“I may have a better idea,” Stone said.
It had been quite some time since Stone had visited the old man in the outer reaches of Brooklyn, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He finally decided that what had made him reluctant was not the father, but the daughter who was locked in an upstairs room of his house.
He parked his car and was met at the front door by Pete, the short, thick former hoodlum who served as Eduardo Bianchi’s butler and bodyguard.
“Long time,” Pete said.
“Yeah,” Stone said, and followed the man through the house and out into the back garden, where Eduardo sat at a wrought-iron table, wearing a dark suit, as was his custom. He rose to meet Stone, and it took him a little longer than on Stone’s last visit. “How are you, Stone?” Eduardo asked.
“I’m fine, Eduardo. Are you well?”
“I’m better than a person of my years can reasonably expect to be. Please sit down. Lunch will be here soon.”
“You look wonderful.” Stone paused. “And how is Dolce?” Dolce was Eduardo’s youngest daughter, to whom Stone had once been married for a few minutes before she had degenerated into a murderous psychotic.
“I wish I could tell you she was well,” Eduardo replied, “but she’s not. Her condition has worsened to the point where she has tried to kill everyone who has anything to do with her, including me. She has a degenerative brain disease, something like Alzheimer’s, that has caused all her behavior. Now she doesn’t even recognize her family. I’ve had to have her removed to a facility where she can be made comfortable and where she can be secured from harming herself or others.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Stone said. “She was a beautiful and intelligent girl.”
“My mother died the same way,” Eduardo said, “and an aunt of hers, as well. Of course, they didn’t understand the reason in those days. It seems to be passed down to one daughter in each generation, so Anna Maria will be all right.” Anna Maria, who was married to Dino, preferred to be called Mary Ann.
“It’s a tragic situation.”
“Yes, and thankfully, rare. Anna Maria has told me that she plans to have no more children, for fear of having a daughter, so the disease will die out with Dolce.”
“I didn’t know about this.”
“Neither does Dino,” Eduardo said. “I would be grateful if you would not tell him. I don’t want him to be worried.”
“As you wish.”
Lunch arrived, and Stone labored through three courses of old-fashioned Italian cooking, doing the best he could.
When the dishes had been cleared away, and Pete had brought them small glasses of Strega, Eduardo turned to Stone. “Now, why have you come to see me? I believe you must need my help.”
“Yes, I do,” Stone said, “for a friend. I want to locate someone who is hiding in the… Italian community in New York.”
“For what purpose?”
“So that he can be tried and imprisoned.”
Eduardo shrugged. “I appreciate your candor, but that is not the sort of reason that would engender cooperation in the community.”
“I know that, but you must understand that this man is a multiple murderer, who kills without thought or feeling, and who does not limit his killing to reasons of business. He once put a bomb in a coffin and exploded it during a funeral.”
“That is an outrage,” Eduardo said.
“Do you know a man named Ed Shine?”
Eduardo permitted himself a small smile. “I’ve known him since the day he got off the boat from Italy. He was a valuable man to friends of mine. Of course, he is in prison now. Ed could not remain retired. He could have lived out his life in peace, but he got greedy.”
“Yes. The man my friend wants to find is Shine’s out-of-wedlock son with a Cuban woman in south Florida. He goes by the name of Trini Rodriguez.”
Eduardo nodded. “I’ve heard of him, and I haven’t liked what I’ve heard, but he was under Ed’s protection.”
Suddenly, Stone had a thought. He might end this whole business by simply imparting a small piece of information to Eduardo. “Have you ever wondered who else’s protection he might be under?”
Eduardo looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Hasn’t it occurred to the people who are helping him that he would not be a free man without the protection of… well, those who would, normally, put him away?”
“And that would be the federal men, would it?”
Stone shrugged. “He would be far too important a fugitive to be allowed to roam New York City without the protection of someone.”
“You have a point,” Eduardo said. “It makes you wonder.”
“I wonder, too.”
“Perhaps it is because he has convinced them that, while he may be protected by these federal people, he is not truly working for them.”
“Perhaps. It’s my understanding that he is helping them root out a Middle Eastern terrorist organization that wants to use his friends to help them launder large amounts of money.”
“Certainly, no one I know would knowingly help such an organization,” Eduardo said smoothly.
“I didn’t think so.”
“Perhaps this is complicated,” Eduardo said.
“I’ve no doubt of that.”
“I do very little business these days, but I will ask a few questions and see what this man means to the people who are helping him.”
“I’m sure the answers would be interesting,” Stone said. “I think there is one thing of which you may be sure: that Trini Rodriguez is acting in his own interests, and not those of either the federal people or those who are helping him.”
Eduardo stood up. “Thank you for coming to see me, Stone. Perhaps you will come again soon, now that Dolce is not in the house. I know her presence made you uncomfortable.”
“I hope you will forgive me that, Eduardo. I would like very much to come again soon.”
“Someone will call you to arrange a meeting, when I have something to tell you,” Eduardo said. “It should not be long.”
The two men shook hands, and Stone followed Pete back through the house to the car.
30
STONE LEFT THE Bianchi house and drove back toward Manhattan, thinking about his conversation with Eduardo. The old man had seemed genuinely concerned about the situation with Trini Rodriguez, but that didn’t mean he was going to help. Over the years he had distanced himself from his past criminal associations, concentrating on the work of his foundation and his membership on the boards of the museum, the opera, and others of the city’s cultural institutions, and he seemed reluctant to revisit old acquaintances.
Dolce had helped him in these endeavors until she had begun to behave erratically, then violently. Eduardo was a lonely man now, Stone reflected, and he really should make an effort to see him at a time when he didn’t want something from the old man.
Stone had made his way across Brooklyn in fairly light traffic, making good time. He paid little attention to other cars along the route, but now a motorcycle cop caught his eye in his rearview mirror. Instinctively, he slowed down, and as he did the bike drew alongside him.
