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.”