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Amazing to see how Maggione's mind worked, or didn't work. Still, Juniorwas a
stone-cold killer, so he had to be careful.No mistakes now .
"Just so I'm clear on this part," Michael Sullivan said, "we're headed to a
pier I know on the Hudson River. Once we get there, I'm going to take some art
photos for all your goombah pals to see. I'm going to give them a clear
warning I hope they'll understand about leaving me and my family alone."
Then Sullivan put his finger to his lips. "Don't talk anymore," he said. "I'm
almost starting to feel a little sorry for you, Junior, and I don't want to
feel like that."
"What do I care what you feel like,ahhh ," said Maggione, on account of
Sullivan had stuck him in the belly with a switchblade knife, stuck it in to
the hilt, then pulled it out slowly.
"Just for starters," he said in a weird, whispery voice. "I'm just getting
warmed up."
Then the Butcher took a little half bow. "I amthat crazy."
Chapter 101
SAMPSON AND I WERE BACK inside his car waiting for the Butcher to return to
the house in Montauk. We were down to counting the minutes. Sooner or later he
had to come back; only it hadn't happened yet, and Sampson and I were tired,
cold, and, frankly, disappointed.
A pizza delivery guy from Papa John's showed up at around seven thirty. But
no Sullivan, no Butcher, no relief in sight, and no pizza for us, either.
"Let's talk about something," said Sampson. "Keep our minds off food. And the
cold."
"Been thinking about Maria again while I'm sitting here freezing my ass off,"
I said as we watched the long-haired pizza guy come and go. The thought had
crossed my mind that Sullivan might use a delivery like this to get his wife a
message. Had that just happened? Nothing we could do about it.But had it just
happened ?
"Not surprising, sugar," said Sampson.
"What happened the last couple months dredged up a lot of the past for me. I
figured I'd grieved enough. Maybe not though. Therapist seems to thinknot ."
"You had two babies to take care of back then. Maybe you were a little too
busy to mourn as much as you needed. I remember I used to come over the house
some nights. You never seemed to sleep. Working homicide cases. Trying to be a
daddy. Remember the Bell's palsy?"
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"Now that you mention it."
I'd had a disconcerting facial twitch for a while after Maria died. A
neurologist at Johns Hopkins told me that it might go away or go on for years.
It lasted a little more than two weeks, and it was kind of an effective tool
on the job. Scared the hell out of perps I had to question in the cage.
"At the time, you wanted to catch Maria's killer so bad, Alex. Then you
started obsessing over other murder cases. That's when you became a really
good detective. In my opinion anyway. It's when you became focused. How you
got to be the Dragon Slayer."
I felt like I was in the confessional. John Sampson was my priest. So what
was new?
"I didn't want to think about her all the time, so I guess I had to throw
myself into something else. There were the kids, and there was work."
"So did you grieve enough, Alex? This time? Is it over? Close to being over?"
"Honestly? I don't know, John. I'm trying to figure that out now."
"What if we don't catch Sullivan this time? What if he gets away on us? What
if he already has?"
"I think I'll be better about Maria. She's been gone a long time." I stopped,
took a breath. "I don't think it was my fault. I couldn't have done anything
differently when she was shot."
"Ahh," said Sampson.
"Ahh," I said.
"But you're not completely sure, are you? You're still not convinced."
"Not a hundred percent." Then I laughed. "Maybe if we do catch him tonight.
Maybe if I blow his brains out. Then we'll definitely be even."
"That's why we're out here, sugar? To blow his brains out?"
There was a knock against the car's side window, and I went for my gun.
Chapter 102
"WHAT THE HELL IShe doing here?" Sampson asked.
None other than Tony Mullino was standing next to the car  on my side. What
the hellwas he doing out here in Montauk?
I slowly lowered the window, hoping to find out, to get an answer, maybe a
whole bunch of answers.
"I could have been Sully," he said, with his head cocked to one side. "You'd
both be dead if I was."
"No,you'd be dead," Sampson said. He gave Mullino a slow smile and showed off
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his Glock. "I saw you coming up from behind about two minutes ago. So did
Alex."
I hadn't, but it was good to know that Sampson still had my back, that
somebody did, because maybe I was starting to lose my focus a little  and
that could get you shot. Or worse.
Mullino was rubbing his hands together. "Cold as shit out here tonight." He
waited, then repeated himself. "I said it's fricking frigid,freezing cold out
here."
"Hop in," I told him. "C'mon inside."
"You promise not to shoot us in the back?" Sampson said.
Mullino raised both hands and looked either puzzled or alarmed. Sometimes it
was hard to tell with him. "I don't even carry a weapon, fellas. Never did in
my life."
"Maybe you ought to, the friends you keep," Sampson said. "Something to think
about, brother."
"Okay,brother ," said Mullino, with a mean little laugh that made me rethink
who he was.
He opened the car door and slid down into the backseat. The question was
still on the table: Why had he shown up here and what did he want?
"He's not coming?" I said, once he'd shut the rear door on the cold. "Is that
right?"
"Nah, he's not coming," said Mullino. "Never was."
"You warn him?" I asked. I was watching Mullino in the rearview mirror. His
eyes narrowed and showed extreme nervousness, something uncomfortable,
something not right.
"I didn't have to warn him. Sully's self-reliant, takes care of himself just
fine." His voice was low, almost a whisper.
"I'll bet," I said.
"So what happened, Anthony?" asked Sampson. "Where's your boy now? Why are
you here?"
Mullino's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. I didn't quite
catch what he said this time.
Neither did Sampson. "You have to speak up," he turned around and said. "You
hear me? See how it works? You have to get your voice up to a certain volume."
"He killed John Maggione tonight," said Mullino. "Kidnapped him, then carved
him up.That has been a long time coming."
There was complete silence in the car. I doubt there was anything he could
have said that would have surprised me more. I'd felt earlier that maybe we'd [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]