he doesn’t kill her, but keeps her alive to torture her, makes it last years? What if one day he sends his project to me, a broken woman, a shadow of herself?
I shake my head, rising unsteadily to my feet. I feel sick. I need to crush the Elephant’s throat. I need to kill something. I love her so much. Goddamn it, why didn’t I just swallow my pride and tell her that? What the hell is the matter with me?
“Have we got word from them yet?” I ask.
“No,” the Albino says. “But we will, Carlo. You know how this works.”
We head back to the mansion and coordinate the search from there: using every contact we have to find where Benjy’s car went after he left the apartment building, losing the trail as they headed toward the woods. Scanning the Irish businesses to see if they’re holding her there. Basically, just waiting for the call we all know is coming.
The sun is slowly rising when my cell phone finally rings. They’re using Hazel’s line.
It’s Fergal Sweeney.
“It’s been a long time, Carlo,” he says as though we’re old friends.
I find myself scraping my fingernails along the desk. They’re blunt, and yet I still leave jagged marks. I wish I could leap through the phone and throttle him. “She better be safe,” I snarl. “If you’ve touched one hair on her fucking head …”
“A smarter man would have pretended not to care about her,” he says. “You disappoint me. You are not the man your father was.”
“I need to hear that she’s alive. If not, this is a waste of time. It’s war.”
“Isn’t it already?” he laughs. “But I understand. Formalities. Colleen, say hello to your goombah.”
There’s some rustling on the other end of the call. Then, Hazel’s voice, steady and confident: “Carlo, don’t do anything he says—”
“That’s enough of that,” Fergal says. “You see, Carlo? She’s safe and sound. I can’t promise that she’ll stay that way, though. I think you get my meaning.”
“She’s your daughter,” I tell him. “Your own fucking daughter and you tried to kill her. You sent armed thugs after her. And now—Jesus, Fergal, even for a man like you, this is messed up. All we have in this life is our loyalty to family. Without it, we’re no better than junkies holding up the corner store.”
“I have never claimed to be anything but a criminal. Now, if you’re done with the poetry, I think we’ve got business to discuss.”
There’s a waver in his voice, sort of like a drunken man’s. I wonder how much he’s been drinking tonight. Maybe the pain of losing his hand sent him to the bottle. Maybe he’s slightly unhinged. Or, perhaps, I’m just hoping for some sort of advantage. “How much?”
“Money? You think this is about money?”
No, I think this is about you luring me out into the middle of nowhere so you can either kill or kidnap me. But he is hardly going to come out and say that.
“What else would it be about? Like you said, this is business.”
“You tell me, Carlo,” he chuckles. “How much do you think this whore’s life is worth?”
“She’s worth everything.” Maury tosses me a glance. The other men look down at the table. They know I should be keeping my cool, but to hear Hazel called a whore, to know that if I’d just kept her close to me she wouldn’t be in this danger… it’s too much. “You were blessed with the most amazing daughter a man could ask for and you threw it all away. You’re a fucking idiot, Fergal.”
“Are you done?” he asks. “But I like the sound of that everything. How about we just start with five million dollars? You know the drill, don’t you, motherfucker? Bring the cash, alone, unarmed. If I so much as get a whiff of garlic in the air, I’m gonna put a bullet in her belly and make you watch as your baby bleeds out all over the floor. Oh, that’s right. I know about the baby.”
My hand trembles on the phone. He killed Angel. He killed Father. There’s no part of me that doubts he means what he’s saying. These aren’t empty threats.
“Text me the address,” I say. “I’ll be there.”
“You sound upset, Carlo. I hope I haven’t offended you.”
I hang up the phone and lean back, my whole body shaking as my mind fills with evil images of what the Elephant is going to do to my pregnant woman. Yet I