by Rusty Kontos
“Yes, sir. Do you want me to stay here and tell the little girl when she gets here?”
“Little girl? What little girl?”
“The little girl that comes here every day to see Colletti.”
“Do you know who she is?” Russo asked, his voice was full of curiosity.
“No, sir. All I know is that her name is Nickole and that Danny would meet her at the train station every day. I would stand in for him while he went after her and took her back.”
“What time does she usually come here?”
“Around eleven, sir.”
“Look, you know what she looks like, so you meet her today and bring her here to the hospital. I will be here to meet you. I want to talk to her and find out what her tie-up with Colletti is. Just maybe there’s a chance she might be able to tell us something.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll bring her back here.”
10:45 a.m.
Tom Brannigan and two other cops were waiting on the platform for the eleven o’clock train to arrive. Brannigan’s thoughts strayed back to yesterday, when his partner and friend, O’Shea, was still alive.
He was thinking about how he would like to get his
hands on the dirty bastard that did it.
11:00 a.m.
The train was on time. The loud screeching of the brakes and the swooshing of steam filled the platform area, as the train came to a jerky halt. Brannigan stood alert, as he watched for Nickole to get off the train. He scanned the crowds of people that were coming and going from last minute shopping and holiday visits. Then he saw her. She was carrying a tiny Christmas tree in one hand and three small packages in the other. Brannigan called to her as she got off the train, “Nickole! Over here.”
She looked in his direction, smiled, and waved her hand as she walked toward him. “Hi, Officer. Brannigan, where’s Danny?” She asked.
“He couldn’t come today, Nickole, so I came instead.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Well, ah — I’ll let Lieutenant Russo tell you. He knows more about it.”
“Who is Lieutenant Russo?”
“He is our boss. He is going to be at the hospital today, just to meet you.”
“Why?”
“Well, ah — because he’s heard so much about you that he thought it would be nice to meet you.”
“Oh, I guess it’s okay.”
Nickole and the three cops left the station for the hospital. Russo was standing in the hall in front of the elevator. The doors suddenly opened and Nickole and Brannigan got off, with the other two cops following close behind.
“Nickole, this is Lieutenant Russo,” said Brannigan.
“Please to meet you, sir.” Nickole said as she gave him a little smile.
“Same here, Nickole. Could we have a little talk?”
“Sure, but can I ask something first?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Where is Danny?”
“Well, Danny is part of what I want to talk to you about.”
“Oh, is he sick?” Nickole asked as she looked at Russo in a puzzled way.
“He’s DEAD!!” A look of shock and disbelief clouded Nickole’s face as she began to cry. “NO! It’s
not true! I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I want to see my father.”
“Your father! Colletti is your father?” Russo said in surprise.
“Yes, he is my father and he will be worried if I don’t let him know I’m here. So please excuse me, I should tell him about our friend, Danny, in case he doesn’t know.” She turned and started walking down the hall towards Nick’s room. Russo started after her.
“Hey, kid, wait a minute.” He reached out his hand, catching her by her shoulder. He made her stop and face him. Then in a low voice he said, “You can’t see your father.”
“Why can’t I see him?” Nickole asked as a tingling chill went through her body.
Russo’s voice became soft and low, almost gentle, as he dropped his head and said, “Because he is dead, too.”
Nickole became hysterical. She dropped the tree and packages to the floor, as she screamed at Russo, “I don’t believe you!” Russo tried to hold her, but she broke away from his grasp. Frantically, she ran down the hall to her father’s room, screaming repeatedly, “I don’t believe you! I don’t believe you!” She burst through the door to Nick’s room that just hours ago he occupied. Through the blur of tears that filled her eyes, she could see that his bed was stripped down to the bare mattress, and the smell of a strong disinfectant filled the air in the room. Nickole fell to her knees beside the bed, her head buried in her arms at the edge of the mattress. Her whole body racked from her loud sobs. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she said between choking sobs, “Why, God? Why did you let this happen to my father and Danny? WHY?”
Russo came in and knelt beside her, saying, “It’s not all God’s fault, honey. Sometimes he can’t always stop evildoers. But he makes them pay in the end, by letting me find them and making sure they get what they deserve.” Russo took Nickole in his arms, trying to comfort her. “It’s okay honey, you got a right to cry. I didn’t know your father that well, but Danny and I were very close friends. I loved him, too.”
A nurse came in and gave Nickole a shot to calm her down. Russo asked Nickole where she lived before the shot put her to sleep, and then he took her home. Russo explained everything to Mary when he took Nickole home. After he left, Mary called her family doctor. The doctor was at the house when Benny came home. He came into the house with a worried look on his face as he asked his wife, “Mary, why is the doc here? Has something happened to one of the
kids?”
Mary stood there for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say to him. Then she cleared her throat and said, “Yes, it’s Nickole.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Well, ah – she went to see Nick today at the hospital.”
“She did what!!!”
“Let me finish! Nickole went to the hospital to see Nick. Moreover, when she got there, he was dead. Someone murdered him this morning.”
Benny stood there for a moment a little stunned. He sat down as he said, “Did she see it happen?”
“I don’t think so.”
“How long has she been seeing him behind my back, Mary?”
“I have been letting her go to see him every day since that first time.”
Benny sat in his chair. His face was starting to redden with anger. Then he jumped to his feet. “I’ll be a sonofabitch! You and she have been doing this behind my back all this time?! You....BITCH.”
Mary broke in, yelling back at him, “Benny Martino! You just shut up and listen to me first! You said it out of your own mouth, that you didn’t want Nickole, which you never did want or love her. Therefore, I let her see her father. She needed a father’s love! The kind of love you refused her. It was your wish that she might someday live with him, not mine. So you don’t have one thing to say about it. I did what I felt was best for Nickole, not what was best for you or me. She was just beginning to really build and feel what a father-daughter relationship was. Now, it’s over for her. She has nothing, only me to love her. I only hope it’s enough for her. I also intend to take her to his funeral. Now I think it’s time that you bury the past and stop making our lives a living hell and be a man, the man I married.”
Benny sat back down in his chair for a moment without saying anything. Then he spoke, his voice low and haggard. “Alright, Mary, you win. I won’t say anything more. I guess you are right, I should bury the past. I will try, believe me I will try.” Benny got up from his chair and started to the door. “I’m going out for a while, Mary. I’ve got to be alone for a while, just to think.” Just before he went out the door, he stopped and looked at Mary, saying, “I’m glad Nick’s dead, but in a way, I wish he wasn’t. Well, this makes Nickole a very rich kid. She won’t need a poor bastard stepfather like me, will she? I am sorry, Mary, but I can’t help myself from h
ating who she is and what she will do to us.” He closed the door and went out before Mary had a chance to say anything.
Mary stood in the living room staring at the door, bewildered for she knew Benny was sure to be drunk when he returned home and that this was going to be one of the worst Christmas holidays she had since her mother’s death.
“Mary,” the doctor called to her as he came in to the room. She turned and walked over to the sofa and sat down as she asked, “How is she, Doctor?”
The doctor came over to her and sat down beside her. He took out his pipe from his coat pocket and lit it, saying as he puffed on the pipe, “I gave her another sedative. She needs all the rest she can get. She is suffering from a great shock and is exhausted. From the looks of her mother, I think she is, too. Mary, you need some rest yourself.”
“Yes, I know, Doctor.
“Mary, what happened to Nickole to put her in such a state?”
“It’s a long story, Mary replied.
“I am a good listener, Mary. You can tell me, in fact, it might do you some good to talk about it to someone. After all, I’m not just your doctor, I am your friend. Mary, what has happened to this family?
Come on now, you can tell me. I have known you since you first moved in here. I delivered all your children right here in this house and I have taken care of all of you through all kinds of sicknesses, but I have never seen anything hit you and Nickole as hard as it has today. I know that something is terribly wrong. Now tell me, what is it?” He patted Mary’s hand very gently as she turned to him, her eyes filled with tears as she began telling everything from the beginning. Her life with Nick, and her marriage to Benny, just before Nickole was born, and all of the events that started happening from the first day Scallenie and Gallucio came to the house. The doctor sat there, listening to the completely shocking story as Mary told it. It was almost nine o’clock in the evening when Mary had finished telling the doctor about it. They talked for a little while longer. Then he gave her some pills that would make her sleep so she could get the rest she needed. Then he kissed her on the cheek and wished her a Merry Christmas, put on his hat and coat, and left the house.
Mary sat alone in the living room, waiting for Benny to come home. When he was not home by midnight, she took the pills the doctor had given her and went to bed.
7:00 A.M. CHRISTMAS Morning
Mary woke up to find that Benny had not gone to bed at all the night before. She went into the living room. Benny was sprawled out on the sofa where he had fallen in a drunken sleep at five in the morning. Mary did not try to wake him; she just turned and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. A short while later, Tiena and Paul were up and in the kitchen, begging Mary to let them open their presents.
“Mama, can we open our presents, now?” asked Paul.
“No, Paul! Your father is still sleeping.”
“Do you want me to wake him up?”
“No, I do not want you to wake him up, Paul. Now sit down and eat your breakfast. You can open them after your father wakes up. It will not hurt you to wait a little longer this year. Your father is very tired from being out so late last night and you know that Nickole is ill. So, young man, you stop thinking of just yourself, and think of others.”
“I’m sorry, Mama. I didn’t mean to be selfish.”
“I know you didn’t dear. I am sorry for snapping at you, Paul. Now you two eat your breakfast while I go and see if Nickole is awake.”
Mary started for the doorway just as Benny was coming in. Mary stopped short in front of him. Their
eyes met for a second, and then Mary glanced over to the table as she told him, “Your breakfast is on the table. I was just about to go and see if you were awake so you could eat. Then I was going to check on Nickole.”
Benny grunted, walked past her to the table, and sat down. Mary left and went to Nickole’s room. Mary was sitting on the edge of Nickole’s bed gently shaking her.
“Nickole,” Mary called to her. “Nickole, honey, wake up.” Very slowly, Nickole opened her eyes. Her face looked pale, as she sat up.
“Mama, how did I get home?” Nickole asked in a dazed voice.
“A Lieutenant Russo brought you home.”
Nickole looked at her mother, as the memory of the
lieutenant and what he had told her came racing back in her mind. “Oh, Mama!” She began to cry. Mary took her in her arms and began rocking Nickole back and forth to comfort her. “Oh, Mama, they’re dead! Papa and Danny are dead! Someone killed them!”
“Yes, I know, baby. The lieutenant told me all about it yesterday when he brought you home.”
“Yesterday!” Nickole said snapping her head up to face her mother’s. “You mean I have slept all this
time?”
“Yes, dear. The doctor gave you something to make you rest.”
“Then today must be Christmas.”
“Yes, dear, it is Christmas.”
“I hope I never see another Christmas as long as I live!” Nickole snapped.
“Nickole, darling, you don’t mean that!”
“Yes I do, Mama, and I hate God for letting it happen.”
“Nickole, you feel this way now. I know that it hurts to lose someone you care for deeply. I felt the same way once.”
“You did? When, Mama?”
“When your grandmother died. I got over the pain, just as you will in time. You can still love them in your heart and keep them alive by remembering them in your mind. Nick wouldn’t want you to take this kind of attitude. He would want you to remember him as he was when he was alive. However, Nick told me, as I’m telling you now, you still have me. Unless you don’t love me anymore!”
“Oh, Mama, I love you! I could never stop loving you.”
“I love you, too, darling. That is why I want you to try to forgive your feelings you have toward God and try to forget about what has happened. Just for today, for Paul and Tiena’s sake. They are too little to understand all of this. All they know is that it is Christmas, a time for feeling happy. Therefore, for them, and for me, will you come downstairs and open your presents as we do every year, and try to be brave enough to pretend you are happy? Your father would be very proud of you, if you did.”
“You think so, Mama?”
“Yes, I know he would, Nickole.”
“OK, I will try to do as you ask. I will be down shortly.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. I love you very much.”
“I love you, too, Mama.” Nickole came down and tried to act normal for the smaller children. Benny just sat in his chair in the living room and drank wine from a bottle. He would smile at one of the little ones when they would show him a toy. He stayed drunk every day after that.
MARY TOOK NICKOLE TO the funerals of Nick and Danny. The Martino family spent the days avoiding
each other.
CHAPTER TWELVE
11:00 p.m. New Year’s Eve
Three days after Nick Colletti and Danny O’Shea had been buried, Mary sat alone in the living room. The children were asleep in their beds, and Benny was out getting drunk, just as he had been doing since Christmas. She sat there, waiting for Benny to come home. As she worked on her knitting, Mary was unaware that just outside there was a man silently making his way around her house. He was carrying a small black bag. The man was Mike Scallenie. He was at the rear of the house. He was trying all of the back windows, but he found them all locked. Then he came upon a small basement window. He found that it was not locked. The opening was just large enough for Scallenie to crawl through. He eased his body through the window. Very silently, he reached out of the window and carefully brought the black bag in. He took a small flashlight from his pocket. Turning it on, he shined around the basement. He stopped the light on a small table, walked over to it and set the bag down. Carefully, he opened the bag, taking out a neatly wrapped package. The package had a timer device attached to it. It contained six sticks of dynamite. Scallenie carefully set the timer for exactly twel
ve midnight. He then taped the timer to one of the rafters that ran under the living room floor.
Scallenie climbed back out through the window and headed for his car that was parked a little ways down the street from the house. Scallenie got into his car. He had a clear view of the house as he sat there, staring and waiting. He sat there laughing to himself as he kept saying repeatedly: “Happy New Year, people. BOOM! HA! HA! HA! Mr. Scallenie is bringing in the New Year with the biggest bang ever!”
11:30 p.m.
Benny came in the front door. He was drunk and in a very ugly mood. “Happy New Year! To my dear, unfaithful wife!” Benny shouted. “Oh, I’m sorry, I almost forgot, you’re in mourning for your departed
lover.”
Mary jumped to her feet, her face angry as she screamed back at him, “Benny! Don’t you dare come
in here and start up with one of your filthy drunken rages. I will not stand for it, do you hear me! I won’t!”
“Yeah, and what are ya gonna do about it? Come on, tell me!” Benny snarled.
“Benny, if you don’t stop acting like a drunken fool, I am going to take the kids and leave this house and you in it!”
“Let me tell you something, bitch. You might take that bastard kid of Nick Colletti’s, but you aren’t taking any of mine. I will see you dead first — or maybe none of them are mine. Maybe they all belong to Colletti.”
“That did it, Benny! ” Mary yelled as she started for the bedroom.
“Bitch, where do you think you are going?” Benny demanded as he started toward Mary.
She stopped and turned to him, saying in a low, venomous voice, “Something I should have done a long time ago. I am packing the children’s things and mine, and all four of us are leaving here. You are sick, Benny, and you are not fit to be around the children any longer. Just maybe before it’s too late, you might come to realize that you are in need of a psychiatrist after we are gone!”
Mary started again toward the hall door. Benny ran up behind her. He grabbed her, spinning her around to face him. “I told you, you aren’t taking the kids anywhere. I will kill you first.” Benny doubled up his fist and with all the violent strength he had in his body, he swung with full force, striking a blow to the side of Mary’s head. As she fell to the floor, her head took a second blow. The back of Mary’s head had struck the leg of a table that stood in the living room, next to the hall door. Mary laid on the floor, her body still, and her face a clammy white color. Benny stood over her, yelling at her to get up. Then he heard Nickole screaming at him.
