Law and Vengeance

by Mike Papantonio

  “What do you think he’s saying?”

  “I want to believe it’s ‘Bye-bye,’ but I don’t think that’s it. And it might also have been, ‘Don’t die.’”

  Gina opened and closed her mouth, trying to match it with her memory of Angus doing the same.

  “Or it could have been ‘bull’s-eye,’ or ‘bull’s lie,’ or maybe ‘blue spy.’

  Carol wrote down every possibility. “It sounds like the last syllable ended in ‘eye.’”

  Gina tentatively nodded and said, “That’s what I’m seeing. That’s what I’m hearing.”

  “You did great,” said Carol, touching Gina’s shoulder. “I’ll follow up.”

  “I hope it’s a better clue than rosebud,” said Gina.

  14

  IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP

  After two weeks in the hospital, Dr. Bray finally relented to Gina’s insistence on being allowed to go home. That Gina was using her hospital room as an auxiliary law office might have had something to do with his decision. In addition to her security team led by her big Indian friend, she had lawyers and paralegals coming and going. And every day she stayed in the hospital resulted in more paperwork and clutter from the case so it had become more difficult for staff to get in and out of her room.

  Bennie made all the arrangements for Gina’s relocation. For the time being, Gina decided she would live and work out of her living room, which was on the first floor. In a week’s time, she was supposed to be getting a walking cast, which would give her the option of navigating the stairs and returning to her upstairs bedroom.

  Under Bennie’s watchful supervision everything was packed up. And then it was Bennie who wheeled Gina out of the hospital, lifting her up into the passenger seat of his Ford F-150. The two of them even celebrated Gina’s release by stopping to have two carne asada burritos. When they arrived at Gina’s house, the last of her belongings from the hospital were being unloaded. Even her comfortable queen bed had been brought down from the master bedroom to the living room. And it was upon that bed that Bennie carefully deposited Gina.

  “If you don’t mind,” said Bennie, “I need to walk the house and the nearby grounds. And later I’ll need to get the names and descriptions of your neighbors so I can pass them on to the other guards.”

  “I was sort of hoping we could eliminate my security detail,” Gina said. “After all, this is a gated community.”

  Bennie seemed to find that amusing. “Those gates won’t even slow down anyone who wants to get in here.”

  Both of them turned to see Peter yawning and making his way down the stairs. “I was wondering what all the noise was about.”

  “I’ll be back from my tour of the grounds shortly,” Bennie said.

  “Thanks,” said Gina, and then turned her head toward Peter. “It’s half past one,” she said. “Isn’t that a little late to be getting up?”

  “Not if you didn’t get to bed until around four in the morning.”

  Gina patted a spot on her bed. “Sit down, Peter,” she said. “We need to talk.”

  “I’ve got a headache.”

  “Sit down,” Gina said, but much more forcefully than before.

  Acting like the wronged party, Peter sulkily took a seat on Gina’s bed.

  “I hope you know how much I appreciate you coming to help me, but don’t you think it’s time you went home? You’ve been away from Sara for almost two weeks. I’m sure she misses you terribly.”

  “I am afraid, big sister, that you’re wrong about that.”

  For some reason, Peter was choked up. He cradled his chin in his hands and refused to meet Gina’s eyes.

  “I have neither a waiting wife nor a home to return to. It’s not a pretty story, and I don’t like telling it, which is why I’ve been avoiding this moment. As you probably know, Sara has wanted children from the first. Because of that, we decided to let nature take its course.”

  Gina had never spent much time with Sara. She was an attractive woman and a successful real estate agent, but, like Gina, Sara was used to playing the “mother” role with Peter. Maybe that was why the two women never seemed to hit it off. Peter only needed one mother in his life.

  “We’d been married for two years, and Sara hadn’t gotten pregnant. On a couple of occasions she’d gotten worked up over that, so unbeknownst to her I went to have my boys checked.”

  Peter offered up another sigh. “Long sob story short,” he said, “I’m shooting blanks. My guys barely swim. My doctor said there was no way they would get to the deep end of the pool. Their motility, he said, was virtually nonexistent. After I digested that bit of news, I tried to think of how I was going to break it to Sara. Before I did that, though, she came to me with some news of her own: she was pregnant.”

  “I’m so sorry, Peter,” said Gina.

  “That’s two of us,” he said. “As you can imagine, I almost lost it when she told me she was pregnant. But I decided to play it cool. There was this part of me that wanted to know who the father was. That’s when things went from terrible to truly awful. Her partner in crime was my partner in real life, Kumar Singh.”

  Gina’s grades and test scores could have gotten her into any university in the country, but she’d stayed in New Jersey and gone to Rutgers in order to be a parent to Peter during his time in high school. Instead of making friends in the dorms or joining a sorority, Gina had gotten an apartment halfway between Rutgers and the Ridgewood “house of horrors.” Peter had spent every weekend in her apartment. Even when he went to Columbia, Gina had limited her law school choices to institutions that allowed her an easy commute to see her brother. She’d first heard Peter mention Kumar’s name after the two of them became friends in college. Afterward, they’d gone on to get their MBAs at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. From there, they had started their own struggling hedge fund.

  Gina couldn’t imagine how it felt being betrayed by your best friend and your wife. “How terrible,” she said. “I wish you had told me.”

  “I was too embarrassed to tell you,” he said. “And it only gets worse. It was my inheritance that got our hedge fund going. Kumar had put us in a position where we were betting the house on what he thought was a foolproof derivative formula. Guess what, it wasn’t. I lost all my money, and our clients got hosed.”

  Gina and Peter’s mother had died of a drug overdose. Two years later, the same month Gina was graduating from law school, her father died. It was “his present” to her, Gina told Peter. Edward Romano left a sizable estate to his children, but Gina had refused to accept a penny of “blood money,” thus making Peter the sole beneficiary.

  “You don’t have any savings?” asked Gina.

  “You see before you a poor man,” he said. “With your indulgence, I’m here to start a new life. Once again, it’s you and me against the world.”

  Gina gave her little brother a hug. “We’ll get through this,” she said. “We always have.”

  A formal funeral service had already been held for Angus, but he hadn’t yet had his “send-off” by his family and closest friends. Now that Gina was up and about, and enough time had passed for the shock of their friend’s death to settle in, Deke went to visit with Angus’s widow, Cathy.

  “I’m here for your blessing,” said Deke. “The firm wants to hold a celebration of life for Angus.”

  “What took you so long to ask?” said Cathy.

  She had even suggested that right after the celebration might be a good time for her husband’s cremated remains to be spread at sea at Carson’s Cove. Whenever they had free time, Cathy and Angus liked taking out the boat to “their” spot. The two of them enjoyed snorkeling and scuba diving. Most of all, they enjoyed puttering about just spending time together. That’s why Angus had told Cathy that even after he died it would be nice to return one last time to Carson’s Cove and have some of his ashes spread there.

  As for the rest of his remains, the two had agreed t
o have their ashes mingled in an urn and then spread in the gardens outside of the chapel in North Carolina where they were married.

  “It’s a beautiful spot,” Cathy told Deke. “The moment we saw it, each of us knew that was where we had to be married. When Alicia is older I’ll take her on a pilgrimage there and show her where her daddy and I were married, and I’ll let her see the place where one day I’ll want her to spread our ashes.”

  Deke and Cathy agreed that the celebration of Angus’s life would start with a dockside party at the Spanish Trace Yacht Club. Afterward, a more intimate party would board the 120-foot company yacht the Jean Louise for the twenty-minute sail to the cove. And in his perfect spot the waters of the gulf would receive some of Angus’ precious ashes.

  As soon as Gina heard when the ceremonies would take place, she couldn’t help but think the timing was propitious. The celebration of his life coincided with the same date her hard cast was to be replaced with a walking cast. By then, she was sick of using crutches, or worse, of being carried around by Bennie. She prided herself on being independent and hated having to rely on Bryan and Peter to do all her errands for her. A walking cast would mean mobility, even though Dr. Bray cautioned her to take it easy at first.

  The ceremony, Gina realized, would be her first real outing since the car crash. And even though she’d had many visitors in the hospital, most of those at Bergman-Deketomis hadn’t seen her in weeks. After being fitted with a walking cast, Gina managed to walk upstairs to her bathroom. Normally Gina spent very little time applying makeup, but today she lingered and did her best to cover up the bruising and redness that could still be seen over much of her body. It was a shame she couldn’t wear a veil, à la Marlene Dietrich. Dressing for the ceremony was also a challenge; she had to get her formfitting black dress over her cast. During the last month Gina had gone from a hospital gown to T-shirts and shorts. She hadn’t worn a dress and wouldn’t have for anyone other than Angus. She was going to look good for him one last time.

  When Gina came downstairs and did her reveal, Bryan started whistling. “You look great,” he told her.

  “I’ll need those lies on a frequent basis tonight,” she said.

  Even Peter seemed to think she looked good too. After a moment’s careful scrutiny, he gave her a thumbs up.

  A few minutes later, Bennie joined their party. He smiled when he saw her, but she headed off his compliments. “I feel terrible that you have to work because of me, Bennie. I know that you should be relaxed and celebrating Angus’s life like everyone else at the firm, and I tried to convince Deke to assign me a different security arrangement so you could enjoy yourself, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “Actually,” said Bennie, “he did end up listening to you. Today he called me to say I had the shift off, but I had to refuse.”

  “Why?” Gina asked.

  “It’s easy to control security when you’re in one spot,” said Bennie, “but tonight you’ll be in multiple spots and interacting with hundreds of people, many of them strangers. You think I’d let anyone else have your back?”

  “I am sure no one will be out to get me tonight, Bennie,” she said.

  “I don’t want to take that chance. And don’t worry about me not saying goodbye to our friend. I’ll multitask!”

  That brought a smile to Gina’s face. Bennie was good at doing that for her. “Thanks,” she said. “And truth be told, I’m grateful that you’ll be watching out for me.”

  “And so am I,” said Bryan. “I never would have agreed on leaving the country and going to Australia and New Zealand if I hadn’t known that you and your crew were seeing to Gina’s safety.”

  “We’ll keep her safe while you’re gone,” promised Bennie, “but as for tonight, I might need your help.”

  “What can I do?” asked Bryan.

  “I am one of those people who should never get on a boat,” Bennie said. “Even though I already took some Dramamine, in case I get seasick you’re going to have to look out for Gina.”

  As they approached the Spanish Trace Yacht Club, they could hear the music from bagpipes playing “My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean.” Angus had been proud of his Scottish ancestry, and on one occasion he had even participated in Florida’s version of the Highland games where he’d competed in such events as the caber toss, haggis hurling, and the stone put. The tartan kilt he wore had been in his family for three generations.

  They drove around the yacht club looking for a parking space. “Even the disabled parking spots are filled,” Bennie said as he pulled into temporary parking. He turned his head around and looked at Peter. “I don’t want your sister to have to walk far, so it’s best if the two of us get out here. That means you’ll need to take my truck and park it wherever you can find a space.”

  “And here I thought I was an invited guest,” said Peter, “not a valet.”

  “My God . . . I’ll do it,” said Bryan.

  “I’m just kidding,” said Peter, even though it didn’t sound as if he was.

  Bryan helped Gina down from her seat. She had brought her crutches along as a precaution, and Bryan took them from her to carry. Bennie joined the two of them, but motioned with his hand for them to wait. After scanning the area, Bennie’s nod told them to proceed forward.

  Gina had been told that four hundred guests were expected at the celebration. Because the yacht club didn’t have a meeting room to accommodate those numbers, they had set up a huge canopy on their grounds. From inside the overhang, they could see a vocalist and four kilted bagpipers. The musicians were starting up a new song, and the strains of their music and the singer’s words sounded familiar to Gina.

  “That can’t be,” she said.

  But it was. “‘Ridin’ down the highway,’ sang the singer, ‘goin’ to a show.’”

  Behind the vocalist, the pipers played.

  “That’s AC/DC’s ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top,’” Gina said.

  “Yes, it is,” said Bryan.

  She wiped tears away from her eyes and said, “I forgot there were bagpipers playing in that song.”

  “That’s what makes it so unique,” said Bryan.

  There had been a part of Gina dreading this night. Yes, it was being called a celebration of life, but it was still a final farewell to Angus. Now, though, all her reservations disappeared. She was at the right place, doing the right thing, and if Angus had scripted a sendoff Gina knew in her heart this was the music he would have chosen, complete with bagpipers.

  “It’s a long way to the top,” the vocalist sang, “if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll.”

  “Bryan,” said Gina, “I want to dance.”

  15

  SPILLED ASHES AND SPILLED SECRETS

  It really was a celebration of life, thought Gina. She had always thought bagpipers only played at funerals, and that their repertoire was limited, but in addition to playing traditional Scottish songs these pipers played such standards as “Ode to Joy,” Pharrel Williams’ “Happy,” and rock classics that included “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Smoke on the Water.”

  On big screens in half a dozen locations around the yacht club were picture memories documenting Angus’s full, if too short, life. Between breaks in the music, different speakers offered up stories about him. There was no avoiding some tears, but most of the time there was laughter.

  Gina was almost embarrassed by all the attention her coworkers were giving her. People lined up to hug her and ask how she was doing. No one seemed to notice how Bennie stayed close to her, or his extreme vigilance.

  About an hour into the party, Bennie whispered something to Gina and Bryan, and the two of them followed him over to where Deke was talking with one of the firm’s associates. Upon seeing an eye signal from Bennie, Deke excused himself and then joined the threesome.

  “I might be overreacting,” said Bennie, “and I don’t want anyone looking that way, but on the far shore I’ve noticed a character who appears to be mo
nitoring the goings-on here while pretending to fish.”

  “What’s our fisherman look like?” asked Deke.

  “Young,” said Bennie. “He might still be in high school.”

  “Does he have long, curly hair?” asked Gina.

  “Short hair,” said Bennie. “For the past half hour I haven’t seen him cast a line. And the top of a sand bluff is not exactly a place anyone would be fishing. What he’s pulled from there could be a directional mic. And it’s hard to tell in the shadows, but I also think he has a night optics scope.”

  “I think it’s time for you to go on your own fishing expedition,” said Deke.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” said Bennie as he slipped away from the yacht club grounds.

  Ivan monitored the party from his vantage point as he thought to himself that the night had been pretty much a bust. He had counted on a few sets of loose lips, but all everyone seemed to be talking about was the dead lawyer. No one had even been speculating on his cause of death. In fact, just about everyone seemed to think the lawyer had died in some freak accident, which happened to be the current assessment of the Spanish Trace PD. Ivan hoped that would be the official verdict, even though he doubted the dead lawyer’s firm would go along with that. Their investigators had done a much more thorough job than the police had. They had not only collected evidence at the crime scene, but had locked away the wreck so they could carefully examine it. Ivan knew that Morris woman already had come up with a working theory about an accelerant having been planted in multiple spots in the vehicle. In a confidential memo, or what was supposed to be a confidential memo, she had speculated that the only way the Navigator could have burned as hot and as furiously as it had was if some kind of accelerant was positioned in the front and rear of the vehicle.