poked at it, but by this morning, they had grown bold enough to destroy
the contents of her locker. And now, bolder still, they had revealed
themselves and had threatened her.
What next?
Something worse.
They enjoyed her terror; they fed on it. But like a cat with a mouse,
they would eventually grow tired of the game. And then . . .
She shuddered.
What am I going to do? she wondered miserably.
What am I going to do?
The hotel, one of the best in the city, overlooked Central Park. It was
the same hotel at which Jack and Linda had spent their honeymoon,
thirteen years ago. They hadn’t been able to afford the Bahamas or
Florida or even the Catskills. Instead, they had remained in the city
and had settled for three days at this fine old landmark, and even that
had been an extravagance. They’d had a memorable honeymoon,
nevertheless, three days filled with laughter and good conversation and
talk of their future and lots of loving. They’d promised themselves a
trip to the Bahamas on their tenth anniversary, something to look
forward to. But by the time that milestone rolled around, they had two
kids to think about and a new apartment to get in order, and they
renegotiated the promise, rescheduling the Bahamas for their fifteenth
anniversary. Little more than a year later, Linda was dead. In the
eighteen months since her funeral, Jack had often thought about the
Bahamas, which were now forever spoiled for him, and about this hotel.
The murders had been committed on the sixteenth floor, where there were
now two uniformed officersYeager and Tufton-stationed at the elevator
alcove.
They weren’t letting anyone through except those with police ID and
those who could prove they were registered guests with lodgings on that
level.
“Who were the victims?” Rebecca asked Yeager.
“Civilians?”
“Nope,” Yeager said. He was a lanky man with enormous yellow teeth.
Every time he paused, he probed at his teeth with his tongue, licked and
pried at them.
“Two of them were pretty obviously professional muscle.”
“You know the type,” Tufton said as Yeager paused to probe again at his
teeth. “Tall, big hands, big arms; you could break ax handles across
their necks, and they’d think it was just a sudden breeze.”
“The third one,” Yeager said, “was one of the Carramazzas.” He paused;
his tongue curled out, over his upper teeth, swept back and forth. “One
of the immediate family, too.” He scrubbed his tongue over his lowers.
“In fact-” Probe, probe. “-it’s Dominick Carramazza.”
“Oh, shit!” Jack said. “Gennaro’s brother?”
“Yeah, the godfather’s little brother, his favorite brother, his right
hand,” Tufton said quickly, before Yeager started to answer. Tutton was
a fast-spoken man with a sharp face, an angular body, and quick
movements, brisk and efficient gestures. Yeager’s slowness must be a
constant irritant to him, Jack thought. “And they didn’t just kill him.
They tore him up bad. There isn’t any mortician alive who can put
Dominick back together well enough for an open-casket funeral, and you
know how important funerals are to these Sicilians.”
“There’ll be blood in the streets now,” Jack said wearily.
“Gang war like we haven’t seen in years,” Tufton agreed.
Rebecca said, “Dominick . . . ? Wasn’t he the one who was in the
news all summer?”
“Yeah,” Yeager said. “The D.A. thought he had him nailed for-”
When Yeager paused to swab his yellowed teeth with his big pink tongue,
Tufton quickly said, “Trafficking in narcotics. He’s in charge of the
entire Carramazza narcotics operation. They’ve been trying to put him
in the stir for twenty years, maybe longer, but he’s a fox.
He always walks out of the courtroom a free man.”
“What was he doing here in the hotel?” Jack wondered.
“I think he was hiding out,” Tufton said.
“Registered under a phony name,” Yeager said.
Tufton said, “Holed up here with those two apes to protect him. They
must’ve known he was targeted, but he was hit anyway.”
“Hit?” Yeager said scornfully. He paused to tend to his teeth and made
an unpleasant sucking sound. Then: “Hell, this was more than just a
hit. This was total devastation. This was crazy, totally off the wall;