“Who I am.”
“You’re Don Bianchi, right?”
“Correct.”
“And that’s why you want to help me, right? Because Alessandro killed my sister and he’s a Colombo and you want him dead.”
“Smart girl. You help me. I help you.”
“When you say help me, what are you talking about exactly?”
“How much are your parents’ medical bills?”
“A lot.”
Give me a figure.”
“I don’t know for sure. They’re still in hospital at the moment.”
“Roughly.”
“A couple of hundred thousand, minimum. That’s including the physical therapy my dad needs to get walking again and we don’t even know what mom might need. She’s too doped up for them to work it all out yet.”
“If I was to have their bills sent to my account, would that go some way to alleviating your problems?”
“Sorry, say that again.”
“Fifty thousand into your account alongside that. Would that be enough for now? I saw you looking up debt advice on your phone on the train. Would fifty thousand be enough?”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Something you should know about me, Miss Fletcher. I don’t kid when it comes to money or sex. Fifty thousand and your parents' bills covered. Is that enough?”
I wrinkle my brow as he looks impassively across at me. I shake my head. “You wouldn’t give me that kind of money without expecting something in return.”
“That’s very astute of you. Perhaps, I may ask for a favor from you some day.”
“A favor?”
“That would be worth that amount of money, would it not?”
I shake my head. “I can’t take your money.”
“Why not? You need it, don’t you?”
“You’re a crook, no offense. I don’t know if it’s drug money or what but I can guarantee it’s dirty. If I took it, I’d be supporting crime. I’d be no better than you or Don Colombo.”
“I am not the same as him.”
“You’re both in the mafia. That makes you the same in my book.”
“Men have died for saying that to me before now.”
“Which proves my point.”
“The money I offer you is clean. Trust me. I can have my consigliere show you the books if you wish to confirm it for yourself.”
“Trust a criminal? That’s rich.”