Twenty Blue Devils by Aaron Elkins Read Free Book Online Page A

to boot. That Brian turned out to be a loving, protective husband to Therese and a responsible parent to the twins who came along later was frosting on the cake.
    Almost like having a son.
    And now it was all ended, done. "No!" he whispered when John broke the news. Then his face went grayish yellow, his big body seemed to fall in on itself, and he sat, staring at nothing, like a witless hulk, while John gave them what details he had.
    "And that's it,” John said. “That's all I know."
    It was Marti who broke the queasy silence by pushing back her chair. “I'll put up some coffee,” she said quietly and went to the kitchen.
    "Tea for me,” Rudy called automatically after her, then looked embarrassed.
    "We'll have to arrange the funeral,” Nick said thickly after another long interval. He cleared his throat and visibly gathered himself together. “Nelson, will you see about getting us on a plane in the morning?"
    "He's already been buried,” John told them. “In the plantation cemetery."
    Maggie—tough, brassy Maggie—suddenly turned brick-red and sobbed like a man, an explosive, gasping, painful yawp that caught everyone by surprise; Maggie too, from the looks of it.
    Now everybody was embarrassed. “Oh, hell,” she said roughly, scrubbing at her eyes with a napkin while she got herself under control again. “It's only...he was so keen on being buried in that stupid old cemetery. I mean, we used to joke about it, didn't we? And now...now... Oh, God, Therese must be...” She trailed off as the tears welled up again, and dabbed at her nose with a tissue she'd found somewhere.
    Marti came back with the coffee and tea and handed them around. In silence they sipped mechanically or simply stared at their cups.
    After a while John spoke, looking down at his hands. “I want to be frank. After everything else that's been happening out there, I think we have to consider, well, that it may not have been an accident."
    Nick looked up dully, angrily, as if he didn't comprehend.
    Rudy, more nonplussed than John had ever seen him before, opened his mouth so suddenly that his lips popped. “Not an— you don't mean...they wouldn't really—they wouldn't—"
    "Rudy, don't be dumb,” Nick said with uncharacteristic harshness. “What the hell would the Mob have against Brian? He wasn't even around back then."
    "Yes, but didn't John just say—"
    "I don't care what John said. If they have a beef with anybody, it's me—not Brian."
    "Now let's wait just a minute here,” Nelson said. “Rudy may very well have a valid point."
    "How the hell—” Nick began.
    "Who prepared the new affidavit?” Nelson asked. “Would someone care to tell me that? Who did all the work?"
    "Ah, that's ridiculous,” Nick said.
    "What do you mean, new affidavit?” John asked. “Now what are you talking about?"
    But Nelson backed off. “Well, I'm not really suggesting that it had anything to do with—"
    "What new affidavit?” John repeated.
    It was Maggie who explained. When the gangsters’ retrial had come up four years before, Nick had been asked by the U.S. attorney's office to make a new deposition to include some elements that hadn't been in the first one. Nick was eager to comply (over Nelson's objections), but was having a hard time finding the data he needed. People had died, firms had gone out of business, old records were impossible to locate. After three frustrating weeks of letters and telephone calls, he still didn't have the vital pieces. That was when Brian, who had been trying to introduce things like computers, modems, and e-mail to his still-reluctant father-in-law, had put together the needed information as a demonstration of what the new online technology could do. It had taken him two and a half hours.
    Nick had been bowled over, converted on the spot. The Paradise plantation's changeover to the new technology had begun the next week. And the preparation of the affidavit had been turned over to Brian, lock, stock, and