Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [127]
“But he doesn’t know who that is.”
“Indeed,” Max said. “Ergo, he blames everyone who might feasibly be among his father’s killers.”
“But, as Lucky just said, that description includes people who are dead by now.”
“You’re still assuming the priest thinks about this rationally, which I sincerely doubt is the case,” Max said. “He has long since grown to blame an entire class of people for his father’s death, and he has enacted a plan to wreak terrible vengeance on them.”
“But why wait so long to enact it?” I said. “His father died more than twenty years ago.”
“First he had to grow up,” Lucky pointed out. “And he probably spent a few years trying to figure out who whacked his old man. Hey, that might even be why he became a priest! Some guys tell their priests everything, y’know.”
Max said, “His practice of his art and his adaptation to changing circumstances have been resourceful. So I suspect Lucky is right in assuming the young man attempted various methods of solving his problem before choosing to access the dark arts. He would have been thorough in his quest for a guilty party, I believe. And then, of course, he would have needed some years of study and practice to prepare for what he’s doing.”
I said grumpily, “Well, I don’t see why he had to do it now, while I was waiting tables at Bella Stella. I never would have witnessed his first hit or—”
“Opportunity,” Max said, his eyes widening.
“Come again, Doc?”
“Mercury is in retrograde! That’s why Father Gabriel chose now,” Max said. “It’s a time of maximum confusion!”
“Right,” Lucky said, catching on. “What did you tell us about it, Doc? Messages get lost, things get garbled.”
“Communications get misinterpreted,” I said, “and people have trouble connecting.”
“Mercury Retrograde made Gabriel’s plan more likely to succeed,” Max said. “It made his victims more vulnerable and his various adversaries less effective.”
“It certainly seems to have worked in his favor so far,” I grumbled as I reviewed the events of recent days.
“We’re up against one smart mook,” Lucky said. “No doubt about it.”
“But what about Buonarotti?” I asked.
“No, he ain’t that smart,” Lucky said dismissively. “And he’s a hothead.”
“No, I mean that one of the rumors you mentioned is that the Buonarottis killed Gabriel’s father. So why would Gabriel work with Michael Buonarotti now?”
“What if he ain’t working with him?” Lucky suggested, putting his shoes and socks back on over his painted feet. “What if he’s just using him?”
“But Gabriel duplicated the widow,” I argued. “Which we’re assuming was essentially a favor to Buonarotti.”
“Well, sure,” Lucky said. “If you’re using someone expendable to do your dirty work, you keep him happy for as long as you need him. You give him little things now, and you promise him big things later on.”
“I see!” Max said. “Don Michael’s motive for working with Father Gabriel is to position the Buonarottis to gain power. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that he’ll get what he wants when the Corvinos and Gambellos descend into chaos.”
“Oh,” I said, also seeing. “Gabriel will betray him, or expose him, or turn on him.”
“Or get the Gambellos and the Corvinos to turn on the Buonarottis after we’ve already turned on each other,” Lucky said. “A three-way war would make a hell of a mess.”
“Yes,” I said with a nod, realizing Lucky was right. “If he does indeed want to destroy all three families, that may well be his plan.” I felt appalled as I realized the scope of the devious scheme. “But innocent people could get hurt, too! Even killed. Doesn’t he realize that?”
“He’s evidently so obsessed with revenge that he considers it acceptable,” Max said grimly. “After all, he’s trying to kill you, though you had nothing whatsoever to do with his father’s murder.”
“He’s trying to whack Elena and your boyfriend, too, who aren’t wiseguys, either,” Lucky added. “But if Max is right, and Gabriel ain’t willing