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“I can’t guarantee that as things are happening in real time. I’m waiting on information. Give me a fucking phone and only use it if you’ve got the assholes strung up and you need me to slice them up for you. Capiche?” I lean over the table to this man.

He nods sharply at me and Poppy yells, “Let’s go get Lou, because that will be easy!” And then she laughs.

I grin, “There’s my fucking girl.”

“Yes, I am and she’d appreciate a little more fucking and little less cigar smoking with Mark.” I’m glad she broke the tension but his jaw is about to crack of his body he’s so wound up.

Mark puts his hands up, “I’m out. I can’t hear any of this. I have a shadow to find. Again.” He looks at his phone and then back at us. “FYI. Josh Whittier has been texting 911 all fucking day because it’s now dire we find Cady.”

“Not for me. I know where my target is and I’ve got a different agenda to attend to.”

Not my concern. I step away from Mark and toward Poppy and that irony shit isn’t lost on me. Stepping away from the life I don’t fucking want to the one I earned.

I slide my arm around her waist. She’s still in the doorway, but I pull her gently in for a kiss. She stops me. “Mark. I know how to find a ghost.” She taps my chest. When ever I’d go to ground, she could always figure out where I was and if I was ok.

“Poppy, there’s real shit here. Talk to him. Give me an hour. I need confirmation for some things.” She leans around me to see Mark behind my back. I twist so she gets a better view.

“You’re so damn big.” I raise my eyebrows.

She whispers, “Stop it. I mean your shoulders, not the Cannoli.” Then she says in a louder voice, “If I was searching for a powerful man who didn’t want to be found, I used to call restaurants with the best braciole and ask when was the last takeout order of braciole, Spaghetti e Vongole with a side of Frittura di Calamari and a bottle of 1996 Chianti Riserva from Tuscany. Powerful people don’t like to be without their quirky creature comforts.”

“That’s awfully specific.” Mark winks at her.

“If it was ordered, I knew he was ok. You’ve been studying the man for close to twenty years, right?”

“Yes.”

“What does he love, eat, obsess over and think he deserves?”

I step back, pecking her on the lips so she can be a part of this conversation. She walks towards Mark as he begins to methodically tick things on his brain. I know him well enough to know the look. She drains the little Dole juice can she’s holding and places it on the big glass table.

“It’s funny. You never see this stuff, and then it’s everywhere. Like when you learn a new word and then everyone’s using it. This stuff is here, and it was backstage and all over that cooking expo. In the VIP areas and the green rooms.” She laughs and Mark stares at me.

I answer his unasked question. “Last time I saw this shit was four years ago at the closed door Vino Groupies’ meetings, and we didn’t know it was him back then.”

“Do you think he was at the almost sale of the wineries?” Poppy asks.

“He must have been at one of the five meetings. My crew did the security and riders. We had to have this shit. Costco didn’t have the right size of tiny cans so we had to source it.”

Mark bolts over and kisses Poppy aggressively on her head. “Brilliant!” Mark picks up a burner and replaces the sim card. That sneaky son of a bitch is getting Melissa Grady on this shit. “Give Mel my best.”

I wave to Mark as he puts a finger up and tosses me a phone. He looks alarmed, but we have to go. It’s all an emergency with this guy lately. “Do not disappear! No!” I hear him yelling back into his phone, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? No. I’m not doing that. You have to stay put. Jesus, does no one listen?” He covers the phone. “This affects you.”

“Not today it doesn’t.” I say as I salute him. No fucking way. I have my own backyard to clean up, and I know how to do it

Mark’s voice is strong and stops us in our tracks. He addresses us. “Christ. There’s might be a new situation. I need you to wait so I can get confirmation on all this shit. Fuck.”

“Not for us.”

His voice gets threatening, “Yes. Stay. Wait. Keep close. Do not go after anything. Things might be more complicated.”

I tell him straight. “I’m serious, Mark. I’m fucking out right now. I won’t fucking miss getting the drop on this asshole for your cup of Christ business. Your holy grail doesn’t exist for us. I’m leaving.” I toss the phone he gave me into the pool.

“Give me a minute! Sit your ass down. You’re not going anywhere.” He yells and goes back to his call. I gesture Poppy to the door. We’re out of here.

I lean toward him and unleash. “Out of minutes with me! Enzo dies now. I finish my own shit. I don’t care what the fuck you think you’re onto. We’re gone. If you’re bleeding out, feel free to call.”

“Stop. Christ. Sal. Sit.” I continue to walk toward the front door. “Take a fucking phone, Capo! I’ll be in touch!” Poppy scurries back and grabs one as I yank open the front door.