"Yes, ma"am. Er, sorry . . ."
Two more cops entered the restaurant. I jumped to my feet as soon as I recognized one of them.
"Esther," Lopez said, his features creased with concern. "Jesus, I was hoping you weren"t here when it happened." Lopez said, his features creased with concern. "Jesus, I was hoping you weren"t here when it happened."
I went straight into his arms and clung to him.
"You"re the witness?" he said against my hair. the witness?" he said against my hair.
I nodded.
"s.h.i.t." His arms tightened around me.
"Hey, sweetie!" Stella said jovially. "This must be the guy, huh? The cop everyone"s been talking about?"
I didn"t answer. I just burrowed. Lopez felt wonderful. Strong and safe. I wanted to stay in his arms the rest of the night.
But not in the same room with Charlie"s dead body.
"Can we please go outside?" I mumbled against Lopez"s jacket. "I can"t look at Charlie anymore."
"Sure," he said. "Come on." With one arm still around me, he turned so that I wouldn"t see Charlie again as we made our exit.
The cop who had come in with him said, "This is our witness?"
"Yeah," Lopez replied. "I know her."
"So I gathered," was the dry response.
"Esther, this is Detective Peter Napoli," Lopez said. "He"s going to be lead investigator on this case."
"Uh-huh," I said.
Lopez told Napoli, "I"ll get her statement."
"I"ll get it," said Napoli. get it," said Napoli.
Lopez nodded but didn"t loosen his hold on me. I was relieved he wasn"t just going to abandon me to Napoli. If I had to repeat again again what it was like to watch Charlie Chiccante die, I"d at least like a comforting face to look at while I did it. And, as I glanced at Napoli, I didn"t think he looked at all comforting. A pale, brown-eyed man who was mostly bald, he had a sardonic, suspicious expression. what it was like to watch Charlie Chiccante die, I"d at least like a comforting face to look at while I did it. And, as I glanced at Napoli, I didn"t think he looked at all comforting. A pale, brown-eyed man who was mostly bald, he had a sardonic, suspicious expression.
As soon as we got outside, where it was nighttime by now, a familiar voice called, "Esther! Are you okay, kid?" Are you okay, kid?"
I looked around. "Lucky?"
Bright lights blinked briefly in my face. I was confused for a moment, until I realized it was flash photography. I held a hand up to shade my eyes and squinted. I saw two photographers in the crowd. Not cops. Media. Taking pictures of me.
"Miss Diamond!" one of them shouted. "Hey, over here, Esther!"
"Great, they know your name already," Lopez muttered.
I ducked my head, suddenly depressed. I dreamed of being photographed as a successful actress at the Tony Awards, not as a waitress who"d witnessed a mob hit in Little Italy.
"Esther!" Lucky called.
I lifted my head again. "Lucky! Where are you?"
"Don"t, Esther," Lopez said. "This is a zoo. We"d better take you to-"
Another flash went off in my face. I saw spots and stumbled. Only Lopez"s supporting arm kept me from falling.
A hand from the milling crowd reached for me. I flinched, but then I saw Lucky"s face and returned his grip.
"Grazie a Dio!" Lucky tore me out of Lopez"s grasp to hug me. "Thank G.o.d you"re all right, kid! They wouldn"t let me inside, and no one knew for sure if you was okay!" Lucky tore me out of Lopez"s grasp to hug me. "Thank G.o.d you"re all right, kid! They wouldn"t let me inside, and no one knew for sure if you was okay!"
I hugged him back and babbled, "Chubby Charlie"s dead! He was shot right in front of me! I thought he was having some kind of stroke or psychotic fit, but then . . . Oh, Lucky!"
Napoli snapped at Lopez, "Can"t you keep your witness quiet?"
Lopez said, "Esther-"
"Hey, buddy, back off!" Lucky warned him, sweeping me to his side and stepping between us. "Her boyfriend"s a cop cop."
"I"m a cop," Lopez said, trying to retrieve me. "And I"m her . . . I mean . . ." a cop," Lopez said, trying to retrieve me. "And I"m her . . . I mean . . ."
Our eyes met.
I said, "I thought I"d have a chance to explain to you, before you heard about it from someone else, that, um, I"ve been telling the guys around here-"
"Lucky, relax!" said Stella, who"d followed us outside. "This is is Esther"s boyfriend." Esther"s boyfriend."
"Oh? Oh. Oh. Hey!" Lucky turned friendly. "You"re the boyfriend?" Hey!" Lucky turned friendly. "You"re the boyfriend?"
Napoli said to Lopez, "Whoa! The witness is your girlfriend? girlfriend?"
Lopez looked at me, as if thinking I might know the right answer to this question.
I said, "It may seem as if things between us moved forward without you actually being being here, but I-" here, but I-"
"Well, okay okay, then, pal! Glad to meet you!" Lucky grabbed Lopez"s hand and pumped it in greeting. "Any friend of Esther"s is a friend of mine!"
Lopez said to me, "You"re friends friends with Lucky Battistuzzi?" with Lucky Battistuzzi?"
"Hey, you know me?" Lucky sounded pleased.
"Only by reputation."
Napoli said, "Good G.o.d, you"re dating a mob girl?"
"No," Lopez said. Lopez said.
"Wait a minute!" Lucky bristled. "Are you sayin" you"re breaking up with Esther, you bozo? Now? Now? Tonight? After the poor kid just saw Chubby Charlie get whacked? What kind of a man are you?" Tonight? After the poor kid just saw Chubby Charlie get whacked? What kind of a man are you?"
"I"m not breaking up with her," Lopez said, starting to look like his head hurt.
"No? Well. Okay, then." Restored to good humor by this news, Lucky gestured to a few of the wiseguys in the crowd. "Hey! Guys! Esther"s boyfriend just got back to town! Come say h.e.l.lo! Tommy! Freddie! This is Esther"s fella."
Tommy Two Toes said, "Yo!"
Freddie the Hermit said, "Hey!"
Lopez said to me, "I can see that you and I have a lot to talk about."
"I can explain this," I a.s.sured him.
"So you are are dating a Gambello girl?" Napoli said coldly. dating a Gambello girl?" Napoli said coldly.
Lopez said, "Esther, I doubt anyone anyone can explain this." can explain this."
Jimmy "Legs" Brabancaccio came over and extended a beefy hand to Lopez. "So you"re the guy who stole our Esther"s heart, huh?"
" "Our" Esther?" Lopez repeated darkly.
"Your girl"s got a great voice," Jimmy Legs said. "Golden pipes. She"s gonna be a big star someday. Her name in lights on the Great White Way."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, Ronnie! Come over here and say h.e.l.lo to Esther"s fiance," Jimmy urged.
"We"re getting married married?" Lopez said.
"I never said that, that," I told him. "I swear."
Ronnie Romano folded his arms and shook his head. "I ain"t makin" the acquaintance of no cop. Not unless what he"s got a warrant for my arrest and I can"t in no ways avoid the a.s.sociation."
"Aw, come on, don"t be like that," said Jimmy. "You"ll hurt Esther"s feelings."
"Then she shouldn"ta got mixed up with no cop," Ronnie said with a scowl. "Shoulda found herself a nice rib-eye or somethin"."
"Rabbi," I corrected automatically.
"Esther!" someone shouted, pushing through the crowd.
"Now what?" Lopez muttered.
"Angelo," I said, recognizing the busboy who worked a lot of the same shifts I did.
"Angelo Falcone," Napoli said quietly to Lopez. "Busboy and wannabe."
"You okay?" Angelo asked me. "I heard you was with Charlie when he bought it."
"Yeah, I"m okay," I said.
"And you, you," Angelo said, turning on Lopez and Napoli. "You can"t pin this on me!"
"We weren"t planning to, Angelo," said Napoli.
"No way way you can pin this. .h.i.t on you can pin this. .h.i.t on me, me, man!" man!"
"Okay," said Lopez.
"I got an alibi!" Angelo said, puffing out his skinny chest.
"Okay, you can go now," Napoli said.
"I got witnesses!"
"Good to know," Napoli said.
Angelo scowled at them. "I"ll call my lawyer!"
"Go do that," said Lopez.
"Now?"
"Now would be good," Lopez said.
"Yeah? Okay." Angelo added, clearly relishing the phrase, "He"ll eat you for breakfast!"
"Okay," Napoli said absently, checking something in his notebook.
As Angelo departed, Lucky noted, "He"s very ambitious."
"Indeed," said Lopez.
Another flash went off.
"We"ve got to get your girlfriend-er, the witness-out of here," Napoli said to Lopez.
"Who called the photographers?" I asked, annoyed by the flashing lights.
"No one. They"re like vultures, they just know, know," Napoli said.
"They monitor police radio communications," Lopez told me. "And flock to the scene of anything that sounds juicy."
"Especially when it"s a mob killing," Napoli added irritably. "That"s s.e.xy."
"Come on." Lopez took my elbow and tried to guide me away from Lucky. "Let"s go."
"Where are we going?" I asked.