Thursday morning, after my run, two giant cups of black coffee, and a donut the size of my head, I took to the Internet to find out whatever I could about Geno Vedda. Nothing pisses me off more than being told not to do something. I got why Anthony Vedda might not believe my theory, but I’d be damned if he thought he could wave me off the case. I was damn frustrated at the lack of response from anyone. Vedda had pretty much ignored my theory, Diamond had moved on to other matters, Jess and John were off the case, and so far Petrov hadn’t taken the bait I’d left for him.
My searches didn’t turn up anything I didn’t already know. Geno’s front was the restaurant industry, but everyone assumed he ran a ton of underground enterprises that made him the big bucks he was known for. He probably had at least a dozen setups like the one at Bingo’s. I’d need to be a lot better connected if I wanted to find Geno, let alone talk to him. Guess I’d hoped that I’d get his father all riled and then he’d call his son and unleash him on Petrov. They’d duke it out and Bingo would be vindicated.
Not a very well thought out plan. Even if Vedda took on Petrov, whoever emerged victorious wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about Bingo. Did I really think one of them would march up to the Feds and say, “Hey, it was so and so, not Bingo. Make sure you clear his good name, okay?”
Not gonna happen. But if one of them admitted it to me, I could be a witness. Maybe someone would believe me.
In an effort to keep from getting riled, I told myself I’d worry about it when the time came. Right now I needed to focus on finding Shaw. I inspected my coffee can and pulled out some cash. The bank was getting low. I’d need to find Shaw if I was going to keep eating, and I’d need to eat if I was going to have the energy to take him down. Chicken, egg. Looked like a trip to Maggie’s was first thing on my list.
After a stare down, she compromised by bringing me a cheeseburger and a salad. No fries. On the house. Since I wasn’t paying, I didn’t gripe, but the salad went untouched. I’m always hearing news stories about salmonella from lettuce, but I’d never heard of an outbreak of food poisoning after French fries. Give me a good batch of grease any day of the week.
Maggie sat across the table and stared while I worked my way through the non healthy portions of my meal. She had a goofy grin on her face, so between bites I asked, “What’s up?”
“I’m excited about the wedding. Aren’t you?”
Uh no, I wasn’t. Nervous maybe, but excited? Not really. I knew that wasn’t the appropriate answer. “It’ll be nice. I guess.”
“It’ll be more than nice. Fancy flowers, fancy church. Mark’s bride is beautiful. It will be a splendid day.”
I almost threw up a little in my mouth. Who knew Maggie was a sentimental freak? Did I dare tell her I was kind of dreading the big event? I was supposed to wear a tux, give a toast, and who knows what else, but everything on the list was completely foreign to me. I risked a tiny overture. “I’ve never been to a wedding before, let alone had to do anything at one of them. Any pointers?”
Should’ve kept my mouth shut. Or brought along a notebook and pen to write down the long litany of tasks and pointers Maggie reeled off. When she finally stopped talking, all I could remember was I was supposed to hold on to the ring until Mark needed it, make sure he didn’t chicken out, and say something nice to the happy couple in front of loads of people during the reception. Tall list. No wonder I was anxious. Friend in trouble, big role at wedding, Jess in the clutches of a viper. I had a lot going on.
As if on cue, more trouble walked in the door. Petrov had sent the same two guys. Probably their punishment for not getting me to comply the first time. I pushed my now empty plate away and stood. Maggie followed my gaze and said, “Uh oh.”
I pointed a finger at the booth. “You stay here. I mean it.” I didn’t trust her not to fly at them like a bat out of hell. I’d started this rumble. If anything happened to her because of it, I’d never forgive myself.
I met them halfway from the door. “Gentlemen, let’s take this outside.”
Thug Number One nodded and waved a hand to usher me out. Petrov’s Bentley was waiting. Thug One patted me down, took the Colt and a look down my shirt, probably making sure I wasn’t wearing a wire, and then motioned for me to climb in. He crawled in after me, and I found myself in the middle of a thug sandwich, facing Petrov and his fancy dog.
Petrov spoke first. “You know where I live, yes? You cannot just come to see me instead of causing trouble at my club?”
“I have a phobia about big houses. Besides, your house isn’t a good place to speak freely.” He raised his eyebrows. “The Feds are listening in.”
“And you know this because?”
I wanted to establish credibility, but I didn’t want to go so far as to throw Diamond under the bus. Petrov had a lot of reasons to want her completely out of the picture. I pulled a lie out of my ass. “Bingo is my friend and his lawyer has connections. Not everyone is so good at keeping secrets. You arranged the hit on Vedda’s guys and set Bingo up to take the fall. I get that it’s all just business to you, but like I said, Bingo is my friend.”
A slow smile crept across Petrov’s face and I wanted to punch it off. The thugs seated next to me must have sensed my agitation because they leaned forward, like they were ready to body block me from the big guy.
“You have a lot of nerve, accusing me of murder.” He flicked a glance at his bodyguards.
“It’s not like it’s a secret. Since your house is bugged, the Feds already know. Just a matter of time until they arrest you.”
“Yet, they haven’t.” He leaned forward. “My house is clean. I spend good money to make sure it is a safe place. Daily. And I didn’t set up your friend. He was my friend as well, and working with him was profitable. I do not cut off my nose to spite my face. But there is nothing I can do for him now. His situation has attracted too much attention, and he is no help to me anymore. If you want someone to blame, you should look elsewhere.” He waved a hand at his burly friends and the one closest to him opened the door while Petrov dismissed me. “Now, I suggest you go find something else to do. My business is no longer your concern.”
I stood in the parking lot, slowly digesting what he’d had to say. He had to be bluffing. Of course, I was probably crazy to think he’d cop to murder. I guess I just thought he might do a little bragging. Guys like him think they are untouchable. But something he said lingered: “working with him was profitable.” He hadn’t worked with Bingo. Vedda was working with Bingo. Petrov wanted in, had even come to me to get Bingo to work with him, had shown up at Bingo’s with his you-owe-me gold coin, but Bingo was too scared of Vedda to get in the middle. The only way Petrov could’ve been making a profit at Bingo’s was if he were in business with Vedda and that was unlikely. Guys like Vedda and Petrov don’t share.
Vedda. Maybe his guys were working against him and he offed them himself. Maybe Vedda thought Bingo was helping Amato and Picone betray him. The more I maybed the situation, the more I liked the idea. Neat and tidy. Now, someone just needed to prove it and Bingo would be in the clear.
Wait a minute, if the Feds knew Amato and Picone were dead based on chatter and they weren’t listening to Petrov, then they must have been listening to Vedda. Which meant Diamond and her seeking justice pals already knew Vedda had taken out his own guys. She had the means to clear Bingo right now, but instead she’d ripped the case from local law enforcement and was holding on until she could get something bigger out of it. She wasn’t worried about Bingo getting charged because she knew he wouldn’t be, but she didn’t care if she left him twisting in the wind.
If this was all true, then I should be relieved that Bingo would come out okay. Problem was I didn’t trust Diamond. Not enough to leave Bingo’s fate in her hands. I could think of only one person I trusted completely, and I dialed her number before Petrov even made it out of the parking lot.
*
Jess showed up only twenty minutes after I called. Considering she lived thirty minutes away, I guess I’d exaggerated the urgency of the situation.
I’d thought about asking her to meet me at my place, but my place was for fucking, and since we didn’t do that anymore, I settled on Maggie’s. Only risk here was Maggie asking nosy questions about why I didn’t ask the nice, pretty cop on a date. After Jess had helped her brother out, Maggie thought she was golden. She didn’t understand why I didn’t put a ring on her finger and march down the aisle.
Whatever.
Maggie practically skipped on the way to seat us in the best booth in the place, and then hurried off to get our beers. Likely she’d show up with her own and try to dominate the conversation so I launched right in.
“Petrov just came to see me. He didn’t have anything to do with Bingo’s situation. At least not the dead guys in the living room part of it. You need to talk to whoever you can and yank this thing back from the Feds.”
Jess held up a hand. “Slow down. You’re talking crazy. What? Petrov paid you a visit and charmed you into thinking he’s a great guy?”
“It’s not like that.”
I managed to get the story of my visit to Diamond and Petrov’s visit to me out before Maggie reappeared. In addition to three beers, she served up a big plate of fried onion rings because she knew they were Jess’s favorite. Sucking up to potential girlfriends for me meant healthy eating went out the window. I was cool with that. Maggie settled into the booth next to me and motioned for us to continue our conversation. “Eat, talk. Don’t mind me. I’ll just keep you company.”
She stayed put through my annoyed stare, so I kept talking. “It makes perfect sense. Diamond said they’d heard chatter about Amato and Picone—the guys found dead at Bingo’s place,” I added for Maggie’s benefit. “I assumed they’d had Petrov’s place wired, but they’re listening in on Vedda.”
“I thought you said Geno Vedda was missing.”
“I think she lied to me about that. Maybe she was just trying to get me interested, like if I thought by looking for his guys, I might also find Geno, then I’d be more likely to take on the case.”
“But if they were working for Vedda and she had him wired, wouldn’t she know exactly where they were?”
“Okay, okay, obviously I haven’t figured it all out, but I’m telling you, when they died, those guys worked for Petrov and I think Vedda took them out when he found out they turned.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“That’s the thing. I already talked to Diamond. She says she’s off the case, bigger fish and all that. I think she knows exactly what happened and doesn’t plan to do anything about it.”
“That sucks, but now that the Feds have taken over, if they’re not going to pursue Bingo, he’ll eventually be cleared.”
“Cops. You think everything is black and white. Bingo will never be cleared. The Feds will just close their investigation without making an arrest. Bingo will be out of business. Permanently.”
“Let me see if I get this straight. You want me to interfere with a federal investigation so I can clear your friend and allow him to reopen his gambling house so you can blow all your money close to home?” She shot a look at Maggie who nodded that she agreed it was one of my more stupid ideas.
“I want you to do what’s right. Or I will.”
I didn’t try to hide how pissed off I was. Did no one else give a shit about leaving Bingo twisting in the wind? I started to get up, but Jess grabbed my arm.
“Calm down. Let’s talk.”
She was right. She was usually right. I didn’t have to like it, but I should at least listen to what she had to say. I slid back into the booth. “Okay. What ideas do you have?”
She released her grip on my arm, but she didn’t move her hand. “Give me twenty-four hours. I’ll make some calls, see what I can find out. If I don’t make any progress, we can talk again and make another plan. But seriously, Luca, if you go charging around, you’re likely to get Bingo killed. Let’s try it my way first. I promise you, I will do everything I can.”
I couldn’t ask for more. Well, I could, but there was nothing more I wanted from her. As far as Bingo was concerned, anyway. I plunged into another subject. “Diamond asked me out on a date.”
Jess slowly pulled her hand back across the table. “That’s nice.”
“I may have asked her to Mark’s wedding.”
“I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Jess’s frown told me she hoped I’d have anything but.
“I’m not sure I really asked her. I may have just mentioned it.” My rambling trailed off. I didn’t have a clue where I was going with this. The words were just stumbling out of my mouth.
Maggie tried to save me by chiming in. “She’s nervous about the wedding, being the best man and all.” Only Maggie would try to rescue me by sticking it to me in my most vulnerable spot. And she kept right on going. “Detective Chance, I hear you have a girlfriend. A doctor, no less.”
“Actually, no, I don’t. No girlfriend, doctor or otherwise.”
Maggie flashed me a harsh look, and I knew she thought I’d made her a liar. I started to protest, but Jess beat me to the punch. “She left town. Turns out she was more trouble than I was interested in taking on.”
A wave of relief washed over me, and I had to resist the urge to smile. What kind of reaction was I supposed to have? Jess didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look sad either. After what Jess had said the night we met at Slice of Heaven, about how her “friends” knew about Deveaux, I decided she was throwing me a bone. But I guess I was still pissed off at the slight. “Do all your friends already know?”
Ouch. I could see by the pain in Jess’s eyes, I’d hit a nerve. “No,” she said. “No one else knows. She left this morning.”
My anger deflated, but I had another question. “Is she coming back?”
“Wouldn’t matter if she did.” Her response was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Maggie reached over and gave Jess’s arm a tight squeeze. “Can’t believe she took advantage of a nice girl like you.”
Maggie didn’t even know Deveaux, but she acted like she and Jess were the best of friends, commiserating about being jilted lovers, apparently assuming “more trouble than she was worth” was a euphemism. I cleared my throat to remind them I was still here, and Maggie seized on the reminder, looking pointedly back and forth between the two of us. “Well, that makes things different now, doesn’t it?”
I knew what she was implying, and I prayed she didn’t say more. But since nothing, including prayers, usually dissuades Maggie, I pointed at the bar. “Maggie, looks like that guy over there needs something.”
She twisted in her chair. “I don’t see anyone.”
“He’s there, behind that woman.” I pointed at a big group. “He was waving over here at you.”
She stood and looked around, finally walking over to the bar. I could tell she didn’t believe me, but what was she going to do? When she was finally out of earshot, I said, “Sorry, didn’t know she was going to glom on to us.”
Jess crossed her arms. “She’s trying to set us up, you know that, right?”
I knew she was right, but I was too busy trying to figure out Jess’s reaction to respond. Her tone was easy, light. She wasn’t annoyed, maybe a little amused. “How about we get out of here while she’s distracted?”
“Deal.”
I left Jess’s side and walked over to Maggie as we were leaving. “We gotta go. Put dinner on my tab?”
“On the house.” She looked over to the door where Jess was waiting for me. “You should ask her to the wedding.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Scared she’ll say no?”
I didn’t like being called scared, even when it might be right on. “Leave it alone, Maggie.”
“Fine, I’ll leave it alone, but alone is what you’re going to be. For the rest of your life, until you learn to grab the opportunities that are right in front of you. What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
A bunch of responses came to mind, but one kept repeating. She could say no. I’d always taken Jess for granted, solidly confident she would always be there for me. Lately, my confidence had been battered and I wasn’t in the mood to take risks. Not as far as she was concerned.
I joined Jess at the door, and we walked into the parking lot. Two blocks and we’d be at my place. We wouldn’t have to talk there. Instead, we could rip off each other’s clothes and settle into the only feelings I’d ever been comfortable with—the rush of arousal, the explosion of an orgasm.
But we were past that. Problem was, I didn’t know where that left us. “Do you want—”
Jess stopped me from saying more. “I’m sorry about what I said.”
“Huh?” I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about.
“The friend thing. At the club. I didn’t mean it. We are friends. Good friends. I should’ve told you about Deveaux. Don’t know why I didn’t.”
She was lying about that last. She knew it and I knew it. She didn’t tell me because she didn’t know how I’d react. And since I hadn’t reacted well, I guess she’d been right to keep it to herself.
“I was a jerk. I’m sorry.”
“I think we might be even.”
“I want you to be happy. It’s just…” I let the words trail off not because I didn’t know what to say, but because I figured she already knew the rest and saying it out loud would just make us both uncomfortable.
She saved me the trouble. “Are you really nervous about the wedding?”
“Maybe a little.”
“You’ll be fine. He’s your brother. Just focus on him and don’t worry about the rest. It’ll take care of itself.”
I doubted that was true, but I nodded anyway. And then I jumped off a cliff. “You could come you know.”
“What? And hang out with you and your date?”
I flashed back to my dream, make that nightmare, with Diamond and Jess, both at the wedding. “She’s not my date. I didn’t really ask her.”
“‘Didn’t really ask her?’ Seems like you might want to figure that out before you go asking anyone else.”
“I didn’t ask her. For real. And I’m not asking you like a date.” The lie was easier than I thought it would be. “We’d go, like friends. You could make sure I don’t do anything stupid. You’re good at social stuff and I could really use your help.”
“You’re a real charmer.”
“You’ll go?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Yeah, okay. That’s good.”
We both stood in the parking lot, out of things to say. This awkwardness wasn’t us. All I wanted in that moment was to get back to where we’d been, before Deveaux, when our roles were defined and we both knew what would happen at the end of a night, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. In the meantime, one of us needed to make a move, and I decided to step up. “Guess I’ll head home. Got an early morning planned. You’ll call me if you find out anything?”
“Absolutely.”
She walked to her car and I resisted the urge to call her back since I didn’t know what I’d do if she turned around.