Read Online Headstone City by Tom Piccirilli - Free Book Online Page A

I was.” He still wasn't sure. Maybe the burden was always there, like with his grandmother, and the crash just made it heavier, stronger. Who knew, maybe Vinny was right, and they'd both been dead since the accident.
    “Someone else has it?”
    Dane found himself measuring his words. “Similar anyway.”
    “Who?”
    “Vinny Monticelli.”
    “Ah, I see. I've heard strange stories about him. How he believes he has visions and the gift of prophecy. So it's true, then? My God, how awful that'd be.”
    “He doesn't seem to mind.”
    “And you?”
    “I get along,” Dane said.
    “How did you both acquire such facilities?”
    “We went through a windshield together,” Dane told him.
    Looping over to the parkway, heading down to the beach. When he was a kid his parents used to take him out there to go swimming, the waters a lot cleaner than the sludge over at Coney. They'd build sand castles and his father would make sounds like the seagulls, his voice echoing among the dunes.
    Almost nervous now, thinking about it all a little more, the warden asked, “What happens if I wake up?”
    “I don't know.”
    “Might I die?”
    “I suppose it's a possibility.”
    “Oh, this is terrible. You don't understand what Edna's snoring is like. I must wake up twenty times a night. I suggest you get me back soon.”
    “In a minute. I need answers first. What have you heard about the Monticellis' action lately?”
    “What makes you think I'll tell you the truth?”
    “You don't have any choice.”
    “Oh my.”
    Howards thought about it and appeared to consider his options at the moment. Deciding whether he should say anything more to an ex-con released only this very morning. Sitting in the backseat of a Buick trying to stare through his hand. Scared that his wife's nasal drip might inadvertently kill him. But Dane meant what he said. Nobody on the night ride could lie to him.
    “Almost nothing,” the warden said, wagging his unwieldy head, looking out both windows, hoping they were on their way back to his house. “You must know that their business operations are almost completely legitimate at this point.”
    “More or less. But our problems aren't business, they're personal. And they still had some reach into your prison. They put a hit on me this morning while a couple of your boys looked the other way.”
    It rattled Howards and got him refocused. “The incident with Mako and Kremitz? In the showers?”
    “Yeah.”
    “They said they'd attacked each other because of pilfered cigarettes.”
    “They're trying to save their skins. The Monticellis still have enough muscle to cause trouble. I'm just not sure why they'd bother going about it like that.”
    “Give me the names of the offending officers and I'll look into the matter.”
    Dane told him, just to nettle the bulls a little. The charges would never stick, but maybe it would shake them up. Word would get back to the family.
    “If what you say is true, Mr. Danetello, then I'll make sure these men are properly dealt with.”
    “Okay. Anything else you know that might help me?”
    “The FBI did inquire about you. There was some discussion on whether you'd be willing to wear a wire for them.”
    “What? If the family is so legit now, then why would the feds care enough to wire somebody? What are they after?”
    “Almost completely legitimate, I said. I assumed they wanted information about past activities, unsolved murders, that sort of thing.”
    “When was this?”
    “After the fire in your cell.”
    “So why didn't they approach me?”
    “I only dealt with a single agent. A man by the name of Cogan. He read through your case file and seemed to feel that contacting you was either unnecessary or could wait indefinitely.”
    That sounded like a fed all right. Plays it close to his vest, even in front of Howards. Makes some kind of a show about getting Dane to wire up, then just lets it drop. Something was stirring in the Monti camp.
    Dane drew up in front of