Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [17]
“We weren’t planning to, Angelo,” said Napoli.
“No way you can pin this hit on me, man!”
“Okay,” said Lopez.
“I got an alibi!” Angelo said, puffing out his skinny chest.
“Okay, you can go now,” Napoli said.
“I got witnesses!”
“Good to know,” Napoli said.
Angelo scowled at them. “I’ll call my lawyer!”
“Go do that,” said Lopez.
“Now?”
“Now would be good,” Lopez said.
“Yeah? Okay.” Angelo added, clearly relishing the phrase, “He’ll eat you for breakfast!”
“Okay,” Napoli said absently, checking something in his notebook.
As Angelo departed, Lucky noted, “He’s very ambitious.”
“Indeed,” said Lopez.
Another flash went off.
“We’ve got to get your girlfriend—er, the witness—out of here,” Napoli said to Lopez.
“Who called the photographers?” I asked, annoyed by the flashing lights.
“No one. They’re like vultures, they just know,” Napoli said.
“They monitor police radio communications,” Lopez told me. “And flock to the scene of anything that sounds juicy.”
“Especially when it’s a mob killing,” Napoli added irritably. “That’s sexy.”
“Come on.” Lopez took my elbow and tried to guide me away from Lucky. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Napoli said, “We’re taking you into protective custody.”
“What? No!” I pulled away from Lopez. “You can’t do that! I haven’t done anything!”
Lopez put his hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me. “We know that, Esther. But you’re a material witness in a mob hit. And the tabloids have already got your name. So you’re in danger now.”
“But I didn’t see anything!” I protested.
“Yeah, like everybody else here,” Napoli said in disgust. “Six cops have been canvassing for almost an hour, and nobody saw anything. Of course.”
“But I really didn’t!” I cried.
“Esther—”
“No! Listen to me!” I jerked myself out of Lopez’s grasp and backed away.
When he reached for me again, Lucky stepped between us. “I don’t care if you are her boyfriend, that don’t give you the right to manhandle her!”
“I’m not manhan . . .” Lopez paused for a moment, then evidently decided to change course. “Esther, we need to go somewhere sane and take your statement.”
“I’ve given my statement three times already!” I said, still agitated by the word “custody.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” Lopez said soothingly. “But we’ve got to go over every detail—”
“There are no details!” I insisted. “I didn’t see the killer! I didn’t see how it happened! All I saw was Chubby Charlie suddenly die right in front of me! After he’d asked me to help him! Or sort of asked me . . . Or . . . I’d offered, anyhow, and now he’s dead!”
The whole ton of bricks came crashing down on me then. Stress, tension, anxiety, confusion, fear, guilt. All of it. I started crying.
“Now look what you done!” Lucky snarled at Lopez. The old wiseguy put his arm around me and handed me a clean, white hanky. “She’s an actress. She’s very sensitive!”
“I know that,” Lopez snapped. “I date her. Now get your hands off her.”
“Whoa, he’s got a pair, your boy,” Lucky said to me. “I like that in a person.”
“Both of you, stop,” I said wearily. “Everyone, please stop.” I wiped my eyes and gave a watery sigh.
Lopez looked like he wanted to apologize to me, but he said nothing. Napoli looked ready to arrest everyone on Mulberry Street.
“I’m not going into custody,” I said.
“All right,” Lopez said, ignoring a scathing look from Napoli. “We’ll just talk about what happened. And then we’ll talk about your safety.”
“Okay.” I took a breath and got a hold of myself. “I was looking at Charlie,” I said. “Talking to him. He seemed hysterical. I was trying to calm him down.” I described the tinkling sound of breaking glass I’d heard, and the sharp whistling sound followed by the soft thud, and I explained what I had seen. “And that’s all I saw. Charlie, with that horrible look of surprise on his face and the blood spreading on his chest. I didn’t see or hear anything else. Or anyone else. He fell to the floor, and I started screaming.”
“Who was in the restaurant when it happened?” Napoli asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Come on, Esther,” Napoli said.
“You can