Counting to Infinity Read online

  “And now?” I asked.

  “Now, Anna Lansdale and LoBianco have assured me that we can reclaim our family name without repercussions.”

  “What will happen to Max Lansdale?”

  “As long as his mother is alive, his life will be a living nightmare,” said Joey. “When she passes, I think Jack LoBianco will quickly send Max Lansdale to join his brother and his parents.”

  “Well, here’s to the Vongoli family,” I said, raising my glass. “Though it will be difficult getting accustomed to the new name.”

  “I’m sure it will be trickier for my children—Russo is the only name they’ve ever used. But they have hoped for this day all their lives, for me and for the memory of their grandfather. I think you’ll all manage to adjust.”

  “Could I call you Joe Clams?” I asked.

  “Do you consider me a close friend, Jake?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then you can call me Joey Clams if it suits you.”

  We both took a long drink. We heard the door open in the next room.

  “Anyone here?” Darlene called.

  “In here,” called Joey Clams. “Bring a couple of glasses in with you.”

  Darlene and Eddie came through the connecting door, holding empty glasses.

  Joey Vongoli poured George Dickel all around.

  “Drink up,” said Joey, “and let’s get this equipment collected and out of here.”

  “And then we can go home?” asked Darlene.

  “Yes,” said Joey. “Then we can go home.”

  For the next four weeks I tried to keep busy and out of trouble.

  I worked at settling into the new house. It began feeling more like home as I proceeded to accumulate the piles and clutter that I was accustomed to. My mother helped with family photographs, which I randomly spread throughout the rooms.

  I was able to keep both the Toyota and the Chevrolet Impala convertible in the long driveway, freeing up Joey’s valuable garage space. It was a lot more convenient, but I found myself missing the casual visits with Joey and Sonny that came with picking up the Chevy.

  To help with the nesting process I invited Tom Romano and Ira Fennessy to the house for both Thursday-night card games in April, forgoing the normal rotation.

  The house still felt too big to me.

  Empty.

  Darlene visited often, usually bringing Tug McGraw along. Darlene’s boundless energy and the dog’s constant exploration did a lot to fill the emptiness.

  I found myself visiting my mother more often, and took Darlene and McGraw over to Pleasant Hill for Easter dinner with Mom and Aunt Rosalie.

  At the office, we tried to keep Diamond Investigation active. We managed to satisfy four clients and take care of the monthly bills.

  I was sleeping much better, the knee not keeping me awake as often. I took fifteen minutes every morning to work the leg as the physical therapist had ordered.

  I had tried many times to visit Sally’s grave but always lost courage. I decided I would go to her burial site when I was at the cemetery for the dedication of the new headstones that Joey had placed for his family.

  We stood gathered on a hill at the Mount Tarnalpais Cemetery in San Rafael, overlooking the Pacific.

  The morning sky on the first Sunday in May was cloudless. Mount Tam loomed nearby; the Sausalito Marina and the Golden Gate were clearly visible to the south.

  The three new headstones sat side by side. The names of Louis Vongoli, Maria Rosario Vongoli, and Carla Vongoli were proudly displayed.

  Joey stood with his arm around Angela, their three children at their side. Sonny stood holding his young daughter, Louie Clams’s great-granddaughter.

  Other family and friends stood by silently.

  A priest from Joey’s parish in the city had made the twenty-mile trip to San Rafael to read from the Bible.

  When the dedication was complete, I walked over to Joey.

  “Are you coming over to the house, Jake?” he asked.

  “I’ll see how I feel. I’m going to walk down the hill to visit Sally’s grave.”

  “Need company?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “Thank you for being here today,” Joey said.

  “Where else would I be, Joey?” I said. “I’ll try to make it over to your place later.”

  “Please do, there’s a lot of food.”

  I walked down the hill and found the marker.

  It was impossible to imagine that someone who had been so full of life was resting there.

  I put out my empty hand, the hand that Sally would often hold tightly to keep me safe from myself. I felt a chill run up my arm. My fingers had begun to curl into a fist, and then I felt another hand slip into mine.

  “Hey, pal,” Darlene said. “Are you all right?”

  I turned to face Darlene and felt the warmth of her palm. I gently tightened my grip.

  “I think I will be, Darlene. Hang in there with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Jake,” she said. “Well, maybe to Joey’s. Are you up for it?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I heard there’s a lot of food.”

  We turned and walked away, hand in hand.

  Back to TOC

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  J.L. ABRAMO was born in the oceanside paradise of Brooklyn, New York on Raymond Chandler’s 59th birthday. Abramo received a BA in Sociology and Education from City College of the City University of New York and an MA in Social Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. He has been a long-time educator, a producer and director of theatre, and an actor on stage and in film; with a number of television credits including roles on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law and Order. Abramo’s first novel, Catching Water in a Net, was recipient of the St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye Writers of America Award for Best First Private Eye Novel, and was followed by two additional Jake Diamond mysteries, Clutching at Straws and Counting to Infinity. A stand-alone thriller, Gravesend, was recently published by Down and Out Books; and a fourth novel in the Jake Diamond series is in the works. Abramo is a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, Private Eye Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.

  For more information please visit:

  http://www.jlabramo.com/

  https://www.facebook.com/jlabramo

  Back to TOC

  OTHER TITLES FROM DOWN & OUT BOOKS

  AND ITS IMPRINTS

  See DownAndOutBooks.com for a complete list

  By J.L. Abramo

  Catching Water in a Net

  Clutching at Straws

  Counting to Infinity

  Gravesend

  Chasing Charlie Chan

  Circling the Runway

  Brooklyn Justice

  Coney Island Avenue

  By Anonymous-9

  Hard Bite

  Bite Harder

  By Jonathan Ashley

  South of Cincinnati (*)

  By Trey R. Barker

  2,000 Miles to Open Road

  Road Gig: A Novella

  Exit Blood

  Death is Not Forever

  No Harder Prison

  By Richard Barre

  The Innocents

  Bearing Secrets

  Christmas Stories

  The Ghosts of Morning

  Blackheart Highway

  Burning Moon

  Echo Bay

  Lost

  By Eric Beetner (editor)

  Unloaded

  By G. J. Brown

  Falling

  By Rob Brunet

  Stinking Rich

  By Milton T. Burton

  Texas Noir

  By Dana Cameron, editor

  Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014

  By Eric Campbell, editor

  Down, Out and Dead

  By Stacey Cochran

  Eddie & Sunny (TP only)

  By Mark Coggins

  No Hard Feelings

  By A
ngel Luis Colón

  No Happy Endings

  By Jen Conley

  Cannibals and Other Stories

  By Shawn Corridan and Gary Waid

  Gitmo

  By Matt Coyle, Mary Marks and Patricia Smiley, editors

  LAst Resort

  By Tom Crowley

  Viper’s Tail

  Murder in the Slaughterhouse

  By Frank De Blase

  Pine Box for a Pin-Up

  Busted Valentines and Other Dark Delights

  A Cougar’s Kiss

  By Les Edgerton

  The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping

  Lagniappe

  By A.C. Frieden

  Tranquility Denied

  The Serpent’s Game

  The Pyongyang Option (*)

  By Danny Gardner

  A Negro and an Ofay

  By Jack Getze

  Big Numbers

  Big Money

  Big Mojo

  Big Shoes

  By Keith Gilman

  Bad Habits

  By Richard Godwin

  Wrong Crowd

  Buffalo and Sour Mash

  Crystal on Electric Acetate

  By William Hastings, editor

  Stray Dogs: Writing from the Other America

  By Jeffery Hess

  Beachhead

  Cold War Canoe Club

  By Matt Hilton

  No Going Back

  Rules of Honor

  The Lawless Kind

  The Devil’s Anvil

  No Safe Place

  By Naomi Hirahara, Kate Thornton and Jeri Westerson, editors

  LAdies’ Night

  By Terry Holland

  An Ice Cold Paradise

  Chicago Shiver

  By Darrel James, Linda O. Johnston and Tammy Kaehler, editors

  Last Exit to Murder

  By David Housewright and Renée Valois

  The Devil and the Diva

  By David Housewright

  Finders Keepers

  Full House

  By Jon Jordan

  Interrogations

  By Jon and Ruth Jordan, editors

  Murder and Mayhem in Muskego

  Cooking with Crimespree

  By Lawrence Kelter

  Back to Brooklyn

  By Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro

  The Last Collar

  By Jerry Kennealy

  Screen Test

  Polo’s Long Shot (*)

  By Dana King

  Worst Enemies

  Grind Joint

  Resurrection Mall

  By Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg

  Triple Shot

  By JB Kohl and Eric Beetner

  Over Their Heads

  By S.W. Lauden

  Crosswise

  Crossed Bones

  By Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, editors

  Coast to Coast

  Coast to Coast 2

  By Terrence McCauley

  The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood

  The Bank Heist, editor (*)

  By Daniel M. Mendoza, editor

  Stray Dogs: Interviews with Working-Class Writers

  By Bill Moody

  Czechmate: The Spy Who Played Jazz

  The Man in Red Square

  Solo Hand

  The Death of a Tenor Man

  The Sound of the Trumpet

  Bird Lives!

  Mood Swings (TP only)

  By Gerald M. O’Connor

  The Origins of Benjamin Hackett

  By Gary Phillips

  The Perpetrators

  Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder and Financial Crimes (editor)

  Treacherous: Grifters, Ruffians and Killers

  3 the Hard Way

  By Gary Phillips, Tony Chavira, Manoel Magalhaes

  Beat L.A. (Graphic Novel)

  By Tom Pitts

  Hustle

  American Static

  By Thomas Pluck

  Bad Boy Boogie

  By Robert J. Randisi

  Upon My Soul

  Souls of the Dead

  Envy the Dead

  By Rob Riley

  Thin Blue Line

  By Charles Salzberg

  Devil in the Hole

  Swann’s Last Song

  Swann Dives In

  Swann’s Lake of Despair

  Swann’s Way Out

  By Scott Loring Sanders

  Shooting Creek and Other Stories

  By Linda Sands

  3 Women Walk Into a Bar (TP only)

  Grand Theft Cargo

  By Ryan Sayles

  The Subtle Art of Brutality

  Warpath

  Let Me Put My Stories In You

  By John Shepphird

  The Shill

  Kill the Shill

  Beware the Shill

  By Anthony Neil Smith

  Worm (TP only)

  All the Young Warriors TP only)

  Once a Warrior (TP only)

  Holy Death (TP only)

  By Liam Sweeny

  Welcome Back, Jack

  By Art Taylor, editor

  Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015

  By Ian Truman

  Grand Trunk and Shearer

  By James Ray Tuck, editor

  Mama Tried 1

  Mama Tried 2 (*)

  By Nathan Walpow

  The Logan Triad

  By Lono Waiwaiole

  Wiley’s Lament

  Wiley’s Shuffle

  Wiley’s Refrain

  Dark Paradise

  Leon’s Legacy

  By George Williams

  Inferno and Other Stories

  Zoë

  By Frank Zafiro and Eric Beetner

  The Backlist

  The Short List

  Published by ABC Group Documentation, an imprint of Down & Out Books

  By Alec Cizak

  Down on the Street

  By Grant Jerkins

  Abnormal Man

  By Robert Leland Taylor

  Through the Ant Farm (*)

  Published by Shotgun Honey, an imprint of Down & Out Books

  By Hector Acosta

  Hardway

  By Angel Luis Colón

  Blacky Jaguar and the Cool Clux Cult

  By Nick Kolakowski

  A Brutal Batch of Heartbroken Saps

  By Albert Tucher

  The Place of Refuge

  (*) Coming soon

  Back to TOC

  Here is a preview from Criminal Economics, a crime novel by Eric Beetner…

  NEWS BULLETIN

  August 23—A daring bank robbery took place last night at the Midland Savings and Loan when two assailants raided the bank after hours and made off with over a half million dollars. Two bank employees were shot, not fatally. The employees, and four others, were bound and gagged and left inside the vault overnight. It was not until morning when a new shift arrived that they were discovered.

  Police are gathering evidence, but surveillance video proved an ineffective identification tool as the robbers were wearing full face masks.

  NEWS BULLETIN

  August 24—Barely twenty-four hours after the robbery of Midland Savings and Loan the suspects are in custody. Apparently the robbers’ own hubris and overconfidence did them in.

  The two men allegedly stole a vehicle in the Southport area and were in the act of returning the vehicle to the owner’s address and then making an attempt to stage the car in order to frame the original owner of the vehicle. One of the robbers, one Bo Marcus, made an anonymous phone call to police to tell them about the vehicle, not knowing that two officers were on patrol a mere two blocks from where he stood. Marcus then placed two stolen fifty-dollar bills and a money wrapper from the stolen currency inside the back seat of the car, but before he could make his getaway the officers arrested him at the scene.

  Marcus was quick to lead the arresting officers to his
partner, Eddie “Slick” Himes, a criminal of some renown in the police files.