The sharp, red muscle car sped down the street and literally squealed into the parking space in front of the OTB parlor. Not exactly the typical mob associate’s car, Vincent liked the classical American styling with the modern upgrades. Plus, the American muscle helped work out some of the stress from rough nights like the one he’d just had.
Vincent had come from Carmen’s apartment, where she requested that she be left alone. Vincent wasn’t thrilled to leave her, but she was particularly insistent. He didn’t quite understand it. Before Anthony’s ‘attack’ she was a complete mess, barely able to keep herself together or utter a complete sentence. But, after the incident, back at her apartment, she was completely different. Vincent nearly had to twist her arm to get her to talk about Anthony’s behavior, but they both did agree that he had fired on accident. To the same end, however, they also agreed that it didn’t make his actions any more acceptable.
Yet, after their discussion, Carmen became very quiet. She took a long shower, spent a great deal of time in front of the mirror, doing what, Vincent had no idea; and when she finally came out of the bathroom to join him, she sat quietly on the couch watching TV. She made little to no effort to be near him and her eyes barely reacted to the images on the TV. Several times Vincent asked her if everything was all right. More often than not, the response was just a quick nod of the head or a short, “uh-huh”. When he asked her if she wanted to go to bed, she slowly shook her head “no” and continued to stare blankly at the TV. Vincent had eventually drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke this morning, Carmen was in the kitchen. She claimed that she fell asleep on the couch with him, but he wasn’t quite sure she was telling the truth. When he tried to insist that he stay with her, she was incredibly adamant about being alone. She swore up and down that she was fine and just wanted to be alone for a while. Rather than force the issue, Vincent simply left. He had to report to Phil sometime today, anyway.
Vincent walked into the parlor. He made his way into the hall and spotted the new guy. George was a huge man and he looked mean as hell, but Vincent missed Mikey. Mikey looked mean enough and he was certainly big enough, but he usually wore a smile. He always had a new joke to tell you while you waited in the hall. Unfortunately, Phil sent Mikey down to Florida with Joey to ‘remind’ a contractor about an overdue loan. Everyone thought it was Mikey’s big break. But, when only Joey came back, Vincent knew better than to ask questions. He was never certain about what happened to Mikey, but he was pretty sure Mikey didn’t just happen to fall in love with the weather and the sand and decided to not come back to the city.
After a quick nod, George turned the knob to the door and Vincent slid past him into the office. Phil was seated at his desk scanning a ledger. When Vincent entered, he looked up briefly and motioned for Vincent to sit down. His eyes went back to the ledger.
Vincent settled into one of the chairs opposite the desk when he heard Phil ask, “Quite a night you had last night, huh?”
Vincent’s heart immediately started to race. How the hell did he know it was me in that bar? I didn’t recognize anyone in that place and we got out of there before the cops arrived...
“Uhhh, yes, sir,” was all Vincent could say as his mind frantically searched for answers. A new associate? An informer? Naw... I would know about any of those... Maybe Carmen was recognized by someone in the bar and they told the cops that’s who it was? It was the Abbate’s territory, so the cops who showed up could have been on their payroll and stopped the investigation right there. ... That would explain why no one had come knocking on Carmen’s door last night. They were getting paid to keep that from happening, not to make it happen... Yeah, that had to be it.
While Vincent worked through the solution in his head and tried to keep a calm face, Phil continued to look over his ledger. Finally, the ledger was tossed up onto the desk and Phil looked hard at Vincent.
“I’m going to be straight with you, Vincent,” he said. “I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with that Abbate girl.” A small curl of a smile came over his lips, “She’s a hot little piece of ass, I’ll give you that,” he continued. “And I’d be lying if I said I’d never gotten my priorities confused because of some young, sweet ass.” He looked off for a second before reaching for a cigarette from the pack lying next to his ash tray.
Vincent became a little concerned. Where was this going? Am I going to be the next one sent to Florida? He couldn’t help but question the possibility.
After a long drag from the cigarette, Phil spoke again, “But, I need to know how fucked in the head you really are.”
Vincent was puzzled by the question, so that was the face he showed. “Mr. Marella, I would never do anything to jeopardize the business.”
Phil looked down and chuckled in his low, gravely voice. He looked back up, took a pull from his cigarette and leaned forward onto the desk. Looking directly into Vincent’s eyes, he said, “Cut... The.Fucking... Bullshit.”
Vincent was more than concerned now. He still showed a puzzled look on his face, but inside, he was beginning to wonder if he should be checking the door for enforcers or watching Phil to see if he made any moves for a gun hidden somewhere.
Phil stood from his chair and walked around to the front of the desk. He sat back against his desk and took a deep breath. With a calm, almost fatherly tone, he said, “I don’t want you to give me a school boy act here, Vincent. I want the truth.”
Vincent looked up at him.
“Have I put my trust in the wrong guy?”
To hide his growing anxiety, Vincent quickly and confidently answered, “No, Phil.”
“Have I asked you to do a task that you can’t perform?”
“No, Phil.”
“Have you started to have second thoughts about commitments you’ve made?”
With only a brief hesitation, Vincent answered, “No, Phil.”
Phil nodded and pushed himself back to his feet. He walked behind Vincent to the liquor cabinet where he gathered two glasses and filled them with ice. He selected a premium vodka and poured it over the ice. He returned to his desk and handed one of the glasses to Vincent.
“Okay then, tell me what the fuck happened last night. I know you were there with your little dish, and I know somebody came in there yelling and fired a shot. Fill in the blanks. Who was this asshole?”
Vincent took a drink from the glass as Phil finished his question. Vincent knew he couldn’t tell Phil it was Anthony as it would raise too many questions; questions Vincent couldn’t answer himself.
“He’s some fuck Carmen works with.” Vincent pulled the lie out of his head quickly. “He thought they had some kind of connection and has been kind of stalking her. He was strung out and completely drunk. When he saw me there with her, he completely flipped out.” Vincent laid it on a little thicker, “I tell ya, he’s lucky there were so many people around, Phil.” Looking off to the side, he took another drink from his glass.
Phil looked at Vincent for a few moments, then took a sip from his own glass, mulling over what he just heard. “What’d the girl say?”
Vincent looked back at Phil. “She’s scared shitless. I had no idea who the guy was until I got her out of there and into a safe place.” He continued, “She wanted to go to the cops, but when I heard who this guy was, I talked her out of it. I didn’t think we needed any kind of extra guard on her and her family right now. I just told her I would take care of it, and she seemed to be happy with that.”
Phil looked at Vincent pensively, then nodded. “Good thinking... Good thinking.” He walked back around behind his desk and sat down in his chair. “If you see this asshole, and you get the chance, put him down.”
Vincent was immediately relieved to hear the order from Phil. A busy man is a useful man.
“You’re right; we don’t need any suspicions raised about any of the Abbate’s safety right now.”
Vincent just nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Phil took one last puff from his cigarette, crushed it out in the ash tray and lifted the ledger once again. “Good,” he said and waved toward the door.
Vincent stood and moved toward the door probably more quickly than he normally would. Just as he reached for the doorknob, Phil called out, “Vincent?”
Vincent turned back to look at Phil.
“Vincent, I hope you’re being straight with me,” he said.
“No worries, Phil. I’ve got things right where we want them.”
Phil raised his eyebrows. “I put you on that girl because you two have history. But now, I’m wondering if there’s too much history. A piece of ass is one thing; I just hope that’s all it is.”
Vincent smiled at Phil, “I like to think of it as a perk of the job, Phil.”
They both shared a small chuckle.
“Well, that’s a good way to look at it because it’s a messy business. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions. I like you, but don’t think for one second that if you fuck me over I won’t kill you.”
Vincent continued to smile, “I’m aware of that, Phil. You don’t have anything to worry about. I’ve never hesitated to carry out any order you’ve given me.”
Phil nodded and looked down at his ledger again.
Vincent opened the door and was halfway out of the room when Phil asked, “And if I tell you that the little bitch needs to go?”
Vincent stopped in his tracks, turned and saw Phil eying him, waiting for an answer. He eyed him back and said coldly, “Then the bitch dies.”