Chapter 5

Janet and Lila were waiting for me at the office. Janet was nervous but Lila was humming away while updating her MySpace page.

I pulled Janet out of Lila's earshot.

"Things will be under control by Sunday," I said. "I would still like for you two to spend the weekend at my house."

I could tell Janet was about to object.

"If you're uncomfortable with me there, I will stay elsewhere," I said. "I met with man who held Leo's marker. It is gone. You won't be bothered — at least on this matter — again. But there is a loose end that I need to tie up."

"What is that?" Janet asked. I decided to tell her.

"The mother of the man who threatened you and Lila," I answered. "From what I've heard and from what I remember, she is somewhat unstable."

"I though you said there were no women in control of this shit," she said hotly.

"I said there were no women in high-level positions," I affirmed. "That is different from lacking control. The woman in question is the ex-wife of the man who runs the betting syndicate Leo Gomez was involved with. She is firmly in control of her ex-husband and therefore firmly in control of his operations."

"She's his ex-wife for fuck's sake," Janet bristled. "How is she in control of her ex-husband?"

Janet was tired and she had been through a lot. I was still getting irritated.

"Exactly," I replied. "From what I've heard, she controls him by fuck's sake. Or by at least suck's sake."

Her face reddened.

"Now, if you don't want to stay where I know you're safe, I can post guards in your neighborhood," I answered. "Or you can tell me to leave you alone and I will. But Janet, you called me and asked for my help in keeping Lila safe. I am trying to do that as best as I can."

Janet's face relaxed.

"I'm sorry, Michael," she said as she put her hand on my arm. "I really am. I'm just tired. The past four months I've gotten threatening phone calls from banks and collection agencies. As if that wasn't bad enough people like you started showing up."

I guess the look on my face gave away my thoughts.

"No," Janet said. "Not people like you. People in your line of work started showing up. Then Leo cleaned out my bank accounts, maxed out my credit cards and fled like a thief — which is exactly what he is. Two days ago I learned he planned to kill us. Today, three hoods show up at my work and threaten my family again. I just want it all to go away."

She still had her hand on my arm so I gently took it in mine.

"I'm trying, Janet," I told her. "But it took Leo a while to get into all this crap. You can't expect to be out of it in a week. You got the legit companies off your back, right?"

She nodded.

"I've got people looking into anything not-quite-so-legit that Leo might have been involved in," I said.

"Jesus, I just wish he would turn back up and I could force him to tell me everything he did before I killed him," she huffed.

Her eyes met mine.

"I just said that out loud, didn't I?" she asked with a slight blush.

"You did," I said with a smile. Leo and I had gone down his list of accounts payable before I had cut out his tongue on Wednesday night. I had been aware of his dealings with Federici but Leo said the amount he owed wasn't much — maybe $3,000. And he wasn't really in a position to lie to me.

The problem my people found when trying to track down Leo's debts is one that is often faced when tracking deadbeats: the markers had been sold to "collection agencies" whose means and methods varied far and wide.

Because the dealings were illegal, it wasn't like a person could sue for relief in court. If you owed money and went off the grid, there were enterprising men and women who would purchase your debt for a fraction of the cost from original holder and then pursue you to the ends of the earth.

My father had employed these groups periodically. They were essentially mercenaries. A man with expendable means would hold the debt and pay the cost of finding the truant. When the person was found, he was responsible — in one form or another — the entire amount of pursuing collection, plus costs, fees and penalties. It was the same system Citicorp and your local bank used if you defaulted on your credit cards or a car loan. But the people in my world were a lot less scrupulous about the way they found you and extracted the money.

"We've made progress," I told Janet. "You got the heavy hitters taken care of."

She smiled.

"I got one heavy hitter taken care of and he seems to be taking care of the rest for me," she said.

Actually that wasn't what I meant at all.

"I was speaking of the credit card agencies and such," I replied. I was sure I was blushing. "They can sue you and wind up garnishing your wages in perpetuity. I, uh, well I'll just say this and you can be offended if you want to be. I've also gotten word out on this end that I have a personal interest in any account that involves you or Lila. The guys who came to your work are so low-level that it hadn't filtered down to them. But you can be sure that word will be around after today." Janet was silent. In fact the whole room was silent. I turned around and Lila was had stopped pounding away on the keyboard. Instead she was watching her mother and me intently. I became acutely aware that I still had Janet's hand in mine. I let it go as smoothly as I could.

"I think once I have Federici's ex-wife contained you can go on about your business," I concluded.

Janet nodded a little and looked down at the floor.

"I hope you know I didn't know what Leo was involved in," she said. "I don't want you to have the wrong impression of things."

I assured her I didn't.

"Leo was always a bit wild," she said. "When I was younger it was what I liked about him. I got pregnant when I was 16. It was a huge mess. I had to finish high school by correspondence — after my dad forced Leo to marry me. The fact he really wasn't interested in being married complicated things. He never seemed to accept that he had a wife and child to support.

"We made the best of it for almost 10 years," she continued. "Well, I guess I should say that I turned a blind eye to most of his crap and hoped to hell he would change. Then the hooker thing came up. It wasn't a one-time deal. I mean, it was the first time he brought me a present home but..."

I nodded to show she didn't need to continue if it made her uncomfortable.

"I kicked his ass out of the house," she said hotly. "I tossed all of his clothes out with him and told him I never wanted to see him again. He disappeared for nine or 10 months. I filed for divorce but could never find him to serve the papers. He never tried to see Lila. He never paid child support. He was just gone."

Janet continued to stare out of the window of the office.

"Then he showed back up," she said. "He had about $12,000 that he gave me for back child support and disappeared again — after I forced him to sign the divorce and custody agreements. A year later, the same thing. He said the money he gave to Lila was all he had and he asked to crash on the couch for a couple of weeks. I came home one day about 10 days later and Leo was gone again. The next time he stayed about a month and then two months. This time it was going on four months and he didn't bring any child support payment. He just needed a place to stay. I mean, he hadn't pulled any of this shit the other times, so I let him. I was getting tired of his freeloading and I was about to put him out again when he disappeared.

"A day later, I found out he took every fucking cent we had. I mean everything, Michael. I had maybe 50 bucks in my purse and Lila had $200 from her birthday money left. He even took money out her college fund. It wasn't much — I mean it wasn't much to you — but it was $6,000. A day or so later, the electric company came and shut off the lights. Then the water company and finally the phone company. The phone company I didn't mind because at least it stopped the annoying calls."