Wiseguys In Love (16 page)

Michael stared up at him.

“I like riding with you fine, Tony. But I just can't do what you do.… What are we gonna do about Michigan?”

“Whadda you mean?”

“Solly said to whack her, remember?”

Tony's jaw dropped, and Michael watched him look through the glass to where she was.

“Madonna, I forgot.”

He watched Tony turn and stare at her in silence for a moment.

“Jeez, everything's all screwed up, huh, Mikey?”

“Yeah.… Look, I was thinking. We were supposed to ice her along with Giuseppe, right? So she couldn't tell anyone I shot him, right?” Tony nodded. “But then she shot him, so … how could she rat on herself?”

It seemed to make perfect sense to Tony.

“That's right. She got nothing on us. Now, we got something on her. And as long as she's straightened out on how the cops work…”

“So why don't we just call it even, and Solly won't be the worse for wear, huh? It's not like we're going to lie to him; we just won't mention the girl. Solly probably won't even remember about her.”

Tony looked back inside and then back at Michael.

*   *   *

Lisa sat through dinner, watching Tony eat, and periodically looking over at Michael. She began to assess them both.

She liked looking at Michael. She had felt oddly safe with him from the moment he had looked away, embarrassed, in Mrs. Morelli's apartment and on the Brooklyn Bridge. Even in the office, when Tony was trying to force Michael to shoot, she knew he wouldn't do it. She didn't know how he'd gotten mixed up in all this, but he was either a very decent human being or an unbelievably incompetent gangster. She felt strangely attracted to him and …

She stopped herself, feeling her jaw tighten. Attractive or not, this man had held a gun on her. Now what? Maybe she was turning into one of those sick women who liked that sort of thing.… Naw. Her eyes darted to Tony.

Tony, on the other hand, was from another planet. Tony's reasoning about turning herself in had just about worn her down mentally. Michael was right, it had been self-defense, but … It was as if she didn't care anymore. Screw the mortgage. She was going to quit her job and get as far away from this city as possible.

Tony excused himself, finally, and Lisa looked over at Michael.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked tiredly.

Michael smiled at her. “We're going to go back to Mulberry Street, and then I think we'll let you go. You have to promise never to say a word about this.”

She looked at him and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, every single worry and thought about Henry Foster Morgan vanished. He was on his own. They had worn her down. She just wanted to get back home and be quiet. She was definitely leaving this city forever on Monday.

“All right, you have my word,” she said, and looked at him. She gave him a weak smile. “Thank you for protecting me back there.”

*   *   *

Tony threw the passbooks down on Solly's desk, and Michael watched him pick them up, smirk, and look back up to Tony. He took the passport out of his pocket and added it to the pile. Solly picked it up. His stocky face and bulbous nose were the vision of sheer enjoyment. Solly was savoring the kill as though he had personally pulled the trigger. He then looked over at Michael.

“You done good. Where you leave him?”

“In his office.”

Solly sat back in his chair, touching his fingertips together. “Okay. That's good. It'll be a warning.… You done good, Mikey,” he said, and leaned forward in his chair.

He slid open his desk drawer and threw an envelope on the table. He nodded to Tony, who picked it up.

“Half. Until they find the body,” he added as Tony opened it up.

They nodded and began to turn to leave.

“Now you take care of Rosa's problem.”

Tony's eyes slid over to Michael, who looked at him. He turned back to Solly.

“I, uh…” Tony stammered.

“What did you do with the girl's body?” Solly added, and Tony began to rock slowly back and forth.

“Well, um…”

Michael watched Solly's smile turn into a frown as he leaned forward.

“You did take care of the girl, right, Tony?”

“Well, you see, Solly—” Tony began, but Michael broke in.

“Look, Solly—”

“Mikey didn't exactly shoot Giuseppe,” Tony broke in.

“What are you sayin' to me? Giuseppe ain't dead?” Solly asked loudly, and stood up.

“No, no, he's dead. Dead as a dog. It's just that … Mikey didn't exactly—”

“Say what you're saying,” he ordered.

“I didn't shoot him—the girl did,” Michael said quickly, and they watched Solly's eyes get large and popping and then narrow as he sat back down.

“Say this again?”

“Well, I was getting ready to shoot him—”

“He was, he was, Solly. He just forgot to take the safety off—”

“And that's when we seen Michigan—”

“Who?”

“The girl, that's when she seen he had a gun on him, and she grabbed it and shot him.”

A roll of Rolaids appeared from the desk drawer and Solly stared at them both.

“Who the hell is this broad?”

“She's nobody. She's from outta town.”

“WHATSA MATTER WID YOUSE? Outta town or not, she's gotta go, and you, Mikey…” he began, snatching the envelope out of Tony's hands.

“But—”

“You tried to pull a fast one, and I don't like it. I know this ain't Tony's idea, College, and I'll let you slide on account of Vincent was your father, but now you owe me, Mikey.… Go take care of the sonofabeech for Rosa and then I'll decide what happens. Where is the girl?”

“They brought her out front, Solly,” Ralphie informed him.

“Take care of her.”

“But, Solly,” Michael began, and took a deep breath, “we need her to get to the boss.”

“Fine, then get to the boss, do 'em both, and I don't wanna hear no more.”

Tony was just about to say something when Ralphie came up behind him and opened the door.

They walked out stiffly and Michigan stood up. She followed Michael out the door. He shot a glance back inside, in time to see Louie whispering something in Tony's ear. He watched Tony's chin drop and his eyes bulge. Something Tony'd just been told was making him irate. It was hard to tell from Tony's face that he was burning up, but Michael knew it from all his years with his cousin.

“Goddamn it!” Tony was tearing down Mulberry toward Grand, with Michael following him, and pulling Michigan by the hand.

“Tony—”

“
A-fah-na-bla!
Fourteen grand—”

“Tony—”

“SHUT UP,” he yelled, and unlocked the car door.

“What's happening?” Lisa asked as she was pushed back inside. “Can I go?”

Michael just stared at her, and she looked down. “Oh.”

The car squealed out of the parking space. They were all quiet for a moment.

“All right, where the fuck will what's-his-name be?” Tony barked, driving across Canal toward Sixth Avenue.

“I won't tell you,” she said quietly.

“Fine, Mikey, we're going to every place on the list.”

“Aw come on, Tony, it'll take all night.”

“Listen, did you hear Solly back there? He ain't happy, and when he ain't happy, I ain't happy. It's only midnight. Now, where's that book?”

“Right here.”

“What's the first place on the list?”

“Some political thing.”

“Good, what's the address?”

“It's on Fourteenth Street, a place called Maude's.”

“Maude's?” Lisa said, then caught herself. She sat back in the seat.

“What do you know about this place?”

“Nothing—”

“Tell me now,” he ordered, and Michael looked into the backseat at her.

“Fine. I'll tell you what I know about Maude's. You'll never get in there, so I wouldn't even try,” Lisa heard herself snap.

“Yeah? Why not?”

“They have these huge guys at the door who don't let anyone inside. You have to have a membership or know someone to get in.”

“Yeah? Well, I know someone.”

Tony pulled the car up in front of the unmarked building on Fourteenth Street by making a screeching U-turn. A long line of people, very dressed up and some looking bored, others angry, stared out at the car. If it hadn't been for the line, there wouldn't have been anyone on the block.

Tony got out, and Michael came around to get Lisa.

“I'm sorry. It almost worked,” he began to explain softly as he got her out of the car.

“Just leave me alone.” Her voice was terse and strained.

“Come on, I really did try, Michigan—”

She stopped and glared. “My name is Lisa. All right?”

He stared at her in her small print dress, still in her sneakers and the socks with the little pom-poms on the heel, and he suddenly felt cowed by her.

“All right, Lisa.”

“Thank you,” she said curtly.

She was feeling too tired to be afraid anymore.

Tony stopped at the front of the line.

“Oh Jeez,” Michael said, grabbing her by the arm. “Here we go.”

Tony banged with his fist on the black door, and after a minute it slammed open and a muscle-bound man in a large white T-shirt, stomped out.

“Who did that?” he demanded.

Tony pushed him backward through the open door as Michael and Lisa followed. Michael closed the door behind them and they stood in the dark hallway to the club. Tony towered over the man in the T-shirt.

“We're going inside to look for someone,
capisce?
” he said, pulling the bouncer up by his shirt.

“You've got to be joking. No one but members—”

Tony pulled his gun out, then cocked it while the barrel was against the bouncer's temple.

“This is my membership. Now, you stay quiet a couple of minutes and no one gets hurt,” he said, and pushed inside.

Lisa and Michael followed. She stood, staring at the place in wonder as Tony began walking through the crowded club.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked.

“Yes. My God, this is what it looks like in here.” Her voice had the ring of just having landed in Oz.

“Yeah, right, come on, let's find Tony before the cops get here,” Michael said, trying to take her by the arm.

She walked by a round upholstered bench, staring in wonder at the huge fresh flower arrangement on top of it. The walls were covered in red velvet and all the furniture looked like something out of an old English movie she'd seen. Chicly dressed people mulled around talking to one another, some staring at her strangely, and Lisa consciously ran her hands across her print dress, which looked as out of place here as a snowsuit on a beach in August.

“You know, Andrew and I tried to get in here once, but they wouldn't let us,” she said in a respectful whisper.

“Who's Andrew?” Michael asked, stopping in the middle of the floor.

She stared up at him and shut her mouth quickly.

She'd goofed.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

She began to walk around him, and he wrapped his hand around her arm. “You have a boyfriend?”

*   *   *

Henry's limo pulled up outside the club. He bent over a small mirror and snorted loudly. He was down to almost no blow. That was all right—he was finally here, the place where for eighteen hundred dollars a year he could call home. He stepped out of the limo and looked at the chauffeur. She was a small blond woman. All his drivers were women. It was considered a necessity these days.

“Pick me up around three,” he said, staring down at her.

She nodded and he watched her drive away. He turned and walked up to the black door, which was open. He barely glanced at the lines of nobodies down the street.

“Hey, wait a minute. I've been here for three hours!” he heard an outraged voice yell as he slipped through the door.

“Yeah, that's what I said, a big, big guy with a gun.” Rodney, the bouncer, was on the phone, seemingly agitated. He waved Henry inside and went back to his conversation.

Henry made a beeline for the rest room.

*   *   *

Michael spotted Tony looking around in a small cubicle with more of the low, heavy Victorian furniture.

“I see him,” he said to Lisa.

“It's great, isn't it?” she said as Michael pulled her over into the cubicle Tony was standing in.

“I can't see a thing in here. Did you see him?” Tony asked as they came up to him.

“No. Listen, Tony, we got to get out of here. They're probably calling the cops right now,” Michael said.

“Yeah, yeah. Jeez, this dump looks like a horror show, huh, Mikey?” Tony said, grimacing at the furniture. “I mean, you gotta be some kinda midget or something to sit on this crap.”

“I think it's perfect,” Lisa chimed in. “It's atmosphere that they're going for. And look at all these people. I can't figure out their names, but I know they're famous. Just look at…” her voice trailed off and she froze where she was.

She blinked and stared again at a man and a woman in the corner. The woman was sitting on the man's lap, and they were laughing and sharing a glass of champagne.

“Come on, let's go. There's gotta be a better way,” Tony announced, and began to walk off.

Michael followed, felt around for Lisa, then turned around and went back over to her.

Lisa was beginning to have trouble breathing as she watched the man begin to rub the woman's fishnetted leg up and down, pushing her short black skirt even higher up on her thigh. The woman laughed and craned her head around and they went into a long, passionate kiss.

“Come on, we've got to—” Michael began, and then looked at her. “What's wrong?”