Silver Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

he’d analyzed her station so correctly.
     
    "Sorry, luv. Let me explain. Frankie Galbotto probably knows half the cops in the city, and I'd lay you ten-to-one odds they all know him. If the police were going to arrest Galbotto, they'd have done it long before now. And the story of one poor soaker who lost his wages gambling wouldn't have inspired the cops to put the cuffs on Frankie. Trust me, Betsy, the boys in blue would have turned a deaf ear and an eye as blind as Paddy's is now to his troubles. And here's the saddest part...it may be Paddy O'Toole who's lying in the hospital, but I guarantee you the real victim is Molly who's lost his wages."
     
    What Max said made sense, but then why write the article at all, Elizabeth wondered. "If that's so, and the police are going to leave Galbotto alone, then what did you accomplish with the story?"
     
    "A fair trade off, that's what." He sat straight, fixed Elizabeth with a serious stare, and seemed determined to make her understand. "The one thing Galbotto doesn't want is bad publicity from the Gazette . Granted the cops probably still wouldn't touch him, but he doesn't want to look bad in the eyes of society. Frankie's got a wife and kids, and he maintains an air of respectability for them. He belongs to the Italian-American club uptown. His daughters go to private school. He's built an image, understand?"
     
    "Yes, so?"
     
    "So...if I had done what you said and linked him with a story that hints he had something to do with beating up a poor defenseless Irishman, it makes Frankie look bad. His wife gets the cold shoulder at the market; his daughters hear talk at school and cry at the dinner table. In general, it gets messy for Frankie, and he doesn't like messy. And what would all this do for Paddy and Molly? Not a damn thing. Paddy's still blind and going to stay that way, and Molly's still working overtime at the Gazette trying to pay his bills."
     
    "So what was your trade off?"
     
    Max had a way of holding Elizabeth spellbound with just the glimmer of his eyes. "After I got out of your carriage, I went back to the Dorchester, listened at just the right cracks in the walls and got what I needed. I knew for sure that Galbotto and his boys did the job on Paddy. Then Sunday morning, I showed up at Saint Michael's for services. I sat down right next to the Galbotto family in the pew they've occupied for years.
     
    "Now Frankie's a sharp guy. He knows I've been dogging him, and he recognized me right away and knew I wasn't about to leave just because he gave me the evil eye. In fact, I got down on my knees with only his pretty little daughter separating us and I said a prayer for Paddy O'Toole, nice and loud so everybody around us can hear what happened to him.
     
    "I practically brought little Gina Galbotto to tears."  Max chuckled. "I can really pray when I have to. I stayed for the whole mass, and when it was over I walked outside with the family just like I was invited to Sunday dinner. I spoke with Sophia Galbotto, and talked to the girls. 'It's a pity,' I told them. 'Poor fellow's destitute and can't pay his bills.' Then the ladies jabbered away at Frankie and I saw the back of his neck turn red as the temper boiling in his head.
     
    "It was only a few minutes before Frankie took my arm and ushered me away from the family. He blustered with a few Italian-style threats and finally asked what I wanted. I told him I wanted all Paddy's hospital bills paid, and a large sum of money delivered to Molly O'Toole the next morning so she won't ever have to worry where her next meal's coming from."
     
    "And what happened?" Elizabeth asked. She leaned forward and waited eagerly.
     
    "Bright and early Monday morning a package was delivered to Molly at the Gazette . She opened it and squealed like it was Christmas. The paste-up girl asked her what had her so excited, but Molly just wrapped it back up and stuck it in her desk drawer. 'Nothin' at all,' she said. 'Just a package