Remo got to the landing before turning back and shooting me a smirk.
“My old man took a lot of stupid risks in his career. One thing he didn’t do was make us suffer financially. Ma knew where a lot of the money was hidden and used some of it to raise us. But I got a real weird letter from him on my eighteenth birthday. Just a normal note it seemed at first. With a doodle on the back. Took me fucking years to figure out what it meant. I guess because we didn’t grow up in Navesink Bank like all of you.”
“It was a map.”
“It was a map. And the note had random capital letters that gave some instructions as well.”
“Where’d he stash it? For that many years?”
“In a safe inside a wall of our old house.”
“How’d you get to it?”
“Well, I debated breaking in and just ripping the wall out while the owners were at work. But everyone’s got fucking cameras these days. So I bought the place with every last dollar to my name.”
“Shit’s expensive in Navesink Bank.”
“Fucking criminal is what it is,” Remo agreed. “Thankfully, the owners didn’t have the money for renovations. So the original walls were all still in place. Ripped the wall out. And there was the safe. Still intact and sealed. Used the code from the letter. Then there it was. All the cash I’d need.”
“Didn’t realize your old man was such an earner.”
“Biggest earner in the Family before he went away. From what I understand, he’d just pulled off a massive gas con. Think he was pulling in ten mill a week for a while there. Something like five months.”
Ten mill a week for five months was a quarter of a billion dollars. Granted, all of that wouldn’t have belonged to his dad. The kick-up to Luca’s old man would have been about twenty percent. And then there were likely multiple people in on the con.
Still, that would have been a crazy cut for Luigi.
“You can ask,” Remo said, sensing the question hanging in the air.
“How much was in the safe?”
“Fifty. Forty would be fair market value for that casino, considering how rundown the rooms have gotten and how slow things have been around here. And I had an offer placed anonymously. Frank turned it down.”
“Could he be in debt?”
“That’s definitely something I want to figure out. The place won’t last long without some upgrades. And he’s not making them. Which makes me think he isn’t as flush as he wants to appear. Lotta questions with Frank. Hopefully your girl can get me some answers.”
With that, he made his way out.
I waited a couple minutes for him to clear out before I left.
And on the walk around town, I couldn’t help but wonder why Remo was so obsessed with the casino.
Sure, it made sense to want to live in a place with that much security. But with that much money in his pocket, he could afford any number of buildings in the area and pay for the best security.
And, yeah, a casino was a great way to launder money.
But so was a bar or strip club.
Possibly something to bring up to Luca, just for his input on things.
Otherwise, not really my business, I guess.
And if it worked out for him, it would be a lot of money for me and my future wife and kids.
And I was going to go ahead and pretend that as I thought of those things, it wasn’t Roe’s face that popped into my head.
Because what the hell was that about?
