Janice Carter - The Real Allie Newman

“You’d think Niko would have changed his will after his son was born.”

“I guess he never got around to it. Anyway, when Tony was in his late twenties, he married and had two boys—your cousins—George and Christo. By then, he was working his way up in the business.”

“What happened to him?”

“Rumor has it he and Spiro had a major falling-out one night over money. Tony disappeared and was never seen again.” Joel dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, checked the time and said, “I’ll finish on the way. I promised Spiro we’d be there before dinner.”

Allie followed him silently to the car. The story was unfolding like a soap opera, and she had a suspicion it was going to get even more incredible. At the same time, she was fascinated. Until she remembered that she herself was about to be drawn into it.

He remained silent for the first few miles. She decided to prompt him. “So, are you implying that Spiro had something to do with his nephew’s disappearance?”

Joel turned his head slightly to look at her. “That’s not what I was implying.”

“Is seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?”

He turned back to the windshield. “Not necessarily. Apparently Tony had racked up a huge gambling debt. He also had more than a few unsavory friends. It may have been one big coincidence.”

“I don’t know if I believe in coincidences.”

“You gotta be kidding! After saving that old man and his dog? Wouldn’t you call that a helluva big coincidence—that a topnotch athlete and a strong swimmer, the only person who could have saved their lives, happened to be around?”

“Well, yes, I suppose that was a stroke of good luck for poor Harry and Jeb.”

“Or a great coincidence.”

“You made your point,” she murmured, and peered out the window.

“Speaking of the guy, have you seen him since?”

Allie smiled, thinking of the friendship that had grown between the three of them. “Yes, actually, I have. Harry and Jeb live in a retirement complex near the very river where they fell in. I had dinner with them twice last month. He’s a darling and so is his dog.”

“I figured something like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t seem the type to walk away from things. It makes sense that you’d go on to forge a friendship with the man whose life you’d saved.”

She was surprised at the pleasure his comment gave her. Then she realized he’d very skillfully digressed from his story about her grandfather and the rest of the family. “What happened after Tony disappeared?”

His head swerved her way for an instant. “Not much. His family moved in with Spiro’s.”

“And Niko’s widow?”

“She left Michigan after the family gave up looking for Tony and now lives in a retirement colony in Florida.”

Allie frowned. “And…do I still have a grandmother?”

“Sorry, I should’ve mentioned that. Vangelia outlived your mother by one year. A heart attack, I believe.”

Allie thought for a long moment about people she’d never get to meet.

“So the family is pretty rich, huh?”

Joel snorted. “Rich! Baby, the guy’s loaded. This Cadillac? The low end of his fleet. Like I said, don’t be fooled by the word farms in Grosse Pointe Farms. The area used to have the summer retreats of the rich and famous. Now the places are permanent homes.” He shook his head. “Old Spiro is worth millions.”

“From the restaurant business?”

“Along with all the other companies he owns.” Then he added, “Ironic, though, that in spite of all his money, the one thing he needs most of all can’t be bought.”

“What’s that?”

His eyes met hers. “Your bone marrow,” he whispered. “His only hope of life.”

Allie turned away from his stare. She flashed back to that moment in the icy Catarqui when Harry Maguire’s frantic clutching pushed her under. That was what she was feeling all over again.

THEY CROSSED the border in midafternoon, and as the car rolled over the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit, Allie murmured, “This is the first time I’ve been out of Canada.”

“No kidding? You’ve led a sheltered life.”

“Not really. I just haven’t traveled much. Some people never even leave their hometowns.”

“I guess so. It’s just hard for me to imagine. Seems like I’ve been on the road my whole life.”

“Really? Where have you been?”

“I left home when I was seventeen to join the marines.”

“Seventeen!”

“Yeah, well, I left home out of self-preservation. My old man and I didn’t exactly hit it off.” He gave a harsh laugh.

Allie didn’t know what to say, so she kept quiet.

“After the marine stint,” he went on, “I worked my way through college. Majored in criminology and law.”

“Did you go on to being a private investigator from there?”

“Huh? Oh, well, kinda. I decided to go into law enforcement and spent a couple of years with the Philadelphia Police Department.”

“Why Philadelphia?”

“It’s my hometown,” he said. “My father had died and my mom needed looking after.”

“Is she…?”

“Yeah, she had a stroke and died about two years later.”

“Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“Yep, one of each. Both living in Philly, still in the same old neighborhood. A bit like the kind of people you were talking about. They’re content to stay put with their families.”

“Whereas you…”

“I cut my family ties when I was seventeen. Once you’ve done that, you’re really only a visitor afterward.”

The terse reply didn’t encourage further conversation, so Allie sat silently, looking out the window as they headed east, away from the city and toward the suburbs. She didn’t speak again until the car turned onto a paved road that ran along beside water.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Is that the Detroit River?”

“No. Lake St. Clair. Grosse Pointe borders the lake.”

“So we’re getting close?”

“Not far now. Nervous?”

“Of course. Shouldn’t I be?”

“Perhaps.”

Something in the way he said that single word alarmed her. There was warning in it, she thought. He’d turned his head her way, but his sunglasses foiled any attempt to read his expression. Too late to go back now, she thought. She decided to make light of it.

“When I was a kid and I was nervous about something—no matter what it was—my father used to say that I could always change my mind.”

He nodded, his expression blank. “Good advice to remember,” he said, and turned the car into a tree-lined drive fronted by brick columns supporting a massive wrought-iron gate. The gate was open and the Cadillac passed through.

Allie felt her heart rate pick up. All she could see so far was a stretch of trimmed lawn and groves of trees that stretched farther than the acreage around the farm back home. Rounding a bend in the drive, she suddenly saw the lake again. And then the house.

She must have gasped, for Joel simply said, “Tudor Revival, they call it. Built in the early thirties for some auto magnate. Six-car garage with Spiro’s specialty cars over there, at the end of the west wing.” His arm stretched across her face to point. “Tennis court just behind a guest house—you can see it now—and the outdoor swimming pool is next to it.”

“You mean there’s an indoor pool?”

“Yup. It’s smaller and occupies most of a separate wing.”

Huge landscaped gardens that Allie knew Susan would love edged the section of drive that wound its way to the entrance of the house. As the Cadillac coasted to a halt in front of granite steps, double French doors at the top terrace swung open and a handful of people spilled out.