"Relax, Avi," I said. "I'm sure workmen step on it all the time. It just gives a little."
"I don't-"
"Just pick a spot and stay still, okay? You'll be fine. You ready?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm ready."
The elevator doors opened and Ryan backed out. Birk and Curry were both sitting on the floor of the car, hands behind their heads. Ryan pointed the gun at them and said, "Up."
They got up.
"Out," he said, pointing behind him with a little bow, palm up, as though welcoming them to Giulio's.
CHAPTER 47
Simon Birk stared long and hard at me, then at Jenn and back at me. Curry gave me the merest glance. If he was surprised that I was still alive, he didn't show it. He took in Jenn's presence, then turned his attention back to Dante Ryan, the man he needed to watch, eyes on his gun hand, looking for an opening, a move to make.
Birk said, "Where's Charlaine?"
"She won't be joining us," I said.
"I told you she was unsuitable," Birk said to Curry, like she was a maid who had put away foggy stemware.
"Do it yourself next time," Curry said.
"And you are Ms. Raudsepp, am I right?" Birk said. He held out his hand. She never moved or took her eyes off his. He slowly dropped the hand that had shaken a hundred thousand other hands, a hand that had rarely if ever been rejected.
Jenn said, "You're even shorter than you look on TV."
I handed Jenn one of the walkie-talkies and the keys to the trailer. "Go back to ground level," I said. "Keep an eye on Henry and call us if anyone shows up."
Ryan said, "Tell Henry if he makes trouble, I'll come down and hold his nose till he dies."
She got into the elevator and pulled the door shut and the car began to slide down.
Curry said, "Where's the third man?"
"What third man?" I said. There was no way he could see Avi from where he was.
"Your friend the lawyer. The one who looks like he's about to piss himself."
"You know the fellow," Birk cut in. "The one you had dinner with Thursday." Letting me know he knew more than he was supposed to. "Why don't you come out, Mr. Stern? For a lawyer, I have to say, you're not giving Geller very good advice."
Avi stepped forward, his eyes down, carefully avoiding the plywood patching he'd stepped on before.
Birk said, "Now we know everyone but your gunman."
"You really want to know me?" Ryan said.
"This is no party," I said to Birk.
"What then?" He was rubbing his arms to stay warm in the harsh wind.
"We're going to hear your confession."
"Really? And what am I confessing to?"
"Murder, attempted murder and fraud."
"Or what? You'll behead me while screaming in Arabic?"
"You had three people killed that I know of. You tried to kill me three times, you and your people, and you fucking well watched while someone beat your wife into a coma, just so you could steal your own artwork and cash in on the insurance."
"Pure fantasy," he replied. "All of it. That's all anyone will say."
I turned to Curry. His odd waxy face was expressionless in the dim light. "If he goes down," I said, "you're going down even harder. Are you willing to do all the time for his crimes?"
"You're a civilian," he said. "You have zero authority here. I don't have to say a word to you."
Ryan stepped forward and raked Curry across the face with the barrel of his Glock. Blood spurted from a gash in Curry's cheek as he stumbled backward against the elevator doors, his features twisted into a snarl. A line of blood snaked down the hollow under the cut cheek. With his hairless dome and protruding ears, he looked like a vampire after a messy feast. "You may not have to say anything," Ryan said softly. "But you might want to."
Curry told Ryan to fuck off. I wondered if he had a death wish, or was simply hoping to catch Ryan off guard and make a play for his gun. Ryan looked like he was going to open the other cheek when Avi turned off the recorder and called, "Jonah, whoa. You can't do it this way. What value is a statement if you beat it out of him?"
"Listen to your mouthpiece," Birk said.
"He's here to listen," I said, "not advise. But he's right. There's another way to do this."
"Like what?" Ryan asked.
"Play a game."
"What kind of game?"
"Simon knows. Don't you?"
Birk was hugging himself tighter against the cold. "I don't-"
"Pirates," I said.
Birk said, "No."
"Why not? You invented it. You made the rules."
"Geller, you can't-"
"Turn around," I said.
He didn't move. I grabbed Birk by the shoulders. Marched him to the edge of the metal floor, where it met the same twenty-foot-long, twelve-inch-wide beam he'd made me walk the night before.
"You should have worn runners," I said, looking down at his highly polished loafers. "I don't know what kind of grip you're going to get with those."
"You're crazy," he said. "I'm not-"
"I'm giving you the same choice you gave me. Walk or get shot."
"If you kill me," he said, "you'll have every cop in the city after you."
"Led by Tom Barnett," I said. "He couldn't solve your robbery, what makes you think he'll catch your killer?"
"I'm big in this town! You have no idea how big. I bring billions into the economy. I have friends who are judges, U.S. attorneys. You can't treat me like some common criminal."
"I'm not. I'm treating you like-what was it you called me? — a pissant. A shit stain on the sidewalk? That's what I'm treating you like."
"Francis!" Birk said.
"Yeah?" Curry drawled.
"Fucking do something."
Curry looked at Ryan, who had a gun trained on him. "I'd say my options are limited."
I looked around the site and picked up a fallen bolt, hefted it in my hand. "Look on the bright side," I said to Birk. "The farther out you walk, the harder it's going to be for me to hit you with this."
"You wouldn't."
I held up my hand so he could see the welt between my knuckles. "That's one hit," I said. I pushed up the sleeve of my leather jacket to bare my forearm. "That's another. It hurts too much to get my jacket off so I won't show you the one on my shoulder. That was a hummer. How many do you think you can take before you lose your grip and fall?"
"We can come to some kind of agreement," Birk gasped. He was shivering. Whether from cold or fear, I didn't care. It looked good on him. "I know we can. I negotiate every day."
"There's nothing to negotiate."
"I can compensate you-"
"I'm not the one who needs compensation."
"Then these supposed victims of yours. Their families."
"Which victims?"
"The ones you mentioned. The ones you think I killed."
"The ones you ordered killed."
"No!"
"Walk," I said.
"Please!"
"One foot, then the other."
I cocked my throwing arm. He inched out onto the beam.
"My advice?" I said. "Don't look down."
"Jesus Christ, you're making a mistake."
"Keep going."
"I can pay you, Geller. Millions! Tens of millions."
"It wouldn't be enough. Everything you have wouldn't be enough."
"You can't do this."
"I'm already doing it," I said.
"Francis did it!" he said. "All of it."
"Shut your mouth," Curry said.
"Let's hear it," I said to Birk. I looked at Avi. He turned his recorder on and pointed it at Birk. "Loud and clear."
Birk started in off the beam but I stopped him. "Not yet," I said. "Let's hear it all first."
"All right! Rob Cantor called me," Birk said. "He told me his engineer was making noise about the land. About having to have it all cleaned again. I told him we couldn't. The hole was already dug. The caissons were already sunk. Starting over would have ruined everything."