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Eddie stayed in his car after dropping off Micola, telling her he had to make a couple of stops. The street outside her house was quiet and dark. He pulled the burner out of his pocket and dialed Primo.
The old man was slow to answer. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Eddie said.
“How’s it goin’ out there?”
“Good. I could use some help, though.”
“With what?”
“A little clean-up. Not a big deal. You got anybody close by?”
There was a pause before Primo spoke. “Gotta’ couple guys in Milwaukee. Could be there in what? Six hours?”
Eddie frowned. It’d be daylight by then. “How about tomorrow night? Eleven or eleven thirty? Tell ‘em to meet me near the river, just outside-a downtown St. Paul. Give-em this number. I’ll tell ‘em where I’ll be.”
“Done.”
Eddie heard the phone click. He looked at his watch. Just after eleven. He dialed again.
“Yeah?”
“Sal. I need a favor.”
“Sure, Eddie. Now?”
“Yeah. Now. Meet me at Desoto and Beaumont. Stay a couple-a blocks north of Beaumont. You gotta’ piece?”
“No. But I could get one. Might need a little time. Couple hours, maybe.”
“Okay. Need-a silencer, too.”
Eddie hung up and waited in the car for ten minutes before heading back to O’s garage. A little surveillance never hurt.
He pulled into a spot along the curb near where he’d parked during his first visit with O. The neighborhood was quiet and he chose a spot away from the illuminating street lights.
He kept an eye on the back parking lot of the garage. All seemed quiet, so Eddie rolled down the window and shut off the engine. The cool air slapped him awake and generated the energy he’d need for the task at hand. He’d feel better once this was handled.
A little over an hour later, headlights shone in his rearview mirror just as the phone rang.
“Yeah. I’m here. Where-you at?”
Eddie flicked his lights on and off one time.
“Gotcha’,” Sal said.
Eddie watched the car behind him slip into a spot along the curb, five cars back.
“What now?” Sal asked.
“We wait. I’m watching that parking lot. Lookin’ for a tall, bald guy. He’ll come outta’ the door under the light.”
“Is he in there?”
“Not sure. This could be a while.”
“Ten-four.”
Sal hung up. The occupied cars sat in darkness for the next two hours. Finally, the back door to the garage opened.
Eddie dialed Sal.
“We got action.”
“I see it. That him?”
“No.”
Eddie watched as the heavy-set guy from before, waved to someone inside the garage, and strolled down the street to an awaiting car. The car stayed parked for five minutes before driving away.
Eddie and Sal’s wait continued.
Fifteen minutes later, two more men left the garage. This time, O was one of them. Eddie saw his hand had been wrapped with a bandage. He dialed Sal again.
“That the bald guy?” Sal asked.
“That’s him,” Eddie said. “With the bandaged hand.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I’d like to take him there. No cameras.”
“What about the other guy?”
“Naw. We’re leaving him alone. For now.”
“How do you know they won’t leave together?”
“I don’t know.”
Eddie hung up. He watched as the two talked excitedly about something. Then the second guy, Dax, walked around to the driver’s side of a car and O came to the passenger side and got in.
“Shit.”
He dialed Sal.
“What-d-ya wanna’ do boss?”
“Follow ‘em,” Eddie said.
“Ten-four.”
They hung up and, one at a time, pulled out, staying well behind the dark car as it traveled through the sleeping neighborhood. It turned right onto Payne, and Eddie and Sal followed. They passed Fortunato’s before turning left onto Seventh, and then a quick right onto Mounds Park Boulevard, which led them to the I-94 ramp going westbound.
Eddie smacked the steering wheel. “Dammit.”
They followed the car, each of them mixing in with the sparse early-morning traffic, as they traveled along the freeway toward Minneapolis. Eddie cursed himself for letting O get this far. It should have been taken care of right outside the garage.
The car took the Snelling Avenue exit and turned right.
Hmm. Not Minneapolis. Staying in St. Paul.
The car passed University Avenue and turned right onto Charles Avenue. Sal turned first, then Eddie. Eddie continued past them, as the car pulled over to the curb a few houses down from the corner. He watched Sal’s car in his rearview mirror take a right on Albert.
“Shit. Where’s he goin’?” Eddie pulled over and dialed Sal.
“I got him,” Sal said. “They’re parked on Charles. I’m turnin’ around.”
“Meet me there.”
Eddie saw Sal again appear in his review mirror. He had rounded the block and pulled up on the right, several cars back, headlights off. Eddie turned and headed around the block.
Sal pulled his car over to the curb. Tail lights from the sedan glowed red several houses up the street. Eddie had pulled in a few cars behind Sal’s, just as O exited the passenger’s side of the car. He leaned back in to talk to the driver. Eddie inched down his window hoping to hear what they were saying.
He watched as Sal silently slipped out of his car. He was still quick for his age. He dodged low around parked cars and then hid behind a tree near O and the car. Eddie quietly exited his vehicle and ran to Sal’s. He got in, ready to move. Sal waited, motionless behind the tree, shrouded in darkness, as he took aim with his gun.
The car took off, and Eddie watched as O turned. He headed toward a set of stairs leading to an old brick apartment building, muffled rap music thumping loudly from inside. The front entrance was dimly lit with one aging bulb.
Eddie put Sal’s car into drive and pulled out slowly. He moved closer to Sal’s position, lingering along the line of cars parked on either side of the narrow residential street.
Tension burned in his neck, as he watched Sal pull something from his back pocket and run like a quiet cat behind O, who turned at the sound of Sal’s footsteps. Sal dropped the gun to the ground and quickly pulled his hands from behind and over the head of O. He yanked the item around O’s thick neck, as he slammed him to the ground.
“Shit!”
Eddie quickly put Sal’s car into park in the middle of the street, engine still running, as he ran to assist with whatever the fuck Sal was doing.
The item Sal had pulled from his pocket was a plastic bag, and he now held it tightly over O’s head. Eddie leaned in to help hold down O as Sal squeezed the bag tight around O’s neck.
“We gotta move!” Eddie whispered, pushing O’s fighting arms to the ground.
O moaned and gurgled loudly, as he kicked and punched for air, sometimes making contact with Sal’s face, but Sal never flinched. O’s heavy and panicked air-sucking caused the bag to pull deep into the crevices of his face, displaying his horrified and twisted expression. He flailed and snorted and desperately tried to scream, as he ferociously fought to break loose.
Eddie moved fast, grabbing Sal’s gun from the ground and smashing it onto O’s skull. His body fell still. Eddie and Sal then worked furiously, as they dragged the heavy, dead weight across the grassless boulevard and into the street. They struggled to heave him up and into the trunk of Sal’s car, but finally succeeded.
Sal lowered the trunk until it was nearly closed and then took the gun from Eddie. Peering through the slight opening of the trunk, he popped two bullets into O’s temple, the silencer doing its job with quick, thumping bursts. Sal slammed the trunk shut and looked up at Eddie, smiling at him in the darkness.
“That plastic bag worked good,” Sal said, breathlessly. He wiped his hands on his jeans. “Better than blood spillin’ all over the sidewalk.” He pointed at the trunk. “Gotta tarp in there. Glad you knew to move my car and not yours.”
Eddie ran his hand through his hair, as he smiled at Sal. He patted him on the back. “Nice work, Sal. Good thinkin’. For an old man, you’re still pretty fast, you know that?” He pinched Sal’s cheeks.
Sal chuckled. “Yeah. How ‘bout that?”
“Gotta’ crew comin’ in tomorrow night,” Eddie said. “I’ll have ‘em call you. Leave the car in your garage ‘til then.”
Sal nodded. “Alright. I’ll take care-a everything. Go home.”
“Let’s get outta’ here. I’ll talk to you’se tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”
Sal drove off with O’s dead body in the trunk. Eddie took a quick scan of the neighborhood before getting into Micola’s car. He drove back to her house, and slipped quietly up to his room.
The clean-up crew would arrive tomorrow night and that would be the end of O Jackson.
