Marcy gasped. “They’d hurt my kids?”
“We’re not sure they know about the Hank Wagner identity. The fake obituary might’ve been his way to stop them searching for him, assuming they did know. Maybe he simply wanted to stop running. If we try to locate him, it might make matters worse.”
“And if we just let it lie?” she asked.
“Then we’re betting that they haven’t uncovered his life with you, and that you and the kids are safe.”
“That’s not a bet I want to take, Angie.” Her voice quavered.
“Nor would I. So the second alternative in this admittedly miserable situation is for you to file for divorce, take the kids and disappear. There are a couple of ways for that to happen. One, you relocate. You live normal, respectable, unremarkable lives someplace else. I’m no expert on how to do it, but I bet Spider is.” I paused. “The hard part is cutting ties with everyone you know. Your family, your friends. It only takes one phone call home to find you, if anyone’s looking. And that’s a big if.”
“I could never see my mom or my sister again?” Marcy’s face crumpled. “My kids wouldn’t grow up with their grandma or auntie? Or their cousins?” She covered her mouth and began to weep softly.
I offered her tissues as I rose to sit next to her. Bobbie’s face reflected the misery in my own heart. “I’m sorry, Marcy,” I said, rubbing little circles on her back. “I’m so sorry. There is another option. If I can find Hank, and if he agrees to provide the U.S. Marshals with information about his days in the South Philly Mob, Spider thinks there’s a strong possibility they’d offer him the opportunity to disappear inside the Witness Protection Program. We could negotiate the same terms for you and the kids, whether you decided to go it alone or with Hank. But you would still have to cut ties with your current life.”
After an interval, Marcy straightened up and blew her nose. “So either I stay and hope they don’t know about me and never find out, or I invent a new life for myself and the children. And that new life could be with the help of the government, if Hank agrees to testify against his former boss.”
I nodded.
“I can’t do that to my family, Angie, or my kids. There’s no other way?”
Anxiety crept into my chest, where it sat like a heavy weight. “One other, but it’s very speculative and it might be dangerous.” I took a measured breath. “Even though I’ve never been involved, I’ve known since I was little that my papa is connected to the Milwaukee Family and, via them, to the Chicago Outfit. You understand, I’m talking about the Mafia?”
Her eyes widened and she nodded.
“I would never do anything to betray you or Hank. The only ones who know about the link between Hank and Tommaso Severson are me, Bobbie, Spider, and now you. And we can keep it that way. But I have considered approaching my papa to see if he knows of a reason for Hank’s sudden departure. Maybe Hank overreacted to something all those years ago and there’s no real danger. And if there is, maybe Papa would broker a deal with the South Philly Mob to promise Hank future freedom in return for his continued silence.”
Marcy stood and walked to the window. After a moment, she turned. “Would that put Hank in harm’s way? Or us? I mean, would your father make them aware of what you tell him?”
“Not if I ask him to keep it to himself. But if there was an increased interest in Tommaso Severson when Hank disappeared, and if Papa makes the proposal, that means that others will be aware of Hank’s current existence, although not necessarily his life after leaving the east coast. I wouldn’t trust the word of the South Philly Mob, but I do trust Papa. They might see it as a reasonable compromise, which would allow you to continue with your life here and Hank to start over somewhere else. Or they might not, which would mean we’d be back to establishing a new identity for you and the kids.”
“I’m so out of my depth here,” Marcy said. “I can’t make those decisions for Hank.” She took the chair that I vacated earlier. Looking from me to Bobbie, she asked, “What would you do?”
I’d felt the protection that Papa’s name and position offered me, as a child and an adult. I’d never been on the other side, worrying that Don Pasquale’s people might harm me. What would I do? If someone threatened my children, and it was someone like the mob, whom I couldn’t fight, I’d run like hell.
Before I could speak, Bobbie said, “Do you feel in imminent danger, Marcy?”
“Not really. But this is so unsettling. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t.”
“I get that,” he said. “As a gay man, I’ve felt unsafe, without knowing if there was any real danger. But it seems to me that if Hank thought all those years ago that the family was being targeted, he wouldn’t have run and left you in harm’s way. I think he ran to protect you from being involved.”
She nodded. “But that still doesn’t negate the possibility of danger.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He sent me a look of commiseration. “What if we take a two-pronged approach? Angie will talk with her papa to see if there was or is any heightened interest in Tommaso, without his making any overtures to the east coast mob. Then she and I can attempt to set up a meet with Hank, to inform him of what we know and find out what he plans to do. Then we three get back together and share what we know. That lets both Hank and you make
