Part 37 (2/2)
”Hmm. That's a theory we've overlooked until now. The victims all had enemies in their own, er, profession, so we made the reasonable supposition that the killer is a colleague. However, you're quite right-that needn't necessarily be the case.” He continued, ”On the other hand, our adversary is creative, devious, ruthless, and clever. Given the unconventional nature of these murders, I find it difficult to believe he abides by popular custom, so to speak, when choosing his victims. Therefore, he may well be a member of Lucky's profession and yet entirely willing to target a police officer.”
”But if a cop dies . . .” I felt sick at the thought of which which cop we were talking about, but made myself continue, ”There'll be h.e.l.l to pay, and the killer must know that.” cop we were talking about, but made myself continue, ”There'll be h.e.l.l to pay, and the killer must know that.”
”If so, then he is indifferent to that eventuality.” Max shrugged. ”Perhaps he even courts it. It would certainly add to the violent chaos that is now imminent.”
”Yes, it would. And why this particular particular cop?” I said desperately. ”There's a whole team on the case!” cop?” I said desperately. ”There's a whole team on the case!”
”Perhaps because the killer has identified him as a greater threat than his fellow officers are? As you are well aware, Detective Lopez is both astute and persistent.”
”I should have conked him over the head and locked him up in the laboratory.”
”No, he would get into mischief down there,” Max said.
”Not if he was tied up,” I said grimly.
There was a pause. Then Max said, ”I don't wish to alarm you unnecessarily-”
”Why bother, when there's so much necessary necessary alarm to be had?” alarm to be had?”
”-but before he left to see his superior, Lucky said that it's not entirely impossible that you and I are now in some danger from the Corvino family.”
”Oh. Right. The thought had occurred to me.” I said, ”Also to Lopez. When he got here tonight, he wanted to take us into protective custody. But now I think he wants to put me in a loony bin and you in a maximum security prison.”
”That sounds most incommodious.”
”Indeed.”
”Lucky says that since you're a dame and I'm an old guy, and we've never whacked anyone, we won't be high on the hit list if the two families go to the mattresses-”
”You're learning his dialect, I see.”
”-but we should nonetheless take reasonable precautions until he knows exactly what the Corvinos' intentions toward us are.”
”Such as?”
”He recommends that I keep the bookstore closed for the time being. And since I can ward this building against mundane intruders-as well as their firearms-you are to sleep here tonight.”
Actually, that sounded fine by me. It had been an exhausting day. The tense journey to Brooklyn, Danny's murder and Vinny's strange story, followed by a mind-numbing evening of doing more reading about apparitional bilocated doppelgangerism . . . All capped off by two two awful confrontations with Lopez, during one of which I had watched him get decapitated. All in all, I realized I'd have trouble just crawling as far as the nearest bed now, never mind making it all the way home to be murdered in my own apartment by Corvino hitters. awful confrontations with Lopez, during one of which I had watched him get decapitated. All in all, I realized I'd have trouble just crawling as far as the nearest bed now, never mind making it all the way home to be murdered in my own apartment by Corvino hitters.
Max said, ”Hieronymus' rooms on the third floor are vacant, if you think you would be comfortable there.”
”Hieronymus.” I grimaced.
”The accommodations are modest, but adequate for your temporary needs, I think.”
I thought about it and gave an involuntary shudder. ”Oh, I don't think I want to sleep in a bedroom that was recently inhabited by a demented young wizard who would have wound up killing half the city if we hadn't, er, sent him away.” Remembering what we had done to Hieronymus made me think of Lopez again, which made me feel anxious and weepy. ”My nerves are frayed enough as it is, Max. I'll just sleep on your couch.”
He nodded. ”Nelli usually sleeps on the couch, but I feel certain that she would be pleased to relinquish her usual place to you, given the circ.u.mstances.”
”I'm wiped out. I think I'll go straight to bed.” I stood up. Nelli, who'd been sitting nearby, rose to her feet, too, and yawned. I asked Max, ”Are you coming upstairs now?”
”In a little while,” he said. ”I need to meditate and focus my strength to ensure this building is well protected for the rest of the night.”
I nodded, turned, and walked to the back of the shop. Nelli followed me. I opened the stairwell door so we could ascend to Max's spa.r.s.ely furnished apartment on the second floor. I'd only been there once before, but I knew where the bathroom was. I went in there, turned on the light, and conducted a quick and very basic nighttime toilette. Then I poked gingerly around the apartment for a few minutes in search of a blanket. I found a worn but clean cotton quilt that was folded up and lying in a cedar chest in Max's monklike bedroom. I took it back into the living room, turned out the light, and lay down. I would sleep in my comfortable knit dress. The couch sagged a little, but was relatively comfortable. Unfortunately, though, only days after her arrival in this dimension, it was already redolent of Nelli. I would definitely need a shower in the morning.
Nelli didn't seem to mind my being in her usual sleeping place, but she mistakenly thought the couch was big enough for two. Without warning, she cheerfully climbed on top of me and started settling herself into the cus.h.i.+ons with contented little snuffles, impervious to my attempts to shove her off. After a brief argument which didn't seem to faze her a bit, I decided that as long as I could breathe, I was too exhausted to care about retaining feeling in my legs. And although I thought at first that her snoring would keep me awake all night, it wasn't very long before my own fatigue overcame the noise. I sank into oblivion and slept like the dead until late the next morning. I didn't even hear Max come upstairs and go to bed, nor go back downstairs again to resume his work sometime after sunrise.
And as is so often the case, getting enough sleep for the human brain to function effectively made a tremendous difference. The following day, I woke up knowing who the killer was and why Lopez had been targeted.
20.
”The Widow Giacalona?” Max said when I confronted him in his laboratory with my revelation.
”Yes! I was so exhausted and upset last night, I couldn't see it at the time.” The truth had hit me within minutes of waking up. I had raced downstairs without a shower, my hair in a rat's nest and my clothes stinking of Nelli, to put the facts before Max. ”And it's probably a good thing Lucky's not here. I don't think he would listen to reason. He's in love with her, you know.”
”Oh, dear.”
”Who hates the Corvinos and the Gambellos enough to kill men in both both families? Elena Giacalona. Why? Because a Gambello killed her second husband, and a Corvino killed her third.” families? Elena Giacalona. Why? Because a Gambello killed her second husband, and a Corvino killed her third.”
”I can see how that might stoke vengeance in her heart,” Max said sadly.
I started pacing as I reviewed the next point. ”Johnny Gambello was a useless momzer momzer who was no threat to a rival family. Danny Dapezzo, a Corvino capo, even played cards with him, for goodness sake! The Corvinos had no reason to whack him. And Don Victor had forbidden any of the Gambellos to kill him. But who hated Johnny enough to want him dead? The woman who'd lost her first husband because of Johnny!” I told Max, ”Anthony Gambello died horribly, leaving Elena a widow, because Johnny masqueraded as Anthony while having an affair with a violent drug lord's girlfriend.” who was no threat to a rival family. Danny Dapezzo, a Corvino capo, even played cards with him, for goodness sake! The Corvinos had no reason to whack him. And Don Victor had forbidden any of the Gambellos to kill him. But who hated Johnny enough to want him dead? The woman who'd lost her first husband because of Johnny!” I told Max, ”Anthony Gambello died horribly, leaving Elena a widow, because Johnny masqueraded as Anthony while having an affair with a violent drug lord's girlfriend.”
”Good heavens!” Max said.
”The night before last, when I got to St. Monica's a little early for the sit-down, I told Elena that Lucky and I had encountered an apparition of Johnny after his death. And she she tried to convince me that's not what I had seen, that I was mistaken about the timing.” tried to convince me that's not what I had seen, that I was mistaken about the timing.”
”But isn't that what Detective Lopez thinks, too?”
”Yeah, but that's because he thinks I'm delusional.”
”Might not the Widow Giacalona also think you're delusional?”
”Might not the Widow Giacalona,” I said, ”be trying to cover up the trail of her handiwork by insisting I saw the real Johnny Be Good and not an apparition?”
”It does sound feasible.”
I continued, ”Elena wouldn't spare Johnny just because he was under the Shy Don's protection, the way others have spared him. It's hard to believe she cares what the old man wants, and easy to believe she'd like a chance to make him grieve. After all, Victor Gambello not only ordered the death of her second husband, he also tried to strangle her for the sin of marrying a Corvino!”
”Zounds!”
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