Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum 8)

“He would have killed me before I got to testify. Or worse, he might have done something to Annie. The legal system moves too slow with a man like Abruzzi.”

“Why is he after you now?” Ranger had already told me the answer, but I wanted to hear it from Evelyn.

"Abruzzi is a war nut. He plays war games. And he collects medals and things. And he had one medal that he kept on his desk. I guess it was his favorite medal because it belonged to Napoleon.

“Anyway, when Steven and I got divorced the court gave Steven visitation rights. He got Annie every Saturday. A couple weeks ago Abruzzi had a birthday party at his house for his daughter, and he demanded that Steven bring Annie.”

“Was Annie friends with Abruzzi's daughter?”

"No. It was just Abruzzi's way of asserting his power. He's always doing things like that. He calls the people around him his troops. And they have to treat him like the Godfather or Napoleon or some big general. So he gave this party for his daughter and the troops were all supposed to attend with their kids.

“Steven was considered one of the troops. He lost the bar to Abruzzi, and it was like Abruzzi owned him after that. Steven didn't like losing the bar, but I think he liked belonging to Abruzzi's family. Made him feel like a big shot to be associated with someone everyone was afraid of.”

Until he got sawed in half.

“Anyway, while the party was going on, Annie wandered into Abruzzi's office, spotted the medal on Abruzzi's desk, and took it back to the party to show the rest of the children. No one paid much attention and, somehow, the medal got stuffed into Annie's pocket. And she brought it home.”

There was a second boarding call and from the corner of my eye I could see Ranger standing at a distance, watching.

“Keep going,” I said. “There's still time.”

“As soon as I saw the medal I knew what it was.”

“Your ticket out?”

"Yes. As long as I was in Trenton, Abruzzi would own Annie and me. And I had no money to leave. No job skills. And worse, there was the divorce agreement. But the medal was worth a lot of money. Abruzzi used to brag about it all the time.

“So I packed up and left. I was out of the house an hour after the medal walked in. I went to Dotty for help because I didn't know where else to go. Until I sold the medal I didn't have any money.”

“Unfortunately, it takes time to sell a medal like that,” Dotty said. “And it had to be done quietly.”

A tear slid down Evelyn's cheek. “I made a mess of it for Dotty. Now she's dragged into it and can't get out.”

Dotty was keeping watch over the pack of kids. “It'll work out okay,” she said. But she didn't look like she believed it.

“What about the pictures Annie drew in her pad?” I asked. “They were pictures of people getting shot. I thought maybe she witnessed a murder.”

“If you look more closely you'll see the men are wearing medals. She drew the pictures while I was packing. Everyone who came into contact with Abruzzi, even children, knew about war and killing and medals. It was an obsession.”

I suddenly felt very defeated. There was nothing here for me. No witness to a murder. No one who could help remove Abruzzi from my life.

“We have a buyer waiting for us in Miami,” Dotty said. “I sold my car to get these tickets.”

“Can you trust this buyer?”

“He seems to be okay. And I have a friend meeting us at the airport. He's a pretty sharp guy, and he's going to oversee the transaction. I think the transaction is pretty simple. We hand over the medal. Some expert examines it. And Evelyn gets a suitcase filled with money.”

“Then what?”

“We'll probably have to stay hidden. Start a new life somewhere. If Abruzzi gets caught or killed, we can come home.”

I had no reason to detain them. I thought they'd made some bad choices, but who was I to judge? “Good luck,” I said. “Keep in touch. And call Mabel. She worries about you.”

Evelyn jumped up and hugged me. Dotty gathered the kids together, and they all toddled off to Miami.

Ranger came over and slung an arm around me. “They told you a sob story, didn't they?”

“Yep.”