Chương 11
“Your mother’s.”
Sophie stepped into the hall and looked at the watch.
“The hands stopped when I came in.”
“Yes.”
“At the restaurant?”
“Yes.”
She touched the cracked face with one finger.
“You should leave it.”
“Broken?”
“So you remember.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Remember what?”
“That you believed me.”
Nora watched him.
Vincent closed his hand around the watch.
“I’m trying to.”
Sophie’s expression sharpened.
“You did.”
“I believed enough to go.”
“That counts.”
The certainty in her voice made him feel worse.
At seven-thirty, Vincent entered the West Taylor Social Club through the rear kitchen. The club occupied the ground floor of an old brick building beneath apartments no one officially rented. Its walls displayed photographs of neighborhood softball teams, retired judges, boxing champions, and men who had died without ever admitting what they did for a living.
Tony walked beside him.
Neither had spoken during the drive.
Paulie waited near the card room.
“You came,” Vincent said.
“You called.”
“That hasn’t meant much today.”
Paulie flinched.
Vincent looked past him. Nearly every captain and senior associate had arrived. Men stood in small groups, speaking quietly. Several stopped when they saw him. Others kept talking to prove they were not afraid.
Marco had not arrived.
“Where is he?” Vincent asked.
Paulie shrugged.
“He says he’s coming.”
“Who spoke to him?”
“Danny Russo.”
Vincent looked toward Danny, who immediately looked away.
Tony murmured, “He’s measuring the room.”
Vincent nodded.
On the center table sat coffee, bottled water, and sandwiches wrapped in plastic. Someone had ordered too many tuna sandwiches. The smell filled the room.
For twenty years, Vincent had hated tuna at meetings. Nobody remembered.
He removed his overcoat and handed it to Tony.
His gold watch remained in his pocket.
At seven-fifty-eight, Marco entered.
He wore a navy suit instead of the gray one from dinner. His silver ring had been removed.
Vincent noticed the pale band of skin where it had been.
Marco walked through the room receiving small nods from men who wanted him to remember them later.
He stopped across from Vincent.
“How’s the girl’s mother?”
The question was meant to sound compassionate.
Vincent heard the research inside it.
“Alive.”
“That’s good.”
“You sound surprised.”
Marco glanced around.
“Are we doing this here?”
“You wanted witnesses last night.”
“I wanted fairness.”
“No, you wanted an audience.”
Marco’s mouth tightened.
“Same thing in our world.”
Vincent looked at the gathered men.
“It shouldn’t be.”
A few exchanged glances.
Marco removed his coat and folded it over a chair.
“I’ve been questioned for six hours because a traumatized child pointed at me. My house is surrounded. My wife thinks I’m sleeping with someone because police found a second phone.”
“You told Paulie it was for women.”
Marco looked toward Paulie.
Paulie lowered his eyes.
Marco laughed once.
“Fine. It was for business.”
“What business?”
“Private business.”
“Inside my company?”
“Everything is inside your company when it goes wrong.”
The room shifted subtly toward Marco.
He had found the sentence he needed.
Vincent felt its truth before he resented it.
Marco continued.
“Elena Martinez stole records. She contacted people outside the company. She may have taken money. Somebody went to her apartment. I don’t know who. I was eating dinner in front of fifty people.”
“You were in her apartment.”
“According to a terrified child.”
“Who recognized your ring.”
“A ring half this room has seen.”
“You removed it.”
Marco glanced at his bare hand.
“My lawyer took it for safekeeping after police photographed it.”
“Your lawyer has expensive taste.”
Several men smiled nervously.
Marco ignored them.
“Vince, you’re emotional.”
The word landed harder than an insult.
Vincent heard Tony shift behind him.
Marco saw it.
“You haven’t been right since the girl came through those doors,” Marco continued. “I understand why. She reminded you of Lucia.”
The room became silent.
Vincent did not move.
Marco lowered his voice.
“But grief is not evidence.”
“No.”
“Then say that. Say we investigate. Say nobody moves until we know the facts.”
“I said nobody leaves. You brought a hidden phone.”
“I called counsel.”
“You called Frankie.”
Marco’s expression barely changed.
It was enough.
Vincent saw Paulie notice.
Tony noticed too.
Marco looked around the room.
“Frankie runs dispatch. I call him often.”
“At one-seventeen?”
“I don’t remember.”
“The freight office cameras shut down at one-twelve. The fire started six minutes after police reached the restaurant.”
Marco spread his hands.
“Then Frankie did something stupid.”
“On whose order?”
“Not mine.”
“Look at me and deny it.”
The same words from the Golden Palm moved through the room.
Marco’s breathing slowed.
“I deny ordering anyone to hurt Elena Martinez.”
Specific.
Careful.
Vincent had taught him that kind of answer.
“Did you go to her apartment?”
“No.”
“Did you arrange for anyone else to go?”
“No.”
“Did you know she copied invoices?”
Marco hesitated.
“No.”
“Did you operate narcotics routes through Torino Freight?”
The room changed.
Some men looked confused.
Others looked at the floor.
That division answered more than Marco did.
Marco’s face hardened.
“You don’t discuss business like this.”
Vincent looked around.
“Who knew?”
No one answered.
“Who made money?”
Still nothing.
A captain named Sal DeLuca adjusted his cuff.
Vincent saw a new watch on his wrist.
“Sal?”
Sal looked offended.
“Don’t put me in this.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tony said quietly, “Your crew covers Joliet.”
Sal turned toward him.
“So?”
“So three refrigerated trucks changed routes through Joliet twice a week.”
“You checking my routes now?”
“Elena was.”
Sal’s face reddened.
Marco stepped between them.
“This is what police want. Everybody accusing everybody.”
Vincent said, “Police do not know the full routes.”
Marco looked at him.
“Then keep it that way.”
There it was.
Not a confession. Something more revealing.
A request based on shared guilt.
Vincent reached into his pocket and placed the broken watch on the table.
The stopped hands showed one-seventeen.
May you like
Men stared at it without understanding.
“Sophie Martinez entered the Golden Palm at this time,” Vincent said. “Her mother’s blood stopped this watch.”
