Blood Money Read Online Free PDF Page A

that it would appear to have been running without recording images or time. He knew about the system, about the placement of the cameras. Silvio had warned him. And he knew exactly what to do. Step four complete..
    Five minutes later the front gates opened. Headlights shone down the drive and stopped behind the police car.
    Rudi watched the monitor, waiting patiently while sitting on the brocade love seat beneath a first edition of A Tale of Two Cities , and slowly sipped a Remy Martin Louis XIII from a cut crystal balloon snifter. It was Baccarat. The Maglios had good taste , he thought as he tilted the snifter, watching the glints reflected from the facets of crystal.

C HAPTER V
     
    Grace Monahan had left an hour ago. It was eleven a.m. Christmas Eve, and Nick had a vicious hangover. He had promised himself after his last bacchanalia that he wouldn’t mix scotch with champagne ever again. Even if it was the best, it still hurt afterward. Two aspirin and four cups of black coffee later, he decided to return Joe’s call. He played back the message. All he could hear was “Prick!” then a thud. He knew that Joe was pissed—really pissed, and he didn’t look forward to hearing him yell and curse—something he heard frequently and was used to. He looked out his living room window thirty floors above. Society Hill, a miniature colonial village in the midst of urban Philadelphia, sparkled in the clear post-winter storm air. He looked down on Head House Square at the tiny cars moving busily on Second Street. He breathed deeply. Oxygen helped.
    He dialed Joe’s home. There was no answer. Maybe they were Christmas shopping, he thought. He had heard about Christy’s penchant for shopping marathons. “And last-minute for her,” Joe had said, “could turn into an entire day.”
    After the beep, “Yo, boss—sorry about last night. The only excuse I have is Grace.” He paused and chuckled, “Enough said.” Then he decided to try Joe’s cell phone. A metallic voice told him to leave a message. He was relieved not to have to put his head in the lion’s mouth. Joe had obviously turned his phone off.
    A warm bath would be just the thing—this time without Grace. He ran the water in the marble Jacuzzi. He could still smell her perfume on his towels and thought about their night together. He hardened briefly and then sank into the quiet bliss that only a warm bath, or the womb, could supply.
    The phone rang loudly, echoing across the black marble bathroom. Nick woke with a start. His watch said that it was one p.m. He shivered slightly from the now cool water as he reached for the wall phone. A few lingering Vitabath bubbles clung to the hair on his arm and crackled slightly as they exploded.
    “Hello.” He tried hard to sound as if he were alive.
    “Nick?” Harry Levin did not quite recognize Nick’s voice.
    Nick closed his eyes, thanking God it wasn’t Joe. “Yeah.”
    “This is Harry.”
    “Yeah, I know. How you doin’. Is everything OK?”
    Nick wasn’t used to being called at home by Levin. In fact, he had little contact with him at the office. There was a pause and a sigh. “No, Nick, I’m afraid not.”
    Nick rose in the tub, water dripping from him. Everything about him was shriveled— even his dick. “What’s the matter?”
    “There’s been an incident at Joe’s house…”
    “What happened?’ Nick’s eyes opened wide. He stepped out of the tub grasping a towel that he wrapped around his waist while pressing the phone to his ear with an hunched shoulder.
    “Nick…they’re gone…” There was a pause and a purposeful sigh.
    “What do you mean—gone?”
    There was silence on the other end.
    “Harry, what do you mean they’re ‘gone’?”
    “I mean dead. All dead. Joe, Christy, the kids.”
    “What the fuck?” Nick felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He tried to catch his breath. “Harry…how do you…know… who, who told you…” he stuttered, closing his eyes.
    “I