Some days in the past Wade didn’t find his friend at his usual places around the pond. On most of these days Wade heard deep grunting sounds coming from much further back in the swamp. He felt sure it was Master’s deep voice perhaps dominating over a territorial dispute or courting a female alligator he wanted to invite home. Wade was pleased that on this day Master was there and available for their silent session.
Sometimes on days of the gator’s absence Wade saw small bubbles appearing on the surface of the pond. The bubbles made a circular pattern always appearing near the center of the pond over its deepest part. On those days Wade felt his friend was lying deep at the bottom of the pond making those bubbles. He didn’t know why his friend needed to dive so deep or what the bubbles meant. Those days also meant there would be no silent session. Master was too far away at the bottom of the pond busy sending bubble signals for reasons unknown to Wade.
Even on days when Wade didn’t get to see his friend he knew Master was around, busy with other duties in his territory. Wade didn’t always know when the gator would be at the pond but he knew Master was always aware of when Wade had been there.
Wade took the next few days contemplating messages received from Master as he fished. He didn’t expect his friend would tell him how to actually handle the situation he was to face but in some ways his friend had communicated some basic rules to follow and he would think more about how they applied to his upcoming circumstances. Mostly, Wade was comforted by the presence of Master and the knowledge that through spiritual guidance he could lay next to a beast capable of his destruction but still somehow remain safe. Wade wondered if the human beasts he was about to face in the Coletta mob would allow him that same peaceful space.
15
It had been three weeks since the last meeting with Pisano. Hanna and Langer followed Pisano’s instructions and went about business as usual. Pisano had been thinking about Langer’s suggestion at the last meeting to make a connection for Hanna through Coletta’s wife and Ed’s sister’s friend. This connection would put Hanna directly in touch with Coletta’s wife, Linda, through her beautician, Jamie.
Pisano was still uncomfortable with all the loose ends that had to be addressed to make the connection work. But he was still interested in the general idea. He thought getting information from Coletta’s wife was probably a long shot. Even if the connection to Linda was made, how would Hanna develop rapport with Linda? They would also have to explain what Hanna was doing hanging around a beauty parlor in the middle of the day. Pisano was very detail-oriented and often thought long and hard before putting an undercover operation into action.
Langer and Hanna received another call to meet with the detective. This time they were told to go to what both thought was a strange location – Abe’s Records on Magazine Street. Pisano instructed, “When you get to the record store, tell the manager you are there for a meeting with Jake. He’ll show you where to go.” The meeting was set for mid-afternoon two days later.
Hanna arrived first and was on time. He wandered about the store looking around for Ed. He went down the isle as though shopping, pretending to read several record album covers. There was only one other person in the store, a woman on the other side of the aisle, also reading record album covers. A hoodlum-looking guy with a rough beard, and a white shirt hanging out below his sport coat, was behind the counter. Wade waited a while and looked at his watch. Ed was late; it was ten minutes after the hour.
Wade finally walked over to the bearded guy at the desk and asked, “Are you the manager?”
“I am today,” the guy answered, without looking up.
“I’m here for a meeting with Jake.”
The manager waived his hand, motioning Wade to come past the front desk and said, “Follow me.”
Wade felt uncomfortable. They went through a door just behind the desk where the manager had been sitting. Wade followed the man down a dimly lit hallway and made a couple of turns down other intersecting corridors. Crazy things were going through Wade’s mind. What the hell are we doing in a record store? Could this be a set up? What if the person he spoke to wasn’t Pisano? Where the hell was Ed? This could be a set up and a hit. . .
Wade followed down other passageways, making two more turns. He noticed all the narrow isles were lined with large cardboard boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling on inventory shelves. The two men were now deep into the warehouse. The maze of isles stacked on both sides with the cardboard boxes gave Wade the creeps. The isles were thick enough with boxes to muffle any pistol sound. Where was this guy leading him? The isles were so narrow they there was no room to maneuver.
The guy in front of Wade started moving faster toward some unknown destination. None of this looked right to Wade, and he became increasingly worried. Why didn’t Ed show up? What are these boxes that have nothing to do with phonograph record business? They must be for deadening sound. Why the extensive maze of corridors?
All of a sudden, the manager stopped and turned around, facing Wade. There was a closed door to his right. The man quickly reached for something in his upper inside coat pocket. Wade thought it would be a gun. He knew he was dead. There was nowhere to turn in the narrow hall.
However, instead of a gun, the manager pulled out a key on a long chain.
By this time, Wade thought he’d soaked his pants. He watched as the man put the key in the lock and slowly turned. Wade didn’t know what was waiting for him behind the door. As it opened, light slowly filled the hallway.
With the door now ajar, his guide just looked at him and made a gesture toward the room as if to say, “Look who’s here.”
Wade was still reluctant to look in. He slowly approached the door opening. There sat Pisano, sitting by himself at a conference table reading some papers. Pisano nonchalantly said, “Hi, come in and have a seat.” He continued, “Ed called and said he would be a few minutes late. This is one of our safe houses. We own the place. I wanted you and Ed to know about it just in case. The manager is one of our guys.”
Wade was still nervous, but tried to act calmly.
Pisano asked, “How is the racing going? Win any races?”
Wade replied, “Yeah, we picked up a trophy in Modified-Stock last week.”
“Good. Was Ed with you?”
“No, he couldn’t make it.”
“I see you’re keeping up your regular routine, just the way we discussed it.”
Wade nodded. He thought Pisano asked a lot of questions he already knew the answer to.
Pisano said, “Having a presence right now at the track is important to our overall operation.”
Pisano knew the track was of great importance to Coletta’s operation. He frequently had undercover agents mingling there, fitting in and helping other pit crew members. Some of Coletta’s underbosses were usually at the track as well. Many of Coletta’s customers also had racing cars. Coletta was smart enough not to make direct sales at the track. The track, for Coletta was a place to get information, to see which customers needed parts, and to pick up any news. If one of the drivers blew an engine in a race, Coletta would know about it the next day. Pisano’s men observed Coletta’s men, picked up gossip and blended in with other pit crew members.
A knock on the door. Ed had arrived and took a chair near Wade, sitting across the table from Pisano.
Pisano started again. “I want you guys to know about this place. It’s a safe house in case you are being tailed or looking for a safe place in the neighborhood or can’t go home. We’ll meet here from time to time. I’ll give instructions to my men that you are okay to use the place whenever you need to.”
“I want to discuss some things with you that have come up recently.” Pisano, turning to Hanna said, “I spoke with Sara, Ed’s sister’s friend. She’s the one with the friend, Jamie, who is the beautician that does T.J.’s wife’s hair on Thursday afternoons at the beauty parlor.”
“At first I didn’t see how anything was going to work here. Talking to S
ara, I found out her friend Jamie has a little problem I might be able to help her with. Anyway this connection is still a possibility, but it may only be a long shot. I’m still working on an angle.” Still addressing Hanna, Pisano added, “If we go down this road, you have to be very careful. I’ll come back to this in a minute.”
It was obvious to Wade that Pisano and Ed had talked before this meeting, and Ed had arranged the meeting between Pisano and his sister’s friend, Sarah. Ed never mentioned anything to him. This irritated Wade. He felt Ed should have at least told him about this arrangement, since they were working together and Wade’s life was at stake. Ed had seen Wade at his garage last week, and he hadn’t said a word about any of this. Although he was upset, Wade didn’t say anything at the meeting. He just gave Ed a betrayed and frustrated look. He thought Ed picked up on it.
Pisano now turned to Ed and said, “We got a nibble on the parts inquiry you made last week.”
Ed responded, “They seemed interested when I told them. I don’t think they suspect anything.”
Pisano said, “We’re going to go very slow and easy with this one. I don’t want you involved in any part of the actual transaction. Is that clear?”
Ed replied, “I understand. I haven’t asked about it, and they haven’t offered any information. I think they are going to be very suspicious on the first transaction if they make any contact at all.”
Pisano said, “They already have.”
Ed was very surprised, “What? They have?”
“Someone who works for your boss called. He goes by the name of Jerry. There may be a meeting in the next few days, but there’s been no discussion of parts or the money involved. We think they’re checking out my guy right now.”
A little worried, Ed asked, “What if they find something?”
Pisano replied, “My guy will check out fine. He’ll have all the right criminal references when they check. The less you know the better. You don’t know anything about the call, or meeting, or what they discussed. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Pisano explained further, “That’s why I’m not telling you any more about it.”
Pisano turned his attention back to Hanna again. “I have an idea about how a meeting might work, but I haven’t thought through all the details. Sara’s friend Jamie is Linda’s beautician. She’s agreed to show some interest in you romantically. Do you see where I’m going here?”
Wade was genuinely lost for a second. “I’m not sure I do.”
Pisano spelled it out for him. “Look, we first have to have a reason for you to be around a beauty shop in the middle of the day. You’re not getting your hair done.”
Wade still wasn’t nodding or speaking, so Pisano kept going. “I don’t want the other girls in the shop becoming suspicious or asking questions Linda might overhear. It’s got to be natural, like boyfriend and girlfriend just meeting for the first time. Do you understand now?”
Wade said, “I’m still confused. Why do I want to meet her in the beauty shop?”
“Just listen for a minute. I see you don’t get around girls very often?” Pisano replied.
Wade quietly admitted, “No.”
“Okay. You have a crush on the beautician, Jamie. You happen to come by and see her while you’re on that side of town on a Thursday afternoon – when Linda happens to be having her hair done. Get it?”
“Yeah, I do now.”
Pisano answers, “Good. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I need to think through how you get friendly with Linda so it doesn’t look contrived. It’s got all be a natural coincidence. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Pisano said “Sometimes doing undercover work, I would spend weeks just arranging a natural, coincidental meeting. This is still a long shot. It also depends on how much Linda knows and how scared she is.”
Turning back to Ed, Pisano said, “You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone, including Sara or your sister. Or your friend here,” gesturing toward Wade, “is dead meat.”
Pisano shifted in his chair a bit, getting ready to stand up. “Just to close out our meeting, I want to repeat that what I want now is to make sure everything gets back to normal. It may be a while before we see each other again, and I may meet with you both or with just one of you next time. Any questions?”
Wade had one. “Can I just drive by the shopping center where the beauty shop is – just to see the layout?”
“Yes. But do it quickly, and not on a Thursday.”
With that, the meeting ended.
It was only a week later that Wade got a call from Pisano, wanting to meet at the Ole Grille at 2:00 pm sharp the next day. Pisano asked Wade, “Did you go by the beauty shop?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We’ll talk more about it when I see you.”
They met at the scheduled time, at Pisano’s preferred table. Pisano began by saying, “We’re going to do a dry run on the meeting with Linda. First, I want you to see Jamie. I want you two to talk for a while, just to get to know each other. She said her slowest times are on Monday afternoons. So you’re going to see her next Monday afternoon. There will be other girls in the shop looking you over. You have to have your story down. You are a nice young guy who happens to know a mutual friend, Sara, who has just recently introduced you and Jamie. You haven’t really dated yet; you just like each other, and you want to see more of Jamie. Jamie will introduce you to the other girls in the shop.”
Pisano stopped and asked, “Are you getting this, Hanna?” Wade’s blank stare exasperated him. “It’s a natural meeting between boy and girl. It happens every day like this.” His frustration began to show in his tone as he continued, “I can see you don’t get around much. You look confused. You’re spending too much time with your engines.”
Wade just asked, “What do we talk about?”
“Anything light. Do you know anything about what the opposite sex might find interesting? Not engines, hot rods, or football. Do you know anything about cooking? Do you listen to music or know what bands are popular? Or what concerts are coming up around the lakefront?”
“Do you want me to ask her out on a date?”
“No, that would embarrass her in front of the other girls in the shop. You’re just visiting and making light conversation, something normal people do when they’re trying to meet someone of the opposite sex. Are you getting this? I’m a little worried that if you’re not natural you’ll cause suspicion.”
Pisano got an idea. “Practice conversations with other girls, and get comfortable in this situation. And remember these practice runs will be important, because you’re getting ready for a meeting at a whole different level soon. With the crime bosses’ wife. In that meeting you can’t make a mistake.”
“I’ll have an undercover agent at the strip center right across the street during the dry run. I’m not comfortable with putting someone in the shop with you, since the other girls haven’t seen you before. You’ll be on your own. The meeting’s set up, and I’ll let you know if Jamie for some reason wants to pull out. I’m helping her as a small favor with her brother’s problem. Hopefully she’s in for playing her role.”
The dry run with Jamie at Ronda’s beauty shop went better than expected. It was less stressful than Wade had imagined it would be, mainly because Jamie performed great and kept the conversation going. The other girls in the shop thought Wade was cute and that Jamie and Wade made a nice couple.
With the dry run over, it was time to get ready for the meeting with Coletta’s wife.
16
Several weeks passed after the practice meeting with Jamie before Pisano called Wade again to meet at the Old Grill. Wade was on time, as usual. Pisano seemed a little late and hurried, like something was bothering him. Hanna hadn’t heard anything since the meeting with Jamie, so he was worried that Pisano’s look suggested there may have been a problem. But it turned out that wasn’t the case.
Pisano said, “I’m in a bit of a rush
today. Look, the meeting with Jamie went well. She actually likes you, and she said the other girls in the beauty shop liked you and were also impressed. That means we’ve established, at least within the shop, that you are a good fit for Jamie and the other girls. We now have to set up the real meeting.”
Jamie became a beautician right after high school. She had hoped for a more professional education and a higher paying job, but her alternative career choices hadn’t worked out. Her family couldn’t afford to put her through more schooling after high school. But Jamie had talent and worked hard, and by the time Wade met her, she had become an excellent hair stylist with a growing customer base. Her most valued customer was Linda Coletta. Linda had been a regular customer of Jamie’s for over three years. Through Linda spreading the word about how good Jamie was, Jamie was able to pick up several new customers. She was as busy as any girl in the shop and always in demand. Linda would tell Jamie, “Don’t you get so busy you can’t take care of me.” To which Jamie would reply, “That’ll never happen.”
There was definitely a rapport and friendship between Linda and Jamie that went beyond hairdresser and customer, although Linda was older than Jamie by about ten years. Linda was also an excellent tipper. In addition to a big tip after a hair dressing, she would come around each Christmas with presents and cash. She tipped the other girls in the shop during Christmas as well. Linda liked a specific chair and work station in the shop, toward the back and side, and it was always made available to her. Her regular appointment was always at two o’clock on Thursdays. She was rarely late and never missed her appointment. Most of the time she came alone, but sometimes she would bring her young daughter, Mindy. Mindy was Linda’s daughter from a prior relationship; before Linda became involved with T.J. Coletta.
Silent Sanction: A Novel Page 10
