Alfonzo (17 page)

“Indeed.” Carlo replied as he sat on the bed, an action meant to insult her.

She noticed the folder in his hand
.

“Who were you speaking to?” The son inquired.

Gina feigned ignorance, “What do you mean?”

The son stayed silent
ly w
atching.

“That is not important,” Carlo concluded as he placed the folder on the bed.
“Luzo
requested I
deliver these personally
and secure a signature
.”

She moved to where he sat and opened the folder to peruse its’ contents.
“Is this a will
and what is this divorce papers
?”

“Yes.” He polished his pinky ring on a pant leg, allowing her time to read the papers
thoroughly.

In the will Gina was to receive one million dollars, the reminder of the estate going to
go to
his children, friends and charity.
In the divorce documents he declared
infidelity as grounds for filing.
Gina tossed the papers down angrily.
“What the hell is this?”

They watched.

“How dare he do this to me, I will fight this in court!” She threatened.

Carlo rose, “Do and you will regret it,” his eyes flickered disdainfully at the
angry
woman.
“You should be grateful he names you in his will at all
,
and as for the divorce
,
it
is the dissolution of a terrible
business arrangement –as all things
diseased
, it must end.
”

Gina
was furious
by the comment responded, “I am his wife!”

“Th
e
se are your husband’s wishes.”

The son removed a pen from his breast pocket and handed it to her, “You must sign.”

She did not show fear but intrinsically understood if she did not sign what the punishment would be. She snatched the pen from his grasp and scribbled her name on the bottom of the documents.
She noticed the documents were predated one month earlier. It was signed and stamped by the Magistrate. Luzo had planned this well. Before his death he sought to disinherit her, strip her of all claims to property.

The wicked man!

S
he scowled, “You cannot do this. This is criminal!”

C
arlo’s son removed a copy
of
each form and sat them on the edge of the bed
,
c
almly collected his pen, placed the original forms inside the manila envelope and both men
proceeded
to the door.

Carlo
Dichenzo, the ruthless bastard she despised then
halted and offered a word of advice, “Do not be foolish. Luzo has been quite generous despite your disloyalty. I am not
as generous
.”

His son smirked. Both were cruel!

When the door closed behind them Gina sneered, “You will all pay for this. I swear!”

Intermittent
cars sped past the rundown building trying to escape the dilapidated surroundings. A nondescript car idled at the east corner of Soundview Avenue
and its
occupants carefully donned ski masks and gloves before checking their
semi-automatic weapons. The driver emerged from the vehicle
checking around then shut the door and took two steps
. A rush of wind then an explosion to his throat met him
in the night.
The
bullet
which struck
Carlos’ jugular artery was
the
killer shot
;
the
additional
one
s
to his mouth and lung were added
for extra measure.
He
slammed
against the
car
door as
another succession of gunfire
cracked through glass striking the two occupants in the backseat before any knew what hit them
.
They fell over
, their
hands clutching
cold steel. They hadn’t seen it coming!

Domingo
walked around the vehicle, opened the door and fired two more shots
to their foreheads. He removed a bottle of gasoline from
the plastic bag in
his pocket, sprinkled it on the seats, tossed the bottle inside then stepped away to light a cigarette, took two long pulls then flicked it over the man closest to him.

Raul joined him as t
he flame took a few seconds to kindle and less time to
combine with the accelerant
before it combust
into an intense flame.
They
walked away from the blaze as the roar of an overhead train rumbled by
, making their
way through
a
garbage
filled alley
before emerging
onto an adjoining
street where a SUV waited
.

Domingo
took Raul’s gun and
climbed in the
backseat
. Raul rode shotgun and instructed the driver to go.
I
n silence Domingo dismantled the silencer from both Kruger’s, cleaned fingerprints from the barrel
s
and trigger then placed
them inside the gym bag
sitting
on the floor.
The vehicle turned onto another street filled with trash and stopped. Domingo climbed out with the gym bag in tow, bent low to the ground
and
carefully poured
a
liquid corrosive inside
, z
ipped
it
closed then tossed it in the drainage system. He removed the leather gloves and shoved them through
the
metal grate
then
jumped inside the vehicle.

Raul,
remained silent until they reached the Cross Bronx
Expressway. “
That was cool, we got
that
maricon
?”

“
Si!”
Domingo answered wiping his hands with an antiseptic wipe then passing the bottle toward Raul, “I hated that
puta
. I should’ve done him months ago.”

“Yeah,” Raul agreed.

Domingo cautioned the driver, “
Mira
,
Teresa stay with the flow, don’t attract attention.”

“
Got it,
papi
.”
She said over her shoulder.
She turned up the music and
bobbed her head back and forth to
a meringue
jam.

Raul turned around in the seat
,
“
Yo
, Alfonzo’s up
. He’s coming home tomorrow.”

“Let’s not bother him with this
shit
, okay?”

“Nah, but what about the dude Jay.
He might be a talker?”

“I’m giving him milk and cookies then I’m putting his ass to bed, too.”

Raul smiled.
He liked the plan. Let the
pendejo
think we’re cool then make him disappear. He appreciated the tip about Carlos but his grudge was strong and memory long. Yeah, th
at
bastardo
was next!

Domingo
sat quietly looking at the cars speeding by.
He didn’t mean for Teresa to go this fucking slow! It was one-thirty in the morning and he was exhausted.
Domingo looked at Teresa’s profile. They’d been together since High School
and recently she moved in to his crib. Her
loyalty inspired thoughts of one day settling down
….one day…in the future.

Raul lit a blunt and passed it back, “
Yo
, you believe the bullshit about Uncle Al. You think it was a mob hit?”

“It’s
crazy
talk man. What the hell the
mob
wanna
kill him for
.
I don’t believe it.
”

“But check it
, why haven’t we got
no
hits on the suspect. A mil, people will give up their momma for that
kinda
money, you?”

Domingo took several hits before passing it back, “Word
…word.”

“I
don’t think this shit is coincidence
,
y’know
Uncle Al and now Alfonzo
.
Somebody’
s coming hard and got us in the dark.
”

“Well
,
Carlos is out the picture
. G
ood riddance
. Whoever coming at us, they’re
gonna
trip up but we just
gotta
stay alert
!”

Teresa blew him a kiss in the rearview mirror and his loins tightened.

Domingo
grabbed his crotch and mouthed the words, “
Tu
quiero
.”

Teresa
smiled and stepped on the accelerator
. Time to drop Raul’s ass home!

***

The patient removed his earplugs w
hen the nurse returned
with the discharge
forms.
The young man
had been a
model patient and popular with the younger nurses.
Around the water-cooler, the main topic
for weeks
was
the
patient
in
408.

During the night she caught a few of the nurse’s from different floors peering in at him like some
lusty teenagers. She appreciated those baby
blue’s
, chiseled body and all but at her age
she preferred the company of her cats. She leaned over the portable serving stand, “Is someone coming to pick you up?”

“Why, are you going to drive me home if they don’t?” He smiled with those gleaming white teeth.

Oh,
he is a
charmer
.
S
he blushed, “Behave yourself young man I’m old enough to be your mother.”

He chuckled, “But you
’
r
e
not.”

“All right youngster, here are your aftercare instructions and prescription. You also have a post-op appointment with Doctor Moore
in two weeks
.” She tapped the line for his signature still smiling, “Now sign and hurry up and get your
fresh
tail home.”

Alfonzo signed with his left hand then
winked when she ripped off a copy of the forms then strut from the room shaking her head.

H
is thoughts traveled to th
e
detective
,
Winoski
or something like that.
She
continued to ask for a description of the attacker. It seems she wasn’t satisfied with his answer.
It was dark, the little he could remember distorted due to his head injury
but this morning he remembered…a tattoo
.
The attacker had a tattoo
….
Chinese…death…a symbol.
The killer finally fucked up!

Domingo suddenly appeared in the doorway,
“Whoa where
are
you going?”

Raul, Selange and Shanda
filed through the door behind him.

Alfonzo slipped his foot in
the last
sneaker.
“I’m discharged…
what you think
?”

Domingo smiled
,
“
What’s the matter you don’t like this place anymore?”

Alfonzo laughed, happy to see
them
,
“They let all you guy’s up?”

Domingo nodded, “Sure did.”

Alfonzo eyes connected and with Selange. She looked stunning in a princess cut dress.
He winked
conspiratorially,
time to take the flirtation to another level.

One
month
later
and his body
still
felt like it
got
hit by a train. He didn’t return to the
rented room
uptown,
i
nstead
he visited an old army medic who treated his wounds then
booked
this
hotel
.
A few
modifications to his appearance and ’
voila’,
Freddie
was
unrecognizable. He
also
r
eplaced the Chevy weeks ago with a Honda Accord.
Every day he diligently
watched the news
for information on the Diaz kid and every day nothing. Not one news story on the incident. He didn’t like
it,
the police were withholding information but why?