by Jeff Abbott
They headed back to Charlie Fulgham’s house, ten minutes away from the restaurant; back down lower Kirby, cutting through the quiet of the big old houses of West University Place, taking a winding route along tree-shaded roads with names like Tulane and Rutgers and Loyola. Gooch drove at the speed limit and came to a complete stop at every sign. West University Place police were notorious for ticketing for the smallest traffic infraction.
Eve lay on her back in the van. Whit pulled off his blue shirt, mopped her head free of blood. The wound in her scalp wasn’t too big, probably from flying glass, but had bled with the flooding tendency of head wounds.
They hurried her inside, Gooch parking the van at the rear of Charlie Fulgham’s driveway, out of sight of the street. Charlie sat in his kitchen, drinking a beer and flipping through a copy of Texas Bar Journal, marking stories with a red pen, when they staggered in.
‘What the hell happened?’ Charlie stared at Eve and Whit’s bloodied shirt.
‘First-aid kit?’ Gooch asked.
‘Yeah. Here.’ Charlie rummaged in the back of the kitchen pantry, pulled out a little plastic case that seemed wholly inadequate to stitch up the carnage of the past fifteen minutes. ‘You want me to call 911?’
‘No,’ Gooch said. ‘We’ll tend to her.’
‘This is my mother,’ Whit said. Weird, the words of introduction coming from his mouth, never spoken before. ‘Eve, this is Charlie Fulgham. Our host.’
‘Hi,’ Eve said.
‘Uh, hi,’ Charlie said. Eve gave him a weak smile, her shoulders still shaking. Now, in clear light, Whit saw she had a score of small cuts and abrasions on her hands, her arms. His hands, too, and a sharp sting lashed his forehead.
They didn’t follow us,’ Gooch said to Whit. The guys or the cops.’
‘Gooch,’ Charlie said. ‘Let’s talk, you and me, in the living room, as in right now.’
‘Sure,’ Gooch said. Calm. Like he hadn’t shot another person to death a few minutes before.
Whit swabbed at Eve’s wound with a wet washcloth, took scissors from the kit and clipped away the graying hair close to her cut. The wound was not bad, but it needed closing. He sprayed disinfectant on it and she winced. He cleaned and taped the wound shut, covering it with a strip of gauze.
‘You need a stitch or two.’ He shook two ibuprofen painkillers into her open palm. ‘We could make up a story, take you to an emergency room. You should see a doctor.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Paul will have those watched closely now.’
‘He can’t watch every hospital in Houston.’
‘Sure he can,’ Eve said. Gooch returned to the kitchen, without Charlie, still holding his gun. ‘He tracked you two to the Pie Shack.’
‘Or he tracked you,’ Gooch said.
‘Not hardly,’ she said. ‘Nicky and his driver wouldn’t have let me reach you if they were tailing me. They would have taken me at first sight. I’m surprised they didn’t grab me in the lot… I must’ve come in on the other side of them circling around the diner.’
‘Bucks must’ve ordered us followed,’ Whit said.
‘No,’ Gooch said, ‘I would have spotted the tail.’
There was a silence in the room, except for the distant sound of a television sparking to life in the living room. ‘Or not,’ Eve said. ‘Are you infallible?’
‘Practically,’ he said in a cool voice.
‘Practically isn’t going to be good enough. Paul and Bucks can hire as much muscle as they want to get me. They simply have to offer a cut of the five million and I’ve got an instant megabounty on my head.’ She shook her head at Gooch. ‘I hope you have an army to back you up, Gooch. Paul will hunt you down like a dog for killing Nicky.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Gooch said. ‘I hope I get to save your sorry ass again tomorrow.’
‘Stop.’ Whit sat down, closed his eyes. ‘Is Charlie upset?’ he asked Gooch.
‘No. I gave him three dollars. Retainer. All three of us are his clients as of this moment. Commit all the crimes you want.’
‘Clients?’ Eve asked.
‘He’s a top defense lawyer, Eve,’ Gooch said.
She stood. ‘No. Nobody else knows anything about me, all right? I don’t want a lawyer.’
‘Sit down, please,’ Whit said and after a moment she did. ‘Gooch, what did you tell him?’
‘That there are bad guys after Eve, but for him not to worry. He’s cool,’ Gooch said.
‘He’s going to kick us out.’
‘I said, he’s cool. Come here a second, Whit.’
Whit followed Gooch into Charlie’s den. In the corner was a gun vault, with an array of rifles, pistols, and knives. Several weapons were shining with fresh polish, others looked antique and unusable. Charlie glanced at Whit and Gooch. He had been looking out the back window, not watching the TV.
‘Good God,’ Whit said.
The people I used to defend were scum,’ Charlie said. ‘This was my security blanket if they got mad at me.’
‘Charlie, I’m sorry. We don’t want to drag you into trouble,’ Whit said.
‘Whatever Gooch needs,’ Charlie said, ‘Gooch gets.’
‘I once did a big favor for Charlie. Private business,’ Gooch said.
Whit started to ask and Charlie shook his head. ‘Go to your mother, Whit. We’ll talk when you’re done.’
Gooch followed Whit back to the kitchen. Whit wadded up his bloodied shirt. Eve watched him. ‘Sorry about your shirt,’ she said.
‘It’s okay.’
Now she stood, came to his chair, knelt by him. ‘Your eye, it needs ice. And you’re cut-’
Gooch, with a slight smile, aimed his gun at Eve. She didn’t move, didn’t blink. ‘Very touching, Florence Nightingale.’
‘Gooch,’ Whit said. ‘Stop.’
‘Tell all, Eve,’ Gooch said. ‘How will they come after us? Why are they shooting at you, if you’re so high and mighty in the organization? What’s this about five million you owe them?’
‘Gooch, put that down!’ Whit said.
‘Honey, you don’t scare me,’ Eve said. ‘If you were going to shoot me, you could have shot me back at the diner.’ She closed her hands around Whit’s knees.
‘Listen closely,’ Gooch said. ‘I’m not your son. I’m not emotionally shredded about you the way Whit is.’
‘Psychoanalysis from you? That’s like a surgical lecture from Jack the Ripper,’ Whit said. ‘You are way out of line, Leonard. Sit your ass down over there and take that gun off her.’
‘Whit,’ Gooch said softly. ‘You don’t see what I see.’
‘I see you putting down that gun and sitting your butt down. Now.’
Gooch lowered the gun.
Eve watched him. ‘I like you, Gooch. You don’t mess around, do you?’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘I’d like a glass of water, Whit,’ Eve said. ‘It’s a long story.’
‘Story, then drink,’ Gooch said.
‘She bled, Gooch, she’s thirsty.’ Whit went to the counter, filled a glass with ice and water, set it down in front of her.
‘You forgot the lemon slice,’ Gooch said. ‘And the lace doily.’
‘Turn it down, please,’ Whit said, thinking, You killed a man, Gooch, and you don’t seem remotely bothered by it The depth to which he still did not know or understand his best friend gave him a tremble along his ribs.
‘I see we’ve already picked teams,’ Gooch said.
‘You’re not helping,’ Whit said.
‘Helping. Who saved your ass tonight and who put it in danger? Do I need to draw flash cards for you?’
‘Thank you,’ Whit said.
‘Thank you, Gooch,’ Eve said. ‘Not so much for me. For Whit.’
‘Sell it to Hallmark,’ Gooch said.
‘I’ll answer your questions,’ Eve said. ‘Since you’ve asked so nicely. And because you can take Whit and get out of this mess, right now.’ She took a long sip of cold water
. She told the story in its entirety: from Paul’s determination to cut a big deal to keep his throne and make the Bellinis more powerful, her assignment to get five million in clean cash to pay off Kiko, Frank’s skimming and Paul’s warning to her, the stranger’s unexpected arrival at the exchange site, Eve fleeing then returning and finding the men dead and the five million in cash gone, and Bucks’ subsequent chase of her.
‘He was your PI, wasn’t he, honey? I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.’
At the mention of Harry’s death, Whit put his face in his hands. The kitchen was quiet. From the den came the hushed voices of the TV, Charlie flipping through the local stations to see if there were any reports about the Pie Shack shooting. Lazy rain pittered against the darkened windows.
‘I shouldn’t have had Harry try to contact you,’ Whit said. ‘Holy God, what have I done?’ He thought of Claudia, back in Port Leo, her friend now dead, trying to imagine a way to tell her, wanting to tell her before anyone else did but not knowing how he would explain it.
This isn’t your fault, Whit,’ Eve said. ‘It was the wrong place at the wrong time. Harry must have followed me there.’ She reached out, touched his leg. Gooch made a snorting sound. Whit put his hands down.
‘You say Bucks killed Harry and Doyle. And has the money,’ Whit said.
‘Yes,’ Eve said. ‘Bucks either wants it for himself or wants Paul to fail so he can take over.’
‘So what happens to the deal now?’ Whit said.
‘It doesn’t happen,’ Eve said. ‘Without that money.’
Whit refilled his mother’s glass with ice cubes and water, set it down in front of her. ‘Before we were attacked, you told me you wouldn’t go to the police. Now innocent people are dead. We have to call the police. Or have Charlie call them.’
‘Nicky killed the waitress, Gooch killed Nicky. Isn’t that justice?’ Eve said. ‘Of course, Gooch here might not want to deal with courts.’ Her voice almost sounded hopeful.
‘Not a worry,’ Whit said. ‘It was self-defense.’
‘Not how the court of Paul Bellini will view it,’ she said. ‘You kill one of his guys, you die. There’s no plea bargaining.’
‘So I kill Paul Bellini if I have to,’ Gooch said.
‘You don’t kill anyone else, Gooch,’ Whit said. ‘And Eve, you and me go to the police and you tell them everything you know. They get you into the witness protection program…’
She laughed. ‘No, no, no. That’s worthless. I’m not getting a new name, a bad hairdo, and a nice split-level in Boise to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. I testify, I’m dead. They find you.’
‘What makes you think you have a choice?’ Whit said.
‘Ah. So this is the revenge on me for being a bad mother?’ She shrugged. ‘You can call the police, Whit, but you do and I’m not saying another word. Your testimony about the money is hearsay.’
‘Harry Chyme was a man I liked,’ Whit said. ‘I liked him more than I like you. And he died because I wanted to find you.’
‘It’s not my fault.’
‘But it’s your problem, Eve. Don’t threaten me with what you will and won’t do. I’m telling you what you’ll do.’
‘There’s my boy,’ Gooch said.
‘You gonna tell the cops Gooch killed a guy and fled the scene? Stops sounding like self-defense then,’ she said.
‘Still a bigger risk for you, sweetheart,’ Gooch said.
‘Why save me then put the screws to me?’ Eve turned to Whit. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I’m not letting Bucks get away with Harry’s murder. You may be more casual in your attitude.’ And he thought again of the man she had possibly left Port Leo for those long years ago, the dead man in Montana. The so-called suicide. He tried to imagine her killing a man, sitting hunched in her rumpled, wet suit, with a bandage awkwardly taped to her head, her makeup smeared by the rain and him having wiped up her blood.
‘You wanted to meet me, right? That’s the reason you came looking for me. Or was it to bully me? Blackmail me?’
‘I don’t understand.’
She glanced at Gooch. ‘Gooch mentioned James Powell when he called me, said you would put the Montana police on me.’
‘Yeah. It was my idea,’ Whit said.
She looked at him with disappointment. ‘Oh, Whit. I didn’t kill James Powell,’ Eve said. ‘He killed himself.’
‘And you got custody of the money?’ Gooch said.
‘What money?’ she asked.
‘I don’t give a rat’s ass about James Powell,’ Whit said. ‘I wanted to find you so I could bring you back to Port Leo. To see my father before he dies. I’m not trying to screw you over.’
She crossed her arms. ‘Fine. I’ll go. You and Babe and the rest of the boys can tell me, to my face, what a sorry mother I was and I’ll take it without blinking. But I only go on my own terms.’
‘Don’t negotiate with her, Whit,’ Gooch said.
‘Let’s hear these terms,’ Whit said.
‘I have to get my name cleared with Paul. He has to know I didn’t take the money. That means either proving Bucks took it or finding the money and returning it to Paul. Otherwise, I’m dead. And I’m not spending the rest of my life on the run, Whit.’
‘Because you’re a homebody now,’ Gooch said.
‘Leave us alone for a moment, Gooch. Please,’ Whit said.
Gooch, without a word, got up and left.
‘I need a friend like him,’ Eve said. ‘He’s your personal pit bull. You’re lucky.’
‘So you want our help.’
She wiped the traces of lipstick away from her mouth. ‘I don’t want you in danger, Whit. But I have nowhere to turn. Frank is not going to stick out his neck to help me. Bucks has framed me, beautifully. And no one believes me. I can’t do this on my own.’
‘Fine. Then we call the police.’ He had to try it again.
‘In which case I say nothing, I don’t go back to Port Leo with you, and Gooch takes his chances with the Harris County legal system.’ She shrugged and opened the first-aid kit. ‘Let me tend your cuts.’ He let her, his back stiffening at her touch as she dabbed ointment on his skin.
‘You didn’t cry much when you got skinned as a kid. Not like Mark,’ she said. ‘He screamed like a cut banshee.’
‘Don’t go down Memory Lane with me. You don’t have a ticket.’
‘Look, I’m not going to be June Cleaver.’ She got up, filled a baggie with ice, wrapped a towel around it. She handed him the ice pack, sat back down across from him.
‘So how do we help you, Eve?’ Whit asked.
‘Your friend seems more than competent under fire.’
‘His brain got baked by the sun a long time ago; he doesn’t know any better.’
‘He was smart tonight,’ she said. ‘What do you do, Whit?’
He hesitated, at first thinking she was asking him what choice he was going to make but realizing she was asking what his job was. If she knew he was a judge she’d run, vanish again. He was an officer of the court. What he was contemplating, what he had done, would result in his immediate dismissal from office if it were known. He loved his job, but sitting across from his mother he thought: it’s a job. Nothing more. ‘I don’t want to talk about me.’
‘If you help me find the money, and clear my name,’ she said, ‘I’ll go to Port Leo with you.’
‘We should go to Port Leo now.’
‘I’ve given you the deal, Whit. Help me or let me go.’ She paused and, when he gave no answer, she stood.
‘Fine. Go ahead. Let them kill me.’
‘Now you sound like a mother.’
‘I know I was nothing as a mother. I know.’ Her voice grew hoarse.
‘Actually, my dad said you were a good one before you took off. I wouldn’t remember.’
She studied the warm wood of the kitchen table.
‘Were you bored? Decided kids were no fun?’ He kept his voice calm. ‘What was
so wrong with us?’
‘You thought it was your fault.’ She passed her hand over her eyes. She went to the sink, ran fresh water in her glass. ‘Oh, God,’ she said, her back still to him. ‘I’m sorry. There was absolutely nothing wrong with you, Whit. Or your brothers or even your father. Nothing. It’s me. I’m the one that’s bent, I’m the one that’s broken.’
‘You broke everyone else by leaving.’
She drank her water, watched him over her shoulder. ‘You seem well-adjusted.’
‘I’m tough.’
‘But you came looking for me. You got a hole I’m supposed to fill?’
‘So you do have a nerve to hit,’ Whit said. ‘Now you’re sounding downright bitchy.’
‘Baby, I am downright bitchy.’
That probably served you well in your new life.’ He shook his head. ‘The mob. You traded your kids in for the mob.’
‘I hope you never have to make a really terrible decision, Whit. Most people don’t. They amble through life and they whine about moments of inconsequence.’ She finished her water. ‘I hope you get to amble.’
‘Don’t ask for pity. You made your choice. I doubt you’ve had years of sleepless nights worrying over us.’
‘I don’t expect you to understand,’ Eve said, ‘and I’m not going to explain to you. They’re going to kill me in the worst possible way to make me tell them where the money is.’ She steadied her voice. ‘I’ve never been more scared in my life, except on the day when I left you.’
‘You were scared.’
‘Very much so. You think it was easy? It wasn’t…’ She stopped. ‘I’m not going to try and explain it.’
‘You couldn’t.’
‘Then I won’t waste my breath.’ Eve went to the back door, opened it. The brisk, wet night lay outside, black under the arches of the live oaks. Rain dripped from the branches. ‘You won’t see me again. Thank you and thank Gooch for saving my ass tonight. I appreciate you delaying the inevitable. Bye, Whit.’
He got up, slammed the door shut. He didn’t want her to go. Found and lost, all in the matter of an hour. Her face was still, blank. Waiting.
‘Do you have a plan?’ he asked. ‘On how to get the money?’
‘I have a couple of ideas on how to nail Bucks, prove he’s betrayed Paul. Get evidence that Paul will believe. But I can’t do it alone.’
