“Hey,” he called. “Get some pierogies from Donatello’s, too.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah. A better attitude?”
She headed out without responding.
Three blocks from the house, she entered a park and sat on a bench far from the few others who were there, and retrieved a never-used throwaway phone from her bag. Utilizing the same voice-altering app her brother had when talking to Johnny Fratelli, she called Pinkie Ramirez’s right-hand man, Miguel Montes.
“Who is this?” he answered.
“I have a message for your boss,” she said.
“I asked you a question.”
“Tell him his cousin has a big score going down on Friday that he doesn’t want Pinkie to know about.”
“My boss has lots of cousins.”
“I’m sure he can figure out which one.”
“What kind of score?”
“A big one.”
“Either you give me something concrete or I’m hanging up and forgetting you called.”
Rosa paused, then said, “Eduardo Buono.”
“Who?”
She hung up and sat there for a moment, hardly believing she’d finally set into motion her longed-for revenge.
She then strolled out of the park in the direction of the grocery store.
Stefan might not have beengreat at following people in a car, but he was an expert at trailing someone on foot.
Not sure how he was going to get his revenge on Gennaro, he’d been watching the man’s house from down the street, hoping doing so would spark an idea, when a woman who looked to be in her forties exited Gennaro’s place.
If not for the frown on her face and the severe way her hair was pulled into a bun, some might have considered her to be pretty.
Not Stefan, of course. She was way too old for his tastes. Besides, someone really needed to tell her to smile more.
As she neared him, he picked up a vibe of nervous excitement, like she was up to something secret.
Intrigued, he decided to follow her.
When she turned into a park a few minutes later, Stefandid the same, but on a path parallel to her that circled around on the opposite side of a playground.
The choice turned out to be perfect, because she soon sat on a bench that put her back to him. This allowed him to sneak in close and overhear her make a phone call.
As soon as she started talking, he recognized her voice as that of the woman who sometimes answered Gennaro’s phone. The conversation was short, but fascinating. After it was done, she got up to leave. This time, he did not follow her.
The woman was a sneaky one. He had no doubt that the “cousin” she’d just ratted out was Gennaro. Why else leave the house to make a call like that?
“A big score on Friday, huh?” Stefan whispered to himself.
It sounded like an excellent opportunity to make Gennaro pay for his disrespect. All Stefan had to do was figure out a way to throw a wrench into the works.
