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I hide the disappointment from my face. “Let’s see it.”
She reaches into her drawer and pulls out a wad of banknotes. She adds more to the pile, sliding it across to me a moment later. “How much is there?” I ask. “This doesn’t look like a hundred thousand dollars to me.”
“It’s not. It’s fifteen thousand. It’s all I could get.”
“You do the math.”
“I know but please, see it as a goodwill gesture. I’ll get you the rest soon, I swear.”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take this and your businesses. Mario will come and sort the paperwork later today. I know about the men you hired to break into Natalie’s place. I dealt with them. You will not get the box. You will not get the fortune. You will leave this town once Mario’s signed it all over to me. You will never come back because if I ever see you again, I’ll put a bullet in your head. Understood?”
She nods frantically, getting to her feet like there’s a bomb under her chair. “Sure,” she says. “I get it.”
I watch her run out of the office. I know what she’s thinking. No second chances with the famiglia but I just gave her an out.
I have my reasons. Kill her now and the town will be swarming with Feds while I’m trying to take over. Let her run for now.
Meanwhile, I own Natalie’s bookstore and I’ve got my ten thousand back in cash. That makes me even on the ten grand I wired to Natalie’s account last night. Not a bad day’s work and it’s only eleven in the morning. Got my money back, got rid of Winnie. Now I just need to find the box and I’ve got five days left to do it.
* * *
It takes ten minutes sweet talking the town clerk to get Natalie’s address. I pull up outside and take a look at the place. Run down, two floors, shingles that need replacing, lawn that’s full of toys. A swing set, a slide, a sandpit. Car on the drive that’s ten years old.
I climb out of my brand new Audi and walk up to the front door of the house, hitting it with my fist. I’m about to hit it again when it swings open. A woman is standing there with a headscarf on, the look of a cancer survivor in her eyes. “Hi,” she says. “Can I help you?”
“I was looking for a Natalie Mason.”
“Come on in. She’s just got back from dropping Jasmine off at preschool.”
“You live with her?”
“Sure, why?”
“Who are you?”
“Eileen, Eileen Brewer. Her roommate.”
She steps aside and I walk past her into a lounge that’s decorated like it’s straight out of the fifties. All chintz and floral curtains with a hideous lime green sofa in front of a tiny TV. “Take a seat,” Eileen says. “I’ll give her a shout.”
She walks off down the corridor and I hear her knocking. “Natalie, honey, someone here for you.”
“Who is it?”
“Angelo,” I call out. “I have some good news.”
Her head appears from around the door. She’s got a towel around her and the sight of her naked shoulders makes me want to whip that towel away from her. Her wet hair hangs down the back of her head and I want to grab it, pull it and her down to the ground, get her on her knees with her mouth open.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, looking shocked to see me.
“Came by the store and it was shut.”
“Yeah, that was Winnie. I mean the mayoress.”
“Her evil stepmother,” Eileen adds. “Shut the place with no legal grounds. I swear any decent town, she wouldn’t get away with this kind of shit. I call it extortion. How’s Natalie supposed to earn anything with her store boarded up?”
“Get dressed,” I tell Natalie. “I’m taking you out for coffee.”
“Are you now? What if I don’t want to go?”
