Blue Smoke

martyr.”
    Reena gauged the ground, offered a sympathetic smile. “My grandmother always said two women can’t share a house comfortably, no matter how fond they might be of each other. It’s got to be one woman’s kitchen.”
    “She really doesn’t get in the way much, and she can’t afford her own place. Or barely. We’ve got room. Kids’re grown. And she works hard, insists on paying rent. Are you going to tell me what this is about?”

    “Her husband and her son may have information regarding a case we’re investigating,” Reena began. “When we spoke with Mrs. Pastorelli earlier today, she indicated it had been some time since she’d had contact with either of them. We’re just doing a follow-up.”
    “Like I said, she wouldn’t have told me if she’d seen or talked to either of them. She wouldn’t tell Frank either, not after he laid down the law.”
    Part of cop work was simply picking up on someone’s rhythm and going with it. So Reena smiled and said, “Oh?”
    “He showed up right before Christmas last year, right out of the blue. Laura cried buckets, her-prayers-had-been-answered sort of thing.” Patricia cast her eyes heavenward.
    “I’m sure she was happy to see her son again.”
    “When a bad penny gets stuck in your shoe, it’s smart to dig it out before you end up half crippled.”
    “You and your nephew don’t get along,” O’Donnell prompted.
    “I’ll say it straight out, he scares me. Worse than his father, sneakier, and I guess a lot smarter.”
    “Has he ever threatened you, Mrs. Azi?”
    “Not directly—just the look in his eye. He’s been in jail a few times, I guess you know. Laura likes to make excuses for him, but the fact is, he’s a bad one. And here he is, on my doorstep. We didn’t like it, Frank and me, but you don’t turn family away. At least you don’t want to. So he shows up . . . Sorry, I didn’t offer you any coffee.”
    “We’re fine,” Reena assured her. “Joey came to see his mother for the holidays?”
    “Maybe. I know he was full of himself. Driving a fancy car, wearing expensive clothes. Gave her a watch with diamonds around the face, and diamond earrings. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’d stolen them, but I kept quiet about it. Claimed he had a big deal going, some club he and some partners ”—she made air quotes around the word—“were going to open in New York and make piles more money. My husband asked him how he was going to open a club, could he get a liquor license because he had a record, and like that. Got under Joey’s skin, I could tell, but he just gotthat little sneer on his face and said there were ways. Anyway, that’s not important.”
    She waved it away. “He stayed for dinner, said he had himself a hotel suite, and spent an hour or so bragging. But every time Frank asked him a direct question about this new business of his, he got evasive and pissy with it. Things got heated, and what does Joey do? He swipes his arm over the table, broke my dishes, threw food all over the walls. Yelling and cursing at Frank, who got right up in his face. Frank’s not one to back down, and you can bet he’s not going to tolerate that kind of thing in his own house.”
    She gave a decisive nod. “He’s got a right to ask questions and express opinions in his own home. Laura’s taking up for Joey, grabs at Joey’s arm, and what does he do? He hit her. He hit his own mother in the face!”
    Patricia slapped a hand to her breast. “We’ve got some tempers in the family, sure, but I’ve never seen the like of it. Never. A man hitting his own mother? Called her a whiny bitch, or something like that.”
    She colored a little. “A few things worse than that, to tell the truth. I was already heading to the phone to call the police. But Laura begged me not to. Standing there with her nose bleeding, begging me not to call the cops on her son. So I didn’t. He was already heading out the door, the coward. My Frank’s bigger than him, and it’s a lot easier to punch a skinny woman than take on a two-hundred-pound man. Marched right out behind him, told him never to come back. Said if he did, he’d kick his worthless ass back to New York.”
    She took a breath, as if she had to catch it after the recital. “I was proud of him, I can tell you. Then once Laura stopped being hysterical, Frank sat down with her, told her as long as she lived under his roof, she wasn’t to open the door to Joey. If she did, she was on