“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
Good question. He had struggled for the last three years about the line between good and bad. How could he think of Nico as a good man when he made his living breaking the law? What was bad and what was good? Was a man who was honorable and respectable, who protected his family and stuck up for his friends, a bad man because he killed bad guys and ran protection rackets to keep the people in his territory safe? Ben didn’t know anymore. All he knew was what felt right to him. Shooting Rev when he wasn’t doing anything wrong didn’t feel right. Just as leaving town without talking to Nico didn’t feel right either.
“I dunno. That guy they found, the Wolf … the Cordanos gave him a traditional Sicilian necktie ’cause they found out he was a rat. Feds caught him smuggling cocaine and they offered him a deal—wear a wire or twenty years in jail. I’m not partial to neckties, but Nico … he kinda likes them, but only if someone’s truly been a rat. And I didn’t rat—at least not on his crew.”
“I knew there was a reason you weren’t filing the reports.” Jack walked along the porch; dodging the broken tricycle Ben might never get a chance to fix. “So you’re just going to hope he lets you off with a warning?”
“I’m gonna hope he lets me off with my hands and feet still attached. He caught this one dealer stealing from him, got a sledgehammer, and…” He trailed off, not wanting to give Jack any information that could be used to implicate Nico in a crime. “I know him like a brother,” he continued. “He’s changed over the last few weeks since he met Mia, chilled out a bit. I just pray some of that chilling rubs off on me.”
He walked into Daisy’s bedroom and packed her few clothes into a bag. On his way out, he grabbed one of her stuffed toys, a purple puppy with a large belly. It was surprisingly heavy and he put it back on the bed and lifted another, frowning at the weight. Curious, he lifted the toys one by one; noting they all had a similar weight. He pulled out his knife and sliced one open.
“Jack,” he called out. “Get in here. I got something.” He held up a brick of heroin as Jack walked in. “I think they’re in all her toys. Might be the lethal batch that’s just hit the streets. I’m gonna go find out if Daisy knew about it.” He grabbed one of the toys and jogged out to the car where Daisy was still reading her book.
“Can I look up now, Daddy?”
“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m sorry I forgot about you there.” He held up the toy. “Do you know anything about the packages inside these toys?”
Daisy’s eyes went wide. “It’s supposed to be a secret. Gabe said he would hurt me and Mommy if I told anyone. He used to come into my room at night and tell Mommy he was reading me a story, but he was really cutting up my toys and putting bricks in them. I couldn’t play with them anymore, and he shouted really loud when I touched them. I felt lonely in my room when I couldn’t touch my toys. I didn’t have anything to cuddle at night, and I didn’t want to be there alone.”
Ben felt at once relieved that his worst nightmare hadn’t come true, and angry that Gabe would use his daughter’s toys—the toys he’d bought for her—as a place to stash his drugs. “Do you know what he did with them?”
Daisy nodded. “He gave them to his friend who came to visit all the time. They thought I wasn’t listening, but I was because I liked to say good-bye to the toys Gabe’s friend took away.”
Ben felt the skin on the back of his neck prickle. “Did you ever see his friend? Do you remember what he looked like?”
“Yes. He was silver.”
*
“Help!” Mia screamed as she rocked back and forth. The guard had tied her to the chair after handcuffing her, and she hadn’t been able to work herself free. “Mama! Kat!” She had been shouting for at least twenty minutes, even though she knew the guard would never let them in.
She startled when the door opened, twisted her head to look back over her shoulder. God, if her father returned and told her Nico was dead, she would be tempted to prove to him on his own terms she was good enough after all.
“Kat!” Her face brightened when she saw her sister and her mother behind her. “Mama?”
“Mama made a little something for the guard and put a bottle of sleeping pills in it,” Kat said, smiling. “We had to wait until they took effect before we could come in.”
“Are you okay?” Mia’s mother came around the chair and checked her for bruises.
“I’m good, Mama. I’m just so glad to see you. Nico’s in danger. Papà’s put a contract out on him, and they’re planning to whack him tonight. I need my phone. It’s in the bag on the floor.”
“Kat, you get the phone. I’ll find something to cut the ropes and open the handcuffs.” Mama raced out of the room, and Kat pulled out the phone.