investigation. She wondered if she could hire Reuben Dickson, a retired homicide detective whom she had befriended. He was good, methodical and not afraid to dig deep, but he was old with arthritis. Last time she’d seen him, he could barely walk. She had several thousand dollars in the bank she could use to hire him. She thought she still had his home phone number from a case they’d worked on together just before he pulled the pin. She was just getting set to leave the park when a small terrier came up and sat in front of her. She looked down at him.
“Hi, honey,” she said, and he jumped up on her lap and licked under her chin. She laughed and scratched him behind the ears. Then, without warning, he moved off her lap, snapped up her purse in his mouth, and took off across the park with it. “Stop, come back,” she yelled foolishly. Then she jumped up and ran after him. The dog raced into the women’s toilet. She chased him in there and slammed the door shut so that he couldn’t get out. The terrier came out from the stall and dropped the purse at her feet.
“Bad dog,” she said and picked it up and looked inside. “Son-of-a-bitch!” she said, discovering her wallet was gone. “You little thief, what did you do with my wallet?” she asked the dog.
Then Beano Bates stepped out from one of the stalls, holding it in his hand. He had her case folders under his other arm. “He’s not the smoothest dip in the world, but in a pinch, it’s better then breaking into a house.” He was counting her money. “You don’t carry much cash, do you?”
“You know something?”
“What?”
“I’ve never met a bigger asshole.”
“Compliment accepted,” he said. “I need your help. I think we want the same thing.”
“Highly unlikely,” she said, thinking he seemed like a completely different person from the one in the restaurant. That man had been unsure and flustered; this one was in charge and self-assured. She could see he was a remarkably good actor. She decided she couldn’t trust him for a second.
“Carol was your friend, I could tell. I could see on TV how much you cared for her—”
“Hey,” she interrupted, “forget the rubdown.”
“You know, for a good lawyer, you aren’t much of a listener.”
“It’s because most everything you say is honeybaked bullshit.”
“I’m going to get even with Joe and Tommy Rina for killing Carol. But to do that, I need information. I stole your case files because I thought the depositions you took would be in there. I missed. I need to know where these guys keep their pickle jars buried.”
“Their what?”
“Money. I need to know what businesses they’re in. How their action works, what people they’re afraid of, who and where the leverage is.”
“I hope they’re afraid of me.” She glowered.
“No offense, Vicky, but they’re not afraid of you. You had your shot, you whiffed it. Now it’s my turn. I’m gonna get these two gavones. All I need from you is an hour or two of careful briefing.”
“And just how do you figure to get Tommy and Joe Rina?” she said, getting mildly interested.
“I was thinking I’d get Tommy to testify against Joe, get him to turn State’s evidence on the Trenton Tower murders.”
“You’re a moron.”
“I am?” He smiled.
“Yeah, you are. Tommy and Joe are brothers. Tommy thinks his younger brother walks on water. He’s been protecting Joe since the sixth grade. Tommy’s never gonna testify against Joe. Won’t ever happen.”
“I don’t think their relationship has ever been adequately tested.”
“And you’re gonna test it?” She was sure he was wasting her time. This guy had nothing; she’d be better off taking her chances with an arthritic homicide dick.
“Hey, you know what a good mark and a mob boss have in common?”
“What?”
“Greed. Without greed no con works. I’m gonna throw a few pounds of red meat between those two Rottweilers and see what happens.”
“You’re Frank Lemay, aren’t you?” she said, abruptly changing the subject. “You’re the one who got beaten at the Greenborough Country Club.”
“Yes,” he finally said. “Unfortunately, that was me.”
“So, if you had come forward instead of running from the hospital, Carol probably wouldn’t be dead.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “We could do this together, for Carol.” And then he said the first thing that touched her: “I loved her, Victoria. She was my only friend in the world.”
His eyes were so sad, in that instant she could