Page 143 of Fifty-Fifty

‘You sure?’ I asked.

‘I’m sure. It was her.’

Now I needed to save Tony P.

‘Jimmy, Tony is going to testify that he sourced the Haloperidol for her, and he was paid handsomely. He’s also going to say that after her father was murdered, she asked him where he’d gotten the Haloperidol, and he told her he

got it from a pharmacy in Haberman. He’s then going to say that she tried to kill him on the street. You are going to do all of that, aren’t you, Tony?’

‘I’ll do whatever you say.’

‘Because if you tell the truth to the cops, and testify that you poisoned somebody in Jimmy’s restaurant, that would be bad for Jimmy’s business. And if

you don’t testify at all that means there’s no reason for Jimmy to keep you alive.

So you’ll do it?’

‘I’ll do it, I swear.’

I left the newspaper, thanked Jimmy and ran for the door.

‘Don’t kill him. I need him.’

‘He’ll still be breathing when the cops come to talk to him. Who knows how long he’ll keep breathing after that?’ said Jimmy.

FIFTY-THREE

EDDIE

The house on Franklin Street looked quiet. There was an old van parked outside.

I glanced through the rear door windows of the van and saw boxes stacked inside, and something else, too. I stood for a second in the night air, listening.

The city was quiet for once, just the distant traffic.

I approached the house. The front door was open. Even so, I knocked on the door and hollered a greeting as I came inside.

The hallway had a lamp burning on a side table. I called out again, and moved forward until I saw the kitchen and lounge.

Sofia stood in the lounge, in semi-darkness, the light from another lamp burning on the table caught in her eyes, making them look ablaze.

‘Eddie, what are you doing here?’ she said.

In front of her, on a coffee table, was a chessboard. The pieces laid out as if a game was in full flow.

‘I came by to see how you were doing.’

‘How did you know I was here?’

‘There was no answer at your apartment. This house is yours now, I guess, and I thought you might be here. I saw a van outside, are you moving in?’

‘I thought I’d move a few things into the house. I wanted to keep busy,’ she said.

‘Is that your chessboard? Did I interrupt a game? Is someone else here?’ I asked.

‘No one else is here. Yeah, this is my board. This is my sister’s game. The game we played when we were kids, and didn’t get to finish.’

She reached down, moved a knight.