“Angelo,” I said, leaning forward. Jack didn’t even blink when I kneed his seat this time. “I think I know who it is. I just don’t understandwhy.”
* * *
When we neared the gates,Angelo asked me for a sweater from my duffel bag. I passed it over and he arranged it over the gun so that the house guards at the gate wouldn’t see it.
“This really isn’t necessary,” Jack said. “But okay, if it makes you feel better.”
“You’re coming in with us when we get there,” Angelo said as we pulled up at the gates. “You can play hostage well enough, whatever else is going on.”
Jack gave a nod to the guards, who recognized him and rolled back the heavy wrought-iron gate for us to drive through. “You want a hostage, Mr. Messina, I’m your least-good choice,” he said, as we rolled up toward the house. “Castellani’s got no love for me. He’d happily watch you empty my skull.”
“Maybe just the threat of staining the carpet will do it,” I said. “He seems like a man who prefers order.”
Jack actually laughed. “You might have something there, Flynn. Anyway, here we are again. I’ll behave, however you want to play this.”
I glanced at Angelo. “Wecouldjust go in and talk to Castellani,” I said. “Surprise him inside the house instead of alerting all the guards out here.”
“The time for talking has passed,” Angelo said. “The first day we met, Castellani said he’d wondered about who I was, wondered about the man behind the reputation. Today he will meet that man.”
“Lucky guy,” Jack muttered. He pulled up at the house and Angelo gave me a nod. I got out of the car and opened the door for Jack, who was as pliant and placid as he promised.
Angelo came around the side, not bothering to hide his gun from the house guards this time, but it wasn’t until he pulled Jack in front of us as a shield that they began to scramble.
“Calm down, boys,” Jack called, putting up his hands. “We’re all friends. I’m just insurance. Shitty insurance, I tried to explain, but still insurance.”
“This could be a bad idea,” I murmured to Angelo. I had my own gun out as well, ready to fire, but aiming low to keep the tension to a minimum. The last thing I wanted was some cowboy shooting at us from the doorstep.
“I don’t know,” Angelo said lightly. “If nothing else, it’s a bit of fun.”
I gave him a glance from the side of my eyes, where I caught him grinning.
I sighed. “You’re incorrigible.”
* * *
Soon enough,we were admitted to see Castellani, who took the whole hostage situation as calmly as Jack had taken it. I was beginning to wonder how common a play this was, given everyone’s casual attitude.
“I’m sorry to hear that about Greco,” Castellani said with a shrug, after we explained the issue. “I truly am. But I had nothing to do with his death. You can’t possibly think it benefitsmein any way?”
“You’re the only one, apart from Bax and me, who knows the code to the door,” Angelo pointed out patiently. “Or so you said. But the fact is, someone could have poisoned that coffee any time. Perhaps you were settingusup to die, not Greco? You were very insistent that we should stay there.”
Ciro Castellani’s expression didn’t change, but the atmosphere in the room did. Tension, ratcheting up by degrees, was humming between us.
“You think I’d risk Don Morelli’s wrath?” Castellani asked with a frosty smile. “I’m no Sonny Vegas, Messina. I have no grand designs. I just want to be left alone to run my business. Killing you, or Greco for that matter, would only open up a can of worms. I don’t want you dead. I want you as my employee—or have you forgotten?”
“There’s a simple way to solve this,” I said. We’d already agreed on a script before we got into the house, and so far, everything had gone according to plan.
“Indeed,” Angelo said.
Castellani nodded and stood. “Agreed. Let’s go now and check the video surveillance for the last few days.”
His alacrity suggested innocence—or a hidden pack of Castellani soldiers waiting in the security room to take us down. It was on the tip of my tongue to say,Don’t try anything funny, but I restrained myself. The slightest misstep now from Castellani would end in him dead.
He knew it. We knew it. And so, with Angelo leaving Jack where he was and taking Castellani as a replacement hostage, I followed them upstairs, protecting our backs from the guards milling in the foyer.
“Take a walk,” Castellani called down to them from the landing, his tone bored. “This is just a misunderstanding.”
They glanced at each other and then headed out the front door. But I didn’t believe for a second that they wouldn’t be back shortly.
