Page 122 of The Mafia's Christmas Baby
She doesn’t.
“If I let you do this,” she says softly, “you stop trying to turn my life into a parade?”
“I stop nothing that keeps you breathing,” I say. “But yes. I won’t make a scene. I’ll make a wall.”
Dr. Conte is already in the hall by the time I open the door.
Small woman.
Steady hands.
Eyes that see through excuses.
She takes one look at Elisa and holds out a gown.
“Come on,” she says. “We’re going to take a picture and make the men shut up.”
I stay in the chair by the door while they work.
Machines hum.
Gel smells like lemon.
A heartbeat flickers through the speaker, quick and sure.
It punches the inside of my ribs.
I don’t say a word. Elisa doesn’t either.
Dr. Conte angles the screen toward Elisa and away from me like a quiet boundary and then, when she’s ready, she turns it toward me too.
“Everything looks the way it should,” she says. “No bleeds. No flags. Your blood pressure is a little high, but I could have told you that when I saw his face.”
Elisa laughs for real at that. It breaks something tight in me.
I stand and thank the doctor in a way people in this building understand.
She takes the thanks and the envelope and tells me to stop hovering by the hinge like a cartoon bodyguard.
Alvarez calls while Elisa is tying her hair back.
“You have a gift for timing,” he says. “Security brought me a dumb kid with peppermint on his breath and a knife he bought with cash. Says he was trying to snatch his kid sister from a bad boyfriend. Says you’re the boyfriend. Says a lot.”
“Does he have a name?” I ask.
“Today he’s ‘Don’t Remember.’ Yesterday he was probably ‘Cash Upfront.’” Alvarez lowers his voice. “Plate on the SUV you shookthis morning comes back to a funeral home on Staten Island that’s been closed for a decade. Your fan club’s learning new tricks.”
“I want his phone,” I say. “And I want ten minutes with him before you move him. He’s not made for a room with you. He’ll crack on the wrong thing.”
“Can’t do the ten minutes,” Alvarez says. “But I can step out for coffee and forget my recorder is on. Two minutes. In the sub office. Keep it clean.”
“Always,” I say and hang up.
Elisa hears enough to catch the shape.
“You’re going to go scare a kid,” she says.
“I’m going to go make sure the next one stays away,” I say. “Rafe will sit outside this door. Tino will watch the other hall. You lock this from the inside and you don’t open it for anyone who doesn’t say my name.”
