Death Never Sleeps Read Online Free PDF

him.”
    “Donna, when we were leaving the church earlier you said, ‘Be careful.’ What did you mean by that?” Michael asked, looking right into Donna’s eyes.
    “Listen, Alex was not one to tell his wife everything. But I know he was worried. First, he had some guys trying to take a cut of his business. I don’t remember how much they wanted, but Alex said they approached him back in September and wanted either some big payment up front or something every month.”
    “How did Alex react?”
    “You know your brother. He told them to go fuck themselves. He told me they just looked like a bunch of kids, and he wasn’t about to just start paying them his hard-earned money.”
    “Could one of those kids have been that guy Luke who shot him?”
    “I don’t know because I never saw any of these people. Alex only said that they were Italian and then he said maybe Portuguese. You know your brother; he was never good with accents, let alone languages.” As she spoke, Donna’s eyes darted around the room watching the parade of friends and acquaintances in the restaurant behind Michael. It was a practice that had annoyed Michael in the past. He remembered it now.
    “The police think this Luke guy was just a punk who needed money, and someone paid him to kill Alex. He couldn’t have been the brightest crayon in the box to have shot Alex in Grimaldi’s with all those off-duty cops around. Many of those guys were Alex’s friends�—they shot that kid like fifteen times. He’s dead, but finding who hired him might be impossible now. I don’t think the police have any real clues.”
    Donna paused to reach for her glass, realized it was empty, and took a deep breath before continuing. “Michael, I know you can’t get in the middle of all this now, but I have no one else to turn to. George certainly can’t handle this. Alex always said his son just had no touch for the business. Plus, he’s only twenty-three, for Christ’s sake.”
    “And you think I do?” asked Michael, almost laughing but at the same time feeling a deep sense of doom approaching.
    “I know this is ridiculous but, yes, I do. Who else can I possibly turn to? Also, there’s more. Skinny Lester just cornered me at the cemetery—he’s so nervous he couldn’t wait until the dirt even settled on the damned casket. Alex owes one of the bettors seven hundred thousand dollars!”
    “You’ve got to be kidding.” Michael began to sink deeper into his seat.
    “It’s not as bad as it sounds, Michael.” Donna began to lay out the pressing issues confronting Alex’s business. “Alex has people who owe him money. From what Lester told me, he has about half a million out there that is owed to him right now. Some of these people will pay Lester out of loyalty to Alex. Some won’t pay anything until they see someone with some presence who makes them understand that the debt still has to be paid, Alex or no Alex.”
    “Well, that at least closes some of the financial gap,” Michael said, partially relieved since he suspected that Donna was going to ask him to help pay the seven hundred thousand dollars in order to keep everyone safe from harm. At least the gap now appeared to be only two hundred thousand dollars. But Donna’s expression about the need for “someone with some presence” was giving Michael an instant migraine. His throat was tightening and a familiar pain deep down in his stomach began to assert itself.
    “Michael, relax. It gets better.”
    Michael couldn’t read Donna well enough to know whether that was a joke or whether there really was good news to follow. He suspected the former.
    “Alex had, but now we have plenty of money. I think there are millions stashed away.”
    “You think? Or you know?”
    “I know,” Donna answered quietly.
    “Well, that’s a relief. At least we—or you—don’t have to worry about money,” said Michael, almost able to exhale.
    Donna repeated her point. “I know there’s plenty of