Don’t Blink

Chapter 108

I’VE NEVER BEEN real big on happy endings. It’s not that I’m a total pessimist. I’ve just found that anything worth cherishing usually comes at a price. In this case, a very steep one. Four good cops lost their lives, as did a brave prosecutor. I can’t thank you enough, Derrick Phalen. You made the ultimate sacrifice. I promised your sister you wouldn’t die in vain, and for sure you didn’t.

Now I’ll have to compartmentalize like Courtney and figure out a way to move on.

Like with this dinner at my sister’s house in the woods of Connecticut.

“How does everyone like their steak?” asked Kate.

“On a plate, and preferably soon,” I joked. “I’m starving, sis.”

“You were born starving.”

“Don’t start that ‘Mom always liked me best’ stuff.”

“Enough, you two,” said Elizabeth. “Grow up.”

Five of us were gathered on the back patio of Kate’s house in Connecticut. Courtney and Doug Keller had come out from the city with me to join my sister and Elizabeth for a Sunday barbecue. The sun was shining and spirits were high.

Kate, who insisted on doing the grilling, waved her spatula at me. “You’re such a wiseguy,” she warned with a smile.

“Now, there’s a word I wouldn’t mind not hearing for a while,” I said. “Wiseguy.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said Keller, clinking my bottle of Rolling Rock with his. It was good to see him out of a suit – and holster – and into a wicker lounge chair and some jeans.

Within a day of Sorren’s arrest, Keller had been able to answer the remaining question I had. Why did Sorren kill LaGrange? Hadn’t they both wanted me dead? Yes, they had. But Sorren had suddenly needed to protect himself. That’s what Keller figured out.

LaGrange had become a liability the minute he’d veered from Sorren’s game plan and sold out Bruno Torenzi to line his pockets. But LaGrange’s greed got Belova killed and in turn guaranteed some intense heat from the Solntsevskaya Bratva back in Moscow. They would have eventually traced the debacle back to LaGrange and quite possibly Sorren.

So Sorren, clever as always, plotted with LaGrange to kill me once and for all. Under the guise of a visit, Sorren did the reconnaissance on my hospital room and the cop guarding it. He was supposed to be making sure the coast was clear for LaGrange. But all he was really doing was setting him up.

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair on the patio and took a sip of lemonade. She threw me a big, happy smile. “So, when’s our next Yankee game, Uncle Nick?”

“Right when I get back,” I said.

“Back from where?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you, huh?” said Courtney. “Your uncle’s going Hollywood on us. He just sold the film rights to his story.”

“Can I be in the movie?” asked Elizabeth excitedly.

“I’ll be sure to ask,” I said. Right after I insist that Tiffany, the ex-hostess from Lombardo’s, gets a part. It was the least I could do for her.

“How long will you be out there?” asked Keller.

“After I meet with the studio, I’m actually taking a drive.”

This part I hadn’t told anyone, not even Courtney. “A drive? Where?” she asked.

“Up the Pacific Coast Highway, in a rented Ferrari f50. You believe it? Always been a dream of mine. So I’m going to do it.”

Kate started to crack up. “Wow. You really are going Hollywood on us.”

“Can I come and ride shotgun?” asked Keller.

Kate stepped over from the grill and playfully nudged him. “You can’t. You’re taking me out on a big date next weekend. You forget already?”

“That drive up the coast – in that car – is something I’ve always wanted to do,” I explained. “By the way, Courtney, you’re invited. You know what else? When I get back from California, I’m taking my first saxophone lesson.”

“Gee, just when you think you know somebody,” joked Courtney. “By the way, after our road trip in the Ferrari, any chance you’ll ever find time again to, you know, do what you do for a living? Write?”

“I’ll always find time for that,” I assured her. “In fact, I’ve already got my next big story lined up.”

“You do? What is it?”

“I can’t tell you yet,” I said with a smile. “But it’s coming. I can feel it coming. Everybody – duck!”

They did, too. Everybody there ducked.

“That’s so not funny, Uncle Nick,” said Elizabeth.

Then she laughed.

We all did.