to Zeller, as if explaining to him was what mattered. “She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t even want to marry me.”
“I know, Old Man, I know,” Zeller said.
Paul turned back to Frank. “She’s a sweet girl. She deserves to be happy, but he was never going to allow it.”
“What wasn’t he going to allow her to do?”
“To divorce me.”
6
“THAT’S NOT VERY FLATTERING, OLD MAN,” ZELLER SAID. “I wonder you’d admit such a thing to a stranger.”
Paul didn’t even acknowledge him. He was watching Frank, who didn’t quite know what to make of this. “Your wife wanted to divorce you?”
“She’s not like us. She didn’t come from here, and she hated all the rules and restrictions. She hated living here with my parents.”
“That part I can understand,” Zeller said.
“Why didn’t you just get a house of your own?” Frank asked.
“Because I don’t have any money of my own, and Father would never have allowed it. He wanted to keep me under his thumb.”
Now this was getting interesting. “So as long as your father was alive, you had to depend on him for everything.”
“Exactly,” Paul said.
Zeller sighed dramatically. “Old Man, I think you just admitted you had a reason to want your father dead.”
“Oh, no,” Frank lied. “I think most young men feel like that about their fathers. Tell me, Mr. Devries, how was your father dressed when you went to his room the day he died?”
Paul shifted uneasily. “Dressed?”
“Yes, what was he wearing?”
Paul glanced at Zeller again. His friend was smiling, as if this whole thing amused him tremendously. “He had on a robe.”
“Was he wearing it the entire time you were with him?”
The color rose in Paul’s face. “What does that matter?”
“I thought you might have noticed a wound on your father’s back. Did he remove his robe while you were there?”
“Yes.” He spit the word out as if it tasted vile.
Zeller muttered something that might have been an oath.
“He liked to show off,” Paul said, angry now. “He thought himself a fine specimen of a man, and he knew I could never compare, so he’d do it to make me feel inferior.”
“And did you?” Frank asked.
“Did I what?”
“Feel inferior?”
“Mostly I just felt furious. What kind of a thing is that to do? Who displays himself like that?”
Frank didn’t know the answer, so he said, “And did you notice anything unusual?”
“I didn’t look at him. I never do. I wouldn’t have noticed if he’d cut off one of his arms.”
Frank wanted to ask if he’d stabbed his father, but he’d wait on that. “And did he agree to stop being cruel to your wife?”
“Of course not. He just laughed at me. He knows…knew I couldn’t do anything about it. And poor Garnet, she couldn’t do anything about it either.”
“And now you’re both free,” Frank said.
Zeller leaned close to Paul and pretended to whisper. “He’s thinking you killed the old bugger.”
“Well, I didn’t. I almost wish I had. At least then Garnet would respect me.”
“Now you’ve got all your father’s money,” Frank said. “Or at least I assume you’re his heir. I know rich families sometimes don’t like to divide up the family fortune, so they only leave the money to one of the sons, like Vanderbilt did, but you’re the only son.”
“I haven’t thought about it,” Paul said.
“You should,” Frank said. “Women usually respect men with money.”
“He’s right, Old Man,” Zeller said. “You can buy her that house now. That’ll cheer her up.”
Paul didn’t look too sure of that. “Not having Father around anymore will cheer her up.”
Frank thought Paul would have to dispose of his mother, too, if he really wanted his wife to be happy, but he didn’t say so. “What did you do when you left your father’s room?”
“I…uh, I went to my mother’s room,” he replied as if he needed a second to catch up with the change of subject.
“What did you talk about?”
“I told her how angry I was at Father.”
“Did she offer any advice?”
Paul sighed. “She didn’t know how to handle him either.”
“But she went to see him just the same.”
“Oh, yes, she stormed off and gave him what for, but it didn’t do any good. It never does. He knows…knew he could do whatever he wanted to us and there was nothing we could do about it.”
“That’s true,” Zeller said. “He’s even threatened to put his wife in an insane asylum if she caused him too much trouble.”
Frank wished he could be shocked by the revelation, but other men had done that very thing. The law gave them absolute power over wives and children, and many a man had gotten away with murder just because the victim shared his house and his name.
“Did he threaten your wife, too?”
“My wife didn’t kill him, either, Mr. Malloy. You’re wasting your time here. You should be talking to that woman he kept.”
Ah, so Paul knew about the mistress, too. “Don’t worry, I will.” Frank managed not to sigh. He didn’t think he’d learned much in this interview, but at least he’d managed to fill some time. Maybe when he got back to Police Headquarters, he’d have a message from Donatelli.
“YOU’VE GOTTA HOLD YOUR TEMPER, MR. MALLOY,” Donatelli told Frank for at least the fourth time. “No matter what he says, you just let it pass.”
“If you tell me that one more time, I’m not gonna let it pass,” Frank said. He instantly felt bad for alarming Donatelli, who was obviously terrified of this Angotti character. “Don’t worry, I know how to act.”
“I think if you treat him like you do Mr. Decker, you’ll do fine.”
Frank didn’t think Decker had ever burned down somebody’s store or had them killed because they didn’t show him enough respect, but he understood the connection. Felix Decker’s techniques might be more refined, but he could ruin a man just as effectively as Angotti.
“What is this place you’re taking me?” Frank asked. They’d been walking through Little Italy for a couple blocks now, and they stopped to let a gaggle of ragged children race by, running from a street vendor whose wares they had pilfered.
Donatelli had to shout over their screams. “It’s a club. Normally you have to be a member to get in, unless you’re a guest of Mr. Angotti.”
This was too much like the Knickerbocker Club—only members were welcome, and no Irish need apply.
The similarities ended there, however. This club met in a nondescript building on a narrow side street with no
