by William Cain
Soon, Edwin is no longer moving, or breathing. Ken, still quite coked up, heads to the bath off the living room and cleans himself at the sink. After changing his clothes, he puts the bloody ones into the trash and calls Gangi to help him dispose of the body. When Gangi arrives, he sees Edwin lying in a pool of blood with torn skin. He knows what Gennarro Battaglia can do. “Got you pretty pissed, did he?”
Gen nods, and the two of them take him to Edwin’s car in the garage. They tie him to the passenger seat and ram a long garden stake down his throat to hold his head up, and then they put Gangi’s hat on him, covering his eyes. Gangi gets into the driver’s seat and puts on Edwin’s hat that’s lying in the back seat. With the darkly tinted Jaguar windows, the agents watching the house won’t know what’s what. They’ll just observe casually two men, Edwin and Gangi, pulling away in Edwin’s car. As the garage door opens, Gen gets into his own car, and they drive away together.
After they’ve deposited Edwin’s car and body for disposal later, Gen and Gangi return in Gen’s car, and he and Gangi part ways.
Gen calmly walks into the house and sits down at the breakfast bar. He looks at his watch; it’s one o’clock. In the time span of four hours, Edwin arrived, did coke, had sex, got sliced up, skinned, then was prepared to be dumped in Lake Lure. I am impressed with myself, he thinks, that’s a record.
Glancing over at the blood, he doesn’t think Elsie would have approved of him killing Edwin. Staring at the mess again, he remarks,
“I hope Addie doesn’t find out about this.”
Chapter 22 Reggi
May Day
I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you. Friedrich Nietzsche
It’s after lunch as Frank pulls up to the stationhouse inside Asheville. He leaves the rental car in the parking lot and walks in to find Adelaide standing with a man discussing something intently. As he approaches, she looks at him seriously, and she introduces Agent David Juvieux. The two men shake hands and make small talk, getting to know each other.
Frank remarks, “I heard the captain’s retirement party was a real blast.”
Addie and David look at each other guiltily. Frank knows he put them on the spot. “I heard there was a little sleepover. That’s out there. I get it. Sometimes you need a release and end up with too much to drink. By the way, how was the couch? Comfy?”
Juvieux remarks, “So you’re the Frank that Addie’s always talking about. The night of the party everything was Frank, Frank, Frank,” he adds, imitating her.
Addie rolls her eyes, then tells the two of them, “That’s enough, guys, we have a lot to do today. Frank, we’re going to go see your mother. We want to find out what’s going on. I don’t have to tell you that I think your mother has had a recurrence of her issues from years ago. We don’t know how far this has gone, but it’s definitely bizarre.”
Frank then replies, “I’ve seen her acting things out when she came for a visit recently. I asked her what she was up to and she brushed it off. I let it go. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”
Addie tells him, “Don’t blame yourself. Let’s just head out there and talk to your mother. Did you call her?”
Frank answers, “Yes, I told her I was coming. She’ll be a little surprised when she sees the two of you.”
“It has to be done,” Addie says. “I’m bringing David because he knows more about the area and the goings-on around the house where Jones lives.”
Juvieux adds, “It’s going to be just me, and I’m not bringing any of my other agents. We don’t want to spook your mother.”
As they begin to walk outside, they see thunder clouds approaching. The group can hear rumblings in the distant west.
Frank looks up to the sky. “It looks like it’s going to be a really wet day. Let’s see if we can get this done before the rains arrive.”
They all climb into Addie’s car and head off towards Heritage Hills. As they drive along, each of them is quietly thinking things over. What they’ll say. What they’ll see. What kind of reaction they’ll get.
Addie looks at and thinks about Frank. This is his mother. Reggi’s not going to be happy to see her future daughter-in-law. She might never want to see me again. But things are beginning to add up, and, once again, reality bites. Frank doesn’t know everything I plan to ask Reggi. If she gives me the answer I expect, then we’ll know who killed Elsie Battaglia.
Frank is concerned for Adelaide. He knows what she has to do. It’s going to be unpleasant for her. He’s going to be there to witness it, and he knows he’s not looking forward to a very nice day. Inside, his mind is like the storm above. It’s almost out of control.
David feels like a third wheel, but this will impact his case and his career. This concerns Jones, and anything that concerns Jones concerns Juvieux. Once Addie is done with her case, then he’ll arrest Battaglia for the murder of Joseph Riggoti. Then they’ll pick up Alberto Gangi. The other suspect, Michael Seppi, will also be taken into custody, and they’ll all be charged with murder and racketeering. Juvieux plans to flip Battaglia and have him turn on the entire Chicago gangster scene, leading to the arrest of hundreds, maybe thousands, of criminals, breaking the empire for good. To him, he’s personally removed, and this is going to be a big day.
◆◆◆
Jones drives his car towards Reggi’s home, parking it in a neighbor’s driveway not far away where he can’t be seen and he knows the residents are not home. He’s done a few more lines before he left the house, so he is on edge and prepared to react, perhaps violently. In his back pocket is the arrest record of Reggi Paulson from decades ago, and he wants answers.
As he approaches Reggi’s home on foot, he is understandably very angry after reading the work-up that Roger did on Reggi Thomas, and he’s not satisfied even after having killed her son-in-law Edwin. When he comes within one hundred yards of the home, he sees Addie’s car at the top of the drive in the small cul-de-sac. Before he can be seen, he steps behind a large tree, down the steep incline away from the road. Here he can still watch the house, and he begins to play the waiting game for Addie to leave.
◆◆◆
After David, Addie, and Frank arrive at Reggi’s home, parking at the top of the driveway, they have a short discussion before they leave the car.
Addie turns to Frank and tells him, “This is our operation, so let us do most of the talking. We’re the law. You’re here to give Reggi a friendly face to keep her calm. We know she’s a senior citizen, and we are going to be very careful. I had a discussion with the departmental psychiatrist and we’re pretty sure that Reggi has had a recurrence of her issue from years ago leading to all this lying about Ken Jones. Now we need to know what she knows. No more playing games. If at any point you think we are out of line, I want you to stop me and we’ll have a side discussion. But this is our operation, and you need to let us do our job.”
Frank simply looks at her and nods. He is solemn. He is serious. He’s worried.
They walk down the driveway together and approach the door. Frank tries the doorknob and sees that it’s unlocked. He sticks his head in and calls out to his mother. He hears her voice reply from deep inside the house, and he motions to Addie and David to remain put for the moment as he walks inside. Continuing to call out for his mother, he finds that she’s in the laundry room, and he walks over and hugs her.
“Hi, Mom. Good to see you. What’s new?”
“Frank, what a surprise. How nice of you to visit your old mom.”
“Can I help you with the laundry?” he asks, reaching for wet towels.
She slaps his hand playfully, “Don’t touch that, Frank. I know you’re not here to help with laundry. It’s going into the dryer anyway. What brings you out here?”
Frank looks at her seriously. “Adelaide is here, too, and she’s with an FBI agent. They want to ask you some questions.”
Reggi looks at Frank, and she asks, “Is this serious?”
> “I think so, Mom.”
As they walk towards the front door, they continue talking, and
Reggi asks, “What is this about?”
“I can’t really tell you anything about this. They’re going to be asking the questions, not me.”
Reggi stares straight ahead, and when the door opens, she greets Addie warmly. “Hello, Adelaide. Are we looking forward to a wonderful wedding or what?”
Reggi looks behind Addie, and she finds a large man. He’s wearing official FBI gear. After staring at him for a few moments, she extends her hand daintily and tells him, “I am Reggi Thomas. Why don’t the three of you come in and I’ll get us something to drink.”
Juvieux takes her hand gingerly and tells her, “That would be great, thank you.”
The three of them take a seat in the living room while Reggi ducks into the kitchen to get some iced tea. After she returns with a tray of refreshments, she takes a seat, and the four of them look at each other for a few moments.
This is going to be awkward, Frank is thinking.
Addie opens a folder and takes out a photograph. It’s Helen’s picture, and she shows it to Reggi. “Is this the person you saw that day in July at the top of the driveway of Ken Jones’s home?”
Reggi glances at it. It’s all she needs, and she exclaims happily, “Yes, that’s her. How did you get it? How did you find her?”
Adelaide tells her, “She’s been helping me with a case, and she’s been looking at hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos to find you. Yesterday she saw your picture on my desk, the one from the Heritage Hills member files. Remember how we found you, that you were out walking your dog?” After seeing Reggi nod, she adds, “She recognized you.”
Letting this sink in, Reggi replies, “I see, so now we know who the mystery woman is from that day.”
Addie replies, “Yes, now we know who was in the area on that day.” Addie is in inwardly thinking that if Helen didn’t kill Elsie, and Gennarro Battaglia was away, the only other person in the immediate area was Reggi. Helen didn’t see anyone else, and she found Elsie’s freshly murdered body minutes later after having seen Reggi. But the idea is ridiculous that she would kill her, especially with something like a big, heavy bowl. Who does that? That’s bizarre.
Addie delivers the shocker, “Also, yesterday while I was speaking with the person in this photograph, Ken Jones walked in.”
Reggi’s eyes begin to get a little larger and her lips are pursed.
“Ken Jones says that you’re telling people that the two of you are marrying each other in a few months.”
Reggi nods.
“Ken Jones says that you’ve told people that you bought a house together in Naples, Florida.”
Reggi nods, “Yes.”
“Ken Jones says you’ve told people that you take vacations together, sometimes weeks at a time.”
And Reggi nods again.
“Ken Jones says that you’ve told people he’s been to rehab and he completed it successfully.”
Reggi continues to nod in agreement.
“Ken Jones says this is all lies.”
Frank is looking to see his mother’s reaction, which is one of skepticism and astonishment, and her defenses are going up.
Reggi quietly states, “Adelaide, why would you say something like this? Ken would never tell you these things. What are you trying to do?”
Addie replies, “Ken Jones is a retired mobster from Chicago. He moved here with his wife. She was murdered. And he told us the first time he met you was last week.”
At this, Reggi stares back at Addie in disbelief, her mouth wide, her eyes wide defensively. She raises her voice and states the obvious, “You are calling me a liar.” She raises her voice a little higher and states emphatically, “Adelaide, Ken Jones is lying. That’s who the liar is!”
Addie calmly replies, “Someone is lying. That we know.” She stares at Reggi and asks, “Can you tell us about your hospital stay from forty-three years ago?”
At this, Reggi stands up defiantly and almost screams, “I certainly will not. And I think you need to leave. If you think that I’ve been lying about my relationship with Ken Jones, then you are delusional!” Reggi dons her screwed up, angry face, contorted and ugly.
Reggi’s voice begins to take itself to a higher and louder octave, “We’re in love! We’ve been in a relationship for a long time! We’re getting married to each other in Naples! He gave me a pony to use at his Wyoming ranch! I’m going to have access to all of his money! It’s going to happen!”
She’s out of control now, and Frank thinks she’s going into the deep end again. “He bought this three-carat diamond ring for me! To show his love for me!” She takes it off and she gives it to Frank, “It’s real! He loves me!” Pointing to her chest, glaring at Addie, she shouts, spitting it through clenched teeth, her face red, “Me! Not you! Not anyone else! ME! ME! ME!”
As Frank begins to look at the ring, it falls apart in his hands. The four of them are staring at it resting in pieces in his palm.
Frank sadly tells Reggi, looking into her eyes, hoping to calm her down, “Agent Juvieux here has been watching Jones’s house for over a year and he’s never seen you there.”
“When Jones leaves the area, Agent Juvieux follows him, and he’s never seen you with him. You don’t have any pictures of the two of you together. All the stories about Ken and yourself are told to me by you. I never met this man until last week.”
Before Frank can go on, she shouts at him, hissing, “We are in love! You’re stupid, Francis!” She pauses a moment, then moves her twisted, ugly face closer to Frank and spits out, “STUPID!”
Frank looks at his mother and calmly says, “There’s no romance with Jones, Mom. It’s over.”
Reggi stammers for a moment or two, then collapses onto her couch, sobbing. Between her heavy breaths and weeping, she tells the group, “The ring is fake. I made it up, this relationship with Ken Jones. It could be real. I just need more time. He and I could be in love.” She sees the look on their faces, the look of pity. She looks down to her hands, “I just don’t know anymore. What’s happening to me?” She has the disposition of a frail old woman. It’s all very depressing.
After she makes her confession, Frank thinks of all the quite real trips that she’s taken with Ken Jones, his ranch, his home in Savannah, his rehab, his children, the yacht. It all seems so genuine, and he looks at his mother and asks, “This has been going on a long time. Did you write all this down to keep it straight?”
To which she replies, “I never wrote any of it down.” Frank is miserable, his mother is mentally ill. You can’t keep all those lies straight unless you experienced them yourself. Like reality.
Addie, David, and Frank stand up, and Addie articulates, slowly, “Reggi Thomas, you are a suspect in Ken Jones’s wife’s murder. You are not to leave the area. We are going to go to see Ken Jones now to inform him that you admitted the details of your relationship, and that you are now considered to be a suspect in his wife’s death.”
Addie then adds, looking at Frank, “You can’t stay here with your mother. She’s material to the case. You’ll have to go with us.”
The group of three depart leaving Reggi behind, seated on the couch.
Reggi doesn’t even bother to stand up as they close the door behind them. After a while, she despondently rises and heads to her bedroom where the wall safe is waiting for her.
She opens the safe and takes out the Glock. She inspects the cartridge to make sure it’s full. She then leaves her bedroom and walks to the bath off the living room. Once inside, she steps into the bathtub and closes the shower door. She doesn’t want a mess, especially in her own bedroom.
Her thoughts turn to her husband Joseph and she quietly tells him that they will be together. She finds solace in that. She raises the gun to her temple. As she begins to pull the trigger, the doorbell rings.
She opens the shower door and looks out the window to see who her
visitor is. She places the gun on the bathroom table, leaving the bath, and when she opens the front door she finds,
Ken Jones.
Chapter 23 Destiny
May Day
Destiny is for losers. It’s just a stupid excuse to wait for things to happen instead of making them happen. Blair Waldorf
Battaglia sees Addie, Frank, and the FBI agent leave. As they pass by, he waits a few moments before he steps out from behind the tree. Crawling up the steep incline, he reaches the road and begins to walk purposely towards Reggi’s home.
Overhead, he looks up after having felt a few drops of rain and sees the skies are black and heavy. At times they flash brightly from the lightning and almost immediate loud cracks of thunder. The weather mirrors his dark, cocaine-driven anger.
Approaching the front door, he rings the doorbell, knocks on it, and, after a few moments, Reggi opens the door. “Hello, Ken,” she remarks happily, “What a surprise to see you!”
Battaglia reaches out, smiles, replying warmly, “It’s good to see you too, Reggi. Can I come in and talk with you a while?”
“Of course, please come on in. I have some iced tea out already. I just made it. We can share some refreshments and sit in the living room while we talk.”
“Oh, that would be excellent. I hope you put some mint in it,” and she nods as he follows her in.
Once they’re seated, he assumes the role of Ken Jones and admonishes her, “Reggi I didn’t see you at the club the other night for that fundraiser I told you about last week.”
She replies, “Guilty as charged. I just couldn’t make it. I had a lot of family events to plan for. Are you aware that my son is being married?”
