FiFty Fifty

Chapter Fifty -Two

EDDIE

In a private room in Mount Sinai Hospital, a man I'd never met lay asleep in his bed. He looked peaceful. There were bandages still on his head and at the side of his face. His right leg in a cast, elevated on a hoist, didn't seem to bother him too much. It was hard to tell. His right arm was also in a cast, and draped over his large belly.
I opened the door to his private room and waited at the threshold until he saw me. He didn't seem to recognize me. I'd been staring at him for a few minutes, and I was sure I hadn't seen him before.
'Who are you?' he asked.
His skin looked deathly pale, to match his death-rattle voice. His lips were angry red, and cracked.
I didn't answer him. Instead I came into the room for a better look.
'Are you a doctor?' he asked.
Another man came into the room. Jimmy the Hat took up a seat at the side of
the bed.
'How you feelin'?' asked Jimmy.
'Good. Better,' said the man.
'Tony, this is Eddie Flynn. He's a good friend of mine. Eddie, this is Little
Tony P. This is the guy I told you about. He got run over crossing the street.' 'Good to meet you,' I said. 'I have a couple of questions about your accident.' 'You the lawyer? I-I-I don't want to sue nobody. I didn't get the license plate.
I don't know who ran me over.'
Sweat broke out on his face. A light tremor in his good hand. He was nervous
when he had no reason to be.
'As I understand it, you parked your car close to Jimmy's restaurant. It was
early in the morning, before you started your shift there. And when you got out of the car a motorcycle rammed straight into you, crushing you between the bike and the car door. That's what you told Jimmy. That right?' I asked.
'Yeah, yeah. I probably didn't look in my mirror before I got out of the car. It's probably my own damn fault.'
Jimmy looked at me. I nodded.
'The way some witnesses described it, the motorcyclist almost took the door
 
clean off, then walked the bike back, and slammed the front wheel down on your head? Doesn't sound like an accident to me?'
'I don't know what happened. I don't remember. Last thing I remember was getting out of the car,' said Tony.
'This was your new car?'
He swallowed, said, 'Yeah, yeah. Brand new. A bet came in for me. One hundred Gs. Just when I thought my luck had changed, this happens.'
He raised his good arm, as if to remind us that he was badly hurt.
'Broke my goddamn skull. I don't know. I guess I should've looked before I got out of the car.'
'I asked Jimmy to speak to his bookies, and anyone else who runs a book in Manhattan who paid out a hundred grand in the last six months. Guess what they said?' I asked.
'I don't know, I mean I ...'
'The bookies who knew you said you were betting more, but you weren't winning. And they didn't pay out six figures to anybody in the last year.'
'Look—' he began.
'Tell him the truth,' said Jimmy. 'If you lie, I'll know it. And then I'll get angry.'
'I'm not lying,' said Tony.
No one in their right mind would lie to Jimmy the Hat. Especially if you worked for Jimmy – that was a one-way ticket to the bottom of the Hudson. I needed this guy to open up.
'Tony, you got one way out of this,' I said, 'and that's to tell me the truth. Here's what I think, and if I'm right, then you say so. If I get it wrong, you say so. Okay? Telling me the truth is the only thing that can save you right now.'
'I—'
'Shut up and listen. You're a short order cook. You've worked at Jimmy's restaurant for two years now. A friend of Jimmy's, Frank Avellino, used to come to the restaurant every morning for breakfast. He had a few meetings there over coffee and then went about his day. Am I right so far?'
He was shaking now. He blinked sweat out of his eyes and nodded.
'Good. Now, Frank Avellino was being poisoned – drugged. For months. Turns out the cops can't find any trace of the poison in his house. Not a single drop. I'm thinking maybe the poison was never in the house. I'm thinking maybe somebody paid you to put it in Frank's eggs every morning. I think they paid you a hundred grand. I think you did what you were told and then I think the person who paid you got scared. Scared that maybe a hundred grand wasn't enough to keep your mouth shut. So they tried to shut you up permanently. How

am I doing so far?'
'It wasn't poison. I swear to God. She told me it was medicine. Medicine.
Said he wouldn't take it at home and I should slip it into his eggs and sausage ...'
Jimmy wiped his face, lowered his head and breathed out in a long, exasperated sigh.
'A hundred grand is a real generous tip for putting medicine in someone's food,' I said.
'I swear—'
'Shut up,' said Jimmy.
At my side I held a copy of the New York Times. I put it in front of Tony, the
front page facing him.
'You met this woman. The same woman who paid you, gave you the
Haloperidol, and then tried to kill you. Her picture is on the front page,' I said. There were two pictures on the front page. The trial had captured the lurid imagination of readers, and below the fold were photographs of Alexandra and Sofia as they left court yesterday. Close ups. Showing their grim determination
in the face of their personal nightmare.
'Which one?' I said.
He closed his eyes. Tony had gotten in way over his head and now he was
having to pay the price.
'She tried to stab me in the face, but she missed and dropped the knife. It
must've fallen under my car. Then she landed that bike on my head. She's crazy,' he said.
'Hey, Tony,' said Jimmy. 'I know you're probably scared of this lady. She nearly killed you, after all. But look, she ain't here. And you don't need to be scared of her no more. You need to be scared of me. Because I will kill you. Do you understand?'
Tony opened his eyes, nodded rapidly, and stuck a finger into the paper. I leaned over to see who he had pointed out.
'You sure?' I asked.
'I'm sure. It was her.'
Now I needed to save Tony P.
'Jimmy, Tony is going to testify that he sourced the Haloperidol for her, and
he was paid handsomely. He's also going to say that after her father was murdered, she asked him where he'd gotten the Haloperidol, and he told her he got it from a pharmacy in Haberman. He's then going to say that she tried to kill him on the street. You are going to do all of that, aren't you, Tony?'
'I'll do whatever you say.'

'Because if you tell the truth to the cops, and testify that you poisoned somebody in Jimmy's restaurant, that would be bad for Jimmy's business. And if you don't testify at all that means there's no reason for Jimmy to keep you alive. So you'll do it?'
'I'll do it, I swear.'
I left the newspaper, thanked Jimmy and ran for the door.
'Don't kill him. I need him.'
'He'll still be breathing when the cops come to talk to him. Who knows how
long he'll keep breathing after that?' said Jimmy.