Rough Trade

the door in his boxy black coat, hat in hand as grave as a visiting priest. If he was surprised to find the front door answered by Elliott Abelman, he did not show it. Indeed he looked like a man who was beyond noticing anything. I wasn’t even sure whether he remembered who I was and suspected that he accepted my presence the way you expect to see strangers in a house of bereavement.
    “I heard about what happened on the news this morning,” he said as I took his coat. “I came as soon as I could.”
    I caught sight of Elliott out of the corner of my eye. He looked like a star struck little boy in the presence of the legendary football coach. Suddenly I realized that my impression of Bennato had always been skewed by Jeff’s dissatisfaction with his performance in recent years. Now, what I was seeing in Elliott’s eyes was the other side of the coin.
    I effected an introduction and watched with amusement as Elliott seemed to grow a foot taller on the spot. To his credit, he didn’t make anything further of it, excusing himself quickly to continue his rounds of the property, making sure that all was secure. As he’d been careful to point out, two members of the Rendell family had recently fallen prey to violence. This wasn’t the time to be taking chances.
    “How is Chrissy?” Bennato asked. “It breaks my heart to think of her and that beautiful little baby. My wife Marie says to tell her that she would be happy to come and watch the baby if that would help.”
    “Little Katharine is back in Chicago,” I said. “Chrissy had to leave her there yesterday when she got the news about Jeff.”
    “Is Chrissy up to seeing people? I’d like to talk to her for a minute, if that’s possible.”
    “I don’t know. Let me go upstairs and see if she’s awake.” I found my friend in her bedroom already dressed and putting the finishing touches on her makeup.
    “I couldn’t sleep anymore,” she said. “I kept on hoping that I’d wake up and it would all have been a bad dream, but I guess it’s not.”
    “No. I’m sorry. Coach Bennato is downstairs to see you. What do you want me to tell him?”
    “I’ll come down and talk to him,” she said. “I’m not going to be able to hide in my bedroom forever. I might as well go downstairs and get it over with.” As we walked down the stairs she asked, “Are there a lot of reporters?”
    “Elliott hired a couple of security guards. They’re keeping them off the property. They’ll get tired of staking the house out once they realize they’re not going to get anything.
    “I called Mrs. Mason this morning. She said that Elliott’s sent armed guards to your parents’ house to make sure that the baby stays safe. I was worried about the baby but she says she seems to be doing just fine.”
    “Mrs. Mason is a rock.”
    “That’s a good thing,” said Chrissy, swallowing hard and doing her best to blink back the tears. “Somebody has to be.”
    At the bottom of the stairs Bennato enveloped Chrissy in a warm embrace. “I’m so sorry,” he said.
    “Thank you.”
    “I only wish that when the judge locked up that animal, he’d thrown away the key.”
    “You mean Fredericks?” I asked.
    “Of course I mean Fredericks. I can’t believe they let him out after what he did to that girl. That judge called and asked me what I thought of him before he sentenced him and I told him exactly what I thought of him. I said that Fredericks was a complete sociopath, that he was capable of anything. If only the judge had listened!”
    “Kate talked to his sister yesterday and she said that he thought he was coming back to play in the NFL.”
    “Darius Fredericks thought he was Jesus, Allah, and Muhammad Ali all rolled into one,” replied Bennato with barely disguised contempt. “That doesn’t make it true. But let’s not talk about him. I don’t want to intrude, but I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do.”
    “That’s very kind, Tony,” said Chrissy, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze, “but right now I can’t think of a thing. I’ll let you know as soon as we have the funeral arrangements made. We’re going to do something quiet, just family and a few close friends. I hope you’ll be there.”
    “Of course,” he said, with a bow of his head.
    “Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said.
    Chrissy withdrew into the front of the house, and I retrieved Coach Bennato’s coat from the front hall closet. “What’s going to happen