Maybe they thought Lederer was a fair trade for Liz Weinstein, Major, the TWA plainclothesman, and the two actors who had played the Quinns. Rizzo entered the room, his face crisscrossed with tape. He lunged at Devlin. “You’re the luckiest guy alive, you motherfucker! If it was up to me, you’d be dead already. I’d be wishing I could kill you again. It’s going to take three operations to fix this fucking thing. Three!” He whacked Devlin on the side of the head.

“Don’t,” somebody said. “You’re going to start him bleeding again. Who knows if he can take it?”

“He can take it.”

“Do you know?”

A young guy with red hair. Their little drama wasn’t missing a beat. Good guy-bad guy. Cop stuff. They were almost too good at it.

On the couch next to the guy with red hair was old DiBennedetti, his eyes tiny and piglike, stuck in his hairless head like raisins imbedded in a mound of dough. Five guys were in the room now, Rizzo, the guy who had told him that they had wanted him to live, and another guy sitting in an armchair in the corner. His hair was thinning and he watched Devlin intently. The nose felt like an anchor. Devlin had to be careful.

“Brennan don’t want you to get your hands on his fucking money,” DiBennedetti said. “It’s his worst nightmare. You’ll go for it, we know you. Free money, right? Nothing would suit him better than to see you get an annulment, but it ain’t gonna happen. He sent his own guy to Rome back in the early seventies. Months ago he called the convent to tell them to watch out for you, to tell him if you showed up. We’re not the only ones who’ve been watching you. You got a nice girlfriend there. Lovely woman.”

I’m lucky she’s alive, you son of a bitch. “Did you tap his calls?”

The old man leaned back, blinking. “What the fuck is wrong with you? We could kill you anytime, and you’re still asking questions!” He looked at the others. “Can you believe this guy?” Suddenly, as if he had leaped across the room, he was inches from Devlin’s face. “You and his fucking kids were going after us! Who the hell did you think you were? Who the hell did you think you were dealing with?”

“Jim Brennan planted that stuff in Jack’s office,” Devlin said.

“Bullshit! What for?”

“So you would go after me. He’s just evil enough to think I wanted his money in spite of my interest in another woman. You just said it yourself. He wanted you to do his dirty work for him.”