R. Ellory - A Quiet Vendetta

I was quiet for a moment.

‘Ernesto?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s gonna be okay… I ain’t never heard you scared before. It’s gonna be fine… we’ll have you outta there just as soon as Don Calligaris figures out where to put you. You sit tight. Do nothing, say nothing… we’re gonna make it right, okay?’

‘Okay, okay… don’t let me down.’

‘I give you my word, Ernesto. You’re as much family as anyone else.’

I closed my eyes, I breathed deeply, I said ‘Okay’, and then I hung up the phone.

I walked home like a man lost. I walked home scared. Ten Cent had been right; this was a new feeling, and the feeling was difficult to comprehend.

It came back to family. Now there wasn’t just me, now I was a responsible man, a man who carried the burden of a wife and children, carried it willingly, yes, there was no question about that, but it made everything so different.

Angel was waiting when I arrived home.

‘The children are asleep,’ she said, and then she turned and walked through to the kitchen. It was obvious she wished me to follow her, and I did without question.

I sat at the table while she made coffee. I smoked a cigarette, something I had refrained from doing at home since the children had been there, but in that moment there was a sense of nausea and tension within me that it was hard to assuage.

Angelina placed the coffee in front of me and sat opposite.

She reached out and took my hand. She held it for a moment, and then she looked directly at me and smiled.

‘Something has changed, hasn’t it?’ she asked.

I nodded but did not speak.

‘I’m not going to ask about it, Ernesto… I trust you, always have done, and I know you wouldn’t have done something unless there had been a very good reason for it. But I am not crazy, and I am not stupid, and I understand enough about the way our family is to know that whatever might have happened it isn’t something you will talk about.’

I opened my mouth to speak.

‘No, Ernesto, you will listen to what I have to say.’

I closed my mouth and looked down at the table.

‘Whatever this thing is,’ she said, ‘I want you to tell me if it has endangered the lives of our children.’

I shook my head. ‘No Angelina, it has not.’

‘You would not lie to me Ernesto, I know that, but this time I am going to ask you to give me an answer, and whatever the truth might be I want to know. Tell me now if this thing will endanger the lives of our children.’

‘No,’ I said quietly, and I shook my head once more. ‘It will not.’

‘Okay,’ she said, and her very being communicated her relief. ‘So, what does it mean for us?’

‘It means we will have to move soon,’ I said. ‘We will have to go to another city and make our home all over again.’

Angelina did not say anything for some time, and then once again she squeezed my hand. I looked up and there were tears in her eyes. ‘I married you because I loved you,’ she said. ‘I knew who you were, I knew enough about the people you worked with to know how this life would be, and if we have to move then I will come with you, but I will ask one thing of you and I want you to give me your word.’

‘Ask it, Angel, ask it.’

‘I want you to promise me that nothing will ever happen to Victor and Lucia… that is the only thing I ask of you, and I want you to promise me that.’

I reached out and took both her hands. I held them for a moment, and then I touched her cheek, with my fingers, wiped away the streaked tears that were trailing down it.

‘I promise,’ I said. ‘I promise on my life that nothing will ever happen to them.’

She smiled. She bowed her head, and when she looked up she was smiling. ‘I wanted to stay here, Ernesto… in California. I wanted the children to feel sunshine on their faces and swim in the sea-’

She stifled her tears and was quiet for some moments.

She looked up at me again.

I felt my heart like a dead fist in my chest.

‘How long do we have?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know. They will tell me when they have a place for us.’

‘Not New York again, Ernesto… anywhere but New York, okay?’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Okay.’

We waited three months. The worst three months of my life. There was nothing for me to do. I was told to stay home, to be ‘a family man’, and Ten Cent would call me to make arrangements when things were in place.

Three times, seated there at the window in the front of the house, I saw squad cars pass by slowly. I imagined they knew who I was, where they could find me, and they were just waiting for me to leave the house so they could follow me and make their arrest.

They never did. I left the house very infrequently, and by the time November arrived, by the time Ten Cent finally called and told me where we were going, I believed that I could not have stood another day in that place.

Angelina was the soul of patience. She became the perfect mother, investing every ounce of her attention, every second of her time, in the children. I watched her, I envied her ability to lose herself entirely in what she was doing, but I also realized that this was the only way she could cope with the situation I had created. I could have given her such a life, but I brought her to this. I felt bad for that, guilty, and I cursed the day I had been so eager to please Don Calligaris. He had said to kill one, but I had killed them both. That was my mistake, and I paid for it dearly.

‘Chicago,’ the voice said at the end of the line. ‘Don Calligaris is moving to Chicago and taking a large part of our operation there. He wants you to be there with him, you understand?’

‘I understand.’

‘You leave the day after tomorrow. Make your way out to O’Hare and I will meet you there.’

I said nothing.

‘Ernesto?’

‘Yes?’

Ten Cent smiled; I could hear it in his voice. ‘Tell Angelina to pack some warm things for the kids… Chicago is a fucking icebox this time of year.’ He laughed and hung up the phone. I stood there with the burring sound in my ear and a cold stone inside my heart.

‘We have nothing on the wife,’ Schaeffer said. ‘Not a single fucking thing.’

‘It’s been twenty-four hours,’ Hartmann replied. ‘Even you guys can’t expect miracles.’

‘And now we have two kids to find, not one. I cannot believe that with the most advanced, state-of-the-art security database systems in the world we cannot find any evidence of this woman having existed.’

‘But you’re going off one name,’ Hartmann said. ‘And who’s to say that the name he’s using is actually his real name?’

Schaeffer didn’t reply. He looked awkward for a moment. The most complex and advanced security database in the world was only as effective as the information given to it. Bullshit in, bullshit out – wasn’t that the technical phrase?

Woodroffe stood up from the table in the main office. It was five of seven. Perez had been returned to the Royal Sonesta a little after six. Hartmann was aware of the fact that he had an appointment to keep with the man.

‘So we get our answer tonight,’ Schaeffer said, and in his voice was a tone of philosophical resignation. Though it had not been discussed further, there was no doubt in Hartmann’s mind that they were all fully aware of what that answer would be. Perez was not interested in a trade-off, and that had never been his purpose. It was that simple. Perez was here to make himself heard, and right now it seemed the whole world was listening.

‘You guys are now looking into Ducane’s involvement in these things, right?’ Hartmann asked, and – truth be known – he believed he was asking it merely to stir up dissent.