by S. J. Bishop
I inhaled through my nose. I wanted Nikki, but I couldn’t fathom painting Gwen as a bad caretaker in front of a judge. It just wouldn’t be true. Gwen was caring, independent, and tough as nails… she’d be a great mom.
I’d wanted to run after Gwen when she’d rushed out of the lawyer’s office, but I hadn’t had time to chase her down. So I’d texted her, telling her that we needed to talk it over, that she could not, in good conscience, blow me off. She hadn’t responded yet, but I knew she would. Gwen wasn’t malicious on purpose. She believed in the greater good. I knew she’d agree to talk when she was ready. In the meantime, I had some strange business to take care of.
When Uncle Joe had called that morning, early, he’d said he didn’t want to talk over the phone, but he had some news about Eric’s accident. “It may not have been an accident,” he’d suggested.
I hadn’t wanted to believe that anyone would maliciously hurt my brother. Eric was a good, sweet guy. But Joe had started talking about Sonny the Brick and Joey Bones and Val Solano, and I’d had to stop him. “Let’s not do this over the phone,” I’d suggested. So Uncle Joe had asked me to meet him at The Cantina.
The Cantina was the newest restaurant in Joe’s chain of Italian dining institutions. It was undergoing renovations at the moment and wasn’t open to customers. I parked a few blocks away (you never know who’s watching), and entered through the back door. Joe was sitting at a small booth in the back with Sonny the Brick. Sonny wasn’t a Juliano, but he worked for my great uncle. I liked to pretend I didn’t know what Sonny did, but you don’t get the nickname “The Brick” by collecting rents. Or maybe you do.
Sonny wasn’t particularly brick-like to look at. He had thick, black hair that wanted trimming and a beard that looked much more meticulously kept than his hair. His eyes were smart and watchful, as dark as his hair, and I couldn’t help but feel slightly chilled as I sat down opposite him. I wasn’t not a small guy, and Sonny was my height, plus another fifty pounds.
“So,” said Uncle Joe without preamble. “I was wondering what a Solano might be doing at your brother’s funeral…”
“He was a friend of Mia’s…”
Uncle Joe held up a hand, silencing me. “I know you can take care of your own affairs, Lawrence, but you’re my niece’s son, and Eric was my great nephew. You have to allow an old man his precautions.”
I kept quiet. Clearly, whatever had piqued Uncle Joe’s interest in Val Solano had led to something.
“It didn’t feel right. So I sent Sonny to trail Solano.” He gestured at Sonny to pick up the story.
“Was easy enough to follow him,” said Sonny. “Val Solano was piss-ass drunk and didn’t notice me. And he headed to The Den, which is neutral territory. I sat nearby while he had a few more drinks, and when he could barely sit up straight, the bartender took Solano’s phone from him and dialed a number. Maybe ten minutes later, another guy showed up.”
“We don’t know who the other guy was,” Joe cut in.
“We do not,” Sonny agreed. “But he says to Val, ‘What on earth is wrong with you!’ And Val says, ‘I’m going to kill Joey Bones myself! He should have let me handle it!’”
I waited for more, but both men were looking at me as if I could draw my own conclusions.
“It is your brother and his fiancé,” said Sonny. “I asked around, trying to figure out why Val was so upset. Rumors say that he and Mia used to be a thing, and Val never got over her leaving him. I’m thinking that might have been motive to cause an ‘accident.’ Could be Val ordered a hit on Eric, and Mia was there accidently. Solano was drinking like someone with a guilty conscience.”
“You want us to look into it?” Uncle Joe asked, reaching across the table and putting a hand on mine.
I inhaled, thinking about the six million dollars in Mia’s bank account. Everything about the police report on the accident suggested that it was just that: an accident. Eric had been driving at night with Mia in the car. He’d tried to swerve to keep from hitting an alligator, and he’d ended up flipping his car. But then again: where had Mia’s six million dollars come from? And what did the Solanos have to do with it? If the Solanos had killed Eric, their truce with the Julianos was over. And that was bad news for everybody.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. I don’t want you to look into it. Let me look into it on my end, and if it looks suspicious, I’ll call you.”
“No offense, Mr. Henry,” said Sonny, “But this is our line of work…”
“Yes,” I nodded. “But it’s my brother. I’d rather do this my way.” In my pocket, my phone began to buzz. I looked down. Gwen was calling.
12
Gwen
“…I appreciate you looking. Thanks so much for your time.” I hung up the phone and stared at it a solid minute, trying to wrap my head around what I was learning. It was looking less and less likely that Eric Henry had any involvement in the six million dollars.
I’d called Eric’s place of employment, his bank, and a few of his friends who I knew through Mia. Then I’d called Mia’s bank and talked to the agent who had represented her. The money, he’d said, had been deposited over the past year and had come in as wire transfers from a variety of different accounts. He had spoken with Mia about it, and she’d told him they were charitable contributions from a Kickstarter campaign. But he didn’t have any more information than that. I had googled the Kickstarter campaign, and it had been deactivated. When I’d called the company, they’d informed me that her lawyer had notified them of her death and that they weren’t authorized to give me information about her account.
It was a dead end.
I needed to get over to Mia’s apartment, but I couldn’t leave until my mother got back. She’d left when I’d returned from the lawyer and was due back shortly.
I looked over my shoulder at where Nikki was currently passed out on the couch, drooling onto my mother’s worn cushions, and my heart broke a little. We’d gone to the park, and she’d run around for a full hour before exhausting herself.
I wasn’t surprised that Law had demanded shared custody. He was devoted to his family and had never been afraid of commitment. Still, there was no way I was letting my sister’s daughter be raised around organized crime.
I prayed that Law wouldn’t push the matter, that he would accept my reasoning. I didn’t want this to end up in court. If it did, the truth would come out: Nikki wasn’t Eric Henry’s daughter. She was Val Solano’s.
Mia had told me not long after Nikki was born. She had Eric’s name on the birth certificate, but she’d sent away for a DNA test. The papers with the results were the first things I’d picked up from her apartment when I’d arrived in Miami. If Law pressed the issue, I had evidence: he was not Nikki’s blood relative.
I hadn’t been nice when Mia had told me. I actually couldn’t believe that after four years with Eric, she would go behind his back and sleep with Val. Mia had called me a holier-than-thou bitch. We hadn’t spoken for three months.
I rubbed my eyes. I was beginning to get a headache. Not only was I going to have to fight with Law over Nikki’s future, I was going to have to out my sister as unfaithful. On top of that, I was going to have to try to figure out where Mia’s six million dollars had come from. Part of me wanted to drop the whole matter. But if Mia had gotten that money illegally, then it needed to be given back.
When my mom returned, it was a lot later than she had promised me it would be. I watched her putter around her kitchen, making herself a late lunch. Nikki was up by this point and was following her grandmother around the kitchen. My mom had given her a cookie to stop her from talking.
When I told my mother where I was going, she’d shrugged, so I left and drove out to Mia and Eric’s apartment.
While Mia liked nice things, it was clear that she and Eric had lived within their means. There was no evidence of wealth anywhere in their small apartment. I passed through their small living room and into the half-bedroom that
the two had been using as their office. Eric had been a middle school history teacher, and his desk had a corkboard full of student drawings, his laptop computer, a stack of ungraded papers, and textbooks.
Still hoping that the money was somehow tied to Eric and not to my sister, I started by looking into his drawers, but I didn’t find much. I uncovered very poorly organized tax records, a few thin binders with weekly lesson plans, Hershey kiss wrappers, two crucifixes, and stubs from concert tickets – nothing that tied him to the money in Mia’s account.
Taking a deep breath, I approached Mia’s desk. As an accountant, my sister kept meticulous records. Her desk had locked drawers, a desktop with a password, and neatly stacked books. Where would I go to find information about the money?
Call my crazy, but I started with her phonebook. Mia’s cellphone had been on her during the accident, and I’d kept it in my purse with me. I didn’t have a charger for an Android phone, but I found one sitting on her desk. While I waited for her phone to charge, I got up and went through her apartment. Mia kept things neat (she’d have to, living with a two year old). We’d already gone through and packed up most of Nikki’s things. Now, I went through looking for clues. I found a few sets of keys in strange places (bureau drawers and kitchen bowls), but there was nothing hidden around her apartment. My guess was that everything would be in her phone or on her computer.
I had just finished searching her bedroom (the phone must be partially charged by now…) when there was a knock on the door.
I rolled my eyes. It was probably Law. His practice would have gotten out about two hours ago, and I was honestly surprised I hadn’t yet heard from him yet.
Walking over to the door, steeling myself against my usual reaction to the sight of him, I turned the handle. It wasn’t Law.
A man I’d never seen before stood in front of my sister’s apartment, holding my niece.
“Hello, Ms. Mathers,” the man said. He had white teeth and a smile that seemed to suggest that showing up at my sister’s apartment, holding Nikki (whom I’d left with my mother), was a perfectly normal thing to do. “This little girl has been asking about her mama.”
“Mama here?” Nikki asked, pushing against the man’s chest. Immediately, I reached out and grabbed her from the stranger. My abrupt reaction startled Nikki, who cried out, “Mama!!” She wriggled out of my arms and ran into the apartment. I let her go, standing firmly between the man and my niece, my heart pounding.
The stranger was huge – Law’s height at least, but heavier – and was wearing a black shirt unbuttoned over a salmon pink tank top and dark slacks. Even in the dim corridor of the apartment, sunglasses hid his eyes.
“Nikki’s mama owes us a lot of money,” said the man. “As Mia’s sister, Ms. Mathers, it would be in your best interest to tell us anything you might know about it.”
Oh god, Mia. What have you done!?
“I’m sorry,” I said, licking my lips. Lie, Gwen, lie! “I don’t know anything about your missing money. I have my sister’s accounts. She has seven thousand dollars, and about fifty thousand in her IRA account…”
I was babbling, and I shut my mouth. He was carrying a gun. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it.
“As you go through your sister’s belongings,” said the man casually, “You might keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual and report it to us when you find it. And Ms. Mathers,” he reached a hand behind his back. The blood left my face, and I felt faint. “I’d recommend you not call the police about this matter. It’s between Mia and my bosses, understand?”
He seemed to be waiting for something, so I nodded.
“Understand, also, that we know where you live, Ms. Mathers. We know where Nikki’s grandmother lives. You go to the cops…” He shrugged. “I hope I can trust you to help us.”
I knew I had to say something, had to do something, but Nikki was now screaming in the background. Screaming at the top of her lungs. “Mama!!!”
I took a deep breath. “If I come across anything Mr…” He shook his head, not supplying his name. “I will let you know.”
“I’m sure you will,” said the man, removing his hand from behind his back, withdrawing a white business card and handing it to me. Only a number was printed on it. “Good day, Ms. Mathers. And remember – it’s best that this be kept between you and me.”
And with that, he strolled off. With his back to me, I could see the outline of a gun against the fabric of his shirt. I broke out into a cold sweat.
Closing the door, I locked it and stood there, my brain overwhelmed by the fight-or-flight reaction my body was going through. Nikki was still screaming.
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I dialed Law.
13
Law
I’d never heard Gwen sound so panicked. She could barely get the words out of her mouth, and in the background was Nikki, screaming her head off.
I’d never driven so fast in my life.
I parked illegally and ran up the three flights of stairs to Eric’s door. It was locked, and I pounded on it until Gwen threw it open. She looked pale and frightened, and she was rocking a sniffling Nikki. My niece looked up, and when she saw me, she squirmed out of Gwen’s arms and rushed over, throwing herself against my legs. I picked her up and watched Gwen wrap her arms about her own stomach and look up at me, lost.
“Are you okay?” I asked. She’d assured me on the phone that she was, but she’d been almost incoherent.
She nodded. “Yes. I’m fine now. I’m sorry.”
“Tell me what happened.” I sat in Mia’s rocking chair, the one my brother had bought for her when she was pregnant with Nikki. Gwen relayed the story of the man who’d come to the door. From her description, it wasn’t anyone that I knew.
“How did he get Nikki?” I asked.
Gwen took a shaky breath. “I called my mom. She was asleep on the couch. I don’t think she heard anyone come in and out. I didn’t want to worry her. I told her I had come by and grabbed Nikki. I got enough from Nikki to figure out that the man told her he was going to take her to see her mama.”
Nikki’s mother was dead. The promise sounded more like a threat. I couldn’t suppress the shiver that wracked me. What if he’d come to the door with the intention of killing both Nikki and Gwen? I stood up and sat next to Gwen on the couch. She didn’t resist when I held her hand.
“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly. “I just couldn’t think of anyone else to call.”
“I’m glad you called me,” I said. I needed to tell her about what Sonny the Brick had discovered.
“When you heard me on the phone this morning,” I said, “I was talking to Uncle Joe…”
I told her about Sonny tailing Val Solano, about his hypothesis regarding Mia and Eric’s accident. “They think Val Solano may have killed Eric out of jealousy, that Mia was just an accident.”
“No. That just doesn’t add up,” said Gwen. She looked miserable. “What if the money is Solano money? And Val was upset because they killed her before he could get her to give the money back.”
I pressed my lips together. That was the conclusion I had come to as well. Mia had constantly been on Eric’s case about getting a different job, doing more to support their family. But it looked like Mia had taken matters into her own hands. And it was looking more and more likely that Mia’s accident hadn’t been an accident at all. If the Julianos found out, there’d be war.
I took a deep breath and set Nikki down next to me. Gwen looked frightened, and more than anything, I wanted to comfort her “Gwen, I’m here. I’m not going to let you go through this by yourself. I want to help. I want to find out what happened to Mia as much as you do. Let’s start at the beginning. What did the man who came here look like?” I didn’t know every mafia member in Miami, but I knew a few.
Gwen nodded, her hands gripping her knees. She looked so fragile that all I wanted to do was hold her. But Nikki had curled up with her head on my thigh, and I didn’t want to move her. �
�He was probably about three hundred pounds,” said Gwen. “Big, with dark hair, and he looked strong but not defined, you know?”
I nodded.
“He was wearing dark pants and a salmon pink tank top, and he had these wrap-around sunglasses.”
Fuck. Fuck.
My uncle and Sonny were right to be worried; they were right in their suspicions. It looked like the tentative truce with the Solanos was now over.
14
Gwen
I didn’t expect Law to act so quickly. He picked up Nikki, set her on my lap, stood, pulled out his phone, and dialed a number.
“Sonny?”
My blood went cold. He was calling Sonny the Brick.
“No. It’s fine. It was Gwen. Yes, there’s an update. No. No. Hang on.” Law took a deep breath. “I think you’re right, and the Solanos might be interested in Mia Mathers. I need your boys to ask around discreetly. No. No, that’s my business. Can you just ask around?”
Law closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead a moment. “Thank you,” he said and hung up the phone.
“What are you…”
But Law held up a hand and was calling someone else. “Hey,” he said, and I blinked as his voice changed slightly. “No. Thanks, man. I appreciate that; listen, I have a favor. You think you can watch my niece tonight? Yah. We’ll be right over.”
“What are you doing?” I asked him. I was too shaken to be upset at Law for taking over, but I needed to know what was going on.
Law rubbed at his forehead. “The man who came to your door is Joey Bones. He’s a hit man for the Solanos.”
I felt the blood leave my face.
“So, we have to do a few things,” Law continued. “The first is find a safe place to put Nikki. My friend, Andre DeMarco, has four kids, two of whom are right around Nikki’s age. And he lives in the ‘burbs in a gated community with crazy-intense security. He’ll hang onto Nikki a bit better than your mother will.”
