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Eddie stayed at the restaurant into the next morning waiting for the window repairman. He wanted no evidence of the incident when Micola arrived around eleven. He swept up the rest of the broken glass and sent the repairman on his way fifteen minutes before she arrived.
Unfortunately, the jig was up when a cop arrived asking about the shooting. Micola came running when she saw the tall, Black officer at the front door talking to Eddie.
“Can I help you officer?” Eddie asked.
“Morning, sir. We received a report of a shooting in the area early this morning, followed by a lot of screeching tires.” He turned in the direction of the newly repaired window on the door. “Just saw the window repairman leave. Thought I’d check that out.”
Micola bustled toward Eddie and the cop. “What is this, Eddie?” she asked nervously.
Eddie shook his head at her before addressing the cop.
“Officer,” he said. “I don’t know nothin’ about no shootin’, but I came in this morning to find my front window shattered to pieces.”
“Were you planning to file a police report, sir?”
“Ah’, no. I wasn’t plannin’ on filin’ nothin’.” Eddie smiled at him. “Look, officer. To be honest with ya’, I don’t wanna’ know what happened to that window, right? I don’t need bad press about the restaurant. We’re just gettin’ started here. Business is good. Pickin’ up. People find out somebody shot up the place—we’re done. Understand what I’m sayin’?”
The cop nodded. “Sir, I understand, but we can’t let random drive-by shootings go unreported, if that’s what this is.”
“But we don’t know, do we?” He turned in a half-circle. “Look. No bullets or nothin’.”
The cop smiled and looked at Micola for a second. “Have you checked your security footage?”
“Well, ah’, no. But I will.”
He started walking toward the door and the cop followed.
“Thank you for stoppin’ by officer. I appreciate your concern. And hey, I’ll be sure and check that footage and get back to you. You gotta’ card or somethin’?”
The cop nodded as he reached for his wallet and pulled out his business card. “Call me any time and leave a message. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
Eddie shook his hand. “Thank you. You stay safe out there, ya’ hear?”
“Thank you. Have a nice day.”
“Yeah, thanks. You too.”
When the officer left, Micola started spewing out broken English and Italian. It took Eddie several minutes to convince her there was nothing to be concerned about. He told her it was probably some kids vandalizing. He reminded her it was to be expected in that neighborhood, and she finally agreed. He took her back to the kitchen and suggested she forget all about it.
Once Micola was back to work, Eddie went to the office to make some calls and then handled the lunch rush. When he returned to the office, he picked up the burner and dialed Tau. A meeting was set for four o’clock that afternoon. Dario was to come, too.
The boys arrived promptly. The three of them discussed various matters for a half-hour. They were standing to leave when Eddie stopped them.
“Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing.” Eddie raised his hand and pointed. “Dario, there should be two kids across the street in the parkin’ lot waitin’ for you. That’d be Stevie and Mikey. I told them five o’clock. You’ll know ‘em by the fuckin’ bruises all over their faces.”
Dario frowned. “What do they want?”
“They work for me now, so you’re in charge-a them. You wanted to be boss? You can boss the two-a them around. Have ‘em start doin’ some-a this shit we’ve been talkin’ about.”
A huge grin spread across Dario’s face. “Boss, huh?” He nodded and started pacing the room. His pitch rising. “I’m the boss-a them?”
Eddie grinned. “Yeah.”
Dario clapped, as he bent forward and laughed.
“Hot-damn! I’m the boss.” He gave the stink-eye to Tau. “That’s right, Tau. You the boss-a somebody? No. You ain’t.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t get cocky, Dario. It’s just a matter-a time, and Tau will have some flunkies he’s in charge of, too.”
“What should I do with these fools?” Dario asked, laughing.
Eddie leaned forward and pointed his pen at Dario. “First, I want them to take care-a whoever is messin’ with your mom’s beauty salon. She came in the other day. Told me somebody’s been vandalizin’ it. They keep comin’ back and breakin’ windows and shit. Get them workin’ on that. Figure out who’s doin’ it and get them to stop.”
Dario’s eyes bugged out, as he put his hand on his chest. “Wait. What? My mom? Vandalized? What cha’ talkin’ ‘bout Eddie?”
“You’re a shitty son, do you know that? You don’t know nothin’ about this?” He shook his head in disgust. “She asked me for help, so it makes sense that you should be the one handlin’ it. She’s your mom.” He flicked his hand to dismiss them. “Make sure this gets taken care of. Tonight.”
Dario frowned and shook his head, as he and Tau turned to leave. From the hallway, they heard Eddie shouting after them.
“I don’t want none-a these punks in my restaurant. You hear?”
Dario peered back into the office. “Got it. I’ll handle this, Eddie.”
“Good. Now, shut the door!”
