mogul came out to play. Steely eyes, everything controlled, thoughts racing behind a placid façade. “Must I?” Enzo said, settling for a sip of his small glass of water.
I understood his reluctance in discussing a dark chapter from his youth but he needed to get over it and remember that he had roots here, burrowing scavengers that were intertwined with a murder. I returned the metallic gaze, noted the depth of his eyes nearly matching my own, and I parried with a thrust. “Absolutely. The person who donates annually and anonymously to the fund for my mother wouldn’t do so without a theory.”
The steel of his eyes melted to single ions of iron and carbon. They didn’t dare recombine. His lips and eyes teamed up to form an expression of appreciation for a hand well played. That’s right. Stupid little drink mixer knows how to uncover the routing codes behind anonymous donations. Had to know who was supporting Mommy all these years.
Enzo relented with a long, nasal exhalation. “I’m not sure I understand the point of me telling you a bunch of unfounded, random thoughts.”
“I’m not writing a book ,” I said. “No one will know what you say except me.”
“Still, I have no proof.”
“Neither did the cops. Didn’t stop them.”
The waitress brought our food , filled our teas, and we enjoyed a momentary reprieve. After a few solid bites, Enzo pushed his fork into his lunch, then laid it on the side of his plate with a clank. While he stalled, I pressed.
“ Enzo, you were the only one there with any sort of intact memory, but you were pretty tight-lipped when they interrogated you, even—”
“I had to be. My whole family could have been deported or arrested.”
“Not anymore. You’ve gotta give me something. You worked there. You knew the flow of the place, the moods, the environment. Something like that night goes down, you must have a gut instinct about what happened.”
Every sinewy muscle of his body seemed to tighten and then release, allowing his words to spew forth. “I think Bobby’s friends, those two delinquents, were involved that night, and probably some other loser they’d picked up. I think Bobby broke in through the window with a plan to let the other guys in through the garage doors. I mean, normally, the garage would have been empty that time of night, and Bobby had done it before, so why not? But something must have gone wrong. Maybe they were all drunk or high or both, or the new guy went berserk, but either way, all hell broke loose. Smitty and Jasper probably took off like the babies they were but Bobby was too cocky, figured he could take the newcomer. He must have slipped on some oil or gotten knocked out and then the stranger tied him up. Wandered around, found Artie’s gun, shot Bobby and took off.”
“And my dad or brother wouldn’t have heard any of that?”
“You don’t understand what we were drinking that night ,” he said. “Neither did I, until later. My Uncle Tito, he put some serious hallucinogens in there. I guess I’d built up some tolerance but your brother and father got hit hard. I never would have given it to them if I’d known. I swear, Allison, I feel responsible to this day. That’s why I send your mother the money.”
“What kind of hallucinogens?”
“Anything could have gotten in there. My uncle picked up work at a morgue once and ended up stealing formaldehyde.”
“To use in the liquor?”
“Why not? He’d use bleach, paint thinner, whatever was convenient from whatever cash-paying job he had at the time. One time, I went with him to one of his stills that had been fermenting in the woods. After he emptied the liquor into bottles, he found two dead chipmunks lying on the bottom.”
“Happy expressions on their faces, no doubt .”
“Wouldn’t know. Their faces and fur were melted off after stewing in that concoction for a month.”
“And you guys toasted each other with this stuff ?”
“Worse. We got out loaded
I understood his reluctance in discussing a dark chapter from his youth but he needed to get over it and remember that he had roots here, burrowing scavengers that were intertwined with a murder. I returned the metallic gaze, noted the depth of his eyes nearly matching my own, and I parried with a thrust. “Absolutely. The person who donates annually and anonymously to the fund for my mother wouldn’t do so without a theory.”
The steel of his eyes melted to single ions of iron and carbon. They didn’t dare recombine. His lips and eyes teamed up to form an expression of appreciation for a hand well played. That’s right. Stupid little drink mixer knows how to uncover the routing codes behind anonymous donations. Had to know who was supporting Mommy all these years.
Enzo relented with a long, nasal exhalation. “I’m not sure I understand the point of me telling you a bunch of unfounded, random thoughts.”
“I’m not writing a book ,” I said. “No one will know what you say except me.”
“Still, I have no proof.”
“Neither did the cops. Didn’t stop them.”
The waitress brought our food , filled our teas, and we enjoyed a momentary reprieve. After a few solid bites, Enzo pushed his fork into his lunch, then laid it on the side of his plate with a clank. While he stalled, I pressed.
“ Enzo, you were the only one there with any sort of intact memory, but you were pretty tight-lipped when they interrogated you, even—”
“I had to be. My whole family could have been deported or arrested.”
“Not anymore. You’ve gotta give me something. You worked there. You knew the flow of the place, the moods, the environment. Something like that night goes down, you must have a gut instinct about what happened.”
Every sinewy muscle of his body seemed to tighten and then release, allowing his words to spew forth. “I think Bobby’s friends, those two delinquents, were involved that night, and probably some other loser they’d picked up. I think Bobby broke in through the window with a plan to let the other guys in through the garage doors. I mean, normally, the garage would have been empty that time of night, and Bobby had done it before, so why not? But something must have gone wrong. Maybe they were all drunk or high or both, or the new guy went berserk, but either way, all hell broke loose. Smitty and Jasper probably took off like the babies they were but Bobby was too cocky, figured he could take the newcomer. He must have slipped on some oil or gotten knocked out and then the stranger tied him up. Wandered around, found Artie’s gun, shot Bobby and took off.”
“And my dad or brother wouldn’t have heard any of that?”
“You don’t understand what we were drinking that night ,” he said. “Neither did I, until later. My Uncle Tito, he put some serious hallucinogens in there. I guess I’d built up some tolerance but your brother and father got hit hard. I never would have given it to them if I’d known. I swear, Allison, I feel responsible to this day. That’s why I send your mother the money.”
“What kind of hallucinogens?”
“Anything could have gotten in there. My uncle picked up work at a morgue once and ended up stealing formaldehyde.”
“To use in the liquor?”
“Why not? He’d use bleach, paint thinner, whatever was convenient from whatever cash-paying job he had at the time. One time, I went with him to one of his stills that had been fermenting in the woods. After he emptied the liquor into bottles, he found two dead chipmunks lying on the bottom.”
“Happy expressions on their faces, no doubt .”
“Wouldn’t know. Their faces and fur were melted off after stewing in that concoction for a month.”
“And you guys toasted each other with this stuff ?”
“Worse. We got out loaded
Similar Books
