“Tim good?” Cal asked.
“The best,” Barry answered.
“I’ll bet,” Cal murmured.
Barry was silent again. Then he whispered, “Keep her safe.”
“You got it,” Cal promised.
Barry disconnected and Cal put down the phone.
Colt rounded Cal’s chair and sat in his own.
“Pryor in line with your plan?” Colt asked and Cal looked at him.
“Yeah,” Cal answered.
Colt studied Cal then asked, “We good?”
Cal studied Colt then asked back, “I tried to take on Denny Lowe without keepin’ you in the loop, would you be good with me?”
Colt’s face went hard. “Not the same thing and you know it, Cal.”
“Explain to me how.”
“You were there when we had our conversation.”
Cal leaned into his friend. “Fuck, Colt, just you roundin’ my fuckin’ house to have that conversation meant you knew.”
Colt held Cal’s stare and then his jaw clenched.
“I stepped out for two and half months, leavin’ her alone,” Cal reminded him.
“You’re in that line of work, Cal. You knew what was goin’ down and where it was gonna go. You stepped out for a reason. You can’t tell me you weren’t workin’ through some shit,” Colt returned.
“I didn’t have the intel, Colt, you kept it from me. I was workin’ through some shit but I woulda worked through it next door to her fuckin’ house and in the know about the escalation of attention,” Cal shot back.
“We had our eye on her and the girls,” Colt informed him.
“That be good enough for you, someone was takin’ pictures of Feb and Jack?” Cal asked.
“Like I said, I made a call. You didn’t like it but nothin’ I can do to change it. We knew what was goin’ on and we kept our shit sharp and she’s good. Pryor knew all about it and her brother did too and they still did what they thought they had to do so that isn’t on me. You’re welcome to stay pissed at me, man, but it’s a waste of energy. It’s done.”
This was all true and it pissed him off.
Cal stood and looked down at Colt. “Now are you assured of my focus?”
Colt visibly bit back a smile. “Yeah.”
“Thrilled, man,” Cal growled and turned to the stairs.
“This is over, I’ll get Feb to make you one of her frittatas,” Colt called after him.
“Can’t wait,” Cal called back but didn’t turn as he took the stairs.
This was true too but he wasn’t giving Colt that. He’d heard about Feb’s frittatas. According to her brother Morrie they were heaven in the form of eggs.
They might be good but Cal would bet a thousand bucks that Vi’s seafood shit was better.
Cal was nearly home when his cell rang. He looked at the display and it said “unknown caller”.
He flipped it open and put it to his ear.
“Yo.”
“You’re gettin’ a call in ten minutes at your office,” a man’s voice said then disconnected.
Fucking Sal. Always the drama.
He turned away from home and toward his office. By the time he unlocked the door the phone on Lindy’s desk was ringing. He picked it up and put it to his ear.
“Yo.”
“Cal, figlio,” Sal said in his ear and Cal could hear the smile in his voice.
“Sal,” Cal greeted, not smiling.
“I hear you were in Chicago. Saw Vinnie, Theresa. No visit for me?”
“It wasn’t a social call,” Cal told him and Sal was quiet.
Then he said, “Yeah, bad business. Vinnie told me.”
Cal was impatient. “Listen, I got a woman at home, she’s got daughters and someone’s takin’ snapshots and sendin’ them to cops. I don’t wanna be in the office. I wanna be home. You have a good talk with Vinnie?”
“We talked but I think you need to come up to Chicago. We’ll have a sit down,” Sal said.
There it was. Sal was in the mood to be persuasive.
“Sal, respect, goes without saying,” Cal told him. “But I got a woman at home whose got daughters and someone’s takin’ snapshots, sendin’ gifts and puttin’ bullets in the brains of the men in her life. The man who’s ordering that shit is in Chicago. I don’t wanna be in Chicago, I don’t wanna be away from her and I don’t want her to be in Chicago. If you talked to Vinnie then we don’t need a sit down.”
“I can see why this would make you impatient but there are things to discuss,” Sal countered.
“You want to discuss, I go this alone,” Cal returned and Sal let out a very loud sigh.
“We’re talkin’ a cop’s wife here, figlio,” Sal noted.
“We’re talkin’ my woman here, Sal. Hart sent a picture. I’m next,” Cal told him.
“How ‘bout this? I send a message to Hart, explain you’re family and that he should move on,” Sal suggested.
“How ‘bout this?” Cal returned. “This guy isn’t family. This guy is a mean motherfucker who clawed his way to the top and took down everything that got in his way. He doesn’t get family. He doesn’t get respect. He doesn’t get anything but what he takes. He took from you. He took from me. He took from my family and your family and he took from my woman, who, Sal, cop’s widow or not, she’s mine now and that means she’s family and you can’t deny that and he’s still takin’ from her. Are you tellin’ me, he did all that, you’re gonna send this fucker a note?”
“I gotta get organized, Cal.”
“You gotta ask a soldier to put a bullet in a gun,” Cal replied.
“We’re talkin’ war,” Sal pointed out, “war requires organization.”
“That’s not what we’re talkin’ and you know it. The big man is out, you move in, you get back what you lost seven years ago and then some.”
“Takeover like that, like I said, needs organization.”
“You’re up for that challenge.”
“This is big what you’re askin’ me.”
“It was bigger what I gave to you.”
Sal was quiet again then he sighed loudly again. “The Bianchis. Always a pain in my ass.”
“The pain was in my shoulder, Sal. You had a situation, Frankie called me and I stood up for you. I put myself in its path and took that bullet for you. You’re breathin’. I’m askin’ you to make sure I keep doin’ it and Vi lives the rest of her life doin’ it easy.”
Cal listened to silence and this lasted awhile.
Finally Sal stated, “All right, figlio. I do this, we’re square.”
“You got it.”
“Fin,” Sal pressed.
“Fin,” Cal repeated.
“You come to Chicago, you sit at my table, we’re nothin’ but family.”
“Yeah Sal, me and Vinnie, we learned that lesson a long time ago.”
Another sigh. “Vinnie Junior was a good man.”
“He’s on Hart too.”
“I remember,” Sal said softly.
“And I’ll never forget.”
“You Bianchis. Your loyalty is rabid.”
Cal shook his head and reminded him, “Bianchi blood is in your veins.”
“Luckily Giglia blood is dominant. Bianchis think with their hearts. Giglias think with their balls.”
Cal smiled. “Giglias think with their dicks and, you see Vi, you’ll think I got Giglia blood.”
Cal listened as Sal laughed then he listened to that laughter die.
“Vinnie said she’s a good woman,” Sal said quietly.