Page 57 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“And he mentioned Orrie?”
“She did, but not in so many words.”
That made no sense to Grace. “Not in so many words? What does that mean?”
“She said somebody who worked at Trammel, a new hire, was the person that paid this guy named Barry Sedaka to snatch TJ.”
Grace was staring at Tommy. “Are you telling me Orrie had something to do with what happened to our children?”
“I’m saying who else could it be, Grace? He works for Trammel. He’s a new hire. You haven’t hired anybody other than him in a long time.”
Grace was stunned. And anguished. “But he’s my chief operating officer, Tommy. And you’re telling me he’s behind what happened to our children?”
“No, Grace, we aren’t there yet.” Then his look turned grim too. “But it’s not looking good.”
Grace leaned her head back and shook it. “This is getting to be too much, Tommy. Orrie involved? This is crazy.”
“I know,” he said, laying her head back on his chest. “Baby, I know.”
But she lifted her head again. This wasn’t news she could relax with. “Is the person that said it reliable?” she asked Tommy.
“I haven’t seen her in decades, so maybe not. I don’t know.”
Grace detected something else in his voice. “Who’s this person again?”
“Her name is Vera Lang.”
“I’ve never heard that name before. How do you know her?”
“I used to know her.”
“But in what capacity?”
Tommy hesitated. Like a lot of the Gabrini and Sinatra men, he too felt that his sordid past was going to be the deathof him yet. “I dated her back in the day. She now owns a restaurant. Before Barry was killed, he said he went to her restaurant to collect his payments.”
“She paid him?”
“No. But she rented a lockbox out to supposedly this guy from Trammel. And that guy paid him via this lockbox.”
“So what are we doing about it?”
“We have a tail on Orrie. And I don’t want you to have any contact with that guy until we can clear him.”
“Don’t worry I won’t.”
“And when you do return to work, and if it isn’t clear who did what yet, you will have security on you every second you’re away from his house.”
“I sure hope we get answers. A guard everywhere I go? That’ll be like living in prison.”
Tommy nodded. He agreed. “But that’s what will happen if I’m not satisfied with what we do find out. And so far, I’m not.”
“But you guys are doing all you can, right?”
“We are, yes. We even put a tail on Vera too.”
“On Vera?” Grace didn’t expect that. “Why would you put a tail on her if all she did was rent out a lockbox?”
“Just little things she said that gave us a little pause.”
