Name of the Devil by Andrew Mayne Read Free Book Online

it all back.”
    I tried to put the bits and pieces together, but I couldn’t understand what it was all about.
    Dad pleaded, “We don’t have it. Most of it is sitting in the warehouse. I tried explaining this to him when that ice show got booked over us and we lost most of our dates. It’d just have to be next year.”
    â€œGuys like him don’t think that way. You tell Brutani something is going to happen, damn it, it has to happen.”
    â€œWhy can’t he understand? It’s not like we wasted the money,” replied Dad.
    â€œYou don’t see, do you?” My grandfather had lots of different ways to make you feel stupid by pointing to something that’s supposed to be obvious.
    â€œSee what?”
    Grandfather said something inaudible under his breath. “Brutani is small-time. He came out here to invest in the pictures and be a big shot. He wanted in on what we were doing because it excited him. But at the end of the day, it’s not his money. It’s his father’s.”
    â€œWhat are you saying?”
    â€œHe’s putting the squeeze on us because he’s afraid of his old man.”
    â€œWe can’t just let him threaten us! And the business with Jessica? That crossed the line. We should go to the police.”
    The business with me? Was this was about the Buick?
    â€œThat’s a horrible idea,” interjected Uncle Darius, who must have just walked into the room.
    â€œWe’ll make sure you’re not here when they come over,” replied my father, getting in a dig about my uncle’s arrest record.
    â€œThere’s a quick wit,” Darius shot back. “You don’t call the cops when you borrow money from the mob and they want it repaid.”
    â€œI didn’t borrow money from the mob,” snapped my father.
    â€œYou let the son of a major mobster invest money in the show. It’s the same thing.”
    â€œWhat happens if we call the cops? What can Brutani do?”
    â€œIt’s not what Brutani does, brother, it’s what the low-rent guy fresh out of the can and desperate to go back in that Brutani paid off can do. They hit you sideways. Sending that car to follow to Jessica, that was dirty. Real dirty.”
    â€œSo what do we do?” asked Dad.
    â€œTalk to someone who’s connected, so we can get to his father.”
    There’s a long pause. “Not her,” grumbled Grandfather. “God, not that bitch. I almost called her a cunt on live television. She won’t help us.”
    â€œYes, she will,” said Darius.
    â€œWhy is that?” asked Grandfather.
    â€œShe’ll want you to owe her. She’ll want a favor.”
    â€œI can’t do that. I’ve got my integrity.”
    â€œWell, in that case,” said Darius, “I hope you and your integrity are happy here. Because I’m going to take Jessica with me and relocate somewhere under another name.”
    I’d never heard my uncle look out for me like that.
    â€œBullshit!” shouted Dad.
    â€œYou don’t solve this, just watch me. That kid is all that matters. This is your fuck-up, not hers. Swallow your enormous egos and let’s fix this.”
    â€œI hate that woman,” Grandfather growled.
    For a fleeting second I thought he meant me.
    â€œYeah, well be sure to add an extra degree of spit and polish. You need to charm her,” explained Darius.
    â€œI’d rather seduce a cobra.”

6
    D R. J EFFERY A ILES, who—as head of the DOJ task force I work on—is my de facto boss, shakes his head. I feel like I’ve just been called into the principal’s office, albeit over Skype. Even in the safety of my motel room a state away, his gaze penetrates. A former Naval officer, a computer scientist-turned-black box hedge fund manager, the first African American to win the Japan Prize for mathematics, a MacArthur Fellow and rumored presidential golf buddy,