for the Badgetts, the worst he’d done was to speak to potential witnesses as he had spoken to Billy Campbell, and later arrange laundered payments to them. It had never gone beyond that. He could get the book thrown at him for tampering with witnesses, but this was different, and much more serious. They want me to be involved in whatever happens to Billy Campbell and Nor Kelly if I can’t convince them to keep their mouths shut, he thought. I’ve never seen Junior and Eddie as foul tempered as they were today, and I know it’s because they’re worried.
He closed the door to his office and walked to the elevator. Even if Billy Campbell and Nor Kelly agreed to forget what they had overheard, would that be enough to ensure their safety?
Charlie doubted it.
Nor’s Place was bustling when Billy and Sterling returned at eight o’clock. The dinner hour was in full swing and the bar was busy. Nor was talking to people at a table near the bar, but as though she had eyes in the back of her head, she turned around the instant Billy walked into the dining room. Her face brightened, and she hurried over to him.
“How did it go?”
Billy grinned. “Chip Holmes is crazy about the ‘special quality to my singing.’ ”
He does a pretty good imitation of Chip Holmes, Sterling thought. He captures that nasal quality.
Nor threw her arms around him. “Oh, Billy, that’s fantastic.” She signaled to a nearby waiter. “Nick, we’re celebrating. Bring us a bottle of Dom Perignon.”
I wouldn’t mind a glass of that, Sterling thought. As he took his usual seat at Nor’s table, a host of memories rushed through his mind.
His mother and father opening a bottle of “Dom” on his twenty-first birthday…
Another “bit of the bubbly” shared with them when he passed the bar exam…
That wonderful crisp October day when he and Annie had driven with another couple to visit the Roosevelt home in Hyde Park. On the way back they stopped for a picnic lunch on the Palisades, and Annie had surprised everyone when she trotted out a chilled bottle of champagne and four glasses.
After I finished mine, I drank half of hers, he thought. Oh, Annie!
Sterling swallowed over a lump in his throat and realized he hadn’t been paying attention to Billy and Nor. Obviously Billy had told her about the meeting, because she was saying, “Billy, that’s wonderful! You’re on your way.”
None of them noticed that Sean O’Brien had come into the restaurant. They all looked up, surprised, when he joined them.
“Sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier, Nor,” he apologized. “Next time call me on my cell phone. Has anything else happened?”
“Tell Sean about the call from Badgett Enterprises, Billy,” Nor said.
Sterling watched Sean O’Brien’s expression darken as Billy related the scholarship offer.
When Billy shrugged his shoulders and said, “So that’s it,” Sean’s first question was to ask if he had told the FBI about the call.
Billy nodded. “Rich Meyers wasn’t in his office. I left a message.”
“He called back here at about five o’clock,”Nor said quietly. “My impression is that he thinks it was an iron fist in a velvet glove kind of warning.”
O’Brien looked grim. “Listen, after being a detective for nearly thirty years, I know too much about these people. The iron fist will be front and center if you don’t fall in line.”
Billy, tell O’Brien about what happened in the subway, Sterling pleaded silently. You need protection.
“I guess we have no choice but to wait it out,” Nor said. “Look, here’s the champagne. On a happier note, we’re drinking to Billy’s future.” She turned to him. “You’d better sip that fast. We have to go on pretty soon.”
Billy got up. “I’ll take it upstairs with me. I have to change, and I want to give Marissa a call. You know her. She wanted me to give her the scoop as soon as I got back.”
I’ll just wait here and keep Nor company, Sterling decided, when Dennis appeared from the bar.
“I wanted to congratulate Billy, but he’s disappeared already.”
“He went upstairs to change,” Nor said.
Sterling listened as Nor happily filled the men in on Billy’s meeting with the recording executives. Then she said, “The news about the contract is wonderful, but I can’t tell you guys how tense I’ve been all day. Ever since Billy got that phone call, I’ve been so afraid of what the Badgetts might do next… And right now I’d better get ready myself,” Nor concluded. “We’re on in fifteen minutes. Can you stay, Sean?”
“For a while. Kate’s on duty tonight.”
Dennis turned to Sean. “I’ve got to get back to work. Why don’t you sit at the bar?”
As the group broke up, they all spotted Billy running down the stairs, a fire extinguisher under his arm.
“Mom, your car is on fire,” he snapped. “I called 911.”
Word of the fire spread through the dining room. Dennis grabbed a fire extinguisher from the bar. O’Brien and Sterling one step behind him, he raced outside to the blazing vehicle and, with Billy, tried to extinguish the flames.
Nor came out of the restaurant, surrounded by several diners whom she had been trying to calm.
Fire trucks came roaring into the parking lot, and immediately the firefighters ordered people to stand back.
It took only a few minutes for the fire to be extinguished. Nor’s car had been in its usual spot near the kitchen entrance, well away from the general parking area.
Then Nor called, “Come on, everybody.” She stood at the door, ushering people back into the restaurant.
When the hoses were turned off, the fire chief, Randy Coyne, accompanied by a Madison Village police officer, spoke to Nor, Billy, Sean, and Dennis privately in Nor’s office.
“Nor, your car’s a loss, but it could have been a lot worse. At least the fire didn’t spread to any other vehicles, and I can tell you right now you’re lucky it didn’t spread to the restaurant.”
“How did it start?” Nor asked quietly.
“We think it was doused with gasoline.”
For a moment there was complete silence in the room, then Sean O’Brien said, “Randy, we have some idea of who’s behind this, but it’s a matter for the FBI. They’re already investigating a telephoned threat Billy got this morning.”
“Then call them immediately,” the police officer said. “I’m going to make sure that we have a patrol car stationed here overnight.”
“And one at Nor’s house,” Sean O’Brien said firmly.
“I’ll be glad to know someone’s keeping an eye out,” Nor admitted.
Sean turned to Nor and Billy. “Nor, a piece of advice. The best thing you can do right now is for you and Billy to go out there and conduct business as usual.”
“Wish I could stay for your show,” the fire chief said with a half smile.
“I’ll be outside until I can get someone posted here and at your home, Mrs. Kelly,” the cop promised.
Billy waited until they were gone, then said slowly, “Something happened to me in the subway today. I really thought it was my own stupidity, but…”
Sterling watched the expressions on the faces of Nor, Dennis, and O’Brien become increasingly grave as Billy told them what had happened on the way home.
“The same guy who jostled you at the edge pulled you back,” Sean said flatly. “That’s an old trick with these people.”
The phone rang. Billy answered it. He listened for an instant as the color drained from his
