“Or to me,” Brice said. “Why would they?”
“We’ll do what we can to help you out of it,” Levin said. “But I have to tell you this much, you can’t go anywhere with this or you will have trouble.”
“You prick.”
“I’m not a prick. I’m doing what I can for you. It isn’t much, but I don’t have to do anything.”
“Okay, so, what? I resign today or wait the week out?”
“I can’t tell you what to do.”
Brice set the empty bottle on the coffee table. He looked at Levin a moment, then started for the door.
“You can ride with me tomorrow,” Levin said. “I’ll note it officially I was forced to inform you of the investigation. I advised you stay with me. It’s the best I can do.”
“You busting him tomorrow?”
“That I won’t say.”
Brice turned toward the door.
“I’ll let you know,” Levin said.
“When?”
“When I know.”
* * * *
Even though he’d promised to put the money in the safe-deposit box the next day, Nancy knew that Louis would keep his distance until she could assure him it was safe to return.
In the meantime, she was supposed to learn how John was going to deal with the situation. She would arrange for John’s mother to watch Little Jack, and when she was sure it was safe, she would let Louis know. The problem was how to go about it, letting Louis know. Nancy had no clue where he was and was totally dependent on him calling her.
It was eleven o’clock when she finally made it home. She had eaten a slice of pizza after dropping her son at John’s mother’s house, where Nancy had hoped to hear something, but apparently John hadn’t called the old bag yet.
Nancy went upstairs to begin packing a bag just in case Louis called sooner rather than later. She was hoping it was Louis when she heard the phone ringing. She picked it up before putting down her purse.
“It’s me,” John said.
“Oh,” Nancy said. “How’d you make out?”
“Why don’t you tell me how you made out?”
“Excuse me?”
“Louis have the money?”
Nancy paused a moment. “Wha-what money? What are you talking about?”
“Jesus Christ, Nancy, how the hell could you do this?”
“Do what? What are you talking about?”
“I’m not the only one they’ll come after, you dumb shit. Remember you called the bar? They passed the message along to me. They’ll just assume you were part of it.”
Nancy felt the blood drain from her face. She braced herself against the kitchen table and lowered herself into a chair. “Part of what?” she said.
“Where’s my son?”
Nancy took a moment to compose herself.
“With your mother,” she said
“Good. Leave him there.”
“Why? What’s going on? What are you talking about?”
“I’m not going to argue,” John said. “I’m telling you to get in touch with Louis and tell him not to bet the money you two stole today because you didn’t steal it from me. That was mob money. They break legs for a fifty, never mind what that asshole is driving around with right now.”
Nancy couldn’t speak.
“Nancy?” John said.
“What?” she managed.
“Call him.”
She was about to say she couldn’t, that she didn’t have his number, when John hung up. The reality of her situation was jarring. She tried calling Louis’s apartment and counted ten rings before she gave up.
Nancy couldn’t move. How had John known she was involved? How had he known it was Louis?
The doorbell rang. She looked at the clock and saw it was ten-twenty. She went to the living room to look out the window. Two husky men were at the door. Cops, she thought; detectives probably.
She knew she was mistaken as soon as she saw their faces. Neither of the men presented identification. The shorter of the two did the talking.
“Mrs. Albano?”
“Actually, it’s, uh, Ackerman.”
“You know a John Albano?”
“He’s my ex.”
“Oh, okay. We’re friends of your ex. You know where he is?”
Nancy shook her head for effect. “No. Is something wrong?”
“How’s your kid?” the taller one asked. “You get him back?”
Nancy stuttered. “Ah, yes, wa-we did. Tha-thank you.”
“Can we come in?” the short one asked.
“Uh, I was about ta-ta-ta to go to to-to, uh, to bed.”
“You could let us in or we’ll break the fucking door down,” the tall one said.
Then he pushed her hard and she fell back on her ass. When she looked up, they were already inside.
* * * *
After John called his mother to check on his son and to warn her to stay put, he felt conflicted about scaring his ex-wife. Melinda wasn’t hearing it, saying Nancy deserved feeling scared and should develop ulcers for what she had done and that John was still being too god damn nice about it all.
“She’s the kid’s mother,” he told her. “Anything happens to her, it’s my son who suffers. She’s still his mother.”
Melinda bit her upper lip.
“I’m not saying she’s a model mother,” he said. “But she is his mother.”
“Then she’s the one should return the money she stole.”
“How’s she gonna do that?”
“Jesus Christ, John,” Melinda said. “She’s not half as stupid as you think. I’m sure she’s got quite the little stash someplace.”
“She won’t give up Louis. Those two have a history. A sick one, but it’s there all the same.”
“Is there even time to do any of that? These people will want their money right away, won’t they?”
“If they can squeeze more money out of it, they’ll take it like an annuity. They’ll probably charge interest on what was stolen and turn thirteen grand into twenty. It comes to money they’ll make whatever deal nets them the most.”
“Would they still hurt somebody?”
“You bet your ass they will,” John said. “I already owe them for nailing one of their own, the punk who broke my windshield. This, now they think I’m involved, they’ll come after me with baseball bats.”
“Jesus Christ. What about the police?”
“No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“They can’t do anything that can help. And if Eddie Vento thinks I went to the police, they’ll put a contract out on me.”
“Contract?”
“I’m not going to the police, Melinda, so let’s drop it.”
She covered her head with both hands.
“You okay?” he said.
“No, I’m not.”
“You got aspirins?”
“Aspirins, Jesus Christ. Look, stop worrying about other people for a minute. Worry about yourself.”
“I’m gonna have to give myself up,” John said. “Or they’ll go after Nancy and maybe my kid. I can’t risk that.”
“That’s crazy. I have a few dollars. I can help.”
“No way, Melinda, forget it. I still feel like a deadbeat for when you paid for my coffee.”
“If you tell them you have money and they see it comes from me or somebody else, you make them go with you to the bank, they’ll have to believe you were robbed. You can pay me back later. I don’t need the money. It’s just sitting there anyway. It’s not going to make me rich.”
“And how do I pay you back?” John said.
“Whenever, I don’t care.”
“No.”
“John, damn it.”
“No.”
“Forget your pride for two minutes,” Melinda said. “This is your life we’re talking about.”
John glanced up at the clock. “Can I borrow your car?”
“What? Why? Where are you going?”
/> “To see Nancy.”
“What for?”
“Convince her to leave my son at my mother’s, for one thing. Maybe she knows where her ex is and I can get the money back before he blows it.”
“You going to protect her now?”
“Jesus Christ, Melinda.”
Melinda was clenching her teeth. “Go,” she said.
“The keys?”
She got them from her purse. He leaned in to kiss her on the mouth. She turned her head and he kissed her cheek instead.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Be careful,” she said.
He started for the door, stopped to look back at her, then nodded and was gone.
Chapter 42
“I used to come here when I was a kid,” Eddie Vento said. “My grandfather used to take me on the boat rides they had. Was a nickel or something.”
“My old man said it was a swamp, Canarsie,” Kelly said.
They had met at the pier a few minutes earlier. Vento led the detective around it starting from the east end, where he pointed toward the sanitation fills off the Pennsylvania Avenue exit on the Belt Parkway.
“Still stinks when it’s humid,” he said. “The shit the city dumps there. I used to gag sometimes.”
“You sure it’s the garbage?” Kelly said.
Vento didn’t understand until he saw Kelly was pointing at a group of Hispanics sitting around a late-night barbecue. He ignored the remark and said, “I got a guy missing in action. He’s missing and so are copies of the film and a lot of money.”
“How much money?”
“Enough I’m looking for help.”
“He’s one of yours?”
“I just said.”
“Any ideas?”
“Not really. Only something ain’t right. I just give him a bunch of new stops, he doubled up what he had and then this. There’s some other shit going on between him and another guy don’t make sense either. Run his plates. I already sent people where he lives. I need you to track his plates.”
“I can’t put an APB on a guy robbed the mob, Eddie. I’d need more of a reason. Legally, I mean. Wouldn’t look good.”
“Now you’re being a jerkoff.”
Kelly stopped walking. They were at the north end of the pier. Kelly pointed out across Jamaica Bay.
“I once took a broad there, the island out there,” he said. “Jewish broad worked for my brother wound up ruining his life.”
Vento waited for more.
Kelly said, “He was a happily married man, my brother. Very religious. Sanctimoniously so, until the Jewess with the big tits had him eating out of her hand.”
“He was getting some on the side. So?”
“Point is, except for under her bra, he never bothered looking into the twat he was banging. She stung him for close to twenty grand.”
“You couldn’t help him?”
“We weren’t talking. When I say he was religious, I mean it. My brother should’ve been a priest instead of a lawyer. He didn’t approve of my lifestyle.”
“He knew you were dirty?”
Kelly flashed a sarcastic smile. “No, he didn’t,” he said. “But he knew I screwed around on my wife and that I drank. Until his girlfriend, those weren’t venal sins. Screwing around he thought of as mortal sin. Seriously so.”
“Okay, I bite. What happened?”
“She went and dropped some pictures in the mail. This after he’d re-mortgaged his house and handed over twenty grand. My sister-in-law saw them and ran to the pastor of their parish, nitwit that she was, and when my brother found that out, his priest knew, he went down his basement and blew his brains out.”
“Jesus Christ, over a broad?”
“Over his sins. I’m convinced it had to do with her going to the priest, his wife. Which was one reason she never saw the cash he’d stashed in a safe-deposit box, which is another reason I don’t use one. I like my cash close at hand. A good old American safe with a loaded thirty-eight inside the event it’s some dumb bastard comes to rob me, has me open the thing for him. Anyway, I found one of the safe deposit keys on Michael’s St. Christopher metal. God only knows who had the other one. I know it wasn’t the broad he was screwing because there was still money inside when I opened it.”
“Tell me you went after her.”
“I did the due diligence he should’ve, albeit too late.”
“And?”
Kelly pointed to the island. “Like I said, he was a sanctimonious asshole, Michael was, but he was still my brother.”
“And I needed to hear this why again?”
“Your girlfriend,” Kelly said. “Something tells me she’s not as intimidated of you as you think.”
“Explain,” Vento said.
Kelly had to be careful. He couldn’t let Vento know he’d tried to have her killed and had failed. He said, “You know about her other boyfriend, right, the one died in the joint?”
“The jerk she was all goo-goo over, yeah.”
“She was busted with him. You know that?”
“I’m the one told you. Yeah, she got caught transporting or some shit. Big deal.”
“So, when he died, they had to know she was working for you and they never followed up on her. You know if she gave the boyfriend up?”
“Do you?”
“When she start with you?”
Vento shrugged. “The guy was already inna’ joint I put her to work.”
“When’d you start fucking her?”
“Week or so after he was locked up. So?”
“It’s worth looking into is all.”
“You know this cunt is talking to the law or not?”
“I don’t, not officially. I’m just saying is all, you’d be smart to perform some due diligence of your own.”
“The fuck does that mean?”
“Maybe you should take a look-see around that apartment of yours and make sure there aren’t any electronic devices you didn’t put there yourself.”
Vento took a moment. “Okay,” he said. “I will.”
“As for the other thing,” Kelly said, “maybe your MIA saw an opportunity and took it. He was carrying a lot of cash, it had to be tempting. He have any roots?”
“A wife and kid. Ex-wife.”
“Then the kid is the one we should work through.”
“We don’t fuck with kids.”
“You can always farm it out. I don’t mind mercenary work.”
“No,” Vento said.
“You want the money back?”
Vento glared at Kelly.
“I’m just saying,” the detective said. “There’s a reward for this money, I’m not shy about getting things done. The guy gives a fuck about his kid, I’ll get to him.”
Vento remained silent.
Kelly said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
* * * *
Louis took the Garden State Parkway to exit 40, then the White Horse Pike East. He told Holly they would spend the night at one of the motels outside Atlantic City and go to the Boardwalk the next day for some saltwater taffy, maybe go on the rides on the Steel Pier.
He pulled into a motel parking lot with a view of the water three miles from the famous Boardwalk. The Wind Bay Inn featured a sad-looking swimming pool out front, color television and electric-fingers beds. He paid cash for the room and asked for three dollars in change for phone calls he might or might not make, depending on his mood after getting a few hours sleep.
Holly was still excited about their adventure. She pulled off her bell-bottoms and paraded around the room in her white panties and halter. Louis used the bathroom first, taking a shower after he was finished with the toilet. He wrapped a towel around his waist when he came out. It fell off when he went to lift the gym bag.
“You shaved yourself?” Holly asked.
Louis followed where she was looking and realized he’d exposed himself. “Had to,” he said. “Jock rash.”
Holly pointed. “What’s that wh
ite stuff?”
“Cream for the rash.”
Holly wasn’t convinced. “They made you shave for that?”
“It’s not VD,” Louis said, “if that’s what you think.”
“Okay, rash from what then? From where?”
Here we go, he thought.
“I don’t know what,” he said. “Running probably. I went for a jog last week and felt a cut there, a burn, and I didn’t take care of it.”
“You’re sure it’s not crabs?”
Louis set the gym bag on the bed. “Where would I get crabs?”
“From another woman.”
“I didn’t sleep with another woman.”
“Your ex-wife.”
He unzipped the bag. “Let’s not ruin this, okay?”
Holly put a hand across the gym bag.
“The rash is why we didn’t have sex this morning, isn’t it?”
“Partly. Move your hand.”
“No, tell me. Is it really a rash or something else?”
Louis pulled the bag away. “It’s a rash, Holly. That’s what it is, a rash. Men get those sometimes. It isn’t the end of the world. I went to the doctor and he gave me the cream, told me to shave myself and apply it.”
“Okay, if that’s the case, then we can fuck.”
“Don’t take it the wrong way, but right now I’d rather count this money.”
Holly reached behind her and undid the halter. It dropped from around her neck to her lap, exposing her breasts.
“And now?” she said.
Louis looked from her breasts to the bag and said, “Just a rough count first, but let me chain that door lock first.”
* * * *
Nancy hadn’t been slapped that hard since the fifth grade when Sister Mary Michael caught her and two of her friends smoking in the lavatory at Holy Family during homeroom. She remembered she couldn’t even cry it had hurt so much.
It’s what she was thinking about after swallowing two Bayer aspirin at the kitchen sink. The tall one had pushed his way inside the house and then helped her up with one hand before slapping her across the face with the other. She remembered gasping from the slap and then there were bright lights she saw in her head just before she hit the floor.
She’d heard footsteps on the stairs behind her when she sat up, but the tall one was still standing there right in front of her, daring her to get up. She hadn’t moved.
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