“C’mon,” she whispered. She turned off the light. She had no plan. She thought she’d take him downstairs, try to locate what was going on, and push him out another window or door and run.
She led him down the stairs. She could hear her hand, sweaty, squeaking and skidding on the banister. Audrey stayed in the bedroom, watching them go.
“Audrey, who’s down here?” she whispered. The dog kept her chin on the rug.
They waited in the dark at the bottom of the stairs. Most of the blinds were closed, but she went cautiously around the living room, leading Todd, peeking out where she could see.
“My hammer’s around here,” Todd whispered. “I can’t find it.”
There was a sliding sound and a small clank from the kitchen. She felt a breeze at the back of her head and a familiar congested feeling of helplessness. “Stay here,” she said. She edged down the hall.
They’d left on the small light over the sink. She crept onto the linoleum. Everything was quiet. She headed for the back door. When she passed the spice cabinet, she sniffed vanilla extract. It always smelled to her like heart, like her love for Todd.
From where she was, it looked like the door was still locked. She slid along the cellar door, trying to get brave enough to get close enough to make sure.
She looked back at Todd. He’d gotten as far as the edge of the kitchen and was squatting all the way down to the floor, the way when he was sick he’d fold himself over on the toilet.
She looked into the sink. Drops of water were falling softly into the brimming bowl.
The cellar door crashed open, knocking her across the room and into the kitchen table. The table went over. She fell on her front on the linoleum. The champagne bottle bounced and rolled into the living room. Todd screamed.
Bruno was standing in the cellarway, holding up her underwear from the car.
“You forgot your things,” he said.
She turned on the floor and tried to tell Todd to run, but he was already running down the hallway. Bruno was over her in one long stride and after him. She got up and chased them. Bruno caught him on the stairs and dragged him down by the legs, Todd’s torso and head bouncing as he came down each riser. Audrey was up and barking in an uproar. Joanie punched and tried to kick, and Bruno let go of one leg and forearmed her across the head so that she pinwheeled over a low chair in the living room and landed on the rug. Something shot through her back.
She pulled herself up on an elbow, stunned. She heard a heavy thump and a high-pitched bark from Audrey. Bruno dragged Todd into the room by the feet and dumped him on the floor beside the coffee table. Then she heard him hustle the dog through the kitchen by the collar and pitch her down the stairs. There was a spectacular crash.
He came back into the living room and stood over them, breathing hard.
Audrey was barking and crying in the basement, and Joanie could hear her dragging herself around, but her voice was getting weaker. Bruno ran his hand over his hair. He flexed his shoulders to fix his shirt. He waited until there was only one solitary bark. Then he turned on the lamp and took a seat on the couch.
Todd was up on his elbows, too. His nose was bleeding. He was crying, but he wiped his face fiercely.
Bruno was looking into her eyes. “‘Sordo come una compana,’” he said. “‘My stone-deaf love.’”
There was a stabbing pain in her shoulder blade when she tried to put weight on her other elbow. She cried out.
“Pretty good tumble you took,” Bruno remarked.
“Fucker,” Todd said. It was the first time she’d heard him use the word.
“Fuckin’ Flyin’ Wallenda,” Bruno said.
“What’re you doing?” she said. “What do you want from us? We don’t have your money.”
He put his hand out flat toward her. “Forget the money. The money’s history. Did I ask about the money? The money’s over. Please. Let’s talk about you.
She went faint and cold and momentarily had the impression she couldn’t make out the color of the rug.
Todd was sniffling and got to his hands and knees. Bruno put a foot on his rear and pushed him over.
“Let me tell you a little secret,” Bruno said. “Tommy was coming to meet us that night. He parked a mile or so up the road. We were far away and had a bad angle on it, but we saw him get hit. It was pretty dark but we saw some of the car. We saw someone get out.”
Joanie remembered the darkened parked car right before the accident. She leaned more on one elbow and pulled her other arm closer to her body to lessen the pain. “Why didn’t you do something?” she asked.
“How did we know what was goin’ down?” Bruno said. “The people whose money we had were already a little upset.”
“You knew then?” Joanie said. “You knew then it was me?”
He shook his head. “Not until I saw you again. Saw the two a you again. You’re not exactly fuckin’ archcriminals.”
He stood up and leaned the brass floor lamp at a forty-five-degree angle between the sofa and the floor. The neck of the lamp assembly was on the arm of the sofa. He kicked through it and the lamp part snapped off. He picked up what was left, the rod and base, and wrapped the electric cord around it. Her insides seized up and then released. “Why didn’t you do something then?” she whispered.
“Fuck you,” Bruno said.
He unscrewed the base and yanked the cord out of the rod. What was left in his hands was about three feet long and hollow and an inch thick.
“Now, what Joey’s up to, I don’t know,” he said. “He was up in Hartford with us, I know that. This I took to be a bad sign. But I’m in deep shit. You understand me? I’m up to my fucking ears.”
“We don’t have the money,” she said.
“Nobody else can have it, Joanie,” he said matter-of-factly. “Where else could it fuckin’ go?”
“Maybe it blew away,” she said. “Maybe the cops took it.”
He snorted.
“Think of it like having a overdue book out of the library,” he said. “Having a real expensive book out of the library. And a real cranky librarian.” He stood up. He hefted the brass rod. “Where is it?”
“We don’t know,” she said.
He brought the rod down on Todd’s backside. Todd howled.
“You son of a bitch,” she screamed. He stepped across Todd and put a foot on her bad shoulder and pinned her. The pain spiraled through her, and she saw lights.
He stood back off her shoulder. When she opened her eyes, Todd was on his side, curled and holding himself.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Bruno asked, like he was talking to a dog that was resisting being house-trained. “What am I gonna do?”
“I can’t believe you hit him like that,” she said. She was whimpering from the pain and the shock.
“Deal with it,” he said.
Rage flooded her and she thought, I’m not sitting still for this, goddamit, and she rocked forward. The pain was blinding. She got more upright, though.
“You think maybe now I should be convinced of your sincerity and I should just go away, maybe with a heartfelt apology. Right?” Bruno said. “Is that what you’d like?”
She looked at him with hatred and nodded.
“That’s very nice,” he said. “That’s nice to know. Now here’s some news for you: I give a fuck.”
“You son of a—” she said, and he hit her again, a baseball swing, in the ribs. He hit Todd across the thigh.
She thought, I have to kill him. He’s going to kill us.