“That so?” she called back. A moment later, Nina Bianchi came into view like a black-clad, overweight force of nature. “Oh no you don’t. You bastards. What, it wasn’t enough to drive Lorenzo into a heart attack and arrest Paulie? Now you gotta come here again? You got a whole lotta nerve. I can’t believe you got the guts to stand there on my doorstep and look me in the eye! You and your goddamn posse, with that bitch, her lousy fleabag, and that meathead. Get out of my house!”
“Ma’am,” Webb said, without changing expression, “we’re not inside your home. But if I could talk to you for a few minutes—”
“This is harassment,” she went on. “I’m callin’ my lawyer.”
“I think that’s a good idea, ma’am,” Webb said. “He can advise you on your best option for avoiding prison time for your son.”
“By the time he gets done with you,” Nina said, “you’ll be writing parking tickets in Albany. Whaddaya mean avoidin’ prison?”
“You want to keep Paulie out of jail, don’t you?” Webb asked quietly.
“Yeah? How you gonna help me do that?” Nina was obviously suspicious.
“Mrs. Bianchi,” Carlo said. “I really think we oughta wait for Vinnie.”
“Paulie has been charged with possession of heroin,” Webb said. “We’ve got a deal for him, but it’s good for a limited time. If we could just have a few minutes, it could save your son fourteen years of his life.”
Nina’s face blanched. “Fourteen years?” she echoed. Apparently no one had told her that piece of information.
Erin knew they’d won that round. The other woman sagged as some of the fight leaked out of her.
“Okay, come in,” Nina said.
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Carlo said.
“Carlo, you ain’t paid to think!” Nina retorted. “You’re paid to do what you’re told. You wanna talk to Vinnie? Go talk to Vinnie. This is my family we’re talkin’ about here. I’m gonna take care of my family. Get outta here, go run to the guy who does your thinkin’ for you.”
Carlo looked like he was going to protest, but he snapped his mouth shut. He shouldered past Webb and went toward the stairwell, pulling out a cell phone as he went.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Webb said. “This shouldn’t take long.”
Erin hoped he was right. If that call was going where she thought, they were on a clock. The Oil Man or his henchmen would be showing up soon.
“And don’t you try bein’ all polite,” Nina snapped. “I trust you more when you act like an asshole.”
“Wow,” Vic whispered in Erin’s ear as they went inside. “It’s like she knows him.”
When they were assembled in the living room, Nina turned to face them, arms crossed. “Okay,” she said. “I’m listenin.’”
“Mrs. Bianchi,” Webb said. “I understand you’re worried about your son, and I know this is a difficult time for you. We’d like to help Paulie, and we want you to help him.”
“You wanna help my kid? After you get that mutt to chew on him and you haul his ass to jail? Bullshit.”
“The important thing, ma’am, is that you want to help him,” Erin said. “Paulie isn’t the one we want.”
“You don’t want him? Then let him go.”
“Mrs. Bianchi,” Webb said. “We’re not a Narcotics unit. We’re Major Crimes. Our concern is to solve a murder.”
“What murder? I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”
“It’s two murders now, actually,” Webb said. “The first one is a dentist, Norman Ridgeway.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He was poisoned,” Erin said, watching Nina closely.
“That’s tough for him,” she said. “What’s that got to do with me?”
“I thought we were talking about Paulie,” Erin said quietly. “Not you.”
She saw it then. Nina flinched just a little. Gotcha, Erin thought.
“I don’t know nothin’ about no dentist,” Nina said, and the moment was gone.
Webb leaned forward. “What about Lorenzo Bianchi?”
“What about him?” Nina shot back.
“I suppose you don’t know he was poisoned, too?”
“He died of a heart attack!”
“Caused by an overdose of his heart medication,” Erin said.
“Lorenzo, God rest his soul, wasn’t the most careful guy in the world,” Nina snapped. “Maybe he took a couple extra pills.”
“You had a family dinner the night he died,” Erin said. “An unusual occasion, according to Paulie. You served spicy pasta sauce, which nicely covered the bitter taste of the pills.”
“You’re crazy!” Nina retorted. “You think I poisoned my whole family?”
“No, I don’t,” Erin said. “But I think you all got a dose of propranolol. And there’s probably traces of it still in your system. How do you think that looks?”
“I don’t care how it looks, ‘cause you can’t take my blood. You got no warrant.”
“We don’t need to take your blood,” Erin said with a grim smile. “Because we’ve got Paulie.”
“We have him on drug possession,” Vic added, seeing where Erin was going with this. “We’ve got a warrant for him. If we find that drug in his system, and he was eating the same stuff his dad was…”
“You poisoned Lorenzo,” Erin said. “Just tell us why. We’ve got a deal with the DA. Write out the statement, your kid walks on the drug charges.”
“Free and clear,” Webb added. “Not even probation. All charges will be dropped.”
“You think I killed my husband?” Nina said.
“We know you did,” Erin said. “What we don’t know is why.”
“I don’t believe you,” Nina said. “You ain’t got nothin’ on us that’ll hold up in court. We got a good lawyer, he’ll take you apart on the stand. I think we’ll take our chances.”
“We’ve got a witness who’ll swear he got the poisoned candy from Paulie,” Webb said softly. “That makes Paulie an accessory to murder, along with the drug charges. He’s not looking at fourteen years. He’s looking at the rest of his life behind bars.”
Erin was waiting for Nina to crumble, for her defiance to collapse under the weight of all those years. But she’d misjudged the other woman. Nina didn’t crumble; she exploded.
“You
