Death Benefit

61.

GREEN POND, NEW JERSEY MARCH 25, 2011, 11:15 P.M.

There was nothing the occupants of the summer house could do but wait. Prek sat next to Neri on one couch with Genti and Pia sitting opposite. He had thought about tying her up, as he should have done before, but he didn’t want to make a worse impression than he had to. Besides, the girl wasn’t going anywhere. Prek had found an old T-shirt in a closet and gave it to Pia to wear along with one of his own New York Jets sweatshirts he kept at the house. The jersey came halfway down her thighs. She also wore a pair of soccer socks pulled up to her knees. She had draped a towel over her shoulders, but she was still shivering.

Pia sat and glared at Neri. That was the guy who had touched her, she was sure of it. She stole glances at the other guys too-the one who seemed to be in charge with the thick scar on his upper lip, and the guy with the dominating nose. She wasn’t entirely certain but believed they were the men who had attacked her the night before. She recognized their voices.

Prek cradled a gun in his hand. He wondered if he would have to use it that night, and if so, who would be the target. He could make a case for any of them: Neri for brazenly disobeying an order, and Genti for failing to stop him. The only person Prek wasn’t mad at was Pia. He admired her for trying to escape and for getting as far as she had. If he had to shoot her, it would not be emotional. It would just be business.

At least the fiasco was going to have a conclusion soon, thought Prek, as he heard a group of cars pull into the driveway one after the other. A moment later they heard car doors opening and then slamming shut in quick succession.

“Go wait in the bedroom,” Prek said to Pia.

As soon as Buda, Fatos, Burim, and Drilon walked into the house, they could all tell that something was wrong. The atmosphere among the three men inside was clearly strained. Neri was sitting on the couch, staring at the floor and didn’t stand up. Genti wouldn’t make eye contact, and Prek acted fit to be tied. Buda had to find out what had happened and fast.

“Gentlemen,” he said, turning to Burim and Drilon. “I left the food we picked up in the back of my car. Would you mind? I’d just like to have a quick word with my guys.”

Burim and Drilon left the room and closed the door. Buda lit into Prek.

“What the fuck is going on here? Stand up, Neri! Genti, look at me when I’m talking! Where’s the girl?”

“She’s in the bedroom,” Prek said. “She got out the window, jumped in the lake, and swam off.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes, but we found her right away.”

“Did anyone see her?”

“No, I’m certain. There’s no one here but us.”

“You quite sure about that?”

“Yes.”

Buda’s three men were standing like guilty schoolboys in front of the principal.

“What happened to you?” Buda asked Neri, whose eye was closing rapidly. Neri didn’t speak but looked across at Prek.

“Did she do that?”

“No,” Prek said. “I did.”

“What for?” Buda leaned forward, his hands on his hips. Fatos was standing by the door with his arms crossed. The message was clear: No one out or in.

“Prek,” Buda said, “you better tell me what happened right now, or we’re going to have a major problem.”

“He attacked the girl,” Prek said. Neri’s face fell. He’d hoped Prek would make up some story on his behalf.

“Was that before or after she escaped?”

“Before.”

“And where were you?” he asked Genti.

Silence.

“All right, I’ll deal with this later. It all depends on whether or not this girl is the daughter. Let’s hope for you she isn’t. Fatos, let’em in.”

“Burim, Drilon,” said Buda in as friendly a tone as he could manage. “What happened here is that the girl tried to escape, but she didn’t succeed. My men are very embarrassed, as they should be.”

Burim looked at Neri but no explanation was forthcoming regarding his injury.

“My wife was certainly a tigress,” he said. “Perhaps this woman is too. Mr. Buda, I am ready to meet her.”

Buda showed Burim into the bedroom and left. Pia was sitting on the bed, facing the window, shivering.

“Afrodita. Pia,” Burim said. “Is it really you? I am Burim. Burim Grazdani. I think I’m your father. Pia, look at me, please.”

Pia sat for a second and then turned, glowering at the man, her face clouded with unadulterated fury and loathing. Burim’s expression went from disbelief to pure amazement.

“Oh, God,” he said. “You’re exactly your mother’s image.” Burim knew the look she had on her face, from the first Pia, a beautiful woman full of hatred. Burim had feelings he’d never experienced and couldn’t come close to articulating.

“I’m told you’re a student at Columbia Medical School. That’s amazing. You must be very intelligent.”

Pia had turned around again, and Burim continued talking to her back.

“You look like your mother, you know that? Probably you don’t. The same hair, the same eyes, it’s amazing.”

Pia said nothing. Could it possibly be him?

“I feel this is a miracle, our meeting. Pia, please say something.”

Silence.

“Your uncle Drilon is here.”

Now Pia reacted. She hacked up some spittle and spat loudly on the floor by the bed. Burim was disconsolate.

“Pia, I’m sorry I never came for you. I was young and stupid. I meant to come, so many times, but I knew that if I came forward they would find out I was illegal in this country and send me home, and then I would never have a chance of seeing you. I was working with these guys, the Rudaj group, you know, and the organization fell apart, and Drilon and I had to go underground. Then when we started working for Ristani, we had to change our names and leave our pasts behind. I wish we didn’t have to do it, but we did. Pia, please.”

As soon as Pia saw Burim’s face, she knew who he was. This was the man she had waited years for, the man who put her through torments while she fervently hoped that he’d come back to save her. He never did. Now he was showing up, and for what? And he had brought that monster with him? What were they going to do, kill her? At this point, Pia barely cared.

“Listen, I know I abandoned you, but suddenly, now that I see you, it’s important to me that you are my daughter and that you’re safe.”

“Safe? Do you have any idea what it was like for me in foster care?” Pia snarled. Burim was startled by the sound of her voice.

“Do you?”

“But you’re going to be a doctor, look how it all ended up!”

“This is how it ended up, you moron. Guns, gangsters, murderers. That’s what I remember from being a kid. And my mom was there, and then she wasn’t. What happened to her?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re a liar!” Pia turned and screamed the words. Buda opened the door-he must have been standing right outside.

“Everything okay?”

“Leave us, please,” Burim said. Silent tears were tracking down Pia’s face. She turned back around and faced the wall. Pia couldn’t make sense of what was happening. How was her father involved with the people who murdered Rothman, Yamamoto, and Will McKinley? They had been waiting for him to show up, which meant that he might be able to stop them killing her too. When she spoke again, Pia’s voice was quieter.

“That’s all I know about you. That you’re a liar.”

“I’m here now.”

“Are you here to finish the job they started?”

“I understand why you say these things, but you have to believe me, I am here to save you.”

“You and your white horse.”

“What?”

“Whatever.”

“What I am telling you is no lie. Those guys in the other room, they have been paid money to stop you because you were looking into some deaths. And they want you to stop looking.”

Pia said nothing.

“They know you have an Albanian name and they asked around if anyone knows you, and I said, ‘Yes, maybe.’ It’s the case that Albanian cannot kill Albanian: not in our business unless the killer wants to die too. If you weren’t Albanian, if you weren’t my daughter, you would be dead already. Do you understand?”

“That’s very nice of them.”

“Actually, it is, yes.”

“They murdered my teacher and another doctor by giving them typhoid fever and a massive dose of polonium. Tonight they murdered my friend by shooting him in the head because he was helping me. I should be grateful to them because they’re sparing me?”

“I can’t do anything about the other people. What I can do is save you.”

“And how will you do that?”

“I guarantee them that you will give up your investigation. And that you won’t mention their involvement to the authorities. Take a vacation. Something. We can work it out.”

“You? You haven’t seen me since I was six. They’ll take your word?”

“If I give it, yes. I have shaken their hand, and my family honor is at stake.”

“Or they’ll kill me.”

“Or they’ll kill you.”

“And you’ll take my word that I’ll give up?”

“If you give me your word, yes.”

Pia snorted. It seemed that the only person who could save her was her father, the least likely person on the planet, the person she trusted the least and hated the most, the man who was the cause of all her travails. In a situation that defied comprehension, Pia tried to think dispassionately. The drug wasn’t completely out of her system, she could tell; she was more fatigued than she could ever remember being, and frightened and upset and angry. Yet she had to think.

In order to live, Pia would have to promise to stop investigating, but could she do that? There was very little left to investigate. At the OCME, she had proved that polonium was involved in Rothman’s and Yamamoto’s deaths and she was certain the MEs would be looking into what she had found. The police would surely be all over Columbia, searching for Will’s killers and her kidnappers. There was nothing more she could contribute to the investigation, other than providing evidence, and he hadn’t mentioned anything about that. Her work was finished.

“As if you care about family honor,” she said.

“I do. But if you don’t believe it, take my word that I care about my honor.”

“And that’s all I have to do, stop investigating?”

“But you really have to stop-maybe go away for a while. You have to believe me, they will kill you otherwise. Whatever you think of me, you have to look at the alternative. You have to stay as quiet as you can. If you lead the police to Buda, there’s no chance that you would ever testify against him.”

Pia realized she had no choice. But perhaps there was something her father could do for her and right some of the wrongs she had suffered. Pia turned to face him.

“Okay. But you should know, not all these men have been exactly honorable with me.”

“I’m glad you agree, Pia. But what do you mean?”

“When I got here I was drugged. But I remember one of them at least forced himself on me, the young one for sure. Maybe all of them.”

Burim reacted the way Pia had hoped. He looked at her for a beat, with his face empurpling, then leaped up and threw open the door.

“Mr. Buda! I need to talk to you.”

Buda could see Burim was spoiling for a fight, flashing angry looks at Neri. The girl must have told him what had happened in the house. Everyone in the room stood and the tension was immediate. Buda took Burim by the arm into the kitchen. The packages of takeout sat unopened on the stovetop. Burim spoke quietly but with suppressed fury.

“She is indeed my daughter. And she says she was raped. By the youngest one for certain, maybe more of them. Did you know about this?”

“Listen, I was told that one man did lose control of himself briefly but there was no sex-”

“But-”

“I understand this is shocking to you, all of this, but there was so little chance she was your daughter-”

“That is no excuse. Perhaps it is better if she was killed rather than be shamed like this. I gave my handshake, but perhaps I have to take it back.”

Buda looked Burim in the eye. Was he serious or was he just shaking him down for more money? Ten minutes ago the guy didn’t even know he had a daughter, and now he was concerned about her honor? Some of these guys really were peasants.

“I will punish the men, you can be assured of that.”

Burim shook his head and pulled back his jacket, exposing his shoulder holster.

“It can only be put right if I get to do the punishing. Do you want me to call Berti?”

“No, of course not. The reason I called you was to avoid this kind of situation. A killing will only lead to more killing-that is always the way. Punishment, yes. Killing, no. I will apologize to her myself.”

“I doubt she is going to accept any apology. That’s how I knew it was her, she has the same temper as her mother.”

“Listen, I will apologize. I will pay money to her and to you, money I will take from the three men in there. But I will not have a blood feud over this. It shouldn’t have happened. I regret the situation. Ultimately, I am to blame. But I need you, Burim, to live up to your handshake and for her to give up her investigation.”

Burim paused to think. Buda wouldn’t allow a man from another crew to punish his own men. A blood feud was in no one’s best interests, and he didn’t want to be the cause of a dispute between Aleksander Buda and Berti Ristani.

“Okay. Let me talk to her.”

Burim went back to the bedroom. Pia knew she had to accept Burim’s help, however distasteful it was to her. Now she wanted more than anything to get out of there, to go and find George. Burim closed the door and relayed what Buda had said. Would she be willing to forgo the revenge she was entitled to? Pia knew justice was being twice denied-she was being prevented from implicating Rothman’s killers and also from seeing some street retribution brought down on the person who attacked her.

“If that’s the way it has to be, I want to talk to those men outside,” Pia said.

“Okay,” Burim said. “But I want to shake on our agreement: an Albanian shake.”

Burim thrust out his hand. Pia eyed it. She didn’t care. She shook hands, and her skin crawled when she touched his.

They walked into the living room where everyone was still standing, although in slightly more relaxed poses.

“I am going to accept the offer,” she said to Buda. “I will do what you ask and drop the investigation. But I have a couple of things to say.” Pia walked over to Neri and stood right in front of him. Neri started to shake, looking first at Prek, then at Buda, then at Burim.

“You are a piece of trash.”

“I swear I didn’t do anything. I can’t, it’s impossible-”

Pia jabbed Neri hard in the sternum with her forefinger.

“You’re not so tough when the girl is awake, are you, huh? You know what my father is going to do with you? He’s going to cut off your tiny little prick and shove it up your ass.”

“No, no, I didn’t-”

“I’m sorry?” Pia jabbed Neri again. He was crying now, great shuddering torrents of tears pouring out of his eyes. He held his hands together, pleading with Pia.

“You see how much stronger than you I am? You’re a pathetic little boy.” Pia poked him once more, and Neri collapsed backward onto the couch where he sat whimpering.

“And you,” Pia addressed Drilon. “You will never speak to me or ever come near me again.”

Drilon looked at Burim and raised his hands as if to say, “I don’t understand.” Quickly Pia went on.

“Now I have a question for you.” Pia looked at Buda, who raised his eyebrows.

“Me?”

“Some men paid you money to frighten me?”

“Yes.”

“Some men paid you money to kill me?”

“Yes.”

“Are these the same men who asked you to kill Dr. Rothman and Dr. Yamamoto?”

Buda paused.

“Yes.”

“Why did they do it? When I realized the deaths weren’t accidental, I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to go to such lengths to kill two medical researchers. The work they were doing-they were about to change the world.”

Buda looked at Burim. Was it possible to control this woman at all?

“Some people had investments that were threatened by the research.”

“Investments? You mean they did this for money?”

“I guess,” Buda said. Why does anyone do anything? he thought.

Pia was incredulous. She thought back to her heart-to-heart talk with Rothman and how it had seemed to be the start of something meaningful in her life: the father she never had. She recalled Yamamoto’s kindnesses, small and large. And Will, his life snuffed out too. Then she remembered standing in the blue-lit room looking at the pulsating baths of artificial organs and the enormous excitement she had felt. And the even greater joy she experienced at the awe-inspiring sight of the artificial pancreas. Now, it was very likely those two rooms were being closed up and put in mothballs. The research would continue, but not at Columbia and not with her. Pia felt empty and bereft.

It was likely that Rothman and Yamamoto’s killers were in this room. Pia couldn’t touch them, she knew that; her life depended on their getting away with murder. But she wasn’t completely powerless.

“In that case, there’s something I want you to do. And then I promise I will stay off the trail and hold my tongue.”

Pia told the men her idea. Buda liked it-this job had far too many loose ends. Burim agreed that it would satisfy his daughter’s honor. The men shook hands again, and then each in turn shook hands with Pia.

Buda was happy with the resolution, although he was left with more work to do and he’d have to decide what to do with his men, especially Neri, who seemed to have fallen to pieces completely. Prek and Genti were eating the lukewarm takeout, but Neri was still cowering on the couch.

Buda found an old pair of his wife’s sneakers, which were too large for Pia but would work for now. He took them into the bedroom where she was resting.

“What will you do now?”

“You think I’m going to tell you?” she said.

“Listen, I’m sorry it happened this way.”

“It’s a bit late for that. Please, leave me alone.”

When Pia came back into the room, it was filled with cigarette smoke. The men were standing around talking and a couple of them were laughing. Pia went over to Buda.

“Where’s my cell phone?”

Buda looked at Prek, who shrugged.

“May as well let her have it. Just don’t turn it on till we’re done here.”

“I won’t.”

Prek took Pia’s cell phone, student ID, and wallet she used for her credit card and cash out of his jacket and gave them back to her.

“I’ll be outside,” Pia said. “It stinks in here.” Without another word, she went outside, slamming the door behind her hard enough to shake the house.

Burim shook his head. “She is her mother, exactly.”

“We should go out there-she might call someone,” Prek said.

“She won’t,” Buda said. “She’s Albanian, she promised.”

“She’s half Albanian,” Burim said. “And half Italian. I better go.”

The men laughed.

Standing on the other side of the van, Pia had turned on the phone and it flooded with messages and e-mails and texts. She saw there was a text from Lesley Wong.

“God bless you,” it read. “Praying for Will’s recovery.”

“Pia?”

It was Burim. She shut off the phone and emerged from behind the van.

“We’re leaving,” Burim said.

Pia had but one thought. Recovery? Could Will possibly be alive?