Forced Out by Stephen Frey Read Free Book Online

an East River pier one night a couple of years ago when he was drunk. And that he drowned. That jog your memory?" Casey nodded as best he could. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Now I remember." His teeth were chattering so hard it was difficult for him to speak. "Can I have a blanket or something?
    I'm freezing."
    "When we're done," Johnny answered, leaning down close. "When you've told me what I wanna know."
    "You already know everything I know. Kyle accidentally drove his car off a pier near where they used to keep that old battleship. He drowned."
    "Why would he do that?"
    "They killed his girlfriend. He got stinking drunk and lost it. Couldn't take being without her. Missed a turn, went over the edge."
    Johnny felt a familiar lump form quickly in his throat. He still hadn't gotten over her. Never would. " Who killed his girlfriend?"
    "The Lucchesi family. The Mafia."
    Johnny stood straight up and took a quick, involuntary step back. Then hunched over for a split second, like he'd been slammed in the stomach with a sharp punch. Angelo Marconi had left that little detail out. Unless this was an intricate dodge Casey was trying to pull. But the missile had landed too close to home, sounded too believable. How could Casey possibly have known he was being tortured tonight on direct orders from a Lucchesi boss? "Why would they kill his girlfriend?" Johnny asked, trying not to act like Casey's response had hit him so hard.
    "Kyle owed them money, I think. Yeah, that was it. Like almost a hundred grand. He borrowed it from them to pay for his mom's operation. For my sister, Helen. She and her husband didn't have insurance, didn't have anywhere near that kind of cash. And the rest of us didn't have the money, either. She would have died without surgery, so Kyle went to the mob for the money. They were his only option."
    "Yeah, but why'd they kill his girlfriend ?"
    No answer.
    "Mr. Casey!"
    "Okay, okay, here's how it went down. So they come looking for the VIG early, see, way before they're supposed to. They want some big extra payment they'd never mentioned at the beginning, too. A processing fee, they call it. Kyle keeps telling them he can't pay
    'em yet, that it's way earlier than the original deal. But they won't stop coming around, won't stop badgering him, won't give him a break. It doesn't make any sense, and Kyle gets pissed off at 'em one night in Brooklyn, really pissed off. Tells the main guy to go screw himself. Tells him he's gonna turn the tables and come after him. So they off Kyle's girlfriend to let him know they mean business.
    "Now he's going out of his mind because he feels so guilty and the main guy tells Kyle they're gonna start killing his family next. Torture us before they kill us, too. Gouge out eyes with pens, pour acid on the wounds. Cut off body parts real slow. Real bad shit, you know? Helen first, then the rest of us. Yeah, well, Kyle can't take it, would never be able to live with himself. And he knows they're serious now, too. Like I said, he can't handle being without his girl, either. They were tight, real tight. So he goes the only way out he can think of. He ends it."
    Johnny raised his hand slowly to his chest, feeling the two of hearts in his shirt pocket beneath the warm fleece. "Suicide?"
    "Yeah, right, suicide. Now, will you please let me go?"
    "But you told me a minute ago that McLean accidentally drove his car off that pier. That's what your police report says, too."
    "I forgot. I'm sorry. Kyle didn't want me to put suicide in the report. He didn't want his mother to hear about that. He didn't want his mother to think he murdered himself. He knew Helen wouldn't have been able to handle it. So I doctored the report after Kyle killed himself."
    " Doctored it? Wasn't that risky? Couldn't doing something like that have gotten you kicked off the force?"
    "I'm his uncle, for Christ's sake. Kyle and I are close. I'm really like his older brother. I'd do anything for him."
    There it was. The mistake Johnny had