Chapter 51

Pete Soldano replaced the phone in its base. He had told Julie that he’d call her back, right after he talked it over with Joan. Now he sat in his living room, staring out a pair of arched windows that flanked the brick fireplace. His wife had gone out to their front yard to rake some leaves. It was chilly, and she had bundled up as if she were going out to shovel snow. He had teased her about it.

Pete could see her standing at the end of the driveway chatting with their neighbor, Anita. She was laughing…happy.

He knew he was about to ruin her day.

Joan nodded to the neighbor, turned and walked back into the house through the garage, into the kitchen.

“Pete? Have you seen the paper? I want to do the crossword.”

“It’s out here,” he said.

Joan walked into the room, smiling. Her cheeks were rosy.

“You want to take a crack at it before I do?” she said.

“Not right now,” said Pete. “Julie just called.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you call me?” she said, plopping down in the chair next to him.

“Joan. Julie wants us to do somethin’. I thought we ought to talk it over.”

“So talk,” she said, leaning back, her legs crossed and her foot wiggling.

“She wants us to speak with an FBI agent about Avram Solomon.”

Both feet hit the floor and she stiffened.

“What?”

“Yeah, I know, I know. That’s a little more than we bargained for,” said Pete.

“I guess! You can’t do that…you’ll get fired!”

“Well, let me explain what else she said…”

“Forget it, Pete!” she said, standing up now and pacing. “I know you want to help Julie, and so do I…but you don’t know that Avram had anything to do with Marc’s death!”

“Sit down, and listen to me,” said Pete. “This isn’t just about Marc. Avram is already in trouble with the FBI, accordin’ to Julie. And you know we’ve been thinkin’ he’s crooked for a long time! She said that the FBI guy is a friend. His name is Sherman Dixon. She says we can trust him.”

Joan started to object again, but he put his hand on her arm. “Listen, Joannie,” he said. “This agent said I should ‘distance myself from Solomon’. Think about it; if Avram’s doing anything illegal with the dealerships…well, I’m a General Manager, for chrissakes! I don’t want to be accused of anything! And Dixon promised to keep us out of it, if nothin’ developed.”

“Ohmigod,” said Joan.

They sat there in their matching wing chairs, staring into the cold fireplace. Neither of them spoke, as they considered the possible fall-out from all this.

“I think we should do this,” said Pete, at last.

“Yes. I guess we better…”

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