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“Delicately put.”
“Thank you.”
Datilla reached under the table for something. Stone tensed, half expecting him to come up with a shotgun. Instead, he placed a battered suitcase on the table. “There you are,” he said. “Would you like to count it?”
Stone shook his head. “I trust you,” he said. “And, anyway,the bank will count it later. If there’s a discrepancy, I’ll send you either a bill or a refund.”
Datilla laughed again and made a shooing motion with his hands.
“I’m a busy man,” he said. “Get outta here.” He offered his hand.
Stone shook it and got out of there.
NINETEEN
Stone sat Joan down and put a document before her. “This is Ed Sr.’s estate tax return. If you read it carefully, you may note an additional declaration of three million dollars in income, which we have not previously discussed.”
“Then why are we discussing it now?” Joan asked.
“It’s like this: Ed Sr. had a financial relationship with Dominic Datilla, affectionately known to some as Datilla the Hun.”
“What kind of financial relationship?”
“Ed loaned Datilla money,” Stone replied.
“He loaned the Mafia money?”
“He did, and at a great profit to himself. Datilla distributed the money to his capos and their loan sharks loaned it, in varying amounts, to gamblers and as loans to those who could not obtain credit at banks. All at a very high interest rate. Inreturn, Ed Sr. received a large payment in cash weekly. Some of it is the money in the Excelsior safe.”
“Ah.”
“I have given Ed’s accountant the three million dollars he loaned Datilla, in cash, which was reported on Ed’s tax return as income, so you’re all square with the IRS.”
“Datilla returned Ed’s money?”
“By the way, we are running out of safe space to store your millions. Ed may have a large safe somewhere in the house that you can store it in, and the combination will probably be concealed nearby.”
“Or in Ed’s notebook,” she said, “which I found in his desk drawer.”
“If he doesn’t have such a safe, I suggest that you measure an available space in the house, then drop into Empire Safes—on East Thirty-Ninth Street—and order a new one to fill the empty space.”
“What a good idea!” she said. “I must say, I’m impressed that you persuaded Datilla to return the principal. How did you do that?”
Stone shrugged. “I put it to him as a matter of honor. Those gentlemen take honor very seriously. And on occasion, they choose to live by it.”
“And Datilla did?”
“He did. I was very relieved because his honor was all we had going for us. He could have booted me out into the street, but he didn’t. We could hardly sue him.”
“I should write him a thank-you note.”
Stone laughed. “That might amuse him, but let’s let sleeping mafiosi lie.”
“As you wish. Where do I sign the return?”
“Your accountant has already signed it.”
“Oh, good. Now all I have to do is to put all the household accounts in my name, and I’m done.”
