“Huh?” He’s blinking rapidly, sweat trickling over his wrinkled forehead. “What retribution? You trying to give an old man a heart attack?”
“That’d be the easy way to go, wouldn’t it?” I observe. “Tino Morelli didn’t get the easy way out. Neither will you.”
“I told you,” Clemenza insists, “that business had nothing to do with me.”
“But you heard it, didn’t you?” Luca asks. “Because it certainlysoundslike you there in the background. ‘Let me down there, I want to kill that motherfucker myself.’ That’s you, isn’t it?”
“That ain’t me.”
“Of course it is,” Luca chuckles. “And I know for sure, Lou, because you shot your mouth off to the wrong man.” He leaves space for a response, but Clemenza just looks mutely back at him, sheer hatred in his eyes, undisguised. “You’ve been bragging to the wrong man about the fact thatyouput a bullet into Tino Morelli and let Fuscone take the blame,” Luca goes on. “You thought you were untouchable after Fuscone disappeared—” I have an unbidden flash of memory: Luca breaking Fuscone’s neck to protect me. “—and you thought I wouldn’t find out about your role. But you were wrong, Lou. You were wrong.”
“Vollero’s a rat!” Clemenza shouts. “You can’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth! He’s been telling me all about your business, things he shouldn’t—”
He breaks off as Luca smiles.
“I didn’t say it was Al Vollero,” he points out. “And yet you knew exactly who I meant—which means you must remember having that conversation about Tino.”
Clemenza bares his teeth in a snarl. “You can’t do this, Morelli. You do this, the Commission will have your head.”
Luca sits back again in his chair with a sigh. “Well, I can’t deny, you have me there, Lou. I’ve spoken to the Commission about you, and they agreed with me that your time is over.” Clemenza’s face goes gray and slack, his forehead beading with sweat. “Unfortunately,” Luca continues, drawing circles on the tablecloth with his fingertip, “they refused to give me permission to eliminate you. The Commission was notentirelyconvinced by my evidence. Big Gee, in particular, spoke up for you.”
The Giulianos have always had the Clemenzas’ backs. I was furious when Luca told me the outcome of the meeting: that Rossi had backed him, but Big Gee and Joe Alessi were reluctant to kill Clemenza. Two against two.
Luca had agreed to compromise, for the sake of stability.
Clemenza is smirking now, relief making him bold. “Damn right,” he mutters. “No evidence at all, you gotnothin’on me.”
“However,” Luca says, and Clemenza stops smirking. “The Commission has grown tired of your games, Lou. So our decision is this: you’ll step down as head of your Family. You’ll get the hell out of New York, and if you know what’s good for you, out of the country. You’re officially retiring, Lou. Congratulations.”
Clemenza takes it in, rubbing a finger over trembling lips. “And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t, I have their backing to remove you myself. Permanently.”
That was the only outcome of the meeting I was happy about. If Clemenza refuses to step down, the Commissionhavegranted Luca permission to execute him, personally, for the good of the city as a whole.
I really,reallyhope Clemenza will refuse.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
LUCA
There is a drawn-out moment where Louis Clemenza weighs up his options, and Finch and I sit there, watching him. Under the table, Finch is jigging his thigh against mine, nerves getting the better of him, although his face is serene.
At last, Clemenza shifts in his chair. “Fine,” he says. “You might think you’ve outplayed me, Morelli, but the fact is I’ve been done with this life for a long time. It will be a relief to leave it. And denying you satisfaction in yourmisguidedvendetta, well. That will be a pleasure I cradle to my heart for years to come.”
I can’t deny I’m disappointed. I honestly thought Clemenza would refuse, let me settle things tonight. Because I still intend to pay him out for what he did to Tino. Next to me, Finch has gone stiff with anger. I put a warning hand on his knee.
We will have other opportunities. Once Clemenza is gone from this city, I can go after him quietly. So I smile now, and say, “I’m glad you saw sense, Lou.”
He sneers at me. “Sense? Fah. I want you to swear to it, Morelli, that you’ll honor my decision. That you won’t come after me, send some assassin in the night, get around the Commission’s wishes that way.” When I say nothing, he growls, “So you’renota man of honor. I always knew it.”
“I am a man of my word,” I tell him, my anger rising. Lou Clemenza, of all people, dares to question my honor? Finch’s eyes are flashing dangerously as well in response to Clemenza’s insult. “And I’ll swear to it, Clemenza, if that’s what it takes to get rid of you.”
“You don’t even respecttradizioneenough to dothisright,” he grumbles. “Didn’t Rossi tell you how it’s done? Or Alessi?”
“Tell me what?” I’m getting impatient, but I refuse to let it show.
“You can’t just give your word,” Clemenza scolds me. “You want me gone, you gottadrinkwith me, and that seals the deal.Capisce?”
