Page 54 of A Week Away
There was a tapping on the door, then it opened. Mr. Cray stepped in. He was in his late fifties, small and wiry with hard black eyes and a full head of white hair. He’d probably been very handsome when he was younger. Now he was distinguished.
“Is everything all right, Joanne?”
“Everything’s fine, Tony. Thanks for checking in.”
He didn’t move. Instead, he waited for me to say something. “I’m a friend of Joanne’s son.”
I don’t think he liked that much.
“I’ll explain later,” Joanne told him. In other words, she needed some time to make up a lie.
“If you need me, I’m right next door.”
“You’re a doll.”
Reluctantly, he shut the door. As soon as it was closed, Joanne said, “We should talk about getting a divorce.”
“Actually I’m surprised you didn’t try to have me declared dead.”
“I had my reasons.”
Which might have to do with the credit cards she took out in my name. Or rather Dominick’s name.
“I ran your credit this morning. You have assets.”
“Don’t even think it.”
I saw red for a moment but then calmed. I’d seenherassets. Most of my assets were in Ronnie’s name. Only the co-op had my name on it—well, half of it. All told, my assets amounted to around fifty thousand dollars. As I recalled, her assets were at least double that.
“And of course there’s thirteen years of child support,” she added.
“I’ll get a DNA test. Prove he’s not my kid.”
“Fine. Just your assets then.”
“You have assets, too. Which I would be just as entitled to. In fact you have more assets than I do. So you’d owe me money. Except…” I left a deliberately long pause. “…your assets stem from fraud or embezzlement, I’m not sure which exactly. It would be a terrible thing if that came out during a divorce.”
Her face fell for a moment but then quickly recovered. She got up, walked a couple of steps to a credenza and turned a radio on to a classical station. She looked unnerved. She’d had no idea I knew all that. She was stalling to catch her balance.
“Don’t forget I can expose you.”
“I haven’t forgotten. How about we skip mutually assured destruction and each keep what we have?”
Unhappily, she agreed. I didn’t believe her for a moment.
“You’re still young,” I pointed out. “I’m sure you can find a man with more assets than I have. Provided they don’t find out who you really are.”
A light went off behind her eyes. She’d heard exactly what I wanted her to hear. If she fucked with me, I’d fuck with her. And not just now. Always. I was taking a risk and I knew it.
“Well, I guess we’re just going to have to be friends.”
“Or something like it.”
We went over the plan one more time. She’d reluctantly tell Cass that she’d found out Vito Giancarlo killed his father. She’d refuse to say who gave her this information for safety reasons. I was hoping he’d buy it.
After I left, I drove around until I saw a pay phone on the side of a 7-Eleven—a different one, not my home away from home. I pulled in, got out my calling card, and then sat in the car for a good ten minutes.
Joanne Di Stefano was a piece of work. I didn’t have any reason to think she’d keep her end of any bargain. Yeah, I thought she’d go along with the story I wanted to tell Cass about Vito Giancarlo. It fit her purposes. For now. But who knew about next month or next year or the year after that.
