“What could I tell him, Kee? I have no idea what’s going on!”
“Cash Kelly is Harrison’s new boss.”
I waited a few minutes. “And…?”
“He’s not all he seems to be.”
“That seems to be a trend lately. Go on.”
She turned to me and narrowed her eyes. “Wait. Where are we going?”
I told her about the little figurines, but asked if she could just pass by, so I could get the name of the shop. She agreed and took a detour, heading in the right direction.
“Are you in love with Cash, Kee?”
She threw back her head and exploded with laughter. “If New York was a wild cement forest, I’d be the archer and he’d be my target.”
“I don’t like the picture you painted in my mind. I keep seeing him running away from you, a bullseye on his back.”
She grinned. “We shouldn’t talk about this anymore. The baby. Let’s talk about the baby. Tell me more about these figurines and the theme you’re going for.”
Even though I wanted to call her out on her odd comment, I told her about the figurines and how cute they were. When she found a parking spot not far from the store, right in front of Dolce, I shook my head. “I only need the name, Kee! Let’s go. We’ll go shopping somewhere else.”
“Why is your face pale? You have bubble sweat over your lip, and it’s colder than a polar bear’s oonie outside. Did something happen to you here?”
I bit my lip, fiddling with my purse. “Yeah. I had some bad vealparmigiana. Just awful.”
“Liar.” She squeezed my hand. “You stay put. Keep the doors locked. I’ll just run in and see if they’re still there. They obviously mean a lot to you.”
Before I could stop her, she was out of the car, hustling to get to the little shop.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I chanted. I was in the heart of Scarpone territory.Dolce.The name almost made me want to puke. There was nothing sweet about that restaurant or what had happened right outside of its doors. I wondered how many people had been murdered in that alleyway. If the Scarpone family owned it, there was no telling. My legs bobbed up and down. I pulled out my rosary, worrying the beads again. This time I kept thinkingplease let her hurry up.
As I looked up, I saw four men coming out of the restaurant. Achille. Arturo. One of his grandsons, I thought; the one who looked like Armino. And, maybe, the guy Achille called Bobby.
They all looked like big dogs with their expensive coats and suits, three out of four smoking cigarettes, and all of them wore identical “I own this fucking place” looks. The wolf tattoos only upped their scary factors.
Keely came down the street at the same time they walked toward her.
Achille stopped, watching her walk past. It was hard not to notice her. She was a bright flame in complete darkness. Her hair was curly, wild, and flaming red, and she’d pulled it up on the sides, making her seem much taller than what she was. Drawn to her, maybe because he was so fucking cold, he watched her walk all the way to her car, where he noticed me sitting next to her. His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer. He whistled and his son and Bobby came to stand next to him. He nudged Bobby in the ribs.
“Keely.” My voice came out so low that I made myself talk louder. “Get us the fuck out of here!”
“You know them?” She narrowed her eyes in their direction, while she started the car.
“Fucking go!” I shouted.
“All right! All right!” She swerved into traffic, barely missing a taxicab. He shot us the bird as he whizzed past. Then he got in front of us and kept tapping on his brakes. “Was that the Scarpones?”
“How do you know that?”
“Fucker!” She laid on her horn. She whipped around the taxi driver, giving him the bird as she passedhimup. Then she did the same thing to him. Cut him off and then started tapping on her brakes. “I’ve heard things. I was curious so I looked them up online. I didn’t find anything too juicy, but those tattoos mean something, don’t they?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I waved off the tattoos, trying to downplay the fact that my husband had one, too. “They kept staring. It scared me.”
“It should. They’re insane.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
