Bloody River Blues

rubbing his fingers along it. He did not sort through his thoughts. This was a story he had planned to tell for some time. Perhaps to his prosecutor. “I love my nieces like daughters. I’ve never been married. Never had children. Have you?”
    Pellam didn’t answer.
    “One niece of mine was eighteen. She was a sweet, sweet girl. But she was somewhat heavy, unsure of herself. She was going to school and working part-time as a waitress in a restaurant that Vincent Gaudia would sometimes eat in. Gaudia was a generous man with money. He would give her twenty-dollar tips. Then it was a fifty-dollar tip. And after that it was the promise of a hundred-dollar tip. I suppose you can guess what happened.
    “They spent a few nights together, and then Gaudia simply forgot that she existed. But the poor child believed she’d fallen in love with him. I tried to convince her otherwise but she was inconsolable. He refused to take her calls and answer her letters. Finally she went to his home. It was late at night, after she got off work at the restaurant. She left his house at two in the morning, and on the way home, drovethrough a red light. Her car was hit by a truck and she was killed. She had been drinking and had had sex just an hour before. The evidence indicated the sex was of a sort I choose not to describe.”
    “One of the two thousand,” Pellam mused.
    “I’m sorry?”
    “I’ve heard Gaudia had his share of women. She was a conquest.”
    “Just so.”
    “The police said the accident was her fault but, of course, it wasn’t. It was Vincent Gaudia’s. He seduced my niece. It’s as if he murdered her. This is what Gaudia did to my family and when my brother refused to do anything about his daughter’s death, I decided to.”
    “Old World revenge.”
    “If you will.”
    “You knew that Bales or his partner killed the woman who was with Gaudia too. They shot that cop. And a friend of mine.”
    Lombro shook his head. There was alarm and sorrow in his face. “This has all gone so wrong. So wrong! I should have done the manly thing. I should have killed him myself and taken the consequences. I’m not a coward. I just didn’t understand how these things worked. Have you called the police?”
    “Not yet, no,” Pellam said. He looked around the office, at the paneling, the prints on the walls. He asked, “What’re you worth?”
    “Pardon?”
    “Money, you know. How much do you have?”
    “I don’t really know.”
    “A million?” Pellam suggested.
    Lombro smiled. “More than that. Why are you asking?”
    Pellam said, “What does that mean? ‘More than that.’ ”
    “I don’t exactly know, ” Lombro said stridently.
    “You’re in the real estate business?”
    Lombro reached toward his knee and picked a piece of lint from his slacks. “And I’ve been in that line long enough to understand when an offer is about to be made.”
    “You know,” Pellam said, “they have this service in some states. It’s called the crime victims’ reparation fund or something like that. You ever hear about it?”
    “No.”
    “When someone’s mugged or raped they get some money. Somebody gets killed, the family gets it.”
    “And you’re suggesting I pay you something.”
    Pellam hesitated, then he laughed. “Yep. Exactly.”
    “How much?” Lombro opened his drawer. Then, perhaps deciding a check might not be the way to handle something like this, closed it again.
    “I’m thinking mostly of the policeman that got shot.”
    “Whatever. How much did you have in mind?”
    “He’s paralyzed, the cop. He’ll never walk again. Life’s going to be pretty expensive for him. Housekeepers, special cars. And by the way, I got fired thanks to you.”
    Lombro looked up from his shoes, which he now planted on the carpeting. “I am being very honest when I tell you that I didn’t want you hurt and that I didn’t want anyone to die except Gaudia. I hope youagree I had a . . . well, an honorable motive for doing what I did. I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”
    “No,” Pellam said, “I don’t have any intention of hurting you.”
    “You can, of course, go to the police and tell them what happened. But what it really comes down to is my word against your word. I’ve been involved in plenty of litigation. Lawyers call cases like this a liars’ match. Who believes whom? I think I stand as good a chance of being believed as you do. I’m influential in this town. I’m one of the few businessmen