Page 93 of Tommy
That’s all I need.
“You might be after the money, but I don’t think it was that when you picked her, was it?” I’m trying to work through this as I talk. He doesn’t look at me, giving me clues that I’m on the right path.
“It was you, wasn’t it? The guy in the fedora.”
He says nothing. But he doesn’t need to.
“You used to wear one in the winter. Thought it made you look cool. Some movie bullshit. But Bobby said you looked ridiculous, and you stopped wearing it.”
He glances at me and, surprisingly, holds my eye. I’m actually a bit impressed that he’s not looking away like he did before, showing his guilt. “So what if I did kill them? They were stealing from the company, weren’t they? Isn’t that what Danny found?”
He knows that’s what we found. Which only makes me question him more. Did he plant the details for that too? To cover up the murders or that he’d been stealing for longer than my brothers and I realized? How long has this been going on? How many people did he take out for his own benefit?
“You thought you were in the clear, huh? Till Payton let it slip at lunch that she saw someone. She sawyou. And you knew I was going to look into it, to give her some peace by finding out what the cops couldn’t. Something I bet you even let happen. We gave you all the access to do this, didn’t we? You might have been able to talk your way out of what happened with Carl, but you hedged your bets anyhow.
“You knew who Payton was when you ran her background, I’m sure. You only gave me the minimum,enough that I didn’t question what happened to her family. Something you had access to but withheld. I didn’t care at first. But then you got worried that she might say something, so you set her up with the money, just in case. You weaseled your way into lunch to see if she would say something about the money, but then she called you out. You acted fast, I’ll give you that.
“That’s why you made that little video that Danny found the other night. Even stamped it for a few days before, thinking that would give you enough time. But it didn’t. You failed to consider that I gave Payton that day off. I might have been at work, but she wasn’t. I doubt you noticed. Or maybe you did and just forgot, too caught up in making sure you didn’t go down for something like this. Something that apparently has been months in the works. Maybe even years. Tell me, did you approach Payton’s parents to work for thefamigliaand steal for you, or did you just steal from them?”
He holds out for a second before his eyes narrow and he snarls his confession. “It was easy to get them to trust me. Just like I did with you.”
They probably didn’t even know who they were really working for if Dante convinced them to do something. Probably just a side gig in their mind. Victims. Just like Payton. And Dante was behind it all.
“You send Carl up too?” I need to know if he planned for my girl to be abused. Dante is greedy, but could he be capable of that too? We’ve known each other most of our lives. Thoughts of what he was, who I thought he was, clash with the man before me now.
I have to know just how far he was willing to go.
He shakes his head. “No. I didn’t send him, but I didn’t stop him.”
A slight relief, but not enough for me to forgive him for anything. “That’s why you finished him off,” I say with a nod. It all makes sense now. “Just to make sure he didn’t talk. You plant the gun on him, too, since I was too wrapped up in Payton to notice, or was he really going for one?”
“Does it matter?”
I shake my head. “Guess not. You only needed me to catch him assaulting her. You knew I would fire.”
“Your family’s known for being love-blind. It was worth a shot. Just like this one is.” He pulls a gun from his shoulder holster and aims it at me.
Took him longenough.
Chapter 34—Payton
Ishake as I listen through the wall. I couldn’t make it all out, but I heard enough to piece it together.
I made it halfway up the stairs before the murmurs turned into words. At first, I thought Tommy was talking on the phone, but then I heard Dante too.
I slowed my steps, planning on waiting for a lull in the conversation before I approached. But their words took shape, and I heard the second Tommy asked him why he stole from them.
Dante.
I clutch my stomach, at the ache there. I might be heartbroken about what Tommy and his family did to mine, but I feel sick that he’s being betrayed by someone close. And family at that.
But that sickness shifts from him to me.
Dante killed my parents.
Someone I smiled at. Someone I let touch my hand. I was so close to my parents’ murderer, and I never realized it. I always thought I would. That I would know instantly. That a sixth sense would come over me, and I could just tell who the evil, vile human being was. But I was wrong.
I never saw Tommy as bad, and I never saw Dante as bad either. I’m too naive to see evil when it’s right in front of me. Tommy might not be completely evil, but he’s not in the clear either. There has to be something dark inside him tothink I could do something like that, despite our time together, and let me go so easily.
