Chapter 9: The Bribe

The room waited.

Dean looked at the envelope, then at his uncle, and a muscle ticked in his jaw.

"Uncle Corrado," he said under his breath. "That's the lot. That's the whole deal."

"Sit still."

"You said it was ours."

"I said sit still."

Shelby turned her head and stared at Dean.

I saw it land.

She had signed my name to sell a yard she thought belonged to the man beside her.

Now his uncle was offering it back.

"Remo," said Tullio.

My name, the way he had promised.

I let out the breath I'd held since the veal.

"Answer him," Tullio said.

I picked up the envelope.

It was thin and cream-colored, with a gold seal on the flap.

It weighed almost nothing.

The yard, the sign, the eleven years, the nine toolboxes, and it weighed as much as a letter from the bank.

"Mr. Falco," I said. "That's generous."

"I'm a generous man."

"You're a man who borrowed a widow's money and tried to take it back in her kitchen."

The table went quiet.

The priest-collar put down his fork.

"You're offering me half a million dollars," I said, "because you're afraid of the chair I'm sitting next to."

"Careful," Corrado said.

"I'll be careful."

I tore the envelope in half.

Then in half again.

The pieces dropped onto the tablecloth like snow.

"I don't want the yard like that," I said. "I'll take it back the way it was taken from me. In front of the people who watched."

Somebody drew a breath.

Rosalia's pen finally moved, one clean line.

"You're a fool," Corrado said softly. "That was your only chance."

"It was your only chance, too."

He stood.

His chair scraped back and the gold ring flashed.

For a moment I thought he might reach across the table.

Tullio lifted two fingers from the cloth.

"Sit down, Corrado."

He sat.

"Thank you for dinner, gentlemen," Tullio said. "I think the evening is concluded."

The old men rose one by one, mumbling.

The fat one patted my shoulder as he went by, a heavy pat, almost approving.

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