C H A P T E R • 50
While Viola was fumbling with her keys, a pair of muddy red sneakers caught my eye, sitting on top of a plastic shopping bag lined up so neatly, the way we do in the city, in case somebody barefoot came by. It seemed odd to me.
“What’s that?” Viola said.
“Looks to me like sneakers in a Barney’s bag,” I said.
“You’re not bringing that garbage into my house. Put it back.”
Mr. Bell came to the door. “Viola told me you might be coming.”
I moved the sneakers behind the cans before I followed them inside.
Mister Bell said, “I’m Virginia’s favorite babysitter. She’s upstairs. She fell asleep. Tell me what happened.”
I let Viola tell the tale: “Charlie didn’t leave me anything but an insurance policy. He only left enough to finish the bar.”
Mister Bell whistled and we walked into the kitchen where she started making drinks.
And I did some reporting.
“How much money laundering cash do your partners already have, Viola? Bobby got some from Al’s. And you gave him money that was in duffel bags in Gary’s office Saturday after the funeral.”
“You’re good,” she said. “With the $400,000 Cecelia left, I don’t think we’re so far off.
Mister Bell turned to me. “Pearl. You told her about the money?”
“And you didn’t?”
“No,” Viola said. “He didn’t say anything about having money when I have been frantic trying to figure out what I was going to do.” Then she turned to Mister Bell. “You should have told me,” she said. “You know I need that money.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll give them the bank bills I’m holding. And if there’s some different figure they have in mind, I think our story is it’s stuck in the bank,” he said.
“You know, that’s the truth,” I said. “Even if the bank’s still in business tomorrow, nobody’s going to give you any money out of an account called Louis Armstrong.”
Mister Bell smiled. “Those company names were silly. Are silly. But the fallout is no joke. This is very dangerous. Viola, you don’t want to face your hooligan partners alone.”
“They’re coming here?” I asked.
“Later. I thought we would talk tomorrow,” Viola said. “But they decided they wanted to make sure I didn’t leave town or some such foolishness before they got their money. I won’t be alone. Bobby won’t let them hurt me.”
The name of the man she was cheating on my father with was one more thing that fell into place.
“Let me take Virginia. She does not need to be here with Bobby’s people,” I said.
Viola said, “She stays with me. You don’t know. She’s a real trooper. She wants to be with me.”
Mister Bell looked from one to the other of us. “Viola, I can’t imagine you are going to get all of Charlie’s money you want. Not now or in the long term. I think you all are going to be in court for a long time.”
“If you fight me, I’ll win,” Viola said to me. “In New York, the wife is entitled.”
“Not after you get arrested for shooting Obsidian,” I told her. “I won’t be the one to tell. But you’re not getting out of this one. There won’t be any fight over the house. And Virginia will come to live with me.”
Mister Bell put on his hat and coat.
“I’ll be back,” I said. “Don't wake her up. I have people waiting to give me a goodbye drink at the Kat.”
When we got outside, I said, “She’s quite mad.”
He tipped his hat. “I’ll owe you that drink.”
And he walked away.