Page 61 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“Had you responded to his attempts to contact you,” Grace continued, “then yes, something very well might have happened between the two of you. Those were early days in our relationship and those were some rocky days too. But you didn’t respond to his advances and he didn’t pursue it any further.” Then Grace looked Vera in the eye. “So let’s move the fuck on,” she said in her calm, but determined style.
Reno and Sal smiled. “That’s what I’m talking about,” said Reno.
And that was when Tommy realized Hammer had entered the room. He then got down to it and asked Vera the main question. “You said you were ordered to skip town until it was finished. You may not have known what finished meant, but you know who ordered you to leave town or you wouldn’t have tried to hop that plane. Who ordered you to leave?”
Vera knew obfuscating now would only hurt her cause in the end. They weren’t letting her out until they got the truth. She knew that too. “Luddie ordered me out.”
Every man in that room, except for Hammer, frowned. “Luddie?” Sal had shock in his voice. “Luddie Jelinski?”
“Who else running around calling themselves Luddie, Sal?”
“Just answer the question, asshole!” Sal shot back.
“Yes, Luddie Jelinski, alright? That Luddie. Yes!”
“If Luddie was the one to order you to skip town,” said Tommy, “why did you claim you didn’t know Barry Sedaka? He works for Luddie and everybody knows that.”
“I didn’t have any dealings with Barry.”
“That wasn’t the question,” said Tommy.
Vera gave up. “Okay I lied about that one thing. Hell yeah I know Barbell. Luddie said they killed Barbell. I said who killed him? He just kept saying they killed him but he wouldn’t say who they were. But he said they have unlimited resources and that they can do anything. That’s why he wanted me out of town. After hearing that, and then you showed up, I didn’t want any heat on me. So I lied okay? I didn’t want any mob activity around my restaurant, so I lied. I’m respectable now, and I was trying to keep it that way.” Then tears appeared in her eyes. “But Luddie won’t let me.”
“Why won’t he?”
Vera hesitated. But then she answered. “He gave me the money to open the place.”
“Ah shit, lady, get real!” said Reno. “You didn’t want mob around your restaurant when Luddie’s nothing but mob? And not the nice kind either.”
Sal looked at Reno. “Nice? What mobster on this planet is nice, you fucking moron?”
“So you’re indebted to the mob?” asked Mick before Reno could zing Sal back.
Vera didn’t like it, but she nodded her head. “Yes. I’m indebted to Luddie anyway. And when he said I had to skip town for a while, I can’t argue with him. I had to do it.”
“If you aren’t involved,” asked Grace, “why would you have to leave town?”
“Good question,” said Sal. “Why your ass had to leave if you have nothing to do with what happened to their children? What you know that you aren’t telling us, Vera?”
They all waited for her to answer. “Luddie ain’t the man with the plan, that’s all I know. I don’t know no names, but I know that much. And because I know that much, he wanted me in hiding so they wouldn’t come for me thinking I know more than I do. Luddie’s not in charge. He answers to somebody way higher than he ever will be.”
“How high?” asked Tommy.
It took a moment for her to gather up her nerves, but then she looked all the way across the room at Hammer Reese. “That high,” she said.
When she motioned toward Hammer, everybody stared at him. It took several moments, but eventually Hammer pushed away from the wall he was perched against. And the words he said next were shocking.
“Get rid of her,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
When Hammer told them to get rid of Vera, everybody was alarmed. Especially Vera. “What you mean get rid of her?” Reno asked. “What she did to deserve death? She’s just telling us what she knows. Unless you know more than she’s telling us.”
“Put her in another guest house, Reno, for crying out loud. That’s what I meant. We need to talk in this one.”
“Oh!” said Reno. “What you thought we were gonna think? Getting rid of somebody in our world means something different than in your world.”
“You mean in the normal world?” Hammer asked.
