by Neal Davies
Sebastian pulls out his phone and rings, “Jim, its Sebastian.”
“How are you Seb? I thought you were going to take a couple of days break. How can I help?” Sebastian pauses as he feels guilty for lying to Jim and is expecting an initial negative response.
“Ah yes, about those days off. It wasn’t quite like that.” There’s a short uncomfortable pause from the other end of the phone.
“What do you mean, Seb? What’s going on?”
“Look Jim, I wasn’t sure but I am now.”
“Sure about what Seb? Get to the point!” Sebastian pauses again. He can already hear that Jim is ready to pounce by the tone of his voice and he needs to approach what he’s about to say with finesse, especially after the furniture issue. However his options are limited and he finds himself just laying the truth on the line.
“I can prove that Sam didn’t kill Frank and that Sam’s suicide was set up by the killer. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure. But I am now.”
Jim not being very happy on hearing this news, snaps back, “How sure are you?”
“99% but I will need some back up.” Jim is astonished by this new turn of events and he’s half hoping that Sebastian wouldn’t be so sure. This meant starting all over on an almost closed case. More paper work and more headaches.
“Ok, tell me what you have and I’ll decide whether there’s enough evidence to go ahead with pursuing this matter further. If I think there is, you can tell me what you need.” Sebastian spends a good 20 minutes explaining to Jim all he knows and what he requires from him. Jim is convinced that Sebastian is on to something and agrees to help him follow through with his plan.
After discussing everything with Jim he hangs up the phone and makes another call to the Tuscan Tavern, asking for Gino Gambini. He explains to Gino that the police want to interview him downtown regarding Frank’s murder, or if he prefers Sebastian can come and see him at the tavern. It’s his call. Gino isn’t in the mood for standover tactics and responds accordingly, “Don’t you play hard ball with me! You don’t know who you’re dealing with!” Sebastian knows he needs to convince Gino to meet with him and the only way this will happen is if he keeps a good balance between being firm while still remaining tactful.
“Mr Gambini, I know very well who I’m dealing with and I’m in no way threatening you! I’m simply telling you what I’ve been told by the chief of police. If I tell him that you won’t speak to me, he will send two officers down to pick you up and have you interviewed by detectives at the station.” The phone at the other end goes silent. “Mr Gambini, are you there?” Then a voice comes back that’s as cutting as a razor.
“You listen here you piece of shit, if you want to talk to me you get here at 9am tomorrow morning before the tavern opens. Just push on the door and come in, it’ll be unlocked. Did you hear me? 9am!”
Sebastian is quick to reply, “I’ll see you then.”
Sebastian decides to go home after his eventful morning and spends the rest of the day fidgeting with things while going over his well thought out plan for the morning. Luckily, Cynthia is at her friends place working on their fundraiser again, he doesn’t want the stress of her concerns interfering in his thought process. He’s happy to let her know what he’s up to when she gets home, but for now he needs a clear head. This would not be helped by Cynthia’s concerns over his plan being too dangerous. That evening he reveals his plan to her and his expectations are met when she starts talking about Gino’s past record and constantly reminding Sebastian how dangerous Gino is. After they turn in for the evening Cynthia’s warnings about Gino are filling Sebastian’s thoughts to the point where he is constantly restless and doesn’t feel like sleeping at all. To distract him from his negative thinking, he spends most the night just lying in bed going over and over his plan for the following day. There are no certainties that all will go well and he’s placing himself in a very precarious position that could see him injured or even killed. But he also knows he’s thought things through and feels this is the only way to flush out Frank’s murderer.
Chapter 17
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH GINO GAMBINI
Sebastian arrives at the tavern and although he is trying not to show it, he is definitely feeling apprehensive about his interview with Gino. His nervousness mixes with frustration and anger and his thoughts are becoming abnormally irrational. He looks down at his shaking hands and thinks to himself, if Cynthia had only shut up about Gino last night with her warnings of how dangerous he was and how he could make his enemies disappear I wouldn’t be as bloody nervous as I am feeling right now!’ The 9am meeting is setting off alarm bells in his head, he starts doubting his own plans, lacking confidence in his own abilities and that’s something that’s never been a weak point for Sebastian.
The door is open, as Gino said it would be, and Sebastian walks in with legs like jelly. He knows it’s imperative that he remains calm in order to think clearly. Gino is in his usual position tucked away in a quiet corner with his two goons. It’s almost like they haven’t moved since the first day he went there. His hand grasps his cane so tightly his knuckles turn white, as he walks toward their table. Gino looks across at Sebastian and signals with a tilted nod of his head for the others to leave. Both thugs brush past Sebastian. One heads for the bar and pours a drink and the other follows suit, after locking the door to the tavern. When Sebastian hears the door being locked behind him, Gino notices the concern on his face. He soothes, “its ok, Mr Sebastian, no one’s going to hurt you today. Take a seat, relax. Drinks are on me.” Sebastian continues to look back at the door until Gino roars, “Sit the fuck down! If I wanted to top you, you’d be well and truly dead by now!” The anger leaves his face and he quietly urges, “Please! Take a seat.” Sebastian sits down with some concern as Gino’s erratic mood swings scream of manic behaviour. “Thank you Mr Sebastian, and now that you’re sitting I want you to understand this; if you ever ring here and threaten to have me picked up by the cops again, make no mistake! I’ll have your fucking guts for garters. Is that clear?”
“Yes Mr Gambini but you have to understand….”
“No, fucking, no, no, no! Shut the fuck up! Do you understand, or do I have to spell it out for you in the worst possible way?”
“Ok Mr Gambini, I get it!” Gino relaxes again.
“Good, good! Now we understand each other.” He looks over to the other two at the bar. “Would one of you boys get Mr Sebastian some quality bourbon on the rocks, please?”
Sebastian begins to relax again. “Mr Gambini my name is Sebastian Cork. If you like you can call me Sebastian or Mr Cork.”
Gino frowns, turns his lip up on one side of his mouth, ignores his statement and snarls sarcastically, “Now Mr Sebastian, what do you and the cops want from me?” One of his men places Sebastian’s drink in front of him and he swallows a quarter of his bourbon as a relaxer before he replies.
“It’s like this, Mr Gambini, the only way I can clear you of being a suspect is by finding out your connection with Frank.” Gino drinks the last drop from his glass and then holds it up adjacent to his face. The other goon is at the table in a flash with a top up and leaves almost as quickly as he comes. Gino relaxes back in his chair. “When Frankie first came to this part of town he was just a kid. Every time I’d see him he’d put his head down like I was going to kick his arse. I don’t know why, but he just had a look like a pathetic puppy and that made me feel bad. So I called him over one day and I asked him what the problem was. He said some of the other kids around the hood had told him to steer clear of me. Yes, I have a bit of a reputation, but I don’t hurt kids. Why the fuck would I do that? I’ve got kids of my own, I love kids. So anyway, every time I saw him after that, I’d give him some money to tide him over and make sure the skinny little bastard was eating ok. But do you know why I loved the guy?”
Sebastian, nodding his head, replies, “No, why, Mr Gambini?” Even though Gino asked a question he didn’t expect an answer
.
“Well, if you shut the fuck up I’ll tell you! When he grew up that son of a bitch paid me back every fucking cent I ever gave him. Do you believe that? He’d kept a book on what he owed me. I had a lot of respect for that guy, a lot of respect.” Gino reaches into his pocket for his handkerchief and proceeds to blow his nose. “Sorry I get really bad hay fever at times.” Sebastian can see Gino has become a little emotional by talking about Frank’s past. Carefully he proceeds to change the subject.
“Well you were right about one thing; he was a son of a bitch.”
Gino blows his nose again and asks, “What do you mean?”
“Well it wasn’t actually his true mother but his aunt Gina Portola. She treated him very badly.” Sebastian goes on to tell him about Frank’s past and Gino explains to Sebastian that Frank never really talked much about it and he didn’t feel it was his place to ask him either.
“Hell I never even knew what his surname was. He was always just Frankie to me.”
Sebastian mentions to Gino that he’d heard that he and Frank had an argument a couple of nights before Frank was killed. Gino slams his fist on the table and spits, “Who the fuck told you that?” He looks over at his minders. One puts his hands up to either side of his face with palms out and begins moving his head side to side. While the other protests, Come on Gino, do you think we’re fucking crazy! There were a lot of people here that night. It could have been anyone!” Gino glares back at Sebastian.
“Who the fuck told you that shit?”
Sebastian is quick to reply so Gino doesn’t suspect Pete. “I was told that Police went door knocking around the neighbourhood about the murder. As you know, sometimes people talk. That’s all I can say.” Gino becomes agitated,
“Shit! No wonder the fucking cops wanted to talk to me! Shit!” Gino goes silent for a moment and Sebastian knows he’s becoming volatile. He gives him time to collect himself. When he does collect himself, Gino sarcastically continues, “If you really need to know, shit for brains, the stupid prick came in asking me for money so he could buy a new stove for that rat infested shelter! I told Frankie I wasn’t prepared to give those lousy, good for nothing, dregs anything. I told him those flea infested parasites needed to get off their arses and help them fucking selves, instead of expecting others to give them hand-outs. I must have pissed him off; because I hadn’t seen him that way before. Anyway, he went his merry way and I calmed down and had a drink.” Sebastian pauses, knowing what he’s about to say next may have dire implications.
“That must have been out of a new glass, because I heard the other one you were drinking from ended up through the glass door over there. Can you tell me where you were the night Frank was murdered?” Gino’s eyes look as though they are being shoved out of his head by a set of springs.
“You low life piece of shit! Get the fuck out of my sight before I fucking kill you!” Gino rises from his seat, shoves the table over causing the drinks to spill everywhere. As he turns to summon his thugs he knocks his own seat over. A black leather jacket that was slung over the back of Gino’s chair falls to the floor. Sebastian catches sight of an L scratched on the shoulder, and now he is 100% sure who the killer is. One of Gino’s men grabs Sebastian by his arms while he’s distracted by Gino’s outburst. It all happens so quick he doesn’t even get a chance to have a swing at the guy. He is pushed toward the door as the other thug is unlocking it. All he can hear is Gino ranting and raving. “You tell your fucking friends down at the pig sty, if they want to know any more they can talk to my lawyer otherwise they can kiss my arse!”
As soon as they are in the street two policemen grab the thugs and shove them against the wall, while two others go inside and arrest Gino. Sebastian picks up his cane from the pavement where it’s been thrown and straightens up his attire. Still shaken, he walks to his Bentley taking deep breaths as he tries to regain his composure. He sits in the car and waits. It is only a matter of minutes before Gino emerges from the tavern in hand cuffs and is escorted to the awaiting squad car. Sebastian, still shaking turns the ignition on and follows them back to the station where he spends the rest of the day interviewing Gino and discussing the case with Jim.
By the end of the day Sebastian is exhausted but he knows there’s just one more thing he has to do before he leaves the station, and that’s to ring Tony. He keeps wondering how Tony will react when he explains the whole story to him, so he decides to invite him around home for drinks. “Hi Tony, I have some great news!”
Before Sebastian can say anymore, “You’ve finally got him haven’t you?”
“It certainly looks that way my friend. But it took me awhile to figure out a couple of things and I’d like to have you around for drinks this evening to explain it all to you.” There is silence at the other end of the phone, and then some sobbing. “Are you ok, Tony, I know how overwhelming this must be for you? I’m really sorry I’ve dragged this out, but I had to be sure it was the right guy. You understand that, don’t you?” Some sniffling is audible through the phone as Tony composes himself.
“Of course and I’m sorry about the incident at the shelter. What time do you want me there Sebastian?”
“Is 7.30 Ok?”
“That’s fine. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for me and my brother.” Sebastian is heartened by his response and replies, “You are more than welcome my friend. I’ll see you then.” Sebastian is feeling quite happy with himself knowing he has finally solved his first case.
Immediately after he has spoken to Tony he calls Cynthia and tells her about his day and that Tony would be coming over at 7.30. He doesn’t mention how Gino reacted or how he had him thrown out of the tavern. Sebastian knows she may overreact and blow the event out of all proportion.
When Sebastian gets home Cynthia throws her arms around him and tells him how proud she is. “I was so concerned that Gino wouldn’t take your questioning of him lightly, and who knows how he could have reacted?”
He rubs the middle of her back and says, “I told you I wouldn’t take any uncalculated risks and everything has worked out to plan.” After Sebastian had rang her and told her that Tony was coming over, she thought she’d arrange an early dinner. Cynthia also feels the need to celebrate Sebastian’s achievement that evening by ordering Chinese, she knows it’s his favourite and he can’t believe his eyes when she takes him by the arm, walks him into the dining area and sees the banquet she’s set out for him. Cynthia looks up at him lovingly.
“Well, what do you think?” He’s in food heaven, overwhelmed, and grateful, “Thank you so much my love. It’s been awhile since we’ve eaten in here. We normally eat in the kitchen. I’m really honoured.” Cynthia smiles; she always finds happiness in pleasing him.
“Now, you sit down and I’ll be back shortly.”
Sebastian is already considering where he’ll start first and the flavoursome aromas are making his mouth water. “Are you going to be long?” he bellows, unaware she’s just come back in behind him.
“No, not long at all.”
Still a little shaken from the events of the day he spins around with a start, “Shit Cynthia, you scared the hell out of me!”
Her eyebrows almost meet and she glares at him scornfully, “Sebastian, language!”
He becomes tight lipped like a little boy scorned, “Well you did!”
Cynthia can see it’s been a big day for him and responds with a smile, “Anyway let’s not ruin a good night. Look, I have another surprise for you! She holds out a large flat box.
He looks at her with a grin on his face and chuckles, “Not another pair of shoes, I hope?”
Unamused by his sarcasm she responds with, “Even you can see this isn’t a shoe box! So instead of your smart remarks why don’t you just open it?” He slowly opens the lid and is more than surprised by its contents.
“Oh wow! This is my favourite Strawberry cheesecake!” He reads the inscription on the top which says, ‘To my hero who solved his first ca
se.’ Sebastian is overwhelmed by her gesture and she is just as excited as he is,
“If it’s alright with you I might put it away until you’ve had your chat with Tony, so we can sit down and have it with coffee later. How does that sound?” Sebastian, still eyeing the cheesecake agrees, “That sounds wonderful my love. I think I’ll need a bit of time for this smorgasbord to digest before I even look at a dessert. It’s amazing! Everything you’ve ordered, I love. Thank you so much.” They sit down at the table and she pours him a glass of Champagne, “Here’s to your future as a police consultant. Cheers!” They touch glasses and chatter throughout the meal like two young lovers.
Once they finish, Sebastian goes upstairs and changes into more casual attire. He heads back down to the study, pours a full glass of bourbon and eases back into his chair to contemplate all that has happened, and how to contextualise it for Tony. He just finishes pouring his second bourbon when he hears the front door bell ring. He’s always had a passion for the great writers of mystery and suspense and is feeling rather chuffed about the way his day has unfolded. So rather than sit, he thinks he might lean against the mantle while explaining to Tony how he unravelled the murder of both his brother Frank, and his cousin Sam.
He hears Cynthia welcome Tony at the door and it’s not long before they enter the study. Cynthia apologises to Tony that she won’t be joining them and explains there’s a pile of dishes awaiting her attention. She leaves, closing the door behind her. Sebastian walks forward and goes to shake Tony’s hand but finds himself being hugged by him instead. “How do I thank you, Sebastian?” Unless it’s Cynthia, Sebastian isn’t big on close body contact with others and gently pushes back.
