“So would I.”
Stellini showed a hurt look on his expansive face. “You think I’m lying to you about this?”
Petrenko took a last sip of his espresso before placing the cup on the table. When he looked back up at Stellini there was nothing at all human left in his eyes. “I know the money stolen from me is lost,” he said. “But I need the other items returned.”
“The coglionis on this asshole,” one of the wise guys said. “He’s going to come here and call you a liar.”
Stellini raised a hand to shut the man up. “I don’t think he’s saying that. The guy’s upset, and you know, who can blame him?” Then to Petrenko, “I can’t promise anything, but if you want I can ask around, see if I find anything. How’s that sound?”
Stony-faced, Petrenko asked what this would cost him.
“Twenty grand,” Stellini said. “I’m gonna have to spread some money around, and I’ll be lucky to make a nickel out of this, if you understand what I’m saying. But I wanta do this ’cause I’m happy you came to me first, especially under the circumstances. As I said, I can’t make any promises. Right now I don’t got a fuckin’ clue who did this.”
Petrenko shrugged. “Twenty thousand, okay.”
“Now, as I’m saying, I can’t promise nothin’. But I’ll do the best I can.”
Petrenko leaned back in his chair, his eyes unblinking while he stared at Stellini. “I need those items,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I heard you. Just don’t expect any miracles.”
“If I don’t get them this way, I will have to try another.”
“I hope that’s not a threat,” Stellini said. He frowned, popped a couple more chocolate malt balls into his mouth. “So far we’ve left you alone, and I gotta tell you, I got friends who ain’t too happy about that. We know you got a nice thing going, but as far as I’m concerned, the world’s big enough for all of us, right? So we’ve been nice and kept out of your business. And now I’m going out of my way to help you out. So a little respect, capisce?”
Petrenko told him curtly that he appreciated his help.
“That’s all I wanted to hear. I’ll try my best to find out who knocked over that bank. When I find out, you’ll find out. And forget about Ray. The FBI, they’re not as smart as they think. Their frame’s not going to hold. A few days, tops, Ray’s gonna be exonerated.”
Petrenko hoped he was right. At that moment he’d give anything to have Raymond Lombardo out of custody and in his hands.
Dan had to drive around the backwoods of New Hampshire for twenty minutes before he found a drug store. After buying aspirin, antiseptic, gauze and bandage tape, he returned to the car to find Shrini with his sneaker off and in the process of removing a blood-filled sock. His friend looked pale and was sweating badly. Resting for a moment, Shrini swallowed a handful of aspirin. Then, moving gingerly, he finished taking off the sock.
The good news: the bullet had gone through his foot and was found rolling around in his sneaker. The bad news: his foot was a mess.
“Ow, ow,” Shrini cried while Dan tried to clean the wound with antiseptic. The bullet had hit Shrini under his ankle and the wound was still bleeding. Since Dan didn’t know what else to do, he pushed some gauze against the wound and wrapped it tight with tape. As he applied pressure, Shrini clenched his teeth hard enough that Dan could hear them grind.
“I am going to kill your friend,” Shrini forced out, tears streaming down his face.
“Come on, don’t talk like that.”
“You are joking, right?”
“We’re not killers.”
“After what he did to me, I will gladly kill him.”
Shrini squeezed his eyes shut. “Ow, ow,” he cried. “I think that bullet broke bones in my foot.”
Dan stared at him, frozen, with no idea what to do. Finally, he started the car. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he said.
For the next half hour the only sound as they drove was Shrini moaning every few minutes.
“I can’t drive you to a hospital,” Dan said at last. “I’m already connected to the bank because of the security system. If I get connected to this, everything could blow up on us. Do you think you can wait until we get back and drive yourself?”
Shrini nodded, his teeth clenched tight.
“How are you going to explain this?”
Showing a bitter smile, he said, “I am going to tell the police that your friend shot me.”
“What?”
“I won’t give them his name. But I will describe him and give them his license plate number. I will tell them he shot me after a traffic dispute.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not? The police will arrest him. Then we can break into his house and take back our money.” Shrini stopped for a moment, his breathing labored. When he could, he added, “We will teach your peacock friend a lesson he’ll never forget.”
“Shrini, that paranoid son of a bitch probably has the money so well hidden we’d never find it.”
“I am willing to take that chance.”
Dan thought about the idea, shook his head. “He’d take us down with him.”
“You’re the one being paranoid now.”
“I don’t think so. I know Joel. He’d drag us all to death row just to make a point.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You can’t send the police after him,” Dan said. As he thought about the consequences of Shrini doing that his lower back went into spasm, the pain sucking his breath away. For a long moment he couldn’t breathe in air. When the spasm subsided, he saw his knuckles were bone-white as he gripped the wheel.
“Dude,” Shrini said, laughing weakly, “you’re sweating worse than me.”
Dan pulled over. He took several aspirin and chewed them slowly. When he trusted himself to drive again, he pulled the car back on to the road.
“We never should have robbed that bank,” Dan said.
“Believe me, our mistake wasn’t robbing that bank. It was inviting Gordon and that peacock along.”
Dan was shaking his head. “We shouldn’t have done it, Shrini. We fucked up. The best thing we can do now is forget about the bank and move forward the best we can. I told you my business idea. Let’s just do it and make some money together.” Hesitating, he added, “I’ll give you half of the thirty-two grand I was paid.”
“No way, dude. We robbed that bank and I’m getting my share.” Shrini grimaced as a jolt of pain shot through him. His voice tight, he added, “I am not letting your peacock friend get away with this.”
“Jesus Christ, Shrini, can’t you see how fucking pointless this is? Two people are already dead-”
“Three people. You forgot he killed his pig-friend also.”
“Goddamn it, you were shot through the foot. Isn’t that enough? When’s this going to be over?”
“Ask your friend.”
“Come on, man, if we try my business idea, we might end up making more money than we took in the robbery.”
“That is not the money I want. Believe me, I am going to get my cut, with or without your help.”
Dan turned and saw the determination and anger set in Shrini’s face. There was no point trying to talk sense into him, at least not now.
When they were a few miles from Shrini’s apartment complex, Dan asked Shrini to give him a week. “Don’t send the cops after Joel, okay? Just give me that time to figure something out.”
Shrini was shaking his head.
“Please, just one week. That’s all I’m asking. Afterwards do whatever you want.”
Reluctantly, Shrini agreed. “One week,” he said. “After that I’m taking care of matters my own way.”
Dan swung into the apartment complex, pulled up alongside Shrini’s Civic and helped Shrini into it. After Shrini drove off, Dan noticed blood stains on the passenger floor mat and seat. The leather interior had been treated so he should be able to clean the blood off the seat, but he was going to have to buy a new floor mat and hope Carol wouldn’t notice. If she did, there would be the inevitable questions and yet more lies. That was the least of his problems though.
Even given a week, or a year for that matter, he couldn’t see how he was going to figure out anything as far as Joel and Shrini went.