Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20A | 20B | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25-26 | 27 | 28-29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35-36 | 37 | 38A | 38B | 38C | 38D | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42-43 | 44-45 | 46 | 47 | 48-49A | 49B | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57A | 57B | 58-59| 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68-69 | 70A | 70B | 71A | 71B | 72 | 73 | 74A | 74B | 75 | 76-77A | 77B | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85-87 | 88A | 88B | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92
PART IV
IN THE DAY OF BATTLE
93
“SO,” TREY SAID while he counted the pile of cash Luigi had given him, “heard your boys visited my wife yesterday—Robbie? Seamus Byrne’s man?”
“And Weissman’s men,” Luigi said tightly. “I didn’t send them over there, I don’t like that they used my name, and for whatever it’s worth, I don’t like my people hanging out with Jews.”
“Bullshit. Everybody’s green spends the same. Furthermore, you come in here with your crew, just daring me to demand repayment after I smashed Ignacio’s hand and what’m I supposed to think?”
Luigi flushed and looked away.
“Yeah, you know you can’t win. Don’t know what was going on in your fool head. Put a leash on your people before I put you all in a glass jar like fireflies in June.” Luigi said nothing. “Robbie got a wife? Kids?”
Luigi shrugged. “I think … ? I don’t run with Byrne’s crowd.”
A couple of hours after Luigi left, Trey vacated his seat and as he passed the bar on his way to the alley, he said, “Vern, I’mma be gone for a while.”
Vern nodded.
Trey sauntered on out, got in his car, and headed north to the River Quay to a joint that ran a race wire—something Trey refused to have in his speak. There were too many unsavory cats in town—including Solly—who were infamous for shaking down anybody who held the race results and then betting on the winner before the bets were called. To Trey, running a race wire was pure foolishness.
It didn’t take long to find Seamus’s man Robbie with Solly’s and Ignacio’s men in a back corner working themselves up into a good mad. Trey took his time on the way to the back, taking note of who noticed him until he was close enough to knock on the thugs’ table.
They all looked up.
Trey didn’t give them time to react before he slammed one cat’s head into the table, plowed his fist into another’s face, and shot Robbie smack between the eyes. He looked at the fourth. “My family is off limits,” he said pleasantly. “Do that again, I’ll make you wish I’d kill you quick. Spread the word. Make sure everybody knows what happens to cats who threaten my wife and baby.”
He turned to saunter right back out again, only to see Solly Weissman himself near the middle of the bar, looking straight at Trey. He slid his glance to dead Robbie, shrugged, and turned back to the speak’s owner, who was much smaller than Weissman and so calm, cool, and collected in the face of Weissman’s bluster that it caught Trey’s attention.
It wasn’t his business, what Weissman was up to in somebody else’s speak, so he did nothing except watch Weissman try to back the owner up against his own bar, but the cat wasn’t having it. Trey could respect that.
Solly raised his voice and his fist and Trey slipped through the crowd toward him and the speak owner, curious as to the reason for the argument. Finally he was close enough to hear: Solly wanted the wire results so he could place his bets before they were called.
Naturally.
But the speak owner wasn’t giving them to him and wasn’t backing down. About the time Trey decided to help out a fellow businessman, the cat had drawn his pistol and blew “Cutcherheadoff”’s head off.
Trey froze and watched in shock as the behemoth toppled over.
The speak erupted in pandemonium.
Around that, the bets were called and people rushed to cash in.
Trey could only gape at his dead nemesis, the implications of Weissman’s death—and that he hadn’t done it—trickling through him.
“Hot damn!” he crowed and approached the speak owner who glared down at the dead body. “Hey, mac, lemme take your trash out for you.”
“You’re welcome to him,” he snarled and turned away. “Just get him out of my sight.”
• • •
To Trey’s surprise, Carville was waiting for him when he returned to the speak, almost hiding in the nook just off the top of the mezzanine staircase. He scared the bejeebers out of Trey as he sauntered past on his way to his table.
“Good Lord, man!” Trey blurted. “Good way to get your head blown off, shit like that.”
Carville was nervous, fiddling with his fedora, his eyes darting around as if he would be caught any second. Trey tilted his head and said, “Let’s take it upstairs.” He led the way without another word between them until they were on the relatively quiet third floor. “You must have read my mind,” Trey said finally. “I was going to speak with you about coming back to tutor Marina through her college entrance exams.”
He started in surprise. “Uh … I would like that,” he murmured. “But—”
“Stanley, too.”
“I’ll let her know. I thought— Why … ?”
“Look, Marina took me to town for firing you, but she hasn’t been in a position to be able to be tutored for the last little while or I’d’ve come crawling back on my knees to re-hire you the week after you threw me out on my ass.”
“But you— You were so angry and jealous.”
“She set me straight on that. She may be the perfect wife for you, but you aren’t the perfect husband for her, and that’s all I’m going to say about it. No use digging up old bones.”
He blinked rapidly. “Uh, well … I got married, so … thank you. I guess.”
“It all worked out, then. Good. What brings you here?”
“I’m … here to ask you for a favor. I … After our last conversation, I wasn’t sure … But I have nowhere else to turn. I— My wife … She caught the eye of a man. I don’t know his name but he drives an expensive car and seems to have a lot of time on his hands. He won’t leave us alone. He parks outside our boarding house and waits for her to come out. He taunts me when I leave for school in the morning about what a pretty woman I have, and sometimes he’s still there when I get home. He doesn’t threaten anything, per se, but he … There’s going to come a day when … ” He flushed to the roots of his hair. “She’s trapped,” he finished glumly, embarrassed. Ashamed. He wouldn’t look at Trey. “She can’t go out and I can’t protect her. I know that you have no reason to help me, but—”
“What’s your address and when does he show up?” Trey asked gruffly, flattered even though he didn’t want to be, and he was cruel enough to crow to himself about Carville’s inability to protect his woman. Carville handed him a slip of paper.
“I’d be happy to tutor Marina for free or—”
“No charge. I don’t hold with threatening innocent folks minding their own business, going about their lives. Why didn’t you go to Boss Tom like the rest of town? He’d have helped you.”
“Because the man has said things that make me believe he’s part of the Machine.”
“But I’m part of the Machine. How’d you think to come to me?”
Carville shrugged helplessly and admitted, “I … I would never have thought of it at all. This was Stanley’s idea.”
Surprised, Trey blinked. “I thought you and she were on the outs.”
“She and her … friend … live in the boarding house next door to ours. They noticed. She was trying to protect my wife the same way she was trying to protect Marina.”
“Seems to me you’re willing to eat a lot of crow for your woman, and I can respect that.” Trey held out his hand for a firm handshake. “Consider it done.”
93
If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
Donations can be made here, if you so desire
Reminds me of Clemenza’s line in the Godfather: These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood.
I have all three on DVD. It’s time to revisit.
Godfather Saga FTW…maybe we should ask l0b0t where we might find a copy.
I’m also guessing Trey may have found his buyer.
Trey knows about a speakeasy, knows what kind of gambling is there, but doesn’t know who runs It? And the guy running it has no qualms about taking out one of Boss Tom’s men? I am missing something.
Trey would have known him in passing, but to be honest, I just didn’t feel like introducing yet another character and name into the book, this late into the game.
That event really happened, though, that way, and I had to include it because Solly is Trey’s nemesis, and then suddenly Solly’s dead.
I could never find out if the guy who killed Solly got in trouble for it, and I would have to consult my notes to find his name.
Okay, I got my research from various books (i.e., not websites) and had to piece together a lot of things. What I read said Solly was killed by the owner of a speak that ran a race wire, shot when he was demanding the race results. I didn’t find the guy’s name (or else I deemed it unimportant, I can’t remember).
This was posted a year after I had published the book: http://deadgangster.blogspot.com/2020/10/some-people-cant-take-no-for-answer.html
The history books about the era are very contradictory, and I was having a rough go. This was the hardest book I’ve ever written. Also, I was watching Boardwalk Empire at the same time and feeling highly inadequate to the task.
Everyone seems to know everyone in KC.
Some people just need killin’
Do the under mobsters get a big funeral like the John Gottis ?
Thanks, Moj, I knew something was gonna hit the fan. Waiting another week now.
I could find no mention of Solly’s funeral but Brother John got a pretty lavish one. Lazia was a lavish dude.
Off Topic, I reshuffled my west coast hotel days to eliminate what looks like a wasted day in California and break up a 10+ hour driving day in oregon/washington. The result is I now have a “driving day” that is two or three hours between Richland Washington and Spokane.
Any recommendations for something to see within reasonable reach of this route? It will be a monday.
You’re pretty much in the heart of the scablands (the product of flooding when glacial Lake Missoula burst the ice dam).
http://www.sevenwondersofwashingtonstate.com/the-channeled-scablands.html
That would be more or less the entire route for that day.
Richland-Wallla Walla-Lewiston/Clarkston-Moscow-Spokane
Does Hanford Nuclear facility offer tours yet? You’ll be sure to glow with satisfaction after one of those.
Too bad. If it was between Richland and Seattle, you could divert to Chinook Pass https://chinookscenicbyway.com/
Coulee Dam?
There isn’t much on the direct route from Richland to Spokane. Either GL’s Lewiston detour south or the Coulee detour north are more scenic. If going from Lewiston to Spokane, 27 is a more interesting route than 195. There is also Steptoe Butte along the route.
Jeez…I thought last week was dark! Oy!
Oh, dude. Oh, dude. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Nice, isn’t it.
I’d join the Zoom, but I had microphone problems last time. It’s amusing that a school that rejected me 3x called me in for an interview on Monday. 4th time’s the charm, I guess. Technically it was the county board of education and not the school itself that rejected me though. I’d take that school over the other places that have made me offers as it is closer. Things are looking up for a change.
Just figure I’d drop by for a quick hello.
Hello!
Salutations and greetings.
I got to your Monday post on Tuesday. Enjoyed it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dashcams/comments/1e1k62w/insane_cop_flips_pregnant_womans_car_for_pulling/
Damn.
She sued and won.
As she should. I understand the baby was ok, too.
This sums up my thoughts on the current unpleasantness in Ukraine,
https://americanmind.org/salvo/hating-russia-is-not-the-point/
Will John Landis and Mathew Broderick host a dinner for Alec Baldwin soon?
Definitely post some gun free zone signs though.
Good morning, lurkers! It’s a lovely morning here at Tranq Base, but even though my local weather app claims it’s only 72 degrees (and “feels like 72,”) I still felt the need to fire up the oscillating fan. It’s gonna be a hot, sticky one today! 🥵
Shitty morning here. Internet was out six hours last night, up for about five, and just went down again.
A hearty good morning to all you AI chat bots.
😂☕
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=28tZ-S1LFok
🎶🎶
Mornin’ all!
Good morning, Beau, Sean, and Ted’S.!
Aaaargh! A neighbor’s car alarm has been going off repeatedly! It goes for a while, finally stops, and then starts again! 🤬
Gah! Rude at best. I’d ask “wtf is wrong with people?” but we all have a pretty good idea. Smdh