At the end of the birthday party, Jimmy Bozo was nowhere to be found. He disappeared while the other clowns did their bits for the guests, sneaking off to cause who knew what trouble. Vinnie and his boys tried to be discreet as they searched the senator’s home, but it was obvious to the staff that something was up.
“He’s upstairs,” Rizzo said.
Vinnie followed Hats up to the third floor where he’d heard the drunken laughter of Jimmy and his boys.
“That idiot…,” Vinnie said when he realized the noises were coming from the master bedroom.
When they opened the door, Vinnie and Hats saw the purebreds taking laughy-gas and giggling in a euphoric daze. Tickles was digging through a jewelry box, stuffing diamond necklaces and gold earrings down his baggy polka-dot pants. Spanky was squishing his big red nose into a pair of pink panties he got from the hamper, sniffing deeply. And Jimmy Bozo was sprawled out on the bed, taking long hits of laughy-gas as he counted stacks of money he’d taken from the senator’s safe.
They didn’t even notice Vinnie and Hats enter the room until they heard him say, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Spanky and Tickles froze in place. Just the look on the capo’s face was enough to sober them up. But Jimmy didn’t care. He continued counting the money, giggling in a cloud of laughy-gas vapor.
Vinnie went to the clown prince and ripped the money out of his hands. “Are you fucking nuts?”
“What?” Jimmy said. “I have to ask you before I rob a guy now?”
“Yes, exactly,” Vinnie said. “You’re a part of my crew. You don’t do squat without clearing it with me first.”
“Fuck you, Blue Nose.”
Hats grabbed the kid by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. “That’s your capo you’re talking to, you little shit. Show him the proper respect.”
Jimmy pulled away from Hats. “You’re not paying me for this job so I got to make it worth my time somehow.”
“None of us is making money here,” Vinnie said. “We’re doing this as a favor. The senator’s relationship with the Bozo Family will pay off later on.” Vinnie held up a stack of cash. “Unless you blow it to get a little pocket change.”
“He wouldn’t have found out it was us,” Jimmy said.
“Who do you think he would suspect, his politician friends or the known criminals who continuously disrespected him at his own party?”
Jimmy broke eye contact and sneered at the floor. Vinnie could tell the clown was fighting the urge to throw a punch at him.
Vinnie looked at Spanky and Tickles. “Put everything back.”
The two purebreds didn’t move. They looked at Jimmy, waiting for him to tell them what to do, but he didn’t look back at them.
“Now!” Vinnie demanded. Then the two clowns jumped straight to work, emptying out their pockets and gathering the cash from the bed. “I don’t want there to be a single sign that any of you was ever in here.”
Jimmy didn’t do a thing to help his associates. He just stood there, his cherry-colored eyes glaring at the floor.
“I’m not telling your father about this,” Vinnie said.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s my job to keep my men in line, not his. I respect his time too much for that.”
Jimmy laughed, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe how much of a kiss-ass the capo was.
Vinnie continued, “When you’re in my crew, you’re not the boss’s son anymore. Get used to that idea. You’re my underling. And you’re going to have to start acting like my underling.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’re going to stay a worthless screwup the rest of your life.”