MOMENTS LATER
“We’ve added a new member to our crew,” I said. “He’s young, inexperienced, and is going to need quite a bit of looking after. That’s going to fall on you, at least the bulk of it.”
“Who is it?” Chris asked.
“His name’s Gus,” I said. “He’s going to be rooming with you. The space is big enough to hold the two of you.”
“How young is he?”
I shook my head. “To tell you the truth, I’m not that clear on those details,” I said. “I wasn’t the one who picked him out.”
Behind me, Gus let out two yelps that passed for barks and eased his way past my legs and moved toward Chris. “He’s on the short side,” Carmine said, “but trust me, that’s gonna change.”
We all spread out and watched my nephew reach down and grab the puppy and hold him in his arms. His eyes were filled with tears and he had the widest smile I’d yet seen on his face. I looked at my entire team and saw the same reaction.
“You got us a dog?” Chris said. “I can’t believe it! You got us a dog!”
“No, honey,” Connie said. “We got you a dog. We’re his family, but he belongs to you.”
“His papers are all in order,” Pearl said. “And we signed him up with the vet around the corner. They’ll take care of him in case he gets sick, give him shots.”
“We even got him health insurance,” Carl said. “I can’t believe he’s got medical coverage.”
“Something you should consider,” Bruno said to him. “Might come in handy one day.”
“I ordered a bunch of food for him,” I said. “The vet gave us a list of what he should and shouldn’t eat. He’s got enough in the pantry for a few weeks.”
“And he can’t play with other dogs until he gets all his shots,” Carmine said. “Don’t want him catching anything he don’t need to catch.”
“Does he have a leash?” Chris asked.
“He’s got a couple,” I said. “And a few collars with his name and my cell-phone number stenciled on them. And when he’s older, we’ll have a chip put in him. In case he decides to pull a Papillon and make a break for it. Makes it easier to track him down.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Chris said. His emotions were getting the better of him, and he squeezed Gus closer to his chest.
Chris scanned the room and stared at the faces that, in short order, had grown to become his family. We would never replace what he had lost, nor would we attempt to do so. But we could all, collectively, make him at home in what had to still feel like an unfamiliar environment so he’d gradually accept his new surroundings as his own.
“The little guy might be hungry,” Carmine said to Chris. “You’ll find a couple of bowls in the kitchen, on the island there, hard to miss. They have the pup’s name written on them.”
“And don’t give him tap water to drink,” Bruno said.
“Why not?” Carl asked.
“None of us drink it—why should Gus?” Carmine said. “Give him the Acqua Panna, that’s the best. If you’re in a pinch, Poland Spring is a good substitute.”
“I’m glad to see we’re not going to spoil him,” I said. “Maybe I should have ordered his food from Tramonti’s instead of the vet’s office.”
“That would have been a better way to go, you ask me,” Carmine said. “But he’s a baby still. We got time before we break him in on eggplant parm with a side of baked clams.”
Chris walked over toward me and held Gus out for me to hold. “Can you take him for a minute?” he said. “There’s something I need to show you.”
I lifted Gus and cradled him in my right arm. Chris reached into the rear pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded batch of papers. He flipped them open and handed them to me. I grabbed them with my free hand and scanned the first page. There were fifteen names typed down the left side of the page, with dollar amounts next to each one.
“What is this?” I asked.
“There are forty-five names on those pages,” Chris said. “The figures are how much money each has invested in the accounting firm. The money is kept in offshore accounts and, as far as we can tell, none of it has been reported as income to the IRS.”
“Who is ‘we’?” I asked.
“Bobby helped me follow the money trail,” Chris said. “He had a working list of one hundred and sixty-five names, which we narrowed down to the ones on the list.”
“Is the firm funneling money without their knowledge?” Pearl asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Chris said.
I rested Gus on the wood floor and flipped through the pages, scanning both the names and the large sums of money attached to them. “Some Russian mob, some Italian,” I said. “A couple of cartel guys, and the rest are high-end business types not eager to share their wealth with Uncle Sam.”
“Which means nobody on that list is going to run and spill their guts to the cops,” Carmine said.
I got to the last page and froze when I saw the name on the bottom. I looked at Chris, who stared back and then lowered his head. “One of them was thinking of doing just that,” I said. “And, as we know, all it takes is one.”
“Who?” Pearl asked.
I reached for Chris and brought him to my side and held him close to me. “You want to tell them?” I asked.
Chris nodded. “My dad’s name is on the list,” he said in a low but strong voice. “And next to his name is the amount the firm invested for him.”
The room stayed silent for several moments.
“How much?” Pearl finally asked.
“One and a half million dollars,” Chris said.
“You think he knew about it?” Carmine asked.
“No, I don’t,” I said. “Not at first, anyway. But he was good at what he did. Maybe he started sniffing around, found the same list Chris and Bobby dug up and saw his name on it, right next to the mob guys and the cartel bosses. And that might be when he started thinking of making a move against the firm.”
“So it’s dark money,” Pearl said. “Not to be seen until the heat is on. Then they open the books and point to guys like Jack. Make it look like they were the ones skimming money. Gives them a chance to skate away clean.”
“Unless they decided Jack could no longer be trusted,” I said. “Carmine’s right. The names on the list are not going to go running to the cops. It’s not in their interest. But Jack’s a whole different story. He could go to the cops and lay it all out for them.”
“And that makes him a threat,” Pearl said. “And that’s not something these guys can risk. Especially from one of their own.”
“So, to keep that list buried…” Carmine said.
“They needed to bury Jack,” I said.