Page 16 of A Week Away
“Yeah, but I don’t remember. I mean, most of the people who came around were teenagers or scary looking guys.”
Cass chipped in, “She had long black hair then. Really pretty.”
“She might have had a kid with her. Five, six… seven.”
It was hard to see through the screen, but she might have been thinking it over. Finally she asked, “Purple leather coat?”
“Yeah, she has a purple coat,” Cass said. His voice was flat, lifeless.
“I wanted that coat. My dad said he’d buy me one cause he was going to make a lot of money off her. But then he never did.”
I could hear three decades of disappointment in that last sentence. Gavin probably did make a lot of money off Joanne Di Stefano. I paid five thousand. He likely paid her one, two at the most. I glanced at Cass. I had the feeling this was bad. He’d just gotten confirmation that his mother sold his father’s identity, meaning she knew he was dead and might have, probably had, something to do with his death.
I thanked Gavin’s daughter, who’d never given us her name, and walked down to the minivan with Cass. Once we were in the van, Spencer asked, “Where to now?”
I had no idea.
CHAPTERFIVE
September 14, 1996
Saturday, the wee hours
There were only two choices: get a hotel room and catch some sleep or go back to the airport and wait for a departing flight. It was nearly one o’clock. By the time we picked out a hotel and got a room it would be two. There’d be flights in just a few hours. I wanted to go home and send this kid on his way as soon as possible.
“Airport.”
Spencer turned us around and drove for about a block before he said, “You haven’t been here long. You sure you don’t wanna stick around take in the sights? It’s a great place. Lots to do and not just gambling. There’s shows and great places to eat. Lots of buffets. There’s, like, hiking and stuff. Nature, you know?”
“Yeah, we came on business,” I said. “And we just concluded that business so I think we’d like to go. No offense to Reno.”
“Hey, I’m just letting you know… It’s a great place.”
I didn’t buy it. I looked over at Cass again. He was in shock. Part of me wanted to fix that, but it also seemed a good idea to let him stew in his juices.
The drive to the airport wasn’t even ten minutes. It was late enough that Spencer was able to speed through the city, zipping through a couple of yellow lights that I would definitely have stopped at. We pulled up in front of the terminal about forty feet from where we’d found Spencer to begin with. As promised, I gave him a hundred-dollar bill.
“Thanks, man.” As we climbed out of the van he added, “Enjoy the rest of your stay and your trip back to… you know, wherever.”
Once we were inside the terminal, I realized I’d been so intent on getting to a pay phone when we landed that I’d barely looked around. The ticket area was under construction and half of it was covered by dingy tarps and scaffolding. The remaining ticket counters were squeezed together and their signage had been compressed into a much smaller space. None of the counters were open at that time of the morning.
Opposite the counters hung an electrified board that listed the flights. I went and stood in front of it. The first flight out to Detroit was United Airlines at 5:15. Reno Air had a flight back to Long Beach leaving at 6:10. My plan was that we’d be on separate flights.
“I think you should forget about this and just go home now,” I said to Cass.
“No. I’m not going to forget about it.”
“Look, Gavin told me your dad got in trouble with the mob and ended up in Lake Erie. He had to have been given that information by your mom.”
“She never told me that.”
“Well, she wouldn’t, would she?”
“You don’t know her.”
“It makes sense, though. Your dad might not have been part of The Partnership, but he crossed someone who was. Your mom knows that, but what could she do? She wouldn’t have gone to the police. That would have been dangerous. She’d be better off pretending your dad ran off, so she got rid of his stuff and sold his identity. It’s best to leave this alone.”
“You’re wrong.”
