“Baby’s okay, I guess,” Chase added. “I tune her out when she talks.” He said a silent, thankful prayer that his wife and baby were enormously healthy.
The waitress arrived. Chase grabbed his glass and gulped.
“And how are you?” Dick asked coolly.
“I’ve been better.” Chase swallowed the rest of the whiskey, savoring the sweet taste.
There was a long silence.
“If I’m wrong, feel free to correct me. I’m getting the impression your life isn’t the Norman Rockwell painting I saw during my visit,” Dick said with a pompous chin tilt.
Chase cleared his throat. “Look, don’t get me wrong.” He exhaled a deep breath and leaned in closer. “I want the baby and Laura to get through the delivery okay, but the woman’s getting on my nerves.”
“Who?”
“Who?” Chase signaled the waitress, lifting his empty glass for another drink. “Laura. My wife. She’s on me about my drinking. Can’t enjoy a good Irish whiskey without her nagging.”
“Laura a nag? She hardly talks,” Dick said casually.
His father played it cool. Chase had figured as much.
“You haven’t lived with her. She can talk. Nonstop. Her whining voice grates on my nerves,” Chase mumbled the deceit.
There was a long pause. “Dad.” Chase ran his fingers through his hair, and put on his best hangdog grin. “You were right.” His eyes lowered in a humble gaze. “I mean in the beginning, I enjoyed it. Being Laura’s hero. Gratitude got me great sex. I was pissing you off. It was fun.”
Dick sat patiently, waiting like a priest in a darkened confessional for the next declaration of sin.
The waitress arrived with her tray. Chase grabbed his glass, took a mouthful, and swallowed hard.
“She tells me how a husband and father should behave,” Chase said. “Reminding me I didn’t have the best example. She eats up the money. She wants twenty-five thousand dollars to hold a spot at some fancy preschool. The kid isn’t even born yet.”
Chase had shown Laura an Internet article on the school’s two-year wait list. The absurdity had them laughing for an hour. At this moment, Chase ached to hear Laura’s animated laugh.
“I want out.” Chase snickered. “I want my life back.”
Dick sat back and studied his son.
“Chase, what do you want from me?”
“Help me out of this marriage. I’ll stay with her until after the baby’s born, but that’s it. It’ll cost me, though. She knows how to go through the cash,” Chase repeated, aware of how fondly Dick related to money. “Besides bugging me about the preschool, I withdrew fifty thousand yesterday to put down on a house.”
Chase kept his eyes downcast, focused on his glass like a remorseful little boy. Saunders’ plan called for Chase to crawl with his tail between his legs, hat in hand, and beg to be let back into the fold, the usual humiliating drill. To go along with the set-up, the agent had Chase withdraw the money from the account held in both Chase’s name and his father’s. The money was transferred into a special, dummy account used by Saunders for undercover purposes.
“What does your precious Aunt Lonnie say?” Dick’s tone displayed his distaste for his late wife’s sister. “I’m sure you confided your problems to her.”
“She said pregnancy does strange things to women. Plays with their hormones. Laura will be fine after the baby’s born. Only Aunt Lonnie doesn’t know how Laura and I came together,” he lied. “I haven’t a clue what Laura’s like not pregnant. She could be worse.”
Dick raised an eyebrow. “Chase, I’m at a loss,” he said, his tone victorious. “This is an extreme U-turn. You pleaded with me to be a family. Laura, the baby, you, and me.”
“I was naïve,” he said, as if ashamed.
“Unless I’m there guiding you, you generally are.”
Chase choked back his indignation and remained on track. “I’m happy to give her whatever she wants and adios,” he continued. “We’re not even having sex anymore.” He pursed his lips. “She’s either too tired, or too uncomfortable. Besides, a protruding stomach is not sexy. She watches me like a hawk. I can’t even go get laid somewhere else.”
Chase managed not to wince. Insulting Laura was like having a tooth pulled without novocaine.
“Where does she think you are?”
“I told her I needed a part for the boat,” Chase replied. “A part I could only get in Magic Lake.”
Dick swallowed some Scotch. He let the silence be long and painful, his features half exasperated, half sorrowful. Finally, he let out a sigh.
“Chase, sometimes you’re too much your mother’s son. I tried like hell to deter those noble qualities, but apparently I wasn’t successful,” Dick said. “You took one look at Laura in a distasteful predicament, you felt sorry, and she had you eating out of her hands.” He added crudely, “or some other body part.”
“Everything seemed like a good idea at the time.” Chase ignored the ill-mannered comment, keeping his temper in check. Distasteful predicament? Is that what his father called a woman being assaulted?
Dick continued. “Clerking in the public defender’s office, where you met every inappropriate lowlife ever created, seemed like a good idea, also.”
Chase shrugged uneasily.
“I told you from the beginning not to get involved with Laura, let it be, and you didn’t listen.”
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Chase said timidly.
“First of all, when you make a woman your wife, you need to show her who’s in charge, even if you have to smack her around to get your point across.” With a smug tilt of his lips, Dick sat back. “Take it from me, women have to be taught who’s the boss.”
By some miracle, every splinter of control within Chase remained fixed. His eyes studied his whiskey, and his only reaction was his heart sinking to the pit of his stomach. Dick had confirmed what Lonnie had always insisted. The man had hit Michelle Donovan.
“Can you help me, Dad?” Chase muttered.
“Do what?”
Chase lifted his eyes. “Give me the money to send Laura on her way.”
Dick’s attention sharpened. “What about the baby?”
“You can go visit on my day. I’m not leaving the blackjack table to change a dirty diaper. Besides, you’re the one who wanted a grandson.” Tossing his head back, Chase finished his drink. “I’m not cut out for fatherhood. Do you know where the hell I have to go next week? Two freaking Saturdays?”
“No.”
“La-something classes.” Chase laughed. “I have to waste two Saturdays while Laura learns to breathe.” He sucked in a deep, disgusted breath and exhaled. Another lie. Chase was honestly looking forward to Lamaze classes. He had made their reservation.
“I have nothing against the woman,” he said. “I’m past wanting to spend my life with her, or split two A.M. feedings.” He bit the inside of his cheek, restraining his zeal. Changing, feeding, holding, rocking this baby and others he and his wife had talked of having, before growing old together excited Chase beyond words.
“I’m telling you. No amount of sex, good or otherwise, is worth this crap.”
“What will it take to get rid of her?”
Chase put his elbow on the table and leaned his chin on a closed fist. “She sees I’m unhappy. Besides a healthy chunk of actual change, she wants a quarter of the warehouse. If she doesn’t get it, she’s going to the authorities about the party you tossed on my boat, and something else she said she saw.”
Dick’s solid frame went rigid. “What did she see?”
“Beats me.” Chase frowned as if the inquiry was a nuisance and not solving his problem. “She’s hedgy. I figure she’s full of hot air,” he said with casual ease. “Don’t worry. When she started her threats, I tossed the
evidence, knife, her dress and whatever else.” Not true. Chase, with Laura’s permission, had given Saunders the secured bags. “With no physical evidence, who will believe her almost a year after the fact?”
“Chase … ” Dick’s tone was guarded.
Chase went on. “What’s left is what she claims she saw.” He straightened his body, stretching out imaginary kinks. “Like I said, she’s full of it. There was nothing to see, Laura doesn’t know diddly, and that’s why those FBI people let her go.”
Dick was quiet. Chase, in keeping with his role, paid his empty glass more mind than his father.
“Chase, to give Laura any part of the business involves accountants and lawyers,” Dick said warily.
Chase considered. “I am obligated to provide for my kid.”
“I’ll ask you again. Are you sure the child is yours?”
“Pretty sure,” Chase said, sounding defeated. “We can do a paternity test once the baby’s born. I looked into it. To do one before isn’t good for the baby.” He explained what was involved, Internet information supplied for this meeting.
“We can put a small percentage in trust,” Chase suggested. “Laura’s paws get nowhere near it.”
“That still involves people examining the business.”
“A bean counter. So what?”
Dick was direct. “Chase, I can’t have anyone scrutinizing the business. Do you understand?”
“Why not?”
Dick didn’t answer.
Chase pursed his lips. “Dad, I’m not in the mood.” He waited for a response. When none came, Chase’s scowl deepened. “Tell me those agents aren’t still buzzing around.”
Dick took a long gulp from his glass.
“Ah, damn it, Dad,” Chase shouted.
“Keep your voice down,” Dick warned.
“Well, it figures. Because you got yourself involved in some stupid shit, I’m stuck with a wife.”
“Don’t blame your troubles on me, young man. If you’re stuck with a wife, it’s because you followed your childish, rebellious streak,” Dick said hotly.
Chase took a few minutes, pretending discomfort from the dressing-down.
Chase let out a mournful moan. “Damn. I can’t believe I’m in this mess.”
Dick was quiet for a few minutes, then spoke. “Chase, what does Laura claim she saw?”
“You and Oliver Daniels. Some other guys. Hovering, whispering. Claims her FBI friends will be interested. I tuned her out.”
“Chase,” Dick muttered. “Chase, you can be so gullible.”
“What?” He paused. “All this time I thought Laura was blowing smoke. Aggravating me.” Raising an eyebrow, Chase added, “you telling me, she wasn’t?”
There was a long silence. “We need to talk,” Dick said.
“Will it help me out?” Chase knew Dick expected his son to only be thinking of his own quandary.
Dick spoke as if he hadn’t heard Chase. “Oliver came to me. A one-time favor that didn’t turn out to be one-time.”
“Is this the place to talk, Dad?”
Dick’s eyes shifted around. Their spot was secluded. “We’re fine. Only keep your voice down.”
“What’s going on?”
Again, another silence on Dick’s part, and Chase waited.
“For years I knew Oliver was involved with illegal drugs,” Dick said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“How many years? What kind?” Chase asked, as if only slightly interested.
“Many years. Cocaine.” More silence, then Dick went on. “He’s my friend. A good friend. Several times the warehouse was almost down the crapper, like when Artie moved into the next store. Oliver kept us afloat.”
Chase silently recalled when Artie Colina bought the vacant warehouse next to the Donovans. The business had been a fish market and was great for the Donovans’ produce business. But Colina turned it into another produce market, selling his goods at much lower prices. After a year, Dick bought out Colina and merged the two warehouses.
“I didn’t know we were in trouble,” Chase said, his disbelief sincere. “When you bought Artie’s warehouse, I only noticed more money coming in.”
“I never involved you in business problems. You were in school. Your mother had recently died. The business was my responsibility.” Dick frowned. “I worried, though. Thought I might have to pull you from that pricey, fancy university, and send you to a state college. I wasn’t about to do that.”
Chase said nothing. Of course, a state college wasn’t adequate for Dick Donovan’s son.
“So what happened?”
“Oliver did more than loan me money. He made sure Artie sold. Oliver knows people. If you get my drift.”
Chase got the drift very well. Coercion, bullying — Daniels was good at intimidation — he forced Artie to sell. “Was that the only time you borrowed from Daniels?” Chase asked.
“No, many times. Never any questions or hesitation, and we’re not just talking the business, Chase,” Dick said with a difficult sigh. “Certain times it was me. I don’t have your flare at the blackjack table. As I get older, it costs more for a pretty little trophy holding my arm and spreading her legs.”
The warehouse, Dick’s status within the trade, the businessman’s association, having a gorgeous — and lately, much younger — woman, his envied lifestyle, motivated the man.
“I tried to get money the legit way, borrow from the bank,” Dick said. “Turned down every time. Assets over-extended. You and I spend more than the warehouse makes.”
Chase decided another round of drinks, this time a double for each, was needed and signaled the waitress. Juke box jazz hummed, the men not resuming their conversation until after the fresh glasses were delivered.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Chase, you didn’t even notice the accounts dwindling. You handle money worse than I do,” Dick said with a light laugh.
Chase realized this father’s actions were partially due to Chase’s spending. He had never cared where money came from, as long as it was there.
His private account from his gambling winnings had remained untouched over the years. Chase hadn’t tapped it until these last few months with Laura, to pay for their excursion down the Atlantic, to secure their wedding, to reimburse his aunt for their expenses.
Had his father approached Chase, the money would have been available.
“I wish you’d told me, Dad,” Chase said gently.
“Maybe if we were more like those TV fathers and sons.” Dick smiled. “When you were growing up, I remember you always watching Bonanza reruns.”
“I liked the horses.”
Dick arched an eyebrow. “Oh, was that it? I thought you wished I was more like Ben Cartwright to your Little Joe.”
“You’re up to your eyeballs in debt. Can’t get a second mortgage.” The house in the Philadelphia suburbs was worth nearly two million dollars. “What happened?”
“All the money Oliver had loaned me over the years didn’t come through his legit businesses, but from the drugs.” Dick took a mouthful from his glass, swallowed hard, and went on. “He had used couriers, traveling by plane, exchanging the drugs and money. Only after nine-eleven, the security got tighter, searches weren’t so random anymore, and the damn customs dogs got nosier. Oliver was looking for a new route.”
“I see.” Chase had stepped on a tightrope with his method of eliciting details. He envisioned Saunders holding his breath and turning blue, afraid Chase would make a mistake.
“Oliver came up with a plan,” Dick said. “He would special order fruit. Packed with the fruit would be the drugs. Everything would be shipped to the warehouse, picked up by Oliver, and I would receive a share of the profits.”
“Dad! Drug
s? How many times did you lecture me? Since grammar school?” Chase regarded the one sincere, nurturing fatherly act Dick had fostered.
“I know, Chase. I’m not so lacking in a paternal nature. Plus, with you having a baby, I’ve stopped to consider someone peddling that shit to my grandson.”
The older man let out a low breath, almost as if disgusted with himself. “The money was damn good, Chase. When Oliver came to me again, I couldn’t say no. It became a regular thing.”
“Oh, Dad,” Chase muttered.
Maybe it was Chase’s own guilt that he had spent money as foolishly and rapidly as his father. Maybe it was compassion for a man who had been seduced, and couldn’t refuse the lure of easy money. Maybe it was hearing Dick Donovan refer to a grandson in such an adoring tone. Whatever it was that started a rip through Chase’s soul, he knew he had to help his father. The how appeared an entirely different story.
“Laura. She hadn’t a clue what she had observed,” Dick said. “She was roaming the loading dock for packing slips. Had I known she was working late,” his voice drifted off. “She saw my partners. They will go to any lengths not to be identified.”
Legalities dictated the information come freely. Chase, choosing to nurse this drink, felt as if he sat on Laura’s knitting basket with both needles sticking upwards.
“I sanctioned Laura’s fate. I had no choice.” His voice was reserved. “I was in deep. My partners were unbendable. The bawdy intentions before they got rid of her, a bonus to those doing the job.”
Chase managed not to suffocate on the only words legally permitted. “Dad, I don’t know what to say.”
“Did Laura tell you specifics with the FBI?”
Chase gave the response Saunders had dictated. “They asked about invoicing procedures. She had no idea why they asked, but the FBI snooping scared her. That’s why she resigned.”
“When she resigned, my partners panicked,” Dick said. “I insisted Laura was no threat. I was out-voted.”
Magic Moment Page 23