old man had planted in a teenage boy’s blood.
“What’ll it be, pal?” said Theo as he walked behind the bar and wrapped the white apron around his waist.
“Club soda.”
“Hitting the hard stuff, are you?”
“Can’t drink. I’m on painkillers.”
Theo looked up from the well for a better look. The lighting was poor, but even in the shadows this dude was obviously hurting.
“Damn, that’s nasty. I seen people crawl outta here with busted-up faces. First time I ever seen anyone come in that way.”
“Got a real professional ass-kicking.”
“Looks that way.”
“From your brother.”
Theo set the glass on the bar. They’d never met, but Theo had heard plenty from Jack. “You must be Gerry the Genius.”
“You and your buddy Swyteck got a real running joke there, don’t you? For the last time, it’s Gentleman Gerry.”
“What brings you here, Gent?”
“What do you think?”
“Stupidity.”
Gerry smiled, then winced with pain. “Shit, it even hurts to laugh.”
“That’s not my problem.”
He brought the glass to his lips with care, but the left side of his mouth was badly swollen, causing a trickle to run down his chin. “You’re right. It’s my problem. And your brother’s.”
“Only because you’re good at throwing around bullshit allegations.”
“Are you seriously going to stand there and tell me this wasn’t your brother’s work?”
“You got that right.”
“Who are you, his alibi?”
“No. His sparring partner. Him and me been boxing each other for years. So I can look at your face and tell you in two seconds it wasn’t Tatum who done it.”
“How?”
“Tatum has a mean left hook. Nobody ever sees it coming. One time my right eye was swollen shut for three days. But your right eye is perfect. It’s the left side of your face that’s all beat to hell. So tell me,” said Theo as he delivered a mock left hook to Gerry’s unscathed right eye, “how does that happen?”
“Your brother isn’t a one-armed bandit. He has other punches.”
“He also gots a brain. If he beats you up, he ain’t gonna let you see his face.”
“I saw what I saw.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Gerry forced a crooked smile, trying hard to ignore the pain of any facial movement. “All right. Maybe I didn’t get as good a look at my attacker as I led the court to believe in my affidavit. But I didn’t come here to argue about the evidence.”
“Then why you here?”
“Because I have something to say to your brother. Frankly, I feel safer saying it to you. I’m sure you’ll deliver the message for me.”
“Maybe.”
“I’m offering a deal.” He checked over each shoulder, as if to make sure that no one around them could overhear. “If Tatum will renounce his shot at the inheritance and get out of the game, I’ll recant my testimony.”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll tell the judge I made a mistake. It was dark, I’d been drinking, it happened very fast. On reflection, I don’t think it was Tatum Knight who beat me up after all.”
“And for that, you want my brother to give up his shot at inheriting forty-six million bucks?”
A waitress pulled up to the station at the end of the bar. “Couple a’ Buds, Theo.” He set two open long-necks on her tray, and off she went.
“There’s more,” said Gerry. “If Tatum does drop out, I’ll pay him a quarter million dollars, cash, right now. It’s not contingent on me inheriting the money or anything else. He drops out, I give him the money. It’s that clean.”
“You trying to buy your way to the prize?”
Gerry pulled an ice cube from his soda and applied it to his fattened lip. “Brains, not brute force. That’s what it takes to win Sally Fenning’s game.”
“Funny, you don’t look so smart.”
“I’m not the one with a restraining order entered against me, am I?”
“You must want that money pretty bad.”
“There’s nothing illegal about cutting deals with the other beneficiaries to induce them to drop out. It’s just business. The mining business.” Gerry flashed a crooked smile, calling Theo forward with a curl of his finger, as if to let him in on a big secret. “This is what I call a gold mine.”
“You’re using trumped-up assault charges to get my brother to settle cheap and drop out.”
“I said I’d withdraw the charges. I didn’t say they were trumped up.”
Theo shook his head, then chuckled, “Who you think you’re talking to, fool?”
“Excuse me?”
The smile drained away as Theo leaned closer and said, “This is blackmail.”
“That’s not the way I see it.”
“Doesn’t matter how you see it. I see it as blackmail. Tatum will see it as blackmail. And that’s not a good thing for you.”
“Am I supposed to be scared now?”
Theo got right in his face, pressing his huge hands into the bar top. Gerry was trying to be a tough guy, but the twitching eyelid gave him away. To his surprise, however, Theo backed down. Gerry seemed pleased to have won the staring match, until Theo walked over to the stage, grabbed the microphone from the stand, and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention, please.”
The noise level dropped a notch, though it wasn’t completely quiet.
Gerry shifted nervously on his bar stool, clearly apprehensive.
Theo continued, “I don’t mean to rat anybody out, but I just heard that tonight we have with us Mr. Gerry Colletti, seated right over there at the end of the bar. You might be interested to know that Mr. Colletti is a former representative from the state of Massachusetts, where he was the author of the very first mandatory biker helmet law in the U.S. of A. Dude, take a bow.”
A chorus of boos rolled across the room. The bikers at the pool table shot a volley of death glares that had Gerry sinking into the woodwork. Two guys with bulging biceps started toward the bar. The ugly one had identical tattoos on each forearm, the word “villain” spelled “villian,” as if to brag that he was too stupid to check a dictionary. The tall guy was wearing no shirt, just tattered blue jeans and a black leather vest. His metal dog tags rattled with each tap of the fat end of a pool cue into his open palm.
Theo was feeling pretty smug as he walked back behind the bar. “Club soda’s on me, Genius. Have a nice walk to your car.”
Twenty-two
Jack and Kelsey were surrounded by books.
The homicide detective’s tip that Deirdre Meadows had written a true-crime story about Sally Fenning was a good lead, but Jack had struggled over what to do next. Going straight to Deirdre was one option, but he wanted
