Lullaby Town (1992) (34 page)

I got in. Freddie was in the front seat, driving. Vito was in back, alone. Vito said, "I'm capo de tutti capo. You know what that means?"

"You're Marlon Brando."

Vito smiled, but there was something hard and tired in it. The weight of responsibility. "Yeah. You killed a lot of our guys."

"Charlie's people."

"Some of the capos, they don't like it. They think something should be done."

"What do you think?" Out the window, past Vito, I could see Joe Pike moving closer, talking to a guy who was selling Middle Eastern food from a little cart.

Vito looked out the window but saw only people on the street. "I think Charlie came very close to bringing dishonor to the family. He was my nephew, my blood, but Sal was my brother. Sal knew how a man acts. You behaved like a man behaves. These guys, they talk about California and granola and Disneyland, I say, Christ, he put ten of our guys in the ground. If he was Sicilian, I'd kiss him on the mouth. He could be a made guy."

"What about Earen Lloyd?"

Vito turned back and looked at me. He said, "Sal DeLuca was capo de tutti capos, and when he spoke, he spoke for the family. The DeLucas honor their word. CapisceT

"Charlie wouldn't."

"Charlie's dead."

I nodded.

"She's out. She will never be seen by DeLuca family eyes again. The DeLuca family will always honor that."

He put out his hand and we shook. When we shook, he squeezed my hand hard, so hard that it cut off the blood. More than one rock in the family. He said, 'The agreement works both ways. Does the woman know that?"

"Yes."

"D,oes her husband? The movie guy?" Peter Alan Nelsen, the movie guy.

"Yes. I'll be responsible for them."

He nodded. "That's right. You will. For the rest of your life."

He let go of my hand and I got out of the limousine and walked across the street. Joe Pike and I went back to the hotel, called Karen Lloyd at her bank, and told her what Vito DeLuca had said. We checked out that afternoon.

October moved into November, and three weeks later, on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, I was on my deck grilling salmon steaks and Japanese eggplant for Cindy, the beauty supply distributor, and Joe Pike and another woman named Ellen Lang. Ellen Lang had been a client once, several years ago, and since then she and Joe Pike have seen each other, time to time. She had a deep tan, and when she laughed there were dimples high on her cheeks. Laughter came easier to her now than in that earlier time.

Joe Pike and Cindy and Ellen Lang were inside, making salad and garlic bread and mint tea, when the phone rang. Someone inside answered it, and Ellen Lang came out and said, "There's a call for you. It's Peter Alan Nelsen. The director."

I said, "Wow. Maybe this is my big break."

She said, "Oh, you."

Ellen stayed with the salmon and I went inside and took it in the kitchen. On the counter next to the sink, Pike sliced the long French bread and put it on a tray while Cindy watched him. Cindy had soft auburn hair and expressive brown eyes. I liked watching her watch Pike's precise moves.

Peter said, 'They're coming out to visit."

"Karen and Toby?"

"Yeah. He's got a week off for Thanksgiving and I asked'm to come out."

"Great." I already knew, because Karen had called and told me.

"She doesn't want him traveling alone, so she's coming, too."

"Even better."

"She's not coming by herself. She's bringing some guy." She had also told me that.

"She's got a life, Peter. That's a good thing. Why don't you get a date and the four of you can go out one night. Leave Toby with me."

"I know. I know." He didn't say anything for a little bit. "Listen, when they're out, I'm gonna bring Toby to the set, take'm to Disneyland, that kind of thing. You think you could sorta be around some of the time? At first."

Pike finished cutting the garlic bread and Cindy took it outside. She wriggled her eyebrows as she passed and gave me a yum-yum smile. She smelled of daisies. Yum, all right. "Sure, Peter. Not the whole time. But if you need me around at first, sure."

"Hey, thanks. I really appreciate that. I really do."

He sounded relieved. "I'm out at the Malibu house. You wanna come out?"

"I've got company."

"Another time, okay? You ever wanna come out, you don't even have to call. Just come."

"Sure." Elvis Cole, detective to the stars.

I hung up and Pike said, "What's up?"

"Karen and Toby are coming out and he's scared. Growing up is a scary time."

"He asks you a lot. Maybe he should try growing up without you."

"He calls me less now than he once did. He'll call me less still. He's getting there."

Pike nodded. "Yeah. I guess he is. Karen getting any chaff from the DeLucas?"

"Vito's been good at his word. All of the DeLuca accounts through the First Chelam Bank have been collapsed and the funds in the Barbados accounts have mysteriously vanished."

"So she's free."

"Yes. She's as free as you can be when you've got the memories she has, but, like Peter, she's getting there, too."

Outside, Ellen Lang moved the fish to the side so it wouldn't overcook and Cindy put the garlic bread in the center of the grill. Pike washed off a yellow pepper, cored it in the sink, then sliced it into thin rings. Each ring was uniform, no thicker or thinner than any other ring. When the pepper was cut, he added the rings to the large salad that had already been built and we took it out to the deck.

Ellen Lang says that if you stand on my deck and close your eyes, with a breeze coming up the canyon to blow across your face, it's easy to imagine that you're flying free through the sky, over the city with Tinkerbell and Mark and Wendy, off to Never Land to find the lost boys.

I haven't told her, but I've always thought that, too.

ABOUT THE AUTHORwas born in Louisiana but now lives in the Santa Monica mountains with his family and an Akita guard dog. He is the author of the Elvis Cole novels, including Free Fall, Stalking the Angel, Lullaby Town, L. A. Requiem, and Demolition Angel. His first novel, The Monkey's Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar and Shamus Awards.

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