Chapter 18: Safety Off

It was a pistol.

Nino held it down along his thigh.

The two men beside him held theirs.

"Nobody move," Nino said.

His voice was higher than usual.

"Nino," said the doctor, with enormous relief. "Thank God. Your mother said she'd send someone."

"Be quiet."

"These people have threatened me."

"I said be quiet."

Nino walked toward us across the concrete, his shoes loud on the apron.

The pilots stepped back from the stairs.

He stopped ten feet away.

"Ferrante," he said. "You are in New Jersey. That's the only reason I haven't put you in the river yet."

"Then we agree on something," said Dominic.

"Give me that book."

"No."

Nino raised the gun and pointed it at Dominic's chest.

It shook a little.

I stepped half in front of my husband.

Dominic put his arm across me and moved me behind him, gently, without any argument.

"Dominic," I said.

"Stay behind me."

"We had terms."

"You can enforce them later."

Nino laughed. It was a thin, wild sound.

"That book is full of lies. A frightened old man wrote it. My mother has never raised a hand to anyone."

"It's in your handwriting," I said.

He turned his eyes to me.

"Your initials," I said. "Every month since March, in your own hand."

"That's a mistake."

"Then it's a mistake you made every month. I checked."

I held the book up in both hands, so the pilots could see it.

"The doctor billed for each blend, and somebody approved every bill. For nineteen years it was one set of initials. Since March it's yours."

"Mama put those papers on my desk. I signed what was in front of me."

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