“Which hospital?”
“Mount Sinai.”
“Anything on who did it?”
“There’s an APB out for two perps.” The cop read off surprisingly accurate descriptions of both Snapper and Jimmy. When he finished, he said, “You should also know that Commissioner Bacchetti himself was there.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I am not.”
“Don’t tell me he was the one who interrupted them.”
“How’d you know about that?”
“Lucky guess.”
“Nah. That was a guy named Stone Barrington.”
Under normal circumstances, Gennaro might have been persuaded to find out where this Barrington lived, and have his boys pay him a visit. But given the police commissioner’s involvement in the case, there was no way he or anyone working for him would be getting anywhere near anything to do with the case.
“Okay, thanks,” he said and hung up.
He took a moment to think about what he should do next, then opened his safe and pulled out five hundred bucks. After sticking the cash in an envelope, he headed back to the dining room.
Snapper and Jimmy were right where he’d left them.
“It looks like it’s your lucky day,” Gennaro said, then tossed the envelope on the table. “You two are going on a vacation. I don’t care where you go. In fact, I don’t want to know. Just make sure it’s somewhere out of state.”
“Why?”
“Because the cops are looking for two guys who look just like you two.”
“There’s two other guys who look like us?”
“God help me,” Gennaro said to the ceiling. “They’re looking for you, idiot. And if you stay in town they’ll find you.”
While Jimmy picked up the envelope and looked inside, Snapper asked, “How long do we stay away?”
“As long as it takes. Call in once a week. Rosa will let you know when it’s okay to come back.”
Jimmy whispered to Snapper, then Snapper looked into the envelope.
“There’s only five hundred dollars,” Snapper said.
Gennaro stared at him. “And?”
“We’ll need more than that.”
Gennaro snorted. “You’re lucky I’m giving you anything at all. Now get the hell out of here.”
The two men quickly ducked out of the room, nearly running over Rosa in the process.
Once she squeezed by them, she said, “Stefan Howard’s on the phone,” then she turned and left.
Stefan was the guy who’d hired Gennaro to have Paul Weston beat up.
Gennaro swore to himself, then went into the kitchen and picked up the extension there.
