal. He doesn't cook it for everyone. Obviously you're special to him. His mom started Joe cooking when he was five. He's the best damn cook in the whole LaFiamma clan. At the holidays, they cry because he's here. Not because they miss him, but because they miss what he used to bring. Now go..."
-----
Joey heard the screen door slam. Hopefully it is Levon and Tony. Joe wasn't mad at Tony, not really, just upset that a planned weekend went from three days to one day. "Levon? Tony? Come get it while it's hot."
Stepping into the front hall, Levon hung up his hat on the hall tree, and walked down to the kitchen. "Tony's not coming, Joe. He borrowed the Jimmy to go to the airport."
-----
"Damn. We had this weekend planned for two months. Don't know why the Corps can't let him have a few days off once in a while. He's getting too old to go tramping through the jungles anyway. Needs to quit that stuff that he does." Without missing a beat, Joe continued, "So you hungry? Course you are, come on, I got enough for an army."
Venturing into his kitchen, Levon asked, "How do I know you're you and he's him? Maybe ..."
"Levon!" Joe squawked, startled at the question, yet understanding his partner's concern.
"It's a fair question. You said you two know what the other is thinking." Lundy retorted, not backing down.
"Damn it, Lundy!" Joey growled loudly. "You are the biggest, pig-headed, stubbornness Texan I met yet!"
"Yup... you're my partner. Are these real mashed potatoes or.... Okay, right I forgot you never make anything that comes in a box, except noodles."
-----
As Levon picked up the dirty plates and put them in the sink, Joe sheepishly said, "Well, I did cook something that came in a box. But only - because I know it is a favorite of yours."
Lundy watched, as LaFiamma lifted up a tent of foil that was covering something on the counter. Strange he hadn't noticed it before. The Texan stared at the dessert, "Marie Callendar's Deep Dish Streusel Pie!"
"Yup!"
"Dang, LaFiamma, if I knew we were having that I wouldn't have had that third helping of beef. How about we sit on the porch for a while and then have some." The blond responded with a smile. The Texan was glad things were back to normal. Glad Tony had been called away. Still it gave him an insight about part of Joey's family and what it must have been like with brothers.
The quiet evening on the porch was just about to start when the two detectives heard the roar of an engine, then Lundy's front door opened and slammed shut.
-----
"THOSE STINKING - LOUSY - PILOTS - NEVER SHOWED UP! THEY WERE WAITIN' FOR ME IN AUSTIN NOT HOUSTON! CAPTAIN HEATER IS GOING TO BE PISSED OVER THIS!"
"Glad to have you back, cuz. Another screw up, or did the man decide you really could have a weekend off?" Joe asked in a calming tone.
"Did you have something to do with this?" Tony asked in an accusing tone, walking into the kitchen. "This was an important mission, Joey. I needed to be on it."
"How could he do anything about it? He's been workin' twelve-hour days. This is his first three-day weekend off in months," Lundy growled, moving closer to Joe, ready to defend him if need be.
-----
"You damn well better calm down, or I'll stick YOU face down in his manure pile!" LaFiamma blasted back.
With an accusing finger, Tony shook it in Levon's face, "Did you tell him what I said?"
Joe grabbed the finger and said calmly and slowly, "You - know - damn - well - he - didn't."
-----
The ring of the telephone startled them all. "Answer it Lundy. It's probably Joanne checking up on you."
Levon picked up the received and said, "Lundy. Ah, LaFiamma? Which one?" Turning to look at the two cousins, Levon continued, "Joe or Tony. Yeah, Joseph." Handing the receiver to his partner, Levon said, "He wants to talk to you."
"LaFiamma." Joey's whole body jerked when the man on the other end identified himself. Tony fell back against the door jam and began muttering under his breath, "don't call him up again. Don't. Oh, Our Lady - please don't have him pulled back into the slime."
"Sure will, Colonel, I'll tell him, and thanks." Joe hung up the phone and just stood there. His first thought when he heard his former Colonel's name was that he was being reactivated for some mission. It had taken a second or two for him to realize that was not happening. He was even more amazed when the Colonel had told him he was doing an excellent job with HPD, and that because of his job, he had been taken off the list. The LIST. The list of names of former operatives that they can call on a moment's notice to report. His name had been taken off the list!
"WELL!?" Levon and Tony chimed together.
Looking at Tony, in a hesitant voice, Joey answered, "It was Colonel Parmich. My name has been taken off The List! -- OFF THE LIST!" LaFiamma said in a loud voice, shooting his fist into the air. "Because -- Lundy and I are doing such a good job - doing our job, my name was taken off the list."
"List? What list?" Levon asked confused by Joey's excitement.
Tony: What else? What about me?
Joey: Oh yeah, you - Your whole squad is on probation for a month.
Tony: A month? What the hell for?
Joe: You had a bachelor's party for someone?
Tony: So?
Joe: Had pound cake?
Tony: So we had pound cake. What's that got to do with anything?
Joe: Pound cake with poppy seeds.
Tony: I don't get it.
It was Levon who got the connection and looked at Joe and was surprised when Joey said, "You got it, Levon." The Texan burst out laughing.
"What is so damn funny? Why are we grounded for eating pound cake with poppy seeds?" Tony yelped, frustrated at the turn of events.
Trying hard to keep his mirth low, Levon ventured forth with what he thought it was, "Poppy seeds come from the Poppy flower - which is a drug - which is used for making opium. Ya'll must have tested positive for drugs."
"WHAT?!!"
"I'm afraid so, Tony. Every one of you came up with a positive reading. And it's been traced to that bachelor party. You can stay here as planned, go back home, go to New York - whatever. He wants you back in two weeks - and then - --"
"And then it won't be pretty. Face in the mud for a week. Maybe I should retire."
"Your mother wants you to. You're the only honest son she has left. You should think about it Tony."
"Hey man, what 's this," Tony exclaimed spying the apple pie. "You made this just for me. Oh Joey, you shouldn't have."
-----
Levon looked at Joe. Joe looked at Levon and together they grabbed Tony by the shoulders, turned him around and headed for the back door.
"It's MY pie, not yours!" Levon replied sternly, holding the door with his shoulder as they headed outside.
"Where we going?" Tony asked.
"The manure pile!" Chimed the two Houston detectives.
-----
They never made it to the manure pile. Joey tripped on something in the dark and they all fell into a heap on the hard ground. Laughing, together they walked back to the house, where Levon cut himself and Joe a big piece of apple pie, and Tony a little piece.
Much to his disbelief, Levon discovered that he and Joe had the same silent communication, that Tony and Joe had. Levon just had to keep Levon under control to do it. He'd learned today that his partner had quite a history. And most important, while on the porch eating Marie Callendar's Apple Pie, the Texan found that even Joey got tired of the Tony + Joey duo.
THE END
(Our Lady Official site: http://www.sancta.org/)