Robert Crais - Lullaby Town

Somewhere in the middle of it, Toby came into the hall and looked at us with big eyes. "Mom?"

I said, "Hi, Tobe." Mr. Bright and Cheery.

Karen put down her wine and gave him the Barbara Billingsley smile and went over to him. "Hey, pal, you get the homework done?" She'd had three or four glasses of wine by then, but she was doing okay.

"Uh-huh."

"You know Mr. Cole? And this is Mr. Pike, his associate."

Toby smiled uneasily, knowing that something wasn't right, that his mom didn't get sauced and have late-night meetings with guys sporting tattoos and sunglasses to talk over wrap-around financing and short-term mortgage envelopes. He looked nervous. "You okay?"

She ran a hand through his hair and looked sad. "Sport, it's been a helluva day. Why don't you get ready for bed?"

He glanced at Pike and me, then he gave his mom a kiss and went back down the hall. Karen watched him go and then she turned and trudged back to the table and Barbara Billingsley was gone. Karen Lloyd's face was older.

I said, "You want to knock off until tomorrow?" She shook her head. "No. Let's get this done." Two hours and eleven minutes later we had filled the legal pad with two columns. HARRY had been written above one column and CHARLIE had been written above the other, with deposit dates on the left of the columns and amounts in the middle and destination accounts on the right. There were seven different account numbers under the HARRY column, but only one account number under the CHARLIE column. All of the HARRY accounts were transferred to the same Barbados destination. The CHARLIE account went to the other Barbados location. There were one hundred eighty-one entries under the HARRY account and thirty-three entries under the CHARLIE, with all of the HARRY deposits coming every Thursday, as regular as the sunset. The HARRY deposits were from $107,000 to $628,000, and they were spread more or less equally among the seven accounts. The CHARLIE deposits were different. They started about twenty-eight months ago, and sometimes they would be made twice in one week and other times there would be eight or nine weeks between them. Irregular. The first couple of years the deposits were relatively small, with nothing over $9,800. A little less than five months ago the deposits went from four figures to five, with a high of $68,000. All of the deposits since then had been large, but still much smaller than any of the HARRY deposits.

We stared at our numbers and our chart, and Pike said, "You see it?"

Karen said, "What?"

I turned the yellow pad around so it would be easier for her. "Harry brings money, and Charlie brings money, but only Charlie tells you where to put the money."

She nodded. "Yes."

"Look at it. Every time Harry brings money, it goes into one of seven accounts, but it never goes in the eighth. Every time Charlie brings money, it goes in the eighth and never into any of the other seven."

She frowned and brought the pad closer. The frown made her look more strained, but now there was maybe a little hope. ''I've never thought about it, but I guess that's right. Do you think this means something?"

I made a little shrug. "I don't know. I'm looking at things in a certain way and they're adding up, but maybe they add up in other ways, too. Maybe the Harry accounts are DeLuca family accounts, and the Charlie account is a personal account. Maybe the money Charlie gives you is the piece that Sal cuts for him, and maybe it's bigger than the piece Sal cuts for the other capos , so Charlie and Sal don't want anyone else to know to keep peace in the family."

Pike grunted. "Or maybe not. Maybe it means something that we can use."

Karen looked from me to Pike and then back to me. The hope you could see in her faded. She said. "It seems iffy."

"It is iffy. If you want certainty, go to the cops. There's witness protection."

Her face set, then she got up and went to the hearth. The cat followed her with his eyes. "We've been through that."

"It's still an option."

"No. It is not. It is not an option for me." Her frown deepened and she stared at the mantel. The pictures of her and Toby were there. She chewed her upper lip, then looked back at me. "Charlie's secretary called back this evening. She said I'm supposed to meet Charlie tomorrow. I told her no. I said that I'm not going to do it." That's why the drinking.

Pike said, "Bad move."

Her nostrils tightened and she looked at him. "What do you know?"

I said, "He's right. Charlie's already pissed, and we shouldn't make it worse. Pike and I will be there, and we won't let him hurt you."

She pulled herself erect and stepped away from the hearth and gave me the sort of eyes she must've given herself ten years ago when she'd decided to change her life. Hard, focused, don't-get-in-my-way eyes. "No. It's not about being scared. It's about not wanting it in my life anymore. I've got Peter coming back. I've got you in my home. I'm not going to pick up his money. I'm not going to take any more deposits from Harry. I've made up my mind. Do you understand?"

I said, "Yes, ma'am."

Pike nodded once, and his mouth twitched.

Karen Lloyd said, "Will you need me for anything else tonight?"

"Nope," I said. "I think that about covers it."

She went to the front door and opened it. The cat slipped out and was gone. She said, "I appreciate what you've done, and I don't mean to be abrupt, but it's late and I'm tired. If you need to speak with me tomorrow, you can call me at the bank."

"Sure."

"Good night."

She closed the door before we were off the porch.

Pike said, "Tough lady."

"Uh-huh."

"Maybe too tough. Like she's got something to prove."

I nodded.

Outside, the night air was crisp and chill and sparkling in its clarity, smelling strongly of oak and elm. Orion hung sideways in the southern sky, and a three-quarter moon hung in the east. We walked out onto the lawn and stood by the Taurus and watched Karen Lloyd's house. One by one, the lights went out and the house grew dark. With every light that died, the night grew closer.

I said, "A long time ago, she made the choice to be the way she is. She earned the job and the house and the position within the community. She rose above the bad thing in her life and has tried to get it out of her life and is trying again. I think she made gutsy choices. Be a shame if she had to regret them."

Pike moved in the dark, and the orange and white cat came from beneath the car and rubbed against him. Pike bent and picked up the cat and held him close. "You're right when you say that Charlie's already pissed. She doesn't show when he expects her, he might drive around to find out why. He might try to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Think you could stay close to her, keep him from doing that?"

Pike's mouth twitched in the moonlight. "Uh-huh."

I nodded, and Pike put down Karen Lloyd's cat and we got into the Taurus. The final light went out in Karen Lloyd's house, and all was darkness.

Roland George called at 7:32 the next morning and said, "NYPD owns a guy named Walter Lee Balcom. Busted him seven weeks ago on two counts of murder and one count kidnapping and about two dozen ancillary counts. Most of them smut and sex crimes."

"Do the DeLucas run porno?"

"No. That's the DeTillio family. But Waiter's not mob. He's just been around for a long time and knows people who know people who know people. He's been singing up a storm to try to cut a deal, and Charlie DeLuca's name has come up a few times."

"Can I talk with him?"

"Ten o'clock at the Hall of Justice, downstairs, room B28. I'll meet you there."

"Right."

Rollie hung up.

At a quarter before ten I pulled into the parking garage next door to the Criminal Courts Building on Centre, just north of Foley Square in Chinatown, then walked across and down to subbasement B. A fat cop sitting behind a narrow table asked my business. I told him I was looking for Roland George in room B28. The fat cop looked through a little box, took out a pass with my name on it, and jerked a thumb to the right. "That way."