“No, your brothers and their girlfriends are coming. We have no room. Perhaps, next weekend.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer thought the separation had worked because Lilly didn’t protest too much. She had a nagging doubt, but she wouldn’t allow it to surface in her mind.
*************
14. November 1970
Thursday morning, a week before Thanksgiving, Lilly sat in homeroom exchanging indirect barbs with Lydia della Robbia. Eileen was copying math homework and telling Lilly the latest blow-by-blow with her “rotten boyfriend.”
Lilly’s mind was on Lydia’s cousin. Tony was going to see a lawyer today. He and most of his roommates had been busted for possession of marijuana.
The Friday before, Lilly had walked to the gas station to visit Tony and Frank while she waited for Randy to pick her up. Cuando was playing in one of the bars they had lied about playing at, just last spring.
Frank was alone at the station when she arrived. The mechanic bays were dark. Frank told her Tony had been busted. Frank didn’t think he had been bailed out yet. His mother had said he could cool his heels in jail overnight. Tito, Joe, Nick, and Nunzio had taken the day off to drive to Philadelphia to attend the Knicks’ opening game against the 76ers.
Lilly sat down with the phone book and called around to precincts to locate him and to learn the amount of bail. Randy drove Lilly to the bank to close out the account that had been growing with her checks from Shop All and her income from the band.
Lilly had started the account when baby-sitting three years earlier. She thought it was ironic that bail was set at two thousand dollars when her balance was two thousand twenty.
Randy and Lilly then went to the station where Tony was being held. Lilly stayed in the car while Randy went inside. And she imagined the worst as she waited. An eternity later, Randy and Tony came out of the station. Lilly wanted to fly to him. She restrained herself when she saw his enraged expression. They headed back to Tony’s. Tony never spoke but just glared out the window.
They were almost there when Tony said, “I should have known to call you instead of wasting my one call on them.”
Tony got out at his house.
Randy said, “We have to get going.”
“Just a sec.” Lilly got out and followed Tony to the door.
“Lil, I want to be alone.”
“OK. It’s going to be OK. It really is.”
She went back to the car, and she and Randy drove in near silence.
Lilly said, “What he said about the phone call was disappointment. He really doesn’t feel that way.”
That night, all the band could talk about was the bust. Lilly felt scowlingly angry with everyone. She wanted to go to Tony and hold him and make it better. On a more logical plane, she knew it would take more than sex and sympathy to help him out of this.
During some of the songs, the poignant hopefulness of his lyrics hit her, and she felt like crying. She spotted him in the audience during the second set. Everyone went to him at the break.
Lilly sat quietly, listening. Tony was mainly mad at himself. “We were very uncool. Really waiting to get busted.”
She kept quiet because she realized that in the distorted mirror of their relationship, he’d be apt to snap her head off. Lilly was the last to stand up the third and last set. She still couldn’t find the right words.
Tony caught her hand and kissed it. “Thanks, Angel.”
She smiled, kept his hand, kissed it, winked, and turned away.
Now her thoughts were absorbed in the bust and its ramifications. Her mother knew nothing about it. She thought her mother would clamp down and forbid her from seeing him if she knew. Lilly’s mother was missing Ann and Colleen terribly. Instead of drawing Bridget and Lilly closer, the absence of the golden sisters had driven them farther apart. Bridget searched for Colleen and Ann in Lilly, never seeing how Lilly was truly extraordinary in her own way.
Bridget felt almost unneeded with only two seven-years-olds to supervise. She joined a garden club and volunteered at a nursing home.
Another mother at the garden club wanted to take her eldest daughter to the ballet but couldn’t find a sitter. Mrs. O’Dwyer volunteered Lilly. Lilly brought Tony dinner to the gas station en route to babysitting.
Tony’s relief and jubilance were evident immediately.
“The lawyer said it’ll get reduced to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor with a fine of a hundred and fifty. He’ll cost four hundred, but in two years I won’t have any record at all.”
He kissed her and went on, “I’ll have to borrow the money, but I’ll pay you back eventually.”
Lilly looked stricken. “I don’t have it. All I have is seventy-five dollars from last week, but that’s all.”
Tony pulled her closer to him. “Belle, you don’t understand. The five-fifty will come from the bail money, and you’ll get the rest right back. In December, after the court appearance, that is. It’s going to be OK. Remember?” He spoke gently.
“Tony, I love you so.”
She hugged him.
Frank came in from the pumps. “Hey! Pumpkin seed! Tony, there’s a lady at the pumps asking about a valve job.”
Lilly said, “I have to go babysit. See ya.”
Tony kissed her. “Later Lillibelle.”
Frank said, “Lil?” and waited for Tony to go to the pumps. “Thanks for getting him out. For a punk, you’re OK.”
Lilly kissed Frank’s cheek impulsively and left.
Five minutes later, a blue Buick came in for gas. Frank was in the bathroom so Tony filled the tank. He thought the guy was weird, looking around as though he was searching for someone.
The first indication that something was wrong came two hours later. He had his head buried deep into a trunk of a car searching for a short in the electrical system.
“Frank, try the glove compartment. Maybe, it’s the glove compartment light.”
He waited a minute, and then said, “Frank? The glove compartment light? Frank?”
He pulled his head out of the trunk to see his brother staring beyond him.
“Anthony della Robbia?” came the voice behind him.
“Yes.”
He turned, knowing he’d see cops.
“Have you been here all night?”
“Yes, why?”
“I suppose you can verify he was here all night.?”
“Sure. And so could all the customers,” Frank said.
The cop waited, then tried another tactic. “Do you have anyone who’s mad at you?” he asked Tony.
“Mad?” Tony repeated. “What’s this all about?”
The cop ignored the question. “Is there someone who would seek revenge on you?”
“Seek revenge?”
The cop, recognizing how stilted that sounded, said, “Tony, do you have any enemies?”
“No. What is it?”
“Do you know if Lillian Mary O’Dwyer has any enemies?”
“Lilly? What does Lilly have to do with this?’
“Just answer the questions for now. Do you know anyone who would want to hurt Lillian?”
“No, no. Is she OK?”
The detective hesitated. “Miss O’Dwyer appears to have been abducted.”
Tony said in disbelief, “No, no, she’s babysitting. For one of her mother’s friends. Black … no Brown. She was here a couple of hours ago on her way …” He could see the futility of continuing.
“Miss O’Dwyer was abducted from the Browns’ house.”
“Kidnapped? That’s absurd! I mean the O’Dwyers do OK, but they’re not rich enough for kidnappers.”
“She wasn’t kidnapped.”
The detective relented seeing the confusion on Tony’s face. “We got a call. Maybe you’d better sit down.”
Tony sat on a creeper on the floor. “Tell me,” he pleaded.
The detective spoke in low tones. “We got a call at six twenty-three. The caller identified herself as Lilly O’Dwyer. She was
quite upset. She said she was babysitting and someone was breaking in. We were trying to get the address when she screamed, ‘He’s inside.’ A struggle followed with a lot of screaming. One neighbor called and reported a woman screaming. One of the kids she was watching called back. When we got there, a neighbor reported a man carrying an unconscious girl, throwing her in the trunk of a car, and driving off.”
Frank asked, “Why didn’t he stop him?”
“The neighbor is a paraplegic in a wheelchair.”
Tony was silent a minute and then said, “You thought I’d do that to my Lilly?”
“A remark the perpetrator made sounded like he knew her.”
“What did he say? You spoke with him?” Frank asked.
“No, while they were struggling, the phone was off the hook. I think we have to sit on the exact words. They might be evidence.”
Tony sputtered, “What type of car? Which way did he go? Lilly is little. I mean small. She’s five foot three, but she is narrow, she only weighs ninety-five pounds. She’s little.”
Tony turned away. He could feel tears on his cheeks. He wanted to ask about the O’Dwyers, but his voice failed.
The detective said, “We should have come to you for a physical description. Mrs. O’Dwyer said you’ve been dating for more than two years. Try to think of anyone who would want to hurt her.”
Tony shook his head and regained control.
“She’s in a band?” the detective asked.
“They’re playing tonight. Lilly can only play on Fridays and Saturdays. They’re playing in Rye.” He tried to think of everyone he knew.
“I don’t know,” Tony finally said.
“I’m going to nose around,” the detective said.
“I’ll be at the O’Dwyers. What’s your name?”
“Leonard. I’ll be around.”
“Close up,” Tony told Frank.
Mrs. O’Dwyer accepted Tony’s company. She was glad for someone to share the anguish with, even if he couldn’t seem to speak. Mrs. O’Dwyer paced. Tony stood at a black window and stared out.
Daniel and Patrick arrived home from work together, coming in the back door and going straight to the refrigerator.
Patrick walked out of the kitchen and called, “Dan?” He was startled to see Tony in oily coveralls and his mother pacing, saying the rosary.
“Lilly? Did something happen to Lilly?” Patrick asked.
Tony stayed by the window, never acknowledging them. Mrs. O’Dwyer started weeping and told them what had happened. Endless minutes became frightening hours.
Patrick handed Tony a coke. “Here, Tony.”
Tony opened it, held it for a minute, and then crushed the can, not aware of what he was doing.
Mrs. O’Dwyer got a cloth to clean up the spilled soda. Patrick and Daniel brought Tony into the kitchen, but Tony couldn’t talk. He just stood there.
“Excuse me,” he said finally. “I have to walk. I’ll go down to my father’s and shower. Call me if you hear anything.”
He wrote the number and put it on the table. “I’ll be back in a while. Call me if you hear anything.”
Tito and Frank were sitting in the kitchen.
“Pops, I’m here to take a shower.”He hadn’t spoken to his parents since the bust.
“Haven’t they found Lilly?” Frank asked. Tito put a restraining hand on Frank’s arm.
“No. Nothing.”
Tony showered, and then came out, realizing it wasn’t normal for his brother and father to be sitting in the kitchen at four a. m. He walked back in and felt an abrupt end to the conversation. He knew they had been discussing what might have befallen Lilly. Isabel joined them
Tony nodded at them and said, “I’m heading back to the O’Dwyers.”
Isabel stood and said, “She doesn’t deserve this.”
Her shoulders shook. Tito put an arm around her and said to Tony, “She’s been crying since Frank got home.”
Tony put a hand on each of his parents and shook his head. He walked to the door.
He returned to the O’Dwyers and saw an unfamiliar car. He ran in. Leonard was there. Tony could feel his heart beating in his mouth.
“Lilly?” He asked.
“We still don’t know for sure. Can you identify this?” Leonard held up a gold cross on a chain.
“Yes. My father gave it to Lilly in … 1967. She wears it all the time.”
They could see this was news to Mrs. O’Dwyer.
The detective questioned them further. “It’s engraved?”
“Yes, it says ‘Maria.’ It was my grandmother’s.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer exclaimed, “Your father gave his mother’s gold cross to a thirteen-year-old girl? Why?”
“You’d have to ask my father or Lilly.” Tony addressed Leonard, “Where did you get it?”
“We haven’t found her, but we’ve found where he had her. I think you should prepare for the worst …” He let that hang in the air. “If she is alive, she is certainly very, very seriously injured. We also found a long blonde braid.”
“She had her braid tied with leather strings with beads on them. So they tinkled when she walked,” Tony supplied. Then he said, “Where was it?”
“In an abandoned tenement on Warburton Avenue.”
“How did you find it?” Tony felt as though he were pulling teeth.
“She went through a window. Someone from a neighboring building called. Thought it was a suicide. By the time we got there, he had thrown her in the trunk again and was gone.”
Tony asked, “What floor did she fall from?”
“The third,” Leonard grunted.
Tony sucked in his breath. “Why Lilly? Do you think he picked her out beforehand?”
“Yes. But it’s possible he was looking for anyone, was cruising, spotted her, and followed her. It’s possible we’ll never know. It’s possible we’ll never find her.”
Patrick said, “You think he killed her? Why wouldn’t he leave her there?”
“Murder is harder to prove without a body,” Tony speculated. Then he said adamantly, “She’s not dead. Lilly is alive.”
Leonard left. They relocated for the next phase of waiting. Daniel and his mother went to the kitchen. Patrick and Tony stayed in the parlor. Throughout the course of the evening, Tony had run the gamut of emotions, relief at the lawyer’s, then worry, desolation, fear, betrayal, and intense love. Tony felt drained. Patrick was silently grateful Lilly had had a chance for love.
**********
Patrick thought back to one September morning. Through some other Brighton students, Patrick had met Tony’s roommate Steve. On this morning, when Lilly’s mother was in East Hampton for the weekend, he had visited the house where Tony and Steve lived. Lilly, wearing only Tony’s tee shirt, had come face-to-face with her brother as she was coming out of the bathroom.
“Nice dress, Lillian.”
“Patrick? Oh Patrick …,” Lilly faltered.
“Yes, it’s me, and you’re Lillian. Now what are you doing here?” He asked sardonically.
Tony came up behind Patrick, “I live here.”
“I see. Cozy. Eileen O’Rielly, how you have grown! Lilly, you are staying at the O’Rielly’s this weekend. Is this the O’Rielly’s?”
“Patrick, don’t be like that. You’ve proven your point,” Lilly said.
Steve came upstairs. “Patrick, this is my roommate, Tony, and his girl, Lilly. She’s in a band.”
“We’ve met.”
They stayed there.
Tony said, “I have to go to work.”
Patrick answered, “I’ll ride with you.”
Lilly followed Tony back to his room. “Can you call me from work and tell me what he has to say?”
“Sure. We’ll talk. It’ll pass,” Tony assured her.
“The reason you’re talking that bravely is because you have six inches on him.”
He leaned down to kiss her and pressed the front of his jeans to her belly. “I’
ve got six inches on you too.”
Patrick was silent in the car at first and then said, “I guess it’s OK. She’s my little sister. Since my father died, I’ve felt responsible. I know you two have been together forever. I know you aren’t using her.” He laughed a little, “Thank God this is 1970. Ten years ago, I’d have been obligated to punch you, and you would have killed me.”
“No, I wouldn’t have. I would have fallen.”
They both laughed, and Patrick lit a joint and passed it to Tony.
“I’m going to marry her when she graduates.”
“I believe it.”
***************
Patrick and Daniel got ready for school at seven. They left as the twins came downstairs. Francine stopped on the stairs when she saw Tony.
Kelly was curious, “Hi, Tony.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer came to them. “Francine, Kelly, Lillian has been in an accident.”
Francine descended the remaining stairs and said thoughtfully, “Was the man drunk?”
“What man?” Mrs. O’Dwyer asked.
“The man who killed her with a window. Was he a drunk driver?”
“Kelly, what did you hear?” Mrs. O’Dwyer asked worriedly.
Kelly wore a serious expression, “A man came to the house in the middle of the night and said Lilly went through a window.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer said, “Yes, a windshield. Go get dressed for school.”
She turned to Tony. “Would you like breakfast or coffee? I have to make breakfast.”
“Coffee would be nice.”
They went to the kitchen. Mrs. O’Dwyer pulled out two bowls, spoons, and cereal, and then she sat down and cried. The twins came back and didn’t seem to notice their mother in tears.
Kelly said, “Didn’t everyone stay home from school when Brian died?”
“Lilly’s not dead,” Tony said, pouring their cereal and milk.
“Juice?” Kelly asked.
“Sure.”
Tony went to the refrigerator, poured Kelly the last glass, got a can from the freezer, and made juice for Francine.
“Is it time to leave for school? Do you need lunches?” Tony asked them.
“Mommy makes them after dinner.”
Francine called from the parlor, “I need help with my barrettes.”
A Yonkers Kinda Girl Page 15