Gino scratched his head. “Even if she did, we still have the same problem. How can we prove it? Ugo’s word isn’t enough. He wasn’t even in the house, so he can’t know for sure or have any proof. Her children aren’t going to tell us anything about her, and all she has to do is keep her mouth shut.”
“We won’t get anything out of any of them as long as they’re holed up in their house together. We need to separate them, get the boys away from Mama. If we can scare them, maybe—”
“Detective Sergeant Malloy,” a voice called. Frank looked up to see the officer he’d spoken with earlier on the street near Mama’s Restaurant. “Wanted you to know, I saw two men leaving the Ruocco house a little while ago.”
“Two men? Customers, you mean?” Frank asked.
“No, sir. There was hardly any customers tonight. Nor at noon either. Guess folks are scared there might be trouble.
They’d already closed up for the night, turned out the lights down in the restaurant, and then two men come out.”
“Who was it?”
“Couldn’t see for sure, but it must’ve been two of the boys.”
Gino muttered a curse. “They’d leave their mother alone and unprotected after what happened last night?” he said in outrage. “What kind of men are they?”
“Stupid and selfish ones,” Frank supplied. “Did you see where they went?” he asked the officer.
“Yeah, O’Malley followed them. They went to some dance house on Broadway.”
Frank looked over at Gino. “Like Antonio said he used to do with Lorenzo. That’s how he met Nainsi. Now’s our chance to catch them away from their mama.”
The Dance House was above a saloon. Decent girls wouldn’t dare enter the saloon, but the room above presumably provided respectable entertainment, so they could go up there. A band played dance music for short periods of time, during which the men in attendance would select a partner. Then the music would stop, and the men would have a long interval during which to ply their partners with drinks from the bar. This was the only type of establishment in the city where unescorted females could meet men without being labeled prostitutes.
Shop girls and factory girls would pay the nickel or dime admission fee for the chance to have a few hours of fun, some free drinks, and perhaps find a man to marry so they could escape their hopeless lives.
Once the dance houses had sprung up all over the city, however, many men quickly learned that the girls were desperate for more than a good time. Their meager wages barely covered the cost of food and shelter, leaving little for clothing and nothing for the occasional luxury, like a new hat or piece of jewelry. Many of the girls, who were usually younger than sixteen, would willingly trade sexual favors for the gift of an article of clothing or some geegaw. Frank wondered what the man who had impregnated Nainsi had given her for the privilege.
When they arrived at the crowded, overheated, and smoke-filled upstairs room, a musical number was just ending, and all the dancers were making their way to the bar for some refreshment. The man at the door tried to collect an admission fee from Frank and Gino, but Frank flashed his badge.
“We ain’t doing nothing illegal here,” the man cried, holding up both hands in silent surrender. “You got no call to raid us.”
“This isn’t a raid,” Frank said, already scanning the room for sign of the Ruocco brothers. “We’re just looking for somebody.”
“I don’t want no trouble,” the man whined. “It’s bad for business!”
“When we find him, we’ll take him out real quiet,”
Frank promised. “Do you see them?” he asked Gino.
Gino shook his head. The mass of bodies at the bar was four or five deep, but Frank would’ve thought they could see the Ruoccos’ heads above the crowd because of their height.
“We’ll circle the room,” Frank said. “You go that way, and I’ll go this way. We’ll keep an eye on each other and signal to the other if we see them.”
“Right,” said Gino, and he started off, eyeing the crowd.
He hadn’t gone three feet before a girl accosted him, though. Frank couldn’t hear what she said, but he understood the look in her eye all too well. Gino was a handsome man, and if he was here, he must’ve come to meet girls.
Frank waited to see if he could extricate himself. He did, but he didn’t get far before two more girls latched onto him.
With a weary sigh, Frank started in the opposite direction. If he found the Ruoccos, maybe Gino could at least help take them into custody. He scanned the crowd for tall men with dark hair as he walked slowly around the perime-ter of the room, but none of the men who caught his eye were the ones he wanted. He’d just mentally dismissed yet another one when he noticed that the girl he was talking to looked very familiar.
She was Nainsi’s friend, Brigit. She looked different tonight, with her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright from al-cohol. She was shaking her head, refusing whatever the man was offering. She didn’t notice Frank’s approach.
“Brigit,” he said, startling her.
“Is this the fellow you’re waiting for?” the man scoffed, looking Frank over with contempt. “Find yourself another girl, old man. I’m taking this one.”
“Are you?” he asked mildly, but gave the man a look that sent the blood rushing from his face.
“I . . . I’ll see you later,” the man said and scurried away.
“What’re you doing here?” Brigit asked in alarm, glancing around as if searching for someone to help her.
“I was looking for Antonio Ruocco. Have you seen him?”
“Antonio?” she echoed in surprise. “No, not tonight. Not for a long time, either. At least since he married Nainsi.”
“Was this where they met up?”
“Mostly, I guess,” she said, twisting her hands in front of her nervously and glancing around again.
He remembered something else he’d wanted to check.
“When did you first meet Antonio?”
“Me? I don’t know,” she said plaintively. “I can’t remember.” She didn’t want to talk to him, but she was afraid to run away.
“You said she started seeing him last spring. Was that when you met him?”
She shook her head. “Nainsi said she didn’t want us stealing him away. She wouldn’t ever bring him around us.”
“But she told you she was seeing him?”
“Sure she did, like I told you before. She was bragging about how she was going to marry a rich Italian. Can I go now? My fellow’s gonna be back in a minute.”
“Antonio says he never even met Nainsi until last August,” Frank said, watching her reaction.
She didn’t have one. “He’s lying then, and he’ll burn in hell for it, because it got Nainsi killed, didn’t it?” she said impatiently. She was still looking around. “Please, let me go. My fellow won’t like me talking to you.”
“When did Nainsi first trust you to meet Antonio?”
Frank continued relentlessly.
“I already said, I don’t remember!”
“Was it when she told you they were getting married?”
Frank guessed.
She gave the question a moment’s thought. “I guess it was,” she recalled in exasperation. “She said it was safe then, because they was already promised. She wanted us to see how handsome he was and be jealous. Then they got married a few days later.”
She looked up again, over Frank’s shoulder, and her eyes grew wide with apprehension. She tried to warn away whoever was coming, but Frank turned and spotted him before he could comprehend the warning.
Richard Keith’s jaw dropped when he saw Frank. He was carrying two glasses of beer, one of which was half empty, both of which he forgot about as he turned to flee. He ran right into another man, and the beer went flying in every direction, splashing on several of the other customers who were none too happy about it. They started shouting and shoving and before Frank could rescue Keith, someone had socked him right in the jaw and sent him sprawling at Frank’s feet.