TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART (21 page)

“Milt,
good morning,” Tommy said as the two men shook hands.
 
“Tell me something good,” he added as he sat
on the sofa, beside Grace.

“I
was getting reports all through the night,” Milt said.

“What’s
the bottom line?” Tommy asked.

“There
was a terrible accident during Grace’s freshman year in college and a woman was
unfortunately killed.
 
That’s a fact.”

“That
much we know,” Tommy said.

“And
it’s also a fact,” Milt continued, “that Rait Rawlings claimed at the time that
some other man was driving the car, a man whom he alleged had fled the scene of
the accident.
 
Everybody else died or
nearly died, but the driver managed to walk away, if Rait is to be believed.”

“So
what do you mean?” Tommy asked, his heart pounding.
 
“That there was no third person in that car?”

“There
was no third person in the car.”

“But
there had to be,” Grace said.
 
“I wouldn’t
have been driving if I was drunk like that.”

“You
weren’t driving, Grace,” Milt said.
 
“Rait Rawlings was driving that car.”

“Rait?”
Grace asked, stunned.

“Rait
Rawlings was driving that car.
 
And he’s
right.
 
Your father and a friend of your
father’s, a white man named Clive Birch, did indeed pay him off.
 
But the part he failed to mention was that
they only agreed to pay him off when he was going to claim that you were the
driver.
  
So to exonerate himself, and to
collect cash while he was at it, he lied about this third man.”

Grace
could hardly believe it.
 
She had never
heard anybody accuse Rait.
 
Just this
third man or some who believed she might have been driving.
 
And Rait was such a nice guy that she never
thought he would have been the driver either.
 
Even after they graduated and went their separate ways, she still didn’t
suspect her friend.
 
She just didn’t.

Milt,
however, continued.
 
“The prosecutor had
no evidence to disprove Rawlings version of events, and Mr. Birch apparently
had friends in high enough places to make sure that they didn’t try very hard
to disprove it, and therefore Rawlings, nor anyone else, was ever charged.
 
So yes, he was paid off all right.
 
But only after he was attempting to implicate
you falsely, Grace.”

Grace
was still befuddled.
 
“But why would he
come out now with this story?” she asked.
 
“What’s in it for him now?”

“Money,”
Milt said.
 
“His driving force.
 
He was broke and willing and the right people
got in touch with him.
 
So he was paid
yet again for his same crime.
 
But only
this time, he wasn’t paid to exonerate you, but to implicate you.”

“Money
is what’s driving Jared and Nayla too,” Grace said.

“That’s
right,” Milt said.
 
“The old adage is
correct.
 
Always follow the money.
 
That’s what we did.”

Although
Grace had a real idea who was behind Jared and Nayla’s nonsense, she had no
clue about Rait’s.
 
“But who could be
paying all of them?” she asked Milt.

“Jillian
Birch,” Tommy said before Milt had a chance to say it.

Jillian
had, of course, crossed Grace’s mind when the story first broke.
 
But she dismissed it when it didn’t add up
for her.
 
She therefore looked at
Tommy.
 
“Jillian?” she asked.
 
“She’s paying Jared and Nayla to tell their
lies you mean?” she asked him.

“And
Rawlings too, yes,” Tommy said.

Grace,
however, was unconvinced.
 
“But how would
Rait changing his story help Jillian?
 
I
already assumed she would want to discredit me, or do whatever she could to
regain control of Trammel, but I own fifty-eight percent of Trammel.
 
I’m not going to give her control again no
matter what Rait says, or even Jared and Nay for that matter.”

“You’ll
give up control if it became a question of her taking over or Trammel going
under,” Tommy said.
 
“That’s how Jilly
thinks.
 
She thinks there’s the elites
like her, and then people like you.
 
She’s convinced that the elites have to rule the world or the world
would just crumble and die.”

“And
she thinks without her at Trammel it’ll crumble and die?”

“She
convinces herself of nonsense like that, yes,” Tommy said.
 
“But of course she forgets to mention that
she has to sabotage Trammel for it to crumble and die, but that’s beside the
point with Jilly.”

“So
it’s true,” Grace asked Milt.
 
“Jillian
Birch was behind Rait’s sudden appearance, and Jared and Nayla’s lies?”

Milt
nodded. “Yes,” he said.
 
“She and her
brother Lootie Pressley were absolutely behind it.”

Grace
knew Jillian was capable of some dirty dealings, but she didn’t expect her to
dig this low.
 
And it angered her.
 
Hard as she was working to build Trammel up,
Jillian was working to tear it down.
 
“I’m going to pay Miss Birch a visit,” she said to Tommy.

Tommy
exhaled. To Grace’s shock he didn’t dismiss her suggestion out of hand, or
insist he handle it alone. He, instead, doubled down on her suggestion.
 

“Not
without me you aren’t,” he said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

While
Grace and Milt waited at her apartment for Tommy to make a quick run to his
office, what she didn’t know was that Tommy also took a detour, and paid an
unexpected visit to Rait Rawlings.
 

As
soon as Rait stepped inside of his car in the garage of his modest home in
suburbia, Tommy, who was seated in the backseat of the car with his legs
crossed, cleared his throat.
 
Rait turned
around so fast that he nearly whiplashed himself.
 
When he saw that it was indeed true, and some
strange man was sitting in the backseat of his car, he attempted to jump right
back out.
 
Tommy, however, had other
plans for him as he moved behind the driver’s seat and slung a rope around the
man’s neck, pinning
 
Rait’s entire body
against the seat of the car.

“This
is the way it’s going to be,” Tommy said firmly as Rait struggled mightily to
break free.
 
Tommy held the rope
steadily, although it took a considerable amount of his considerable strength.
 
“You will call a press conference today,” he
went on.
 
“Not tomorrow, not next
week.
 
Today.”

Rait
continued struggling for freedom.
 
Tommy
continued to tighten the rope.
 
“At that
press conference,” he continued, “you will admit that your ass lied.
 
You will admit that Grace was not behind the
wheel of that car, but that some third man was responsible just as you claimed
twelve years ago when the accident first occurred.
 
We know your ass was the real driver, but
you’d better stick with the story you told when that accident first
happened.”
 

If
Rait kept to the original story, Tommy felt, it wouldn’t confuse the
issue.
 
This wasn’t about getting Rait
Rawlings.
 
This was about exonerating
Grace.
 
Besides, Tommy knew he had to
keep that knowledge of Rait’s involvement as leverage should Rait decide to
pull another one of these stunts for money.

Tommy
therefore tightened the rope again, just in case Rait had any doubts about his
resolve.
 

But
Rait already understood his resolve.
 
Because by now he was no longer struggling to be free, but was
struggling to stay alive.
 

“But
if you don’t go before those cameras and retract what you said about Grace
McKinsey,” Tommy went on as if he was oblivious to the man’s struggles, “then I
will not only provide the DA with the evidence I have, evidence that clearly
shows you as the driver, but after I do that, I’m also going to kill your
ass.
 
And you know why I’m going to do
it, Rait?
 
Because I can.”

Rait’s
neck was beginning to draw blood as he fought the chokehold, and Tommy knew not
to cross that fatal line.
 
He therefore
released the rope from Rait’s neck.
 
Rait, finally able to breathe unobstructed again, grabbed his neck as he
hyperventilated.

Tommy
wrapped the rope around his knuckles.
 
He
sat back again, and crossed his legs.
 
“Who paid you to lie?” he asked Rait.

When
Rait said nothing, Tommy slung the rope around Rait’s neck again, prompting
Rait to immediately respond.
  
“I don’t
know the name,” he said quickly.

 
“You’re lying,” he said, tightening the rope
again.

“I’m
not!” Rait yelled, struggling to breathe again.
 
“I swear I don’t know!
 
They did a
money drop and I picked it up.”

“But
how did they get in touch with you?”

“By
phone.
 
Everything was by cell
phone.
 
They even told me they were using
throwaway phones so I couldn’t trace the calls.”

“You
say they?”

“First
it was a woman.
 
Then it was a man who
called me.”

Tommy
hesitated.
 
Jillian’s brother Lootie
maybe?
 
“And they never gave a name?” he
asked Rait.

“Never.”

He
tightened the rope yet again.
 
“Don’t lie
to me!”

“I’m not
lying!
 
I swear I’m not lying!
 
They never gave a name!”

Tommy
knew he was getting nowhere with this.
 
He released the rope again.
 
Again, Rait struggled to breathe.
 

“Just
remember to set the record straight,” Tommy said.
 
“Do you understand me, Rawlings?
 
By the end of this day you had better set
that record straight.”

Rait
looked at him through the rearview mirror.
 
He looked at him with more fear than anger in his eyes.
 
And all he could do was nod.

Tommy
smiled that chilling smile that came nowhere near his eyes.
 
“Good,” he said, and then moved to get out of
the car.
 
Then he thought of
something.
 

“Oh,
and Mr. Rait Prick Rawlings,” he said, “do wear a scarf at your press
conference today.
 
To cover up your
scars.”
 
Then Tommy frowned.
 
“Asshole,” he said, as he got out of the car.

Later
that day, with Grace beside him, Jillian’s butler behaved as if Tommy wasn’t
going to be allowed in, which astounded Tommy.

He
and Grace were at Jillian’s front door.
 
Karl, the butler, had just answered the door.

“Mr.
Gabrini, Miss McKinsey,” he said nervously.
 
“Hello.”

“Hello,
Karl,” Tommy said as he began to move toward entering.

“I’m
afraid, sir,” Karl said, blocking the entrance.

“Yes?”
Tommy asked.

“I’m
afraid Miss Birch is tied up at this present time.”

“Then
you’d better untie her,” Tommy said as he sidestepped Karl and entered the
home.
 
He had his hand on the small of
Grace’s back and was escorting her in right along with him.
 
They both had been inside Jillian’s beautiful
home dozens of times individually, and Karl knew them both very well.
 
But he also knew what had recently transpired
with Jillian’s firing, and Cameron’s death.

“I
don’t think she’ll approve, sir,” he said, his eyes begging for
understanding.
 
“She’s really very busy.”

But
Tommy would have none of it.
 
“We’ll
wait,” he said as he escorted Grace to the sitting area.

Karl
gave up.
 
He couldn’t be expected to
argue with Tommy Gabrini!
 
“I’ll let her
know you’re here, sir,” he said, and headed down the corridor.

Grace
and Tommy sat on the sofa.
 
Tommy crossed
his legs.
 
“She’s going to deny
everything,” Grace said.
 
“You know
that.”

But
Tommy had already taken care of the backup plan.
 
Jillian’s denial was irrelevant at this
point.
 

Grace
shook her head.
 
“I know she hates what’s
happened to Cam, I wish it wouldn’t have happened too.
 
And I know she figure she should still be at
the helm at Trammel.
 
But that’s not how
it works.
 
If it wasn’t for you buying up
all those shares to begin with, there wouldn’t even still be a Trammel
Transport.
 
But she forgets all about
that.”

“That
bitch hasn’t forgotten a damn thing,” Tommy said, unable to hide his disdain
for Jillian.
 
Grace already knew he was
growing increasingly tired of their plots and schemes and he was about ready to
explode.
 
She only hoped her presence
could help keep a lid on him.
 

Tommy
kept on.
 
“She knows I could have sold
Trammel a long time ago.
 
I gave her
every chance to manage that company better, but she wouldn’t do it.
 
So I took all control away from her.
 
I gave it to you, and you’re actually doing
something with it.
 
Working yourself
senseless, but you’re turning things around,” he added as he took her hand.
“Trammel’s already doing better.”

“I
still just hate this,” Grace said.
 
“Who
has time for these games?
 
She still owns
forty-two percent of Trammel.
 
Doesn’t
she realize that she’ll win if Trammel starts turning big profits?
 
Doesn’t she realize she’ll lose if clients
start deserting us because they’ve determined I’m some murderer or harasser or
I’m firing employees wrongly, or whatever else they come up with?”

“She
realizes it,” Tommy said firmly.
 
“But
she also doesn’t care.
 
Cameron is
dead.
 
And she wants revenge.
 
I think that’s all she sees.”

Grace
looked at Tommy.
 
She wished that wasn’t
it.

But
when Jillian entered the sitting room, her ever-present French poodle in her
arms, sweeping in with a grand smile on her surgically-enhanced balloon lips as
if nothing whatsoever was wrong, Grace knew Tommy was exactly right.
 
She was happy to play the bitch.

“Tommy,
hello,” she said as she walked in.
 
Tommy
would normally stand when a lady entered a room.
 
Not this time.

Jillian
noticed it too, but she continued to smile and have a seat.
 
Karl, who came in behind her, assisted her to
her chair.

“Is
there anything else, ma’am?” Karl asked her.

“No,
Karl, thank-you.
 
There’s nothing
else.
 
I would offer my guests drinks,
but I’m sure they’re not here to socialize.
 
Am I right?” She asked this with a grin.
 
But it was a rhetorical question, and even the butler knew that.
 
He bowed and left the room.
 

Jillian
leaned back in her chair and looked at her two guests.
 
Although she was still smiling, Grace could
see the hatred now.
 
It was that same
hatred she saw when this same woman called her Tommy’s whore.

“So,”
she said, “what can I do for you folks?”

“Nothing,”
Tommy said.
 
“But I plan do something for
you.”

Jillian
always did like Tommy’s style.
 
“Oh,
really now?” she asked.
 
“And what is
that?”

“I
plan rearrange your face,” he said, and as soon as he said it that smile on
Jillian’s face was gone.
 

But
he continued.
 
“I plan to take those
balloon lips of yours and deflate them with my fists.
 
I plan make you have fond memories of what it
used to be like to have both legs.
 
And
both arms.
 
Teeth.”
 

Grace
didn’t expect this kind of talk from Tommy, and she wondered if he was joking
around.
 
But when she looked at him she
saw that he wasn’t.

“I
don’t like to act the thug, Jillian,” Tommy continued, “but make no mistake
about it. When I have to go there, I go there.
 
I don’t go halfway there, I don’t go a third of the way there.
 
I go there.
 
I keep my word.
 
But my thuggery
can be avoided if and only if you go before those same cameras you sent your
bought-and-paid-for flunkies in front of yesterday, and issue a retraction of
their accusations against Grace.”

Jillian
had her hand on her chest by now.
 
“What
are you talking about?” she asked him.
 
“What flunkies?
 
Are you
insinuating that I had something to do with that young man coming forward, and
those Trammel employees?”

“You
will admit, in front of those same cameras,” Tommy continued, “that you paid
those fools to make those allegations, and you will explain why you paid them.”

“But
I had nothing to do with any of that,” Jillian insisted.
 
“How could you even think it!”

Tommy
stared at her.
 
It was going to get
messy.
 
“Grace?” he finally said.

Grace
looked at him. “Yes?”

“I
want you to go to the car and wait for me there.”

Jillian’s
heart began to pound.
 
Grace wanted to
object, she didn’t want this to get violent and she certainly didn’t want Tommy
to get into any kind of trouble.
 
But she
had to trust that he knew what he was doing.