by Rumer Raines
I roll my eyes and ask Alex the one question that I had for him. “I had to question a man named Jonas Knight. He was shot and had acid thrown in his face. He said he was heard talking about the wrong people and witnessed a car explosion. Did you have anything to do with his injuries, Alex?”
Alex starts to laugh and stands up to walk back to his chair. “Frank, are you honestly asking me this? First of all, you haven’t made any decisions, so right now you’re a cop. I don’t answer any questions from the cops. Secondly, if I did it shouldn’t you be thanking me? You, my law-abiding brother, recently caused a car explosion. If someone did blind the guy, maybe they did you a favor. So, I guess to answer your question, get the fuck out of my club.”
LOLA
I am going crazy. I shouldn’t be doing this, but I followed Frank and am now sitting outside of Deluca’s. I know he has more information than he is saying. I could tell how tense he was when I mentioned the mob. He didn’t want to give me the names of any of the mob families in Chicago. He was so uncomfortable when I questioned him. Deluca’s is so busy that I can’t believe it’s not Saturday. My people tell me that Deluca’s is run by Alex Deluca, who is Frank’s brother. Alex is a dangerous fucker who no one wants to deal with. Apparently, Frank’s dad wanted Frank to be in charge since he is the sensible brother. I can see that in him, however, I can tell he has no business being anywhere near the mob business. I just hope that he isn’t, so I don’t have to do what I have been sent here to do.
FRANK
I need to get more information about the family business. Lola started asking me these damn questions again and I can’t give her any safe answers. None of my cases have ever involved the mob. I honestly have no idea if there are other families in Chicago. I also don’t know how to get the information without looking suspicious. What if I ask the wrong questions of the wrong person? I was told that the mob family includes police officers. Since I had no idea what was going on, that doesn’t include me. These other officers have done a wonderful job at keeping me in the dark. They could have easily gotten rid of information or made sure I didn’t hear anything. One name comes to mind… Marcus Mancini. I need to talk to the arrogant fucker.
I make sure to get to the station extra early the next morning because Marcus is always there super early. I have no idea why, but I know that he normally is and I want to talk to him before Lola comes in. The little fucker is exactly where I expect him to be. At his desk leaning back in his chair like he owns the place. “Hey Frankie, you’re normally not here this early.” I really hate this guy, but I put on a phony smile and pull a chair over to his desk to sit across from him. “You’re right, but I’m working on a new case and thought I would get an early start. Would you mind if I pick your brain a little?”
Marcus sits straight up, obviously shocked that I would ask for his help with anything. He is not the only one shocked since I threw up a little in my mouth as the words came out. “Sure go ahead. What does the great Frankie Deluca need help with?” I hate that he thinks he can call me Frankie. Ma and Alexis are the only ones that call me that. Pop used to and Alex only does it to piss me off. I need information from this prick, so I will let it slide. “What do you know about the mob families in Chicago?”
I notice one of his eyebrows rise and he starts to run his hands through his hair. “What I know, Frankie is that the families have recently gotten very active. They have always been around, but there hasn’t been as much activity as there is now. There are three families in Chicago. The Gallo, Moretti, and Russo families. I think they basically have agreed to stay out of the others’ way. Apparently, there has been a shakeup at the top. Now the families are in a battle to take charge.”
The Gallo, Moretti, and Russo families? I wonder how the Deluca family fits into the picture. Are we an outside family? I can’t ask Marcus if he’s heard anything about my family, but this is very strange. Are there any other families in the city?” Marcus is now rubbing his chin. “Not that I am aware of. These are normally the only names that come up. Why? Do you know of any new families?”
“No, it’s just a big city and I am surprised those are the only families,” I tell him.
“Well, we’re not as big as New York City. They probably have dozens of families. Speaking of New York, how’s it going with that hot little partner of yours? Lola?”
On this note, I think I need to end the conversation since I have no interest in discussing Lola with Marcus Mancini. Lola is beautiful and I am sure he only wants to get in her pants. Which I don’t plan on letting happen. I am not sure why I care and don’t understand why I have this possessive feeling towards her, but Marcus and Lola won’t happen while I am around.
I get up from the chair so fast that it scrapes across the floor and some papers fly off his desk. “Thanks for your help, Marcus. I better get to work while these names are fresh.” I can hear him mentioning Lola again as I walk away.
LOLA
“Deluca, Covelli! My office, now!” The minute I put my purse down, the captain yells for Frank and me to come to his office. It’s going to be a long day. Frank smirks and follows behind me as we find out why we are being summoned first thing in the morning.
“What did you find out from Knight when you questioned him at the hospital?” Captain Hill is pacing and doesn’t look happy.
Frank looks at me and we both notice how tense Captain Hill appears and realize that something bad has happened. “We questioned him for maybe 30 minutes and the doctors said we had to leave. He was agitated and basically said he saw something he shouldn’t have. We were going to talk to him this morning.”
“Well, you won’t be able to discuss anything with him. He’s disappeared.”
I must have misheard Captain Hill, so I calmly ask him again. “Did you just say he disappeared?”
“Yes!” Captain Hill yells so loud that it startles me. “Apparently, the doctors went to check on him and the bed was empty. Hell, the bed had even been made like he was never there. No one discharged him or even saw him leave!”
“It has to be one of the mob families. We know it had to be them that did this to him. They had to have known we were going back to talk to him and decided to get to him first!” I look over to Frank expecting him to agree with me, but he is silent. We make eye contact and I am hoping he says something, but I get nothing from Frank Deluca.
Once Captain Hill dismisses us telling us that we need to find Knight and find out whatever he knows, it’s now my turn to be hot on Frank’s heels. “Why didn’t you say anything in there?”
We get back to our desks and for a moment I think he didn’t hear my question. “What is there to say, Lola? He’s gone. If the mob took him, we’ll probably never find him.”
“Did you just say if the mob took him? Who else would have done this? Let’s just say this was a typical robbery. He may have been shot, but not blinded. If this was a drug deal gone bad, yes he may have been shot, but no acid would have been involved. Knight said that he saw something that he shouldn’t have seen. He said he witnessed someone setting off a car bomb. That has mob written all over it!”
Frank suddenly looks pissed. “Lola, we don’t have proof that the mob has done shit. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Or is that not how things were done in New York?”
“Fuck you, Frank!”
“Oh snap! I came at the right time! I hope that wasn’t an invitation only for Frank, sweet thing.” Marcus chooses now to come wondering over, as I am about to chew off a piece of Frank’s ass.
“No, Marcus, that wasn’t an invitation to Frank or anyone else in this department.” He makes a sad face and tries to give me puppy dog eyes, which only pisses me off more. Marcus is a nice guy and very attractive. He has clean-cut, good guy looks. He probably has different colored polo’s color coordinated perfectly in his closet. He is not my type.
I am so mad, that I practically throw myself into my chair and start looking over my paperwork. I make sure to handle the paper
work roughly so Marcus and Frank would realize that I am still pissed.
Marcus takes the hint and turns his attention to Frank. “Hey, I talked to one of my buddies about the Chicago mob families and he insisted that those are the only families in the area. Apparently, other families can’t just move in.”
Frank mutters a ‘thank you’ and notices that I’ve stopped shuffling my papers and I am now focused entirely on him.
FRANK
He really had to announce that in front of Lola? I am sure she now knows I am researching the mob after I told her we didn’t have proof. I can tell it’s on the tip of her tongue and she will grill me about this one. Damn, this woman won’t move on when she has something in mind. She is worse than pit bull when it has you by the pants leg. You can’t shake her off.
“You asked Marcus about the mob families in Chicago? I thought you said there was no proof they were involved?”
I can tell she’s pissed. “I did tell you that, but I still wanted to know who is in the area. If anything else happens, we’ll be ahead of the game.”
“Ahead of the game?” Lola rolls her eyes and I can hear the sarcasm in her voice. I can tell she isn’t buying this shit.
Lola grabs her purse from the drawer and slams it shut. I am not sure if I should ask, but do anyways. “Where’re you headed?”
“I am going to the coffee shop at the corner. I need to get out of here!”
“Great I’ll come with you.” I stand up and lead the way to the elevator.
LOLA
I don’t know why this jerk is coming with me. I needed to get away from him and handle personal business. He knows more information about the Chicago mob than he is letting on. I can’t believe he questioned Marcus about the families. I don’t know if he is smarter than I realize or just stupid. I was sent here to get information on his family. We had a snitch who told us that it is not a single group in Chicago. There are several families that make up the Chicago mob. They all agreed to stay out of each other’s way. Once the families merged, they took the boss’ name. Apparently, the boss died and his son will take over. We couldn’t believe that son was a Chicago detective. After doing our research, we discovered that son had to be Detective Frank Deluca.
I need to get more information on this family, but it won’t come easily. Apparently, Frank’s father inherited the mob through Frank’s mother. Frank’s great-grandfather was a badass mafia boss in Sicily. He owned most of the country. His wife gave birth to all girls, but he wasn’t going to let anyone but family inherit his legacy. He left his business to his son-in-law with the stipulation that the business always stayed the family name, Costa.
Several generations later a son was finally born, Frank Deluca.
We walked to the coffee shop a few blocks over. Frank grabs the door, holding it open for me and I walk up to the counter to order my coffee and bagel. Frank orders the same. We move to the end of the counter waiting for our coffee to be made.
“Lola, I realize that you are pissed, but we can’t just go after the mob. We have to investigate and find people willing to talk.”
“I am not new to the job, Frank. You have the names and we need to start questioning them. One of these families has Knight. He could still be alive and willing to talk. He saw someone or something.”
FRANK
Lola is right. Knight did see something. He overheard something and witnessed someone blowing up a car. My gut feeling is that he witnessed me blowing up the car and that Alex found out and took care of him. I am so sick knowing that when he mentioned the bomb, I was almost relieved that he had been blinded. He couldn’t see me as I questioned him.
I was still getting over Pop’s death when I decided I would go to Deluca’s for a beer. I knew it was closing time, but I also knew Alex would still be there and I could get a drink. I pulled into the alley and saw that Alex and Thomas were shouting and then I witnessed Alex push Thomas.
I jumped out of my truck and got between them asking what the hell was going on. Thomas and Alex were always close, so I knew that some bad shit was going on. “He fucked up! We’re going to end up in prison because of him!” Thomas is yelling, still trying to get hold of Alex. I turn to look at Alex who’s just smirking. I just don’t understand what makes Alex tick sometimes. Thomas is ready to strangle him with his bare hands and Alex is smirking.
I can tell I am not going to get an honest answer from Alex. I look at Thomas and ask him what happened. “Your stupid ass brother stole a car, but did so to bring the cash and drugs that he stole.” I look over to Alex who is still smirking and he rolls his eyes at me. I look back at Thomas to question him. “What the hell are you talking about, Thomas?”
“Do you see that black Chevy Impala over there?” I turn and see the car parked next to Thomas’ white Jaguar. “Yes, I do. Are you saying that car is stolen?” Thomas raises an eyebrow. “I am saying that car is filled with drugs and cash, all of which are stolen. There is enough shit in that car to put all three of us in prison just for standing near it.”
I turn away from Alex, going to look inside the car. Thomas was right. There are stacks of bundled cash, as well as drugs. The drugs are wrapped and have tags that look very familiar. It almost looks like authorities-wrapped evidence. I start to feel sick. Alex is still smirking at me and he knows what I am about to ask him.
“Alex, where did you steal this shit from?” Alex doesn’t answer, so Thomas does for him. “Where do you think he stole it from? He took all this shit from the fucking police station!” My vision suddenly goes black and the next thing I realize, Thomas is now pulling me off Alex. I want to kill him; he stole evidence from the police station. He came to see me at the department and stole fucking evidence.
“How in the hell can you do this, Alex?”
“Look, the opportunity presented itself, so I took it.” He actually believes this shit. I can’t believe I am related to this fucker. “How does the opportunity present itself to steal evidence from the police station? You do realize that they will notice that this shit is gone, don’t you? The serial number for every bill is in the station. Hell, besides the money and drugs, someone will miss the car! ”
Alex shakes his head and smirks. “You have a police scanner. Did you hear anything about a missing car? No one will be able to tie me to the drugs or the money. As far as this car goes, it will be dust in one hour.”
“You’re going to blow the car up?” Alex has the nerve to look at me like I’m stupid. “Yes, Frankie, I will get rid of the car. I’m keeping the cash and selling the drugs to earn more cash. Maybe, if you’re a good boy, I’ll split it with you.”
“We’re not splitting anything, Alex. In one hour, the car, drugs, and cash will be dust.”
“You are crazy as hell if you think I’m letting you get rid of the cash and drugs. The car is yours, but nothing else. Do you know how much I can make off those drugs? I can buy another club! Free of fucking charge.”
“Alex, this isn’t free of charge! You stole this from a police station. This is obviously evidence from a drug bust. It will be missed and they will pull tapes to find everyone that was in the station!”
Alex laughs. “I practically own a third of the cops in the station. They won’t say shit about me!”
“How about me, Alex? You don’t think I will say anything if questioned? I was left in charge of the family, not you.”
“You would turn me in,” he asked. “Fuck yeah, Alex. Now, where were you planning on getting rid of the damn car?” I practically spit out
A few hours later I was lifting the car fob and listening to the explosion in the background. Alex refused to come pick me up, so Thomas came along. I could have tried to sneak everything back into the station, but it was too risky.
Thomas and I don’t speak as we drive back to Deluca’s. When we are within a few blocks, Thomas decides the silence was enough. “You do realize that if you don’t start running the family, Alex will, don’t you? Alex will have us all doing
time in prison.”
I don’t even want to discuss this with Thomas. I can feel him looking at me. “He stole evidence from the police station. He could have gone down and taken me with him. He brought the shit right back to the club! Do you know the stupid fuck left his own car at the station?”
I look over at Thomas shaking my head. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
Thomas smirks. “Hell, I wish I could make this shit up. The dumbass stole a car, drugs, and money from the police station and then left his signature in the damn parking lot. What a fucking leader, huh?”
I don’t know or care how Alex got his car. I was done with this shit for the night.
LOLA
I can’t sleep and stare at the clock for most of the night. I toss and turn thinking about Frank. I need to figure out how to get information out of him. He’s closed off and I can’t get shit out of him and I am starting to catch heat. I don’t think he is involved with the mob yet, and to be honest I can’t see him being a dirty cop. There are a few others in the department that smell of mafia. It’s odd that no one else can see it. I don’t even think Frank notices it. I think you must be raised around la familia to notice it. They definitely have the ‘I am a badass’ swagger to them. They fear nothing and are very arrogant. You also can’t overlook the small things. The expensive little pieces of jewelry, the cars they drive. They almost have a different look in their eye. I have to be careful around them. If I can see it in their eye, they may something in mine.
I will tell Frank that I am investigating the families. I think I have enough information to spook him; he’ll think I really did the research. He’ll never need to know this is information I already had.
FRANK
I can’t believe that Lola hasn’t come in yet. She’s always here before me and is always at her desk with her coffee in hand. I’m going to sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet until she arrives. It’s not that she bothers me. I actually like Lola. She is very easy on the eyes, too. I just hate having to investigate Knight with her since it looks like the mob was involved. Lola knows they are involved. Hell, I know they are involved. I just hate having her as a partner for this, especially when I am starting to like her. I need to look into this alone just in case I need to bury some shit.
