After Lulu McGinty's visit to the station, Billy and I went out for a quick lunch, then hopped back into the car. We pulled up in front of the Pillar Times. Billy opened my door for me and extended his arm with a flourish. "Your kingdom awaits, Doll."

"What?" I stared at him.

He grinned and handed me my notebook. "I talked with Caroline Grace. She's prepared to offer you a job as a reporter."

My mouth dropped open and I stood there for a minute before throwing my arms around Billy's neck with a squeal. "You're an angel, Billy!"

He disentangled himself quickly, looking slightly flustered. "Come on. I'll take you to meet her." We walked inside and I threaded my fingers through his as we waited.

"Billy McCarty." A stylish blonde woman emerged from behind the glass door and walked toward us.

"Miss Grace." Billy gave me a little nudge forward. "This is Annie O'Cappella, the writer I was telling you about. She does have a penchant for getting into trouble, but she's good at getting her story."

"Thank you, Officer McCarty." Caroline gave Billy a calm nod and somehow made it perfectly clear without saying anything that she wanted Billy to leave.

Billy gave my hand a little squeeze and pulled away. "See you later, Doll." I wanted to run after him as he walked out to his car, but I faced Caroline and tried to contain my excitement.

"So...you're Annie O'Cappella." She looked me up and down. I was glad I'd put on my best dress today. "Is what Billy said true? Are you a trouble magnet?"

"I-it's an honor to meet you, Miss Grace," I stammered. "I can keep myself out of trouble." Most of the time.

Caroline tapped her red fingernails on her desk. "Hmm...sometimes the best reporters are the ones with a nose for trouble. I ought to know. How about a trial period...something easy to start with?" She said finally. "A write-up about the victims of the mob violence in the hospital. We'll talk more after you get me a draft."

I was grinning from ear to ear. "I won't let you down, Miss Grace!"

Caroline smiled and scribbled something on a notepad beside her hand. "Good luck, Miss O'Cappella."

***

I took a dimbox jaunt to the hospital and asked for JinLi's room. The nurse pointed me down the right hall, but warned me that I probably wouldn't be able to get in. When I reached the room, two uniformed men lounged against the door, badges identifying them as federal men.

"Hold it right there, bunny. You can't get in."

I had learned a few things during all those evenings with men, and now I needed to put them to use. I widened my eyes and twisted my hair around my finger. "B-but...I need to see JinLi!"

The men exchanged glances. "Hate to break it to you, kitten, but Li's already got a girl coming to see him."

I let my mouth fall open. "A girl?" I turned away and hunched my shoulders.

"Don't take it so hard, doll." One of the men put a hand on my shoulder.

I attempted a sorrowful smile. "I'm sorry, Officer. I..."

"Agent. But you can call me Art."

The other agent snorted and I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "Well, Art, are you doing anything...later?"

Art looked at his watch. "Later...or later?"

I gave him an enigmatic smile and played with his tie. "Later."

"I get off in about thirty minutes." He pulled his tie through my fingers and stepped back, pretending to be busy as a few people walked by.

That would probably give me enough time to get the information I needed. I grinned. "I'll wait for you outside," I said, even though I had no intention of waiting for him. "But...can I see JinLi for just a few minutes, please?"

Art looked back at the other man, who shrugged and muttered, "Your neck, not mine."

Art rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Just hurry back, kitten. Oh, wait!" I paused in midstep. "You don't have anything dangerous in that purse of yours, do you? Gat, shiv, anything like that?"

I grinned and held up my pencils. "Just these!" He waved me inside and I breathed a sigh of relief once the door shut behind me.

A woman on a sofa sat up sleepily. "Who are you?" She asked groggily, her eyes darting toward the man in the hospital bed, who was propped up on one elbow, eyeing me suspiciously.

"My name is Annie O'Cappella. I'm a writer - I mean reporter - with the Pillar Times. I'm here to speak with Mr. JinLi."

"AJ doesn't want to speak with any-"

"It's all right, Loren. I'm JinLi, but you can call me AJ." The man propped himself up on the pillows. "How did the Times get wind of this?"

I shrugged and pulled a chair up to the bed. "I don't know how Miss Grace gets her information. I'm just here for the facts. Mr. Li, can you tell me what happened to you? Just the facts, please." I poised my pencil above my paper and waited.

Loren and AJ exchanged glances. "Well..." AJ began, "I had a hunch that someone in the NoLuks was trying to stage a coup and cause a gang war. I went to...investigate and got shot."

"I'm told there was another victim, wasn't there? A Madame WaiYu?" I was thankful I'd convinced Billy to take me to the station. Now I had little bits and pieces of information to help me get more information.

AJ looked at me thoughtfully. "Your sources are...very knowledgeable, Miss O'Cappella. Where did you get your information?"

I hesitated. "I know a cop...and I was at the station with him. He knows everything that happened to you."

AJ stared at me for a minute. "Then you know that Madame Yu is the leader of the NoLuks?" I nodded. "Madame Yu was being poisoned by her nephew, who wanted to stage a takeover."

"How is Madame Yu?" I asked, jotting down AJ's words. Madame Yu poisoned, attempted takeover.

"She's stable right now," Loren broke in. "The doctors are trying to figure out what poison was used on her so they can make an antidote."

Stable, needs antidote. "There were no other victims?"

"From this incident, no," Loren said thankfully. "But that PI Gunn wasn't so lucky."

That got my attention. "Tres Gunn? Wasn't he the one who got mugged the other day? That was in the paper."

"Well, not Tres personally. His office got a pretty good working over, and so did his secretary Daisy Cannon."Smith was the one who mugged Gunn. What if he's the one who did this?

AJ and I both stared at Loren. I quickly made another note, Gunn's secretary beaten, and stood. "Thank you both for your time."

"Miss O'Cappella," AJ put a hand out to stop me. "You're not involved with the McGinty mob, are you?"

I twirled my pencil nervously between my fingers. "Well...uh...not directly, no."

"Did you by any chance have a relative named Neil?"

"Yes...he was my brother." I took half a step backwards.

"I'm not part of the NoLuks," AJ reassured me. "I just fight for them sometimes. I got paired up with Neil a few times."

"You did?" I sat back down. "Can you tell me what happened the night he died?"

AJ shook his head. "I wasn't slated to fight that night. I'm sorry."

"Billy thinks the fight was fixed so that Neil died in the ring." My hand flew to my mouth. I had been trying to keep Billy out of this. "I mean..."

AJ hadn't noticed my slip-up, it seemed. "Fixed? Why? I know sometimes Shamus told him to lose, but Neil was one of the mob's best fighters."

I looked over my shoulder. "You won't say anything?" AJ raised one eyebrow, but nodded. "The cop I know...his name is Billy McCarty...he worked undercover in the mob for a year. He got found out, and Shamus was going to bump him off, but Neil warned Lulu so she could save him..."

"And then Neil was the one who got bumped off?" AJ finished. I nodded. "And Billy thinks Shamus was working with someone in the Tong...that's entirely possible. Some of the men involved in the takeover were Irish."

"Oh..." It made me shiver a little bit. The thought that I'd spent evenings and nights with the men who could have killed Neil and who were ruthless enough that they'd poison an old lady. Neil and Billy were both right to be upset with me. "Thank you again, Mr. Li. You've given me a lot to work with." I turned to go.

"Miss O'Cappella?" AJ called after me. "You might want to publish that article anonymously. The NoLuks won't take kindly to their secrets being exposed."

I nodded. "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Li." I shut the door and faced Art. "I'll be waiting outside, Artie!" Before he could say anything, I hurried down the hall and out of the hospital to a nearby café, where I wrote out an article from my notes.

JinLi and Madame WaiYu are both involved in a fight for their lives. Yu, owner of the Dancing Duck restaurant and Li, a part-time prizefighter, were both hospitalized recently with injuries sustained during an altercation with the Chinese Mob. Li was shot twice in the chest, but is recovering. Yu had been poisoned by a greedy relative who wanted to inherit the family business. Her condition is uncertain at this time and she is not receiving visitors.

Secretary Daisy Cannon was found beaten in the office of her employer, Private Investigator Tres Gunn. Gunn was also beaten up recently. Both victims are recovering well. There is little known about the source of the violence at this time, but since Mr. Gunn is an investigator, the culprit should be found soon enough.

I also jotted down a few notes in my notebook about what I knew about Smith. Smith beat up Gunn and possibly Daisy. He was also following Billy. Who is he snitching to? Since it was getting late in the afternoon, I left the article in Caroline's letterbox for her to read at her leisure, then headed over to the station to see if Billy was ready to head back home.

I walked inside and went to his office, but he wasn't there. I sat down to wait, a nagging feeling in my stomach. What if he's waiting for me at the Times? My foot tapped the floor nervously as I took out my notebook and stared at the sheet with the notes about Smith.

I got up, notebook in hand, to see if Billy was somewhere else in the station. He wasn't. I peeked into the room where the coffee was kept, but he wasn't there either. I poured myself a cup of coffee and was stirring in some sugar when I heard voices.

"...haven't heard from the man I placed at the Lemon Tree. Any news from Smith?" I scurried over to a closet, almost forgetting to put the lid back on the sugar. I stepped backwards in the darkness, tripped over a bucket, and dropped my coffee cup.

There was a hush while I held my breath, then a murmur of voices. "There shouldn't be coffee coming from under that door."

The door opened. "Annie!" I looked up at the Irish mobster who had been one of my last beaux - Connor O'Shea. He grabbed hold of my notebook with one hand and had his gun in his other.