“About my balls.”
Gio grinned. “Heard you got big brass ones, that’s all.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you talk back to Don Morelli the first time you met him? And didn’t you wear him down and make him let you go in to see your sis—Ah, that’s all I mean. Word is, you stood up to Luca D’Amato and made him give in.”
Hudson thought about that as Gio shot back the final lock. It was true, he’d even raised his voice to Luca D’Amato when hethought the Morelli Don wouldn’t let him in to see Connie in the hospital. “How did you know about that?”
“Shit like that gets around. And hell, you helped rescue Mr. D that one time, right?”
The door opened and Hudson gasped as winter roared into the nightclub. Maybe he should have taken his coat after all. But it was too late; Gio was already through the doors and waiting for him. “That was Angelo Messina,” he said through clenched teeth as he waited for Gio to lock up again from the other side. Thankfully he only did the main deadlock this time, and then they started jogging carefully down the block. “I just stood there. Actually, I think I got in his way,” Hudson shouted over the noise of the wind.
The weather was awful. Really, truly awful. It wasn’t snowing again yet, but the wind was kicking up ice, throwing it right in Hudson’s face. Hypothermia was a real possibility.
“Shit,” Gio said. “We shoulda grabbed those coats. Oh, well—” he took Hudson’s hand and pulled him along. “Come on, Blondie, let’s make this fast!”
They ran as fast as they dared along the icy sidewalk, took the corner of the block, and ran back up the next street to where they knew the door opened out. It was quiet for New York, apart from the wind; distant honks sounded, but subdued. The streets were empty. It was still black outside, and even the streetlights seemed dimmer to Hudson.
The door was unobtrusive and easy to miss, and they ran by it before they realized, and had to backtrack. But it wasn’t just that the door was small and faded into the wall due to its color.
There was a big bank of snow piled up against the building, right up to their knees. It couldn’t have been disturbed for days.
The only footprints around were their own.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
“Five minutes, huh?”Finch said immediately on their re-entry to the upstairs office. Hudson’s teeth were still chattering despite the climb upstairs.
“Sorry, Mr. D,” Gio said. “We checked the door, nothing doing. But we also decided we should check on the dead guy. That’s why it took so long.”
Hudson noted the use of the term “we” and felt a pulse of pleasure. Gio was really making sure he didn’t feel alone in this, and he appreciated it. He wondered if that was the way Finch felt with Luca. Safe.Protected.
“Something funny about the dead guy?” Finch asked Hudson.
“No—”
“Then wipe that smile off your face,” he snapped. “Luca called before to say they’ve reopened some of the roads. He’ll be leaving soon to come get me. And when he does…”
Hudson didn’t have to wipe his smile off. It died all on its own. “I need to check the coats—” he began, but Finch cut him off.
“Youneedto?”
“Please,” Hudson tried again, his voice starting to shake now. “If you’d let me?—”
“It’s not a bad idea, Mr. D,” Gio said. “Check the coats, find the dead guy’s. See if we can figure out who he is. Better we know who’s dead in the bathroom than not, right?”
Finch studied him for a moment. “You want to be careful where your dick leads you, Gio,” he muttered. “But sure. Fine. Go check the coats, find out who our dead guy is, and then…” He rubbed a tired hand through his gold hair. “Then I guess you’d better let those guys out of the break room. Actually, do that first, and send them back up here. It’s time we start checking their phones for evidence.”
Gio looked torn. “I don’t wanna leave you alone with them, Mr. D. One of them took that cash, and they all know the Boss is on his way.”
“I have a gun,” Finch said, “and a mighty desire to keep breathing. I’ll be okay.”
But Gio still hesitated. “The Boss makes it plain to anyone guarding you, we need to stick by you?—”
“Gio,” Finch said, the word like a crack of the whip. “Tonight, and any night you’re with me,I’mthe Boss. Get it?”
