I was the contingency.“Sure thing.I’ll call you tomorrow.The bar is going to be packed and with the stop, I won’t have time.Did you need anything else?”
“No, that’s it.Love you.”
“Love you, too.Tell ‘It’s-a-me-Mario’ I send my best.”
Alfonzo’s eyebrow went up with the nickname.His face shifted as he tried and failed to keep his expression neutral and failed.“Wasted.Completely wasted,” he muttered.
I hoped not.
22
Ringo
That mustache needed its own criminal code.I’d stared at it in photos long enough I thought I was hallucinating when I caught the upturned face in the crowd.But a trained eye looks not at the details, but what stands out.Like one upturned head when the main attraction was playing out in the river below.
Or that thick-as-fuck mustache on a baby-soft face.
Ellie had disappeared with Kat somewhere, so it was easy to slip out of the party.I was only leaving so I could cross the bridge and drive a knife between his ribs.Then I’d dump his body into the river and return before anyone noticed I was gone.The crowd would only see the body fall, nothing else.It was the perfect crime with a million suspects and none of them would be me because I was in the building across the street, right?
I ran the deed through my head, trying to analyze it like Mario would.I timed my walk to the crowds vying for an empty ledge along the river.There was constant motion but none of it focused on going far.Just pushing and shoving and anonymous faces.
Johnny stood out because he wasn’t watching the boats.He stared up at CCI like he could burn it down with his eyes.
The seeds I’d planted this week bore fruit.
I’d worked multiple angles.The bar patrons who knew Ellie was going to watch from CCI while the Journeymen Plumbers Union dyed the river green.
Alfonzo was at CCI because I’d arranged the event through him.He’d provide a bullet-proof cover story for me.Edward would, too.
Vincent knew I was at CCI because I’d dropped the legal documents off with his team for their signature and mentioned it, knowing they weren’t invited.That was sure to irritate them enough to seek out Porciello and “ask” him for one more hit.It was subtle, and a long shot, but apparently, it had paid off.
Killing Pornstach was the only way I could ensure Ellie’s friends were safe.And with Kat along, Ellie was safe.This was my chance.
Johnny glanced around.
I slipped between a moving cluster of parents and children who were complaining loudly enough that one more adult not making eye contact with others was a common sight.With a step to the side where a light post blocked Johnny’s view, I re-checked his location.
Shit.He was on the move.Something must have spooked him.It wasn’t me because the urgent glances he shot over his shoulder were in the wrong direction.
I doubled my pace, which was too damn slow because the crowds were insane.Americans thought swimming upstream on dry land was fun?It was a nightmare.Pickpockets, or assassins could have a field day with this hunting ground.In fact… I blocked the thief’s hand just as he reached for the open purse of a distracted mother.He frowned, but I slid into the crowd so quickly the crime was thwarted in an instant.
Johnny checked over his shoulder again.I spared a quick moment to scan the street.Nothing stood out.Odd.A tingle went up my spine.
I glanced at CCI which was beginning to fade into the skyline.I should get back before I was missed.
But Porciello was a meager thirty meters away.
It might as well have been a hundred because the crowds blocked my path forward.The next bridge span across the river was packed with bodies.I dodged left to use the street’s gutter instead of the sidewalk.Porciello headed south, opting to cross the multi-lane street against traffic.
Cars honked.Heads turned.
The chase was on.
I scanned for a group I could blend in with as the traffic resumed its struggle to escape the mob of green.It was the color of the day.Everyone wore something with an emerald hue.A hat, a scarf— whole outfits of bright green.For the unfortunate, vendors sold lighted bands with blinking shamrocks that bounced on springs over the wearer’s head like alien antennae.
It was all too commercial for me.
Ellie had the foresight to buy me a green tie.With it, I blended in as one of the slightly better-dressed festival-goers.
