As Vincent walks past the barber shop, “Shoes” Aiello calls out and waves him in. Shoes directs him into the back room. Vincent has never formally met Shoes. At 68, Shoes is well known in the Neighborhood, because of his large collection of exotic shoes—alligator, crocodile, snake, and other skins and leathers—always shined to brilliance, but never matching the clothing he wears. This is odd, but then again, Shoes is odd himself. In any event, Shoes has been around for as long as Vincent or anyone else can remember and has the blessings of the old man for his sports book.
In the back room, Vincent is amazed to see the flurry of activity. He is led to a corner table. They both sit down.
“I hear you know how to find people,” Shoes says.
“Who told you that?”
“Are you being a smartass? Who the fuck you think?”
“Yeah, there are two stiffs who owe. I will give you all the information I got on them and I want you to find them and tell me where they are.”
Vincent wants to say no, but obviously word has spread that he is now in debt himself. Obviously, from time to time, Outfit guys are going to approach him. He makes a mental note to talk to Tony about this, but best just to go along for now until he knows what is what.
“Okay, give me the names and whatever information you got and I’ll look into it.”
“Yeah, but you do nothing else, you understand me?” Shoes says. “You do nothing but find them and tell me. You got that?”
Vincent nods as Shoes walks over to another guy, who takes out a pencil and paper and writes out the information. Then this guy takes more papers out of his pocket and writes down more information. Shoes hands the papers to Vincent.
“You tell nobody about this. You find these guys and you report back to me, you understand?”
Vincent nods and Shoes points to the doorway.
“Let me know when you got something.”
Vincent thinks about this. He’s offered no money. It’s like an order, like being back in the Army. He could not refuse. Strange. He will wait until the morning and talk to Tony about this. Telling “nobody” cannot include Tony, he figures.
Vincent’s mother is at home, setting the table for dinner. She looks at him with questioning eyes, but says nothing.
“Go wash up. Dinner is almost ready. By the way, a Valerie called you. This a Neighborhood girl?”
“Nah, she used to work with me and actually trained me. I quit, and she probably wants to know what’s what.”
“You quit? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tony told me to quit. He didn’t really give me no choice. He said that I have to work for him for a while.”
“Go wash up,” his mother says, without any further comment.
After dinner, he helps his mother with the dishes, then they sit down and watch Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners. Spending time with his mother seems to please her, but he’s bored with what’s on TV. He announces he’s going to bed because he has to work at six the next morning. She nods and he goes off to his bedroom.
He calls Valerie. She wants to see him. He tells her he’ll see her tomorrow night.
The following morning, he dresses in old clothes and heads to the grocery store. When he arrives at six, the doors are locked. Tony is nowhere to be seen.
Vincent sits on the doorjamb. About fifteen minutes later, a car drives up and Tony gets out of the passenger side. Vincent doesn’t recognize the driver. Tony does not say a word to Vincent, just unlocks the door and walks in. Vincent follows him, and they go to the back to open the dock doors. There’s already a truck waiting. Tony points to the truck. He doesn’t need to say anything.
Vincent unloads this truck and the one that comes an hour later. Tony comes out and points to where the boxes should be stored. When he’s done, Tony walks out of his office, points to Vincent, and curls a finger toward him. Vincent follows Tony to his office, sits down, and waits for Tony to speak.
“In about a week from now you’re going to meet with a lawyer. Don’t ask me who, because I don’t know, but this lawyer is going to take care of some things.”
Vincent waits for Tony to say more and when he does not, Vincent asks if he can talk to him about something else. Tony nods and waits for Vincent to explain.
“Shoes grabbed me yesterday. He told me that he wanted me to find a couple of guys who owe him money. It seems as though he did not give me a choice, but that I would have to do this.”
Tony looks at Vincent. A few moments go by. “Do it.”
Tony gets up from his desk. At the door to his office, he turns around.
“Do it now. Leave now and get it done. When you find them, you come and see me first, you understand?”
“You first?”
Tony frowns, so that the lines in his face look like canyons.
“Okay, okay,” says Vincent. “Do you want to know who these guys are?”
“It’s none of my business. Just tell me when you find them.” Tony walks off.
Vincent does not have his work tools—books or equipment—that were at the Catalog Company. But he’s still got his contacts. He calls his old office and asks for Valerie. Once on the phone, she asks him when she’s going to see him. Vincent ignores her question.
“I need you to help me with something and I’m going to give you some information. I’ll call you again in an hour, and you can let me know what you found out.”
“What’s this all about, Vincent?”
“Don’t ask, just do this for me. I need to get the cross-reference directory information and a few other things from there. I’m also going to need a car. I’ll figure all that stuff out but get this done for me, sweetheart.”
He gives her the names and hangs up. Then he calls his other contacts and asks for the favors. He needs to set up shop somehow. But he’s got no money. He walks out into the Neighborhood to find Mikey and Angelo.
They have a job to do.