It had bothered Gulliver from the beginning, but he had chosen to ignore the voice in his head. That alone should have gotten his attention. Every time he ignored his instincts, he got in trouble. Or he wound up doing twice the work to get to the same place. By no means was the voice in his head always right. He wasn’t a seer. He could not predict the future. Most of the time he had trouble making sense of the past.
Why had he ignored the voice? Because the people involved in this case weren’t like the ones in any of his other cases. This case involved a Mafia don, his muscle-man bodyguard, the woman they both loved and a missing child. And although Gulliver had attacked the case as he would most others, he hadn’t done it exactly like he had in the past. He hadn’t spoken to the missing girl’s mother.
The mother was often the key to finding a missing daughter. Mothers knew things about their daughters. They knew things about them they weren’t even aware they knew. Little habits. Warning signs. Things that set them off. Yet, in spite of this, Gulliver hadn’t asked to speak to Maria. Was it out of fear? Respect? Was it because he knew Tony and Maria’s secret? It could have been any one of those reasons. Maybe it was a little bit of them all.
But while he was in Igor Telenovich’s den, it had struck Gulliver. Not only hadn’t he asked to speak to the mother, but the mother had not asked to speak to him. That was what had been bothering him. The mother of the missing child always asked to speak with him. Always. The mothers were usually the frantic ones no matter what the child’s age. The fathers always tried to act tough and calm. The mothers were the ones who called him every day. The ones who asked the hard questions. The ones who canvassed the streets with him night and day if that’s what he needed. But he hadn’t heard a word from Bella’s mother. And that was about to change.
They met at Hale’s Bar on Smith Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, which was only a mile or two from Gulliver’s office. The bar wasn’t open yet, but Gulliver was pals with David, the owner. David was glad to let Gulliver use an empty table now and then. He brewed a pot of coffee for Gulliver and his company. Afterward he went into the basement to do inventory.
Gulliver hadn’t wanted to risk meeting on Staten Island. Too many prying eyes. Too many people who might spot Maria Vespucci. For Maria’s sake and for Tony’s, no one could hear what Gulliver had to say to them. He had no doubt that if Joey Vespucci ever found out how Bella had come to be, there would be blood. Tony’s blood. Joey wouldn’t hurt the mother of his children. But he could make Maria’s life very unpleasant. Gulliver felt there was no need to risk any of that.
There was a knock at the side door. Gulliver got up and let Maria and Tony inside. He locked the door behind them. Gulliver had only seen photos of Maria. In the flesh, it was easy to see why men fell for her. In her mid-fifties, she was still classically beautiful. She had thick black hair that shone under the light. Not a hair out of place. She had high, sculpted cheekbones. Her skin was naturally dark. Except for her eyes, she wore very little makeup. Though there were some lines on her face, they only added character to her charm. Her eyes were almost as black as her hair. Her mouth was a dream, her teeth white and straight. Her lips had a lovely shape. Her legs were long. Her body curvy. And she knew just how to dress to enhance her looks. She didn’t wear too much jewelry. But the jewelry she did wear was custom-made and expensive. Yet for all her beauty and class, there was an air of great sadness about her.
“Mr. Dowd,” she said, offering her hand. “You have something to tell me about Bella?”
Even her voice had a smoky, sexy quality.
Gulliver shook her hand and nodded at the booth where they were to sit. “Please call me Gulliver.”
“Call me Maria.”
After Tony and Maria sat, Gulliver poured coffee. He gave them a moment to settle in. To sip their coffee. To relax. Gulliver sat beside Tony.
“Maria, you asked me if I had something to tell you about Bella.”
“That’s right.”
Gulliver laughed. Maria Vespucci looked shaken. Tony looked angry, and it was clear in his tone.
“What’s so funny, Dowd?”
“It’s not funny, Tony. It’s just that we should be asking Maria whether she has something to tell us about Bella. Not the other way around.”
Maria smiled a heartbreaking smile at the little man sitting across from her.
“You are a very smart man, Gulliver,” she said.
“Not smart enough. Or at least, I was a little slow on the uptake.”
“Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?” Tony demanded.
Gulliver reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed a piece of paper. He unfolded it and slid it over to Tony. Tony’s face went blank at the sight of the photographic images on the sheet. They were images of Maria leaving Bella’s building. In some, she carried frames. In one she had a folded easel. In another she carried two plastic garbage bags full of art supplies.
Gulliver said, “Very early this morning I paid a visit to my friend who’s been doing a breakdown of the closed-circuit video we got from Bella’s building. Until last night, I only had him looking at male faces. When we found out it wasn’t Telenovich who had Bella, I asked my guy to go back to the video and do a new search. Now you see why we should be asking Maria about Bella?”
“Maria…how could you do that to Joey? To me? I been worried out of my mind.”
She reached a long elegant hand across the table and stroked Tony’s cheek. “I couldn’t do it to Joey without doing it to you too. It was the only way.”
Tony took her hand and kissed it. “To do what?”
It was Gulliver who answered. “To let Bella escape.”
“Escape?” Tony asked. “Escape what?”
“This life, Tony,” Maria said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Bella isn’t like her sisters. You know that. The other girls, they fit in. They enjoy being Joey’s little girls. But Bella was never cut out to be a mob princess. This world isn’t her world. The danger. The violence. The ugliness of what this life is all about. Toni and Krystal can ignore where their money comes from. Not Bella. This life would kill her. It was killing her. And I couldn’t have that. Bella has a gift, and I wouldn’t see that crushed.”
Gulliver smiled. “It was you who wanted her to go to FIT and to have a separate apartment. Smart. It created confusion. It gave you more time. You arranged for her to go missing.”
Tony asked, “Where did she go?”
“First she was in California,” Maria answered.
Tony blinked. “What do you mean?”
Gulliver said, “She means Bella’s not there anymore. She’s gone. Maria doesn’t know where. That’s the idea, Tony. It’s like witness protection. If Maria doesn’t know where Bella is, it’s that much harder to find her. You can’t tell what you don’t know.”
Tony looked like he might explode.
Gulliver looked directly into Maria’s eyes. “This is an amazing sacrifice you’ve made.”
“What’s he talking about, Maria?” Tony asked.
“To give Bella the life she deserves, Maria has let Bella go. She might never see her again. Hard for a mother to do that, Tony. Very hard. You had an offshore numbered bank account set up for her, Maria?”
Maria nodded. “I don’t know the number, so I can’t be used to trace her.”
Tony shook his head. “None of this shit matters. He’ll find her. You don’t know Joey like I know Joey. Not even you know him like I do, Maria. He’ll find her.”
A voice came from the hallway leading to the back room. “That’s right, Tony. I’ll find her.”
And out of the shadows stepped the man himself, Joey Vespucci. Flanking him were two of his guys. Gulliver had seen them before. Both were younger and bigger than Tony. And Gulliver didn’t doubt that either one would love to replace Tony as Joey’s right hand. All three men approached the booth where Gulliver, Maria and Tony sat.
“You are the best,” Vespucci said to Gulliver. “You didn’t find Bella. Not exactly. But this is close enough. I’ll take it from here, little man. You should leave now, or go downstairs and stay with your pal. But whatever you do, get out of this room. And don’t worry—I won’t lay a hand on my wife. Even if she is just a beautiful whore who slept with my best friend, she’s still the mother of my girls.”
Tony opened his mouth to speak. Joey didn’t let him.
“Don’t bother to deny it, Tony. I know the two of you had a thing back in the day. And I know it didn’t last long. Everybody has their slip-ups. But now, if I don’t do something about it I’ll look weak. And a man like me can’t afford to look weak. You know that. I’ll see to you. Then I’ll find my daughter, and that will be that.”
Gulliver sensed Tony wasn’t just going to sit there and take it. He was right.
“She’s not your daughter!” Tony shouted.
Maria gasped. Vespucci’s eyes got big. It was clear he’d known about the affair but not about Bella. His face twisted into an ugly red mask. He had promised he wouldn’t touch Maria, but this news was obviously too much for him to take. He slapped his wife across the face, splitting her lip.
“Whore!” he screamed at her. “How could you have lived with me and slept in my bed all these years and kept this from me? Whore!”
He raised his hand to slap her again.
But before Vespucci could bring his hand down on his wife’s face a second time, Tony pulled his piece. He shot his boss through the hand that had slapped Maria.
“You disloyal son of a bitch!” Vespucci raged. “I’m going to—”
He didn’t finish the sentence, because Tony shot his boss and best friend through the heart. Vespucci didn’t fall. Not for a few seconds. And in those stunned seconds before Joey fell to the bar floor, Gulliver dove over the table and knocked Maria to the floor. He threw himself over her. Just as he landed atop her, Joey’s lifeless body collapsed. His head made a sickening thud against the tiles.
Without instructions from their boss, Vespucci’s bodyguards hesitated, and that proved to be a fatal mistake. Above Maria and Gulliver, the din and smoke of gunfire filled the air. Another body dropped. Then another. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started. Maria tried to get up, but Gulliver held her down. Then, finally, a fourth body hit the floor. Tony’s.
Gulliver crawled off Maria. He took out his weapon and checked Vespucci and his men. Maria checked Tony. Joey Vespucci was dead. He was probably dead before he hit the floor. One of his men was also dead. The other was still alive—barely. Gulliver kicked that man’s gun away and called 9-1-1. After that he turned to Tony.
Maria was crying. She had Tony’s head cradled in her lap. She was pressing her hand down on a red hole in the middle of his chest. There was blood all over her clothes and her hands. Gulliver could see that Tony was already in shock and wouldn’t live for more than another minute. If that.
“That was a brave thing you did, Tony.”
Tony smiled. He coughed up blood. Then he said, “Listen, Bug…I don’t know why he did it…but the guy who killed… your sis—” Tony stopped speaking, his whole body clenching as if it were one big fist. Then he relaxed a bit. “He’s dead.”
Gulliver clutched Tony’s shoulders. “How do you know that?”
“I put two pills…in his ear. Joey had me do it last year…after your cop friend was murdered. Joey said…he owed you that much.”
Then Tony’s body clenched again. And this time when it relaxed, it relaxed forever.
Maria looked more shocked than anything else. Then she said, “I don’t know how to get in touch with Bella.”
Gulliver stood, placed his hand on her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. News like this spreads. She’ll read about it.”
“I loved them both.”
“I know.”
Gulliver tried to think of something else to say. But there was nothing to say in the face of so much blood and devotion.