“If you’ll excuse me,” Stone said to Jack. “I have a plane to fly.”
Chapter 19
At the same time Stonetaxied his jet toward the runway, Gennaro walked into M.W. Hatcher’s Auto Repair in Queens and looked around the garage.
“Help you?” a young guy in greasy overalls asked.
“Murray around?” Gennaro asked.
The guy nodded toward a door at the other end of the garage. “He’s in back.”
As Gennaro picked his way around the cars that were being worked on, his phone buzzed with a text from Rosa.
Brady Carter just called and wants to know if there’s an update. Didn’t say about what, so I guess you know?
“Son of a…” Gennaro muttered. He’d actually forgotten about Carter. He would pay him for his damn tip after Fratelli had paid Gennaro. If he was in a generous mood, that was.
He paused long enough to punch out a reply and send it.
Tell him to chill. I’ll let him know when I let him know
He shoved his phone back into his pocket, then went out the garage’s rear door into the fenced-in lot behind the building. Dust-covered cars filled most of the space, some strippeddown to their frames and some that looked like they hadn’t been touched in years.
A group of three men sat at an old picnic table under a sagging awning, shooting the breeze.
One of them noticed Gennaro and whispered something to the others.
The guy with his back to Gennaro looked over his shoulder, smiled, and lurched to his feet.
“Tricky Ricky!” he declared as he lumbered over.
“Hello, Murray.”
Murray Hatcher wrapped him in a hug and slapped him on the back. Gennaro wasn’t a small man, but Murray—at six foot seven and built like a mountain—made him look tiny.
“Where you been hiding yourself?” Murray asked.
“Same place as always,” Gennaro said.
Murray’s whole chest rumbled as he laughed. “And Rosa? How’s she doing?”
“You think she’d tell me?”
They both laughed this time.
Gennaro glanced at the other two men, then whispered, “You got someplace we can talk?”
“Sure. Let’s go to my office.”
Murray led him back into the building and up a set of stairs to the second floor.
“You need a coffee?” Murray asked as they walked down the hall. “I’m sure there’s still some in the break room.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
They entered an office at the end of the hall, and Murray shut the door.
“Have a seat,” he said.
