“What?”
“It was Nancy you called,” Holly said. “Admit it.”
Louis tried to return her stare, but blinked first. “Fine,” he said. “It was Nancy. Happy?”
“Why?”
“To make sure she didn’t give me up.”
“How would she do that? What’s she got to do with it?”
He avoided her eyes while he reached for his coffee.
“Louis?”
“She helped me set the guy up,” he said.
“She what?”
“It was her ex-husband’s car we took.”
“Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke now?”
“I didn’t tell you before because you’d think the wrong thing, but he’s the one peddling the movie.”
“He’s a mobster?”
“Not a mobster, no. He works for them.”
Holly’s eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that the same thing?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Of course not. Nothing is what I think, but then it turns out exactly what I thought. What’s going on, Louis?”
“What I told you. We took money from bad guys. Nancy’s ex, he’s a bad guy works for other bad guys.”
“And Nancy did this why, out of the kindness of her heart or because you’re still screwing her?”
“I’m not screwing her. Would you get over that already? Look at you and look at her. No comparison, okay.”
What Holly noticed was he still couldn’t look her in the eyes. It was the same when she had asked him about his rash and mentioned it looked like what they did for people who had crabs. He couldn’t look her in the eyes then either.
“I’ve known people who had crabs before,” she said.
“What?” he said. “We’re back to that again?”
She waited for eye contact, but there wasn’t any.
“Never play poker, Louis,” she told him.
“What’s poker got to do with anything?”
“I want to go back to the dorm.”
“What?”
“I want to go home.”
“Fine, I’ll drop you off. You can give the professor a call. See his dick is still hard.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“If you say so.”
Holly slid out of the booth. “Let’s go,” she said.
“In a minute,” Louis said.
She stood over him. “Now,” she said.
“You mind I pay the check, maybe take a piss?”
“I’ll wait in the car,” she said.
She was on her way out when she spotted him giving her the finger in the mirrored wall’s reflection. She stopped and turned around.
“Fuck you, too,” she yelled loud enough for the entire diner to hear.
Then she left.
* * * *
John’s mother told Nancy that a cop had come to the door asking about John and money he owed and then asked about Little Jack, if he was there in the house with her, but she didn’t believe he was a cop, even though he had a badge.
Now she was in a hurry on her way out and didn’t have time to talk. Nancy asked her to hold on a minute. She told Marie to put her son on the phone, but the old bag said they were in a hurry and promised to call back when John told her it was okay.
“You know how much he owes?” Nancy asked.
“What? He didn’t say he owes anything.”
“It’s a lot.”
“How do you know?”
Nancy rolled her eyes. “Because he told me.”
“Why would he tell you?”
“Fifteen thousand,” Nancy said. She figured why not make it more than it was. The old lady probably had that and more.
“How much?” Marie Albano asked.
“You heard me.”
“I don’t believe it. I don’t believe you.”
“Then ask your son.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
Marie hung up.
“Bitch,” Nancy said.
If there was a way out of this mess without someone getting hurt, Nancy assumed it was John’s mother. There was no way the old bag wouldn’t bail her son out. The problem would be John and whether or not he’d allow his mother to help. Probably not, Nancy was thinking, which was why she might have to negotiate the situation herself.
It wouldn’t be easy.
She was still pissed off at hearing Louis’s blonde bimbo’s voice in the background of their telephone conversation earlier. Wherever he was with their money, the blonde was right there with him. Nancy wondered if there wasn’t some way to implicate little Miss Oklahoma in the robbery. Chances are she had been there for that too and was guilty anyway.
Nancy had made Louis promise he was finished with that one and had believed him until she heard the blonde calling his name through the phone. The man couldn’t be trusted.
She had even started to get beyond the smacks she took the night before, figuring they had been a small price to pay for the money Louis had netted; money that would get them started together somewhere else until her half of the house from her divorce would provide a small windfall. She would go back to work and Louis would find something new and then maybe they could go back to being married again.
She had heard of couples that had done that, break up one year, have other relationships that didn’t work out and then start over again. It wasn’t a complete pipe dream.
She looked at the time and realized John would be calling soon wanting to know if she knew where Louis was or if he’d called her. It had been a mistake admitting Louis was involved, but now that she’d done it, she’d have to string John along.
There was still a lot to do, Nancy was thinking, when the telephone rang at ten-fifteen.
“Hello?” she answered.
“It’s me,” Nathan said.
“Oh, okay. What do you want?”
“When will you be out of the house?”
“Excuse me?”
“I need to get a few things.”
“And why can’t I be here?”
“You can. I’d rather you weren’t.”
“Don’t you think you’re being silly?”
“I can’t make you leave, Nancy, but I’d rather do this without you.”
“Nonsense. You can come whenever you’re ready. I won’t get in your way.”
“Fine. My sister will be coming with me.”
“What for?”
“We’ll try for noon.”
“What? Wait a minute.”
Nathan had already hung up.
“Bastard,” Nancy said. “How dare he hang up on me.”
She started to call him back, stopped herself, then dialed again anyway.
“Hello?” Nathan answered.
Nancy hung up.
“There,” she said. “How do you like it?”
Chapter 47
Melinda was awake when Jill called to complain about a fight she’d had with the guy she’d just dumped. It would’ve been a long conversation, except Melinda said she couldn’t tie up the phone and that Jill should come over instead. Jill said she’d be over later in the morning. Melinda said she’d leave a key under the doormat if she wasn’t home.
She watched John sleeping afterward, his face toward her, his abdomen and chest rising and descending ever so slightly. She had to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.
At nine-fifteen she slipped out of bed to make the coffee. She scrambled some eggs, put up the bacon and prepared four slices of toast while listening to the news on her kitchen radio. The weather report... sports... the time.
She woke him at nine-thirty.
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Nine thirty-five.”
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I have to call the bar.”
“Why?”
“I have to talk to Vento.”
“Who’s he?”
“Eddie Vento.”
She remembered the gangster. “Why?”
“And Nancy,” John said. “I should probably call her first, see if she spoke to Louis yet.”
“Louis is probably in Las Vegas.”
“Probably, but I need to know. And my mother. I have to call her and see what’s going on there. I told her to go someplace safe.”
“Jesus,” Melinda said. “You made all these plans... when exactly?”
She was feeling left out and it scared her. She called to him as he made his way to the bathroom.
“John?”
“I’ll be right out,” he said.
She saw the bathroom door close.
“You’re shutting me out,” she said.
“What?”
She stood there staring at the bathroom door. She heard the toilet flush, then the sink running.
“John?”
He opened the door and kissed her on the cheek as he tried to brush passed her.
“John!”
He slipped through her hold and headed for the kitchen. Melinda followed him.
“You’re ignoring me,” she said, then waited for him to turn and face her again. “You made all these decisions and none of them include me.”
“I don’t want you involved, Melinda.”
“I am involved, damn it.”
He hugged her.
“I’m afraid for you, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I notice you made breakfast.”
She slapped his arm a bit harder than she intended.
“Ouch.”
“Pay attention to me,” she said. “I’m trying to help.”
“I’m sorry.”
Melinda could feel herself turning red with frustration. “Eat something,” she said. She motioned at him to sit, then poured the coffee while he started on the eggs.
“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked between bites.
“I was. I’m not now.”
“You should eat.”
She grabbed a piece of toast.
“Jill is coming over.”
“Your waitress friend?”
“She had a fight with some guy she was dating and he won’t stop calling her house.”
“Why doesn’t she leave the phone off the hook.”
“Because then he rings her doorbell.”
“Cops?”
“John, I don’t know, but she’s coming over and I don’t want to talk with anybody right now. I mean it.”
“Okay,” John said.
“Except you.”
“I’m right here.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why are you calling Nancy?”
“To see if Louis called.”
“And if he did?”
“Maybe she knows where he is.”
“You think she’ll tell you? She loves him. She isn’t going to give him up.”
“She’s scared enough she will. She was terrified last night.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“I saw her. She was scared.”
He was doing it again, defending the woman who had tried to set him up to take a fall with the mob.
“And why call that other guy from the bar?” she asked.
“Because he’s the one who counts,” John said. “It’s Eddie Vento’s money. I need him to know I didn’t rob him. He already knows about me and Santorra.” He grabbed a strip of bacon. “Not what I did last night, but that I popped him at the bar last week. Vento should know what Santorra did to my car.”
“Why would the mob guy care about what Santorra did to your car or that you beat him up?”
“Because Eddie Vento knows Santorra is a fuckup. He told me so himself.”
Melinda was confused. “I don’t see how that helps.”
“Let him suspect Santorra or that he had something to do with it. The punk deserves it.”
“But you won’t give up Nancy, right?”
“I won’t. It was Louis did this. I know she helped, but he’s the one with the money. She’s my son’s mother. I may not be able to find Louis on my own, but they sure can.”
“And how does that help you? If Louis spent it, I mean. You said the mob won’t care anyway, they’ll still look for you.”
“Eddie will, probably, but maybe he won’t kill me.”
It was too much to contemplate. She suggested the obvious. “What about the police?”
“Only if I want to kill myself,” he said. “There’s no turning to the law on this, Melinda. I’m not going that route, looking over my shoulder the rest of my life. No thanks. It was my choice to take that work. It’s my headache.”
There was no talking to the man, she thought. He was stubborn to the point of suicidal.
“I was thinking I’d follow Nancy,” he said. “I’ll have to be careful because Vento’s guys are probably doing the same. I doubt Louis goes to meet her. She’d have to go to him.”
“And he’ll spot you if you’re there and then he’d disappear for sure, right?”
“It gets tricky.”
“If it’s all about the money, I think you should consider my offer again. You could go find Louis after you’re safe.”
He ignored her comment and reached for a piece of toast.
“John?”
“Can I use your car again?”
“Can I come along?”
He sipped his coffee.
“I might be able to help,” she said. “They don’t know me.”
“I don’t want you involved.”
“I know that. And I won’t be, but you might need me.”
“What about work?”
“I already called in.”
“So you made some plans too?”
“Don’t fight me on this.”
He rubbed his temples.
“John?”
“Alright,” he said. “But we do it my way. No arguing.”
She didn’t like giving in, even temporarily, but it was better than watching him leave and then having to spend the day waiting again.
“Okay,” she said. “Deal.”
* * * *
Billy wasn’t sure if the old man had survived being hit so hard with the handgun, but he’d tied and gagged him anyway. If the geezer wound up suffocating from the gag or choking on his own blood, it’d be his own fault for being nosey.
That had been hours ago. Still impressed by the old man’s nerve, Billy hoped he’d been found.
After leaving Albano’s apartment, he’d driven to the girlfriend’s house. He’d made a few passes around the block, but didn’t see the Buick or the Valiant. It was possible they had gone out to breakfast. It was also possible Albano had started back to Brooklyn and the girlfriend had gone to work, but then Billy spotted movement through the living room window and pulled to the curb two houses from the corner.
The street was quiet except for a few kids he could see in his rearview mirror playing stickball at the far end of the block. Billy put the Walther in a small gym bag alongside his AGA Campolin stiletto before getting out of the car and heading back toward the girlfriend’s place.
He had brought the knife along with the rifle and the Walther because he didn’t have a sound suppressor. Billy figured it was best to stab whoever answered the door.
He was hoping to use the Walther on Albano but was prepared to take him out from a distance with the hunting rifle.
Now he held the knife inside the bag as he pressed the doorbell with his free hand. He released the blade when he heard footsteps behind the door. He held the screen door handle with his free hand and pulled on it as the front door opened.
“Yes?” the woman said a split second before Billy plunged the knife into her stomach.
Her eyes opened wide as she fell back against the pantry wall. Billy stepped inside and closed the front door behind him. The woman was spitting blood. Billy looked into the kitchen but didn’t see anyone. The woman grabbed at his leg.
“Sorry, hon,” he sa
id before squatting down to cover her nose and mouth. Her body jerked, but Billy’s eyes remained glued to the open area in the kitchen. A full minute passed before she stopped moving. Billy continued to cut off her air another thirty seconds, then pulled the Walther from the gym bag and made his way through the house.
He found the note on the kitchen table on his way back to the front door.
Jill,
Sorry, I had to leave. Make yourself at home. There’s leftover Chinese in the fridge. Talk to you later.
Mel
“Who’s Mel?” Billy said. “What’s your name, hon, and where the hell’d you go?”
Then he saw the other piece of paper taped to the refrigerator. A list of names and phone numbers in different handwriting:
John: 241-6331
John’s Ex: 696-2001
John’s Mom: 696-4891
Billy reached for the phone hanging on the wall. “Let’s not call and ruin the surprise,” he said, lowering his arm. “But let’s do go visit Mom.”
* * * *
“No, you won’t pay them,” John told his mother over the phone. “I won’t let you.”
“You can’t stop me,” Marie Albano said. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you or my grandson. These people are animals and I don’t know why you bothered with them in the first place, you could’ve come to me if you needed money, but now that they’re coming to my door, I’m going to pay them and that’s it.”
“What do you mean they came to your door?”
“This morning, a little while ago, a tall guy with red hair. He had a badge, but I don’t think he was a cop.”
“What did he want? What did he say?”
“He wanted to know where you were and when I told him I didn’t know he said to give you a message to go see the guy from Brooklyn. Then he asked if Little Jack was home.”
“He knew Jack’s name?”
“No, he said grandson. He asked if my grandson was home with me.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Exactly, and that’s why I’m paying them whatever you owe.”
“I don’t owe them a thing, Ma. I was robbed yesterday. The guy who stole the money owes it.”
“Well, then they’ll get their money because I’m not taking any chances with loved ones. Good-bye.”
“Ma!”
It was too late, his mother had hung up.
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