Mobster's Vendetta (12 page)

“Vito, put the girl in Antonio’s car.
Antonio and I will check the perimeter and the inside of the
building.” Patrick directs. Who the hell put him in charge?

We cover Vito and make it to the Camaro. He
slides her in the back seat. Her hysteria seems to have died down,
and she just makes the occasional sniff. Vito closes the car door
then stays low behind the car. Patrick and I do a sweep and move
over the entire area outside, but we find nothing.

We head inside the building.
Patrick pulls out a flashlight.
Mannegia
, he comes prepared! The only
thing we find is the corpse of the drug dealer that Demetrius
killed. Patrick leans down and examines the body. Then he casts the
light of the flashlight around the room.

“What are you looking for?” I ask.

“Something to wrap the body in.”

“Why would you clean up Demetrius’ mess?” I
ask incredulously. “Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”

Patrick sighs. “I don’t want there to be any
trace of you ever being here.” he says unemotionally. “I need to
get a few things out of the SUV.”

We stop by my vehicle and pile in to have
Vito drive us over to the other car which is parked a block away.
The girl is curled up, not moving, not speaking, mentally checked
out.

“You get any information out of her?” I ask
Vito.

“Nah, she is out of it,” he replies as he
puts the car in motion.

He drops us off and waits while we get in
the SUV and start it up. We head back to get rid of the body, Vito
behind us.

“So what is the plan?” I ask Patrick as we
get out and stand over the body. “I think that he is that girl’s
brother. Do you think she’s gonna want to bury him?”

“We’re just moving him. Getting rid of any
evidence here.” He unravels a large plastic sheet and lays it next
to the body. “Help me move him.”

I lean down and grab the legs as Patrick
takes the gory area where the guy was shot. On the count of three
we lift and place him in the center of the sheet. Patrick carefully
wraps the sheet around the guy, and picks him up and tosses him
over his shoulder. I open the back of the SUV, and Patrick puts him
in the back, motioning for me to get in the passenger seat. We
drive for about a mile, Vito still behind us.

Patrick pulls over at another deserted
place. He turns the headlights off and the overhead lights in the
car so, when he opens the door, the car remains the darkness. He
opens the back and drags the body out, tossing it over his
shoulder.

“Stay here,” he orders me. He walks away as
if he has done this a hundred times.

A few minutes pass, and Patrick comes back
and I stay silent as pulls up beside Vito.

“Hop in with Vito, and you two drop that
girl off somewhere. When she comes to, she’ll find a way home.”

“Where do we drop her?” Vito asks as I get
out of Patrick’s SUV and jump in with him.

“Behind a club or something,” Patrick says
matter-of-factly.

Cold! That is the only word to describe
Patrick. He has daughters. Would he want someone dropping them off
comatose behind a club?

“Okay,” I say. Vito looks at me stunned.
“We’ll head back to the hotel after we take care of her.”

“You should get a new room,” Patrick clips
and drives away. Bye to you too!

Vito looks at me like I’ve grown a second
head. “We are not seriously dropping her somewhere...random?”

“Of course not!” I reply gruffly. “Head to
the casino. I want to question her. We’ll give her to one of
Carlo’s thugs to drive home when she’s awake.”

The events of the last hour hit me. The game
is in full swing. I wrestle with the idea of whether or not I
should tell Vito about Demetrius. I wonder if Demetrius has marked
me on his own or if someone else has put out a contract on me. My
adrenaline is slowing down, and the plague of this new information
haunts me.

Vito calls Carlo. “We need a secluded room,”
he tells Carlo quickly. “And a guard for the door.” He hangs
up.

The girl is sprawled across the back seat,
very quiet. Her chest rises and falls slowly and her eyes are
closed, as though she’s in a deep sleep. So the skinny kid with the
bad drugs was her brother. This is the ugly part, the destruction
of family through drugs. She could’ve gotten herself killed too.
How did she know it was Demetrius though? I have a lot of questions
for this girl when she is coherent.

Chapter 10

Hit: to kill

It’s 5 a.m., and there are
still people coming in and out of the front door of the
casino.
Don’t gamblers ever give it a
rest?

Alex and Carlo meet us in the underground
garage as Vito tries to get the girl to come around. Even the
jostling of moving her doesn’t get her to respond, so he carries
her into the casino to the elevators. We ride to the fourth floor
and make our way a single room down the end of the hallway. Alex
opens the door and Vito places her on the bed.

“What do we do with her now?” Carlo
asks.

“I need one of you to stay with her, see if
you can get her talking. I want to talk to her when she wakes up,”
I order, and no one questions my instructions. “Vito and I are
going back to the hotel to switch rooms, and then we are going to
catch a couple of hours sleep. We’ll be back later to question
her.”

“No problem,” Carlo says.

“Make sure the Doc checks her out.”

*****

Megan:

The early morning sun wakes me. I stretch
and yawn under the covers, my body tired and limp. I shuffle to the
bathroom and come out to find Erin sitting and waiting for me.

“What’s up?” I ask warily. Erin is never up
this early.

“What do you think about me going with
Clarissa to boarding school?”

I sit beside her. “I think it’s great. You
should go back to school, and you and Clarissa will have a great
time.”

“I’m afraid,” Erin says, ominously.

“Sometimes we have to face our fears.”

“I spoke with Doc Howie. He thinks it’s the
best thing for me, and he tells me he believes I’m strong enough to
go,” she says, as though she doesn’t quite believe it herself.

“Once you get involved in classes again and
meet new people, it is going to help you to move forward.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Erin adds. Tears
fill her eyes.

“I’ll miss you too,” I smile sadly.

Clarissa burst into the suite. “Carlo has a
girl in a room downstairs on the fourth floor!” she says
excitedly.

I can’t imagine why Clarissa would be so
excited that her brother has a girl staying here at the casino. She
sees my confused expression explains. “Not a girl for him! There
was some big commotion last night. One of the enforcers told me
they saw Vito and Antonio drop her off.”

My jaw drops as I go from
melancholy to jealous in point three seconds.
What the hell is Antonio doing with this girl?!
Not only am I green with envy, but hurt that he
was here and didn’t come to see me. Anger flows through my
bloodstream like a disease taking over my body, even though the
rational part of me knows that there has to be some kind of
explanation.

“Come on, let’s go see her!” Clarissa
encourages.

Even though we’re not supposed to leave the
family floor without an escort, I feel rebellious right now. And
all of a sudden I’m very intrigued to find out what this mysterious
girl’s story is.

Erin and I head to our rooms to change out
of our pajamas. I stop short at my bedside table, glancing at the
small black handgun on my father gave me. I remember shooting it
for him last night in the range. I remember him telling me that he
felt better knowing I had protection of my own defend myself. He
made me fire the weapon repeatedly, and every time I hit the target
he requested. I could tell that he was impressed and proud.

I now hesitate by the gun. My father told me
he wanted me to keep it on me wherever I went, so I pick it up. I’m
not taking a purse, so I check the safety and slip it into the back
of my jeans like Antonio does. It is bulky and uncomfortable, cold
against my skin. I pull my sweater down over it. I check myself in
the mirror and meet Clarissa and Erin in the hallway.

Since Clarissa lives here, she knows all the
elevator codes and taps the right one into the keyboard. Erin is
noticeably uncomfortable, but I’m invigorated. This feels like a
secret mission, and I’m locked and loaded.

Clarissa gives Erin a playful shove. “Come
on. Lighten up! It’ll be fine,” she reassures. “We’re just going to
say hi.”

Erin gives us both a forced smile. “I know,”
she says.

The ride is quick to the fourth floor. The
hallway is just as grand as the one leading to our suite. I see
Alex standing at the end of the hallway. It is totally deserted
except for him. Clarissa waves, but I can tell by Alex’s stance
that he’s annoyed. We shouldn’t be here.

“What you guys doing down here?” he asks,
irritated. Alex is tough and is trusted with many important tasks
around here, but when it comes to Clarissa he is a softy.

“We came to see the girl!” Clarissa says
pointedly.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he shakes his head.
“No, you can’t see her. Go back upstairs.” Alex ticks off his
sentences like a list...or maybe they sound rehearsed because he’s
had to say them to Clarissa before.

“Come on, Alex!” Clarissa pleads. “We’ll say
hello, that’s all.”

“You are a pain in the ass,” he says.

“I know, but you love me,” she smiles with a
singsong voice.

Alex hangs his head in defeat. “I was giving
her a little time to rest, so, if she’s sleeping, you are NOT going
in there. Hold on a minute, let me check.”

He slips a key card into the door mechanism
and slowly opens it. Clarissa tries desperately to see around
him.

He speaks softly, “There are a couple people
here to see you.” There’s a quiet moment, and Alex steps aside and
lets the three of us in.

Resting on top of the covers of the bed is a
girl probably about my age with long thick black hair that could
seriously use a good brushing. Her eyes are red and puffy with a
vacant glaze over them.

“Hello,” Clarissa calls out. The girl
continues with her empty stare. “I’m Clarissa. This is Megan and
this is Erin.” She gives her a minute, and then tries again when
she gets no response. Erin and I stand back waiting feeling
uncomfortable. “Can we get you anything? Or do anything for you?”
Clarissa asks.

The girl turns her head with effort and says
in a ghostly voice, “If you can bring people back from the dead,
I’d like my brother please.”

The shocking and unexpected words tear
through the tension in the air, filling it with friction. Her words
even stop Clarissa in her tracks.

Alex ticks his head back in, he must have
heard. “Okay. You’re done. You said hello,” Alex says severely.

I silently pray that Antonio wasn’t the
person who killed her brother. The notion creeps its way to the
forefront of my mind. But I can’t hold my tongue. “Sorry about your
brother. Do you know who killed him?” It is a totally inappropriate
question.

“Demetrius...” The words spill from her
mouth and past her lips in slow-motion. Tears gather in her eyes.
I’ve upset her.

“I’m sorry,” I say again, shameful.

Erin surprises me. She doesn’t even know
this girl, but she sits by her on the bed and takes her hand. Erin
gazes at her with sympathy and understanding.

“How about we just sit with you for a
while?” Erin suggests.

The girl does look like she needs a friend.
I can’t imagine what she’s going through losing her brother. Alex
backs off when we don’t ask her any more questions. Clarissa goes
over to the television and flips it on, then sits on the edge using
the remote to find something halfway decent to watch. I sit in a
chair by the window, and Erin stays put on the bed. We’re all quiet
for a long time. My good mood from this morning all but vanished.
Meeting this poor girl has blackened it. Her tragedy reminds me of
the danger around us.

Alex comes in a little while later carrying
his phone. He holds it out to me and leaves.

“Hello?” I say the greeting as a
question.

“Megan, it’s me,” says Antonio. My mood
immediately brightens of its own volition as I unfold myself out of
the chair and head out to the hallway to have a private
conversation.

“Where are you?” I ask.

“I’ll be there soon. Did you find anything
out from that girl?” he asks. I am surprised...I thought we were in
trouble for visiting her.

“Find out anything? I don’t even know what’s
going on.” I say bewildered. “She said Demetrius killed her
brother.”

“All right...Vito and I will be there soon.
We had a late night last night.”

I stiffen at his
words.
Does he mean he had a late night
with this girl?

“Who is she?” I demand.

“I don’t know. She was there last night
while I was taking care of some business. That is all I can tell
you over the phone. Hang tight, and I’ll see you in a little
while,” he says. “Love you...”

I melt a little inside. “Love you too,” I
return.

Alex is by the door, and I hand him his
phone. “Thank you,” I tell him. “Antonio is on his way.”

I walk back into the room, and Clarissa
immediately asks me, “Are you in trouble?”

“No,” I say emphatically.

“Whew! I didn’t want to get you guys in
trouble,” Clarissa says relieved.

The girl gets up to use the bathroom. She
shuts the door.

“Has she said her name...anything?” I
ask.

Erin shakes her head no.

The bathroom door clicks open, and the
zombie-like girl comes back to the bed to lay down. I’d find out
information for Antonio if I knew what I was supposed to ask. I
guess her name is a good start.