ALEXEI
Aurora was right to worry about missing Johnny. By the time we arrive at his house, his truck is gone.
So we drive to the garage where he works instead.
The area looks clear. No suspicious cars, no watchers at windows, no telltale signs of an ambush. Just an old one-story brick building in a quiet neighborhood where people mind their own business.
Aurora heads inside to ask for Johnny. Shortly after, the two of them emerge from one of the bays, chatting like old friends. He doesn’t have two obviously different-sized feet, but he does possess the same dumpy face as Benny. Family resemblance. Or maybe poor skin care.
She leads the man straight to my window. “Johnny, this is my friend, Alexei. He’s the one who wanted to talk to you.”
I don’t miss the way she introduces me.
The mechanic scratches his chin with a calloused, grease-streaked hand. He doesn’t offer to shake. “Friend, huh?He looks like what Benny used to call ‘family.’ And not the Christmas dinner kind either. The organized crime kind.”
Fucker’s got a lot of nerve. Even if his assumption is correct.
“Johnny,” Aurora’s voice gentles, “I’m not trying to get you in trouble. But Benny’s gone, and there are people who want to know why. People who might come asking a lot less nicely.”
He glances at me again. His throat bobs. “Look, I don’t know details. Benny and me, we weren’t close like that. Different mothers. Different lives. Different lifestyles even. We only agreed to meet up every week because our dad asked for it, and he’s on his last leg.”
Assuming a casual stance to ease his nerves, I prop an arm on the open window. “But you saw him regularly.”
Johnny’s mouth tightens. “Yeah. Family’s family, even when they’re screwing up. I tried to keep him straight. Fat lot of good that did.”
Aurora lounges against the car. “Did he mention anything after he got out of prison? Any new friends? New opportunities?”
Johnny drags a hand over his close-cropped dark hair. “He said he got out with some ‘hot info.’ Something he wanted to sell. Kept saying he was gonna be set for life.”
“Did he say what that information was?”
“Nah. But he was always hanging around on the periphery of the Reznik family. And if that didn’t work, he said he had a lot of other interested parties.” He shrugs. “Benny liked to talk big, you know? Always had an angle, a scheme. Always needed someone else to fund him.”
The Reznik Bratva.
Another mafia family on our territory’s eastern edge. Smaller than the Falcones but ambitious. Growing. And apparently interested in whatever Benny knew. “Any clue who those ‘parties’ were?”
Johnny’s face shutters as he rears back. “No clue. Don’t wanna know.” When he straightens, I catch more of that brotherly resemblance. The same stubborn set to his jaw and defiance in his eyes. “You’re all bad news.” He starts toward the garage, clearly done with this chat. “Time’s up. I got work to get to.”
Aurora speaks to his retreating back. “Thank you, Johnny. For talking to us.”
She walks around the hood of the car and climbs into the passenger seat. “He’s not wrong.”
I resist the urge to jump out of my seat and beat the shit out of the guy. “About getting out while you can?”
“About you being bad news.” There’s no bite in her words, just a simple statement of fact. “About all of this being bad news.”
I don’t argue.
Can’t argue.
Because she’s right.
Iambad news. Have been since I was old enough to hold a gun. MJ was the good brother. The one who should have stayed clear and clean.
The one who should still be alive.
“So Benny had information.” I help her with her seat belt, a gesture I don’t examine too closely. “Information enticing enough to interest multiple families.”
