One Last Kill

by Spenser Warren

  Alfredo’s gaze was firm on Cal. He was sure the boss experienced no discomfort in asking him to make this kill, despite Cal’s earlier ask to leave the mafia once Caruso was dead. Cal took a deep breath and felt his heart pound in his chest. He couldn’t snuff out Tony’s life like this.

  “Alfredo, you know I’ve been very loyal to you. I’ve done a lot of things that, had my parents not died, I may never have done. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me in my life. I told you I was walking away once Caruso was killed. I’m willing to talk to Tony and convince him to keep his mouth shut, but I can’t kill him.”

  Cal’s eyes fell from Alfredo and Vinnie to his plate. His heart hammered like a pianist’s fingers playing a staccato melody. He didn’t want to provide any further explanation for why he wanted to leave the crime life behind. He also wanted to avoid mentioning that things were getting serious with Maria. That could put both of their lives in danger.

  Vinnie maintained his bored look and picked at his half-eaten hash browns with his fork. Alfredo cracked his knuckles and leaned back against the booth. The lines on his forehead were deep set in calm as opposed to the usual fury he could unleash.

  “You’re right, Cal. I promised after Caruso was dead that I’d let you leave. I’ll meet with the Commission tonight and smooth this all over, but I can’t let you go yet. We need to tie up this Caruso business and make sure we’re all in the clear with the law before you can leave.”

  Cal felt his own efforts to be calm failing him. He couldn’t control the rising heat in his chest, the temperament that was more akin to his father’s violent outbursts.

  “I’m not asking to leave. I’m telling you that it’s over for me.”

  Vinnie interrupted him.

  “How dare you talk to my father like that!”

  Vinnie had spoken a little too loudly. Other patrons of the restaurant began glancing in their direction. If they’d overheard any of the conversation and reported it to the media or shared it with the police, they would have had a field day with it. It was a good thing they weren’t as recognizable this far north of Chicago.

  “Easy now, easy,” Alfredo said. “Cal, you step out of line like that again and you’ll be the one with a hit on your head. I know it’s hard for you to hear this after your mind has been made up. I’m going to give you a great offer to change your mind. Are you ready to listen?”

  Cal was ready to maintain his stance and fight for his decision until Vinnie once again spoke up.

  “Forget it, Dad. Cal’s doing this all for his girl. You saw her at the house. She didn’t look too pleased to be around us. She’s got to know what we’re all about. Cal’s leaving for her. Things must be getting pretty serious.”

  Cal’s insides were roaring with the fire of the hottest of kilns. If he weren’t in such public surroundings, it would be inextinguishable.

  “Is that true, Cal? You want to go legit, maybe start a life with this girl?” Alfredo asked.

  Cal choked back his anger and nodded. They had found his weakest point. He was now in his most vulnerable position. He hadn’t felt this exposed since his mother was killed and Alfredo had adopted him.

  “That’s cute. But let me remind you what you’re giving up. There’s the pay, for one thing. I don’t know anywhere else you can get paid ten grand for a night’s worth of work. You have no education or trade skills of any kind. How the hell are you gonna support yourself? You’re also giving up our protection if the police want to go after you for any crimes.

  “You’re still welcome at home for dinner and you can always call us family, but it’ll be a much different relationship. Are you ready for that?”

  Cal wanted to say yes. He was ready to do whatever it took to leave the mafia behind, even if it meant exile from the family that had raised him to be the man he was today. He wanted to please Maria; still, he felt the need to please Alfredo. The mob boss had that magical power.

  “Cal, if it’s your girl you’re worried about, we can fix her,” Vinnie said. “She’s probably dead broke forking over tuition for her PhD program. We can cover her tuition. We can make sure she has nice clothes, nice jewelry. Maybe we can move her to one of those high-end apartments you’re living in. You’ll still be close together, but she can have her space to study. It’ll be a great little setup.”

  Cal couldn’t believe that the Petrocellis would offer that much of an incentive to keep him around. At the same time, the Chicago mafia was having a hard time finding skilled killers who could do their dirty work. Retaining Cal’s services would be well worth it for them.

  Even if they could guarantee Maria wouldn’t be bothered by Cal’s decision to stay, given all they planned for her, Cal couldn’t take the risk. He didn’t have anything else to fall back on, and he might have to work in the warehouse like his drunk father before him, but he wouldn’t let his anger overcome him and compel him to damage another boy’s life.

  “I don’t think she’ll go for it,” Cal said. “Besides, it’s not her decision, it’s mine. I want a chance to prove myself on my own and be in control of my future.”

  Alfredo rubbed his chin between his large index finger and thumb. Cal wondered what type of sales pitch Alfredo had up his sleeve.

  “Cal seems pretty serious about this,” Alfredo finally said to Vinnie. “I tell you what, Cal. When I get the word that Tony can talk, I’ll have Blutarski send you and another guy in to play the kid’s lawyers. You’ll go in there and talk some sense into the kid. If he listens, you can let him walk and talk to the cops knowing he won’t say jack squat. If not, you’ll have to take him out. But I’m counting on you to be convincing. After all, if he talks, it’s not just his ass that’s at risk of getting killed, it’s all of ours.

  “We’ll all be back in the same position we were when Caruso threatened us before. How would Susan, who has always loved you like a mother, feel if all of us were tied to this and thrown in jail? Or even worse, what if the Commission decides they don’t like this funny business and have us all killed?”

  Alfredo eyes slanted sharply at Cal, and a sudden wave of pressure fell upon him. Cal hadn’t considered the possibility that, just because Caruso was dead, he and the Petrocellis wouldn’t be out of the woods yet. Maria was right. Cal still cared about them, even as much as he wanted to get away.

  Would he lie to Maria? If he decided to go through with Alfredo’s order, would he have another obligation to fulfill? Would he ever find a way to escape?

  Cal took a deep breath and sighed. “Shit, I guess you’re right. If I can guarantee Tony won’t say anything that incriminates us to the cops, and if you can guarantee that if he sees any jail time that his family will be taken care of, you won’t require me to kill him. Is that acceptable?”

  Both Alfredo and Vinnie nodded.

  “It’s going to be a tough ask,” Vinnie said. “Kids that young threatened with long jail sentences break down pretty easily. You’re gonna have your work cut out for you, Cal.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m gonna send someone else with you,” Alfredo said. “Remember, if you have any sense the kid’s going to talk, you’re gonna have to kill him. You’ll have to hope it doesn’t come down to that.”

  Cal had hardly touched his pancakes since they’d started talking. He no longer desired the inevitable sugar rush that would come from finishing the delicious meal.

  “If I do this one last thing for you, am I free to go after that? Once this is over, hopefully Tony will focus on school and move far away from Chicago so he won’t be influenced by this mess.”

  Alfredo swallowed the last of his omelet and nodded. He held his empty coffee mug and swirled it in the air.

  “Let’s hope we get to that point, Cal, for all of our sakes.”

  35

  Two days passed before Cal heard from the Petrocellis. During that time, he felt a dull emptiness instead of the sense of bliss he’d expected after thinking he’d be able to walk away from his hit man career. Maria
excitedly asked him if he’d told the Petrocellis of his intentions.

  When he responded in the affirmative, Maria assumed it was over and they could move on with their lives together, free from worry. But Cal knew it wouldn’t be that easy. He didn’t bother telling Maria that he would have to stick around until the Caruso business was cleared up.

  The Commission still came to visit Monday night, as planned. Only, no one from Caruso’s contingent met with them to discuss Alfredo’s secret. Cal and the Petrocellis were in the clear.

  On Tuesday, the police sent several men to the Petrocelli house to question Alfredo and Vinnie about their involvement in Caruso’s death. They denied any responsibility or knowledge of how Caruso was killed and the events leading up to his death.

  When the police provided a description of the two men who’d broken into Caruso’s home and engaged in a shootout with his hired thugs, the Petrocellis gave no indication they knew the men who matched Cal’s and Fonzie’s descriptions. Even though they had one high-ranking officer on the payroll involved in the case, he wasn’t able to completely keep his colleagues off the mafia’s tail.

  Any evidence the police had was circumstantial at best, but Alfredo took no chances. They had Al Meransky, who was acting as Frankie Ramone’s replacement as South Side capo until he could be replaced by a suitable leader, call Cal Wednesday morning.

  “Cal, how are you?”

  “I’m hanging in there, Al. It’s been a pretty quiet past few days.”

  “Well, it looks like you’ve avoided the worst of it, then. I’m sure you know it’s been crazy up at the house. We moved some people to the city to throw the police off and get them away from here. Hopefully it’ll die down now.”

  “The police mention anything more about the break-in at the house? They might figure out the bullets are similar to the two guys I got in the alley.”

  “They might, Cal. I don’t know how fast their ballistics team works. But I don’t think they’re too ready to act on it right now anyway. With some of the press we’ve got out about Caruso having his own ties to the criminal underworld, the police don’t really want to give any credence to his involvement with some of these tough guys that were taken out. It seems like most people thought the mayor was a real prick anyway. Not exactly the hero that he wanted himself to be.”

  Cal sighed. He wanted Meransky to get the point. He knew an order was coming, and he didn’t want to waste any more time before getting down to business. It was odd to have an abundance of free time the last few days. He didn’t miss killing, by any means, but he missed the hunt, the pursuit of a target. He hadn’t considered anything else he could do to entertain this adventurous side of him while earning a legitimate living.

  “Listen. I’ve got a job for you. You’re gonna have to get dressed up for it. You even own a suit, Boyle?”

  “Of course I own a suit,” Cal said. “Do you think living with a man like Alfredo for half of my life that I didn’t learn a thing or two about style?”

  Al chuckled. “Thought I’d check. Make sure it’s a nice suit. Something an attorney would wear, not something your grandpa would don at a funeral. You won’t be able to carry your piece on you anyway, so don’t worry about concealment. Maybe a knife, nothing more. We’ll find a way to get that through the metal detectors.”

  “You’re sending me to the police station?”

  “That’s right. They moved Tony there early this morning. The same guys that were at the house the last few days have been champing at the bit to question the kid. Blutarski’s kept them at bay at the hospital, but he may not be able to hold them off much longer. You’re gonna arrive as the kid’s counsel before they send in those dicks for questioning. I’m assuming you know what the outcome of that meeting must be.”

  Cal’s temple pounded at the thought of the worst of the two possible outcomes. He didn’t want to have to kill the boy. He hoped he would be able to convince him to keep his mouth shut, even if the evidence pointed to Tony spending the rest of his life in jail for Caruso’s murder.

  “It won’t come to that, Al. I’ll make sure he pleads the fifth. We can stay with him for questioning. At the restaurant, Alfredo told me he wanted two of us down there. Who else is playing Tony’s attorney?”

  Meransky cleared his throat. “I can’t tell you that. It’s gotta be a complete surprise. But don’t worry, as long as you play the part well enough, you’ll be fine. The cops don’t even know what you look like. There’s no worry about them tying you to any of this stuff over the past few days.”

  “Are you sure about that? Shouldn’t I wear a wig or something?”

  “That might not hurt your case. Your new identity is Rich Larson, a big-shot attorney from Texas who recently started taking private clients in Chicago. Fregosi is a pro bono case since you knew the kid’s mother growing up. The other guy is Joseph Fletcher. He’s a fresh law-school graduate getting his feet wet in public defense. You got that?”

  Cal felt his headache grow stronger. Too many details were pouring in. He had to know whom he’d be working with to try to save Tony’s hide. It was important to know the whole situation going in, especially since he wasn’t completely sure of his own safety.

  “Is Rich Larson a real person? How do you know he grew up with Tony’s mom?”

  “Yes, Larson’s a real guy. He’s too new to have any relationships with any of these guys. Melissa’s working on him. Fletcher’s not real, but who cares? We’ll get Larson on the payroll if the boy can actually keep his mouth shut. Larson’s a big, strong guy like you, a real native Texan. Tony’s mother was from Texas too.”

  “I still don’t like this. You know I don’t like to go into these things cold. Why can’t you tell me who I’m working with?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to bother you with that now. Get ready. We’re sending a driver for you in a half hour. Captain Blutarski is expecting you around eleven. A minute past, and there may be nothing we can do for the boy. I know you’d rather not kill him after he’s squealed.”

  “Right. See you later.”

  “Take care of yourself, Boyle. We’d hate to lose you.”

  Cal put the phone down and stared at it in disbelief. He didn’t like the situation one bit. It smelled like a setup, a no-way-out situation where he’d be asked to kill Tony regardless of the outcome. To think he’d been so close to escaping the mafia and putting this life behind him.

  He heard Maria’s voice echo in his head. She was telling him to leave now. They could go anywhere. She could pick up her studies somewhere else, somewhere warm and remote, where no one could touch them. Cal pictured Mexico City, but he didn’t care where they went as long as Maria was happy and they were together.

  He stepped back from the bedroom window that overlooked the empty streets below. Everyone had gone off to work or settled in at a nearby coffee shop. He felt enraged thinking of the helplessness of the situation. He couldn’t control his reaction this time. He didn’t feel the hatred for his target the way Alfredo and the others had convinced him to feel so many times before.

  He’d felt it with MacErlean. He’d felt it with Caruso. He’d felt it with the little boy who spoke poorly of his awful father. He couldn’t arouse the same sense of anger with Tony. His rage reached the clenched knuckles of his stone-hard fists as he turned sharply to his left and landed a sharp hook against the solid plaster wall.

  His fist screamed in agony as it forced its way through. He was lucky it went straight through the drywall and that his hand wasn’t broken. He shook his hand violently after he pulled it free from the wall.

  Cal found that delivering the punch wasn’t as satisfying as he’d expected. He shook his head and changed out of his shorts and T-shirt into his brown suit. His hand shined bright red in contrast with the tan leather shoes, brown slacks, and brown tweed jacket. He wore a cream-colored button-up underneath and threw on a maroon tie for good measure.

  A text from the driver let him know it was tim
e. He needed to control his anger better than he had when he’d punched through the wall. If he punched Tony like that, it would mean death.

  36

  Cal sat in the back of the old taxicab, which had been confiscated by the late Frankie Ramone, that picked him up at his apartment. He felt out of place in his suit, like an office worker heading to his cubicle job. It was something he’d never anticipated experiencing.

  Cal played with his cell phone while the car was stuck at a red light. He considered texting Maria to ask her how her first day of teaching had gone. He knew she was nervous as hell in preparation for her lecture. In all of the silence of the last few days, one of the constants he appreciated were the joyous moments they spent together.

  The car moved again, and Cal rested his right forearm against his leg, feeling the bulge of the jackknife in his pocket. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get into Tony’s holding cell with the jackknife, given the metal detectors and the likely searches from investigating police officers. Surely, real attorneys had tried to pull this stunt to help their clients escape. Maybe the other “attorney” he was working with was taking care of that.

  Cal was tired of thinking. He wished he didn’t have to go through with this, that he didn’t have to scare the living shit out of Tony. Hell, the kid was probably beyond scared already.

  It still bothered Cal that Tony was blamed for all of the deaths that had occurred outside of O’Dooley’s Pub, excluding the two men he killed himself trying to save the boy. Cal remembered that crease in Vinnie’s forehead, his tendency to look away from Cal as he spoke to him. The expressions indicated Vinnie was lying. Somehow Vinnie had to have been involved.

  It didn’t matter, though. Neither Vinnie, Alfredo, nor anyone else would say otherwise. Tony was going to be the fall man even if he didn’t rat out the mafia when questioned by the police. Cal hoped he could be convincing enough, not only to dissuade Tony from explaining what had really happened but also to convince Alfredo to have mercy on the boy if he got out of police custody scot-free. Then he had to convince Alfredo to let him leave the mafia once and for all. It seemed Alfredo would always find more loose ends to be tied up.