Page 72 of Ruining Vanessa

“I can’t believe he just fucking blabbed like that,” Tiago agrees as we head toward the car. “You think Mancini is going to murder him?”

“Definitely wanted to.” I laugh, although it sounds fake to my ears. “We’ll know which door to start knocking on if we find baby Romano’s body in a ditch somewhere.”

“Yeah right. If anything, we’ll discover baby Romano sealed into concrete, like ten years down the line. I know how these mobsters work.” Tiago shakes his head. “If that kid’s a Romano, Mancini can’t just have him killed. Sounds like there’s big trouble brewing, though. I think if we ask around a few more places, we can tell the 52nd precinct we tried, we really did, but we’re more worried about a gang war breaking out on the streets than their runaway cop. Because, let’s face it… We still don’t have proof Baca is even dead. Until they find a body, I’d say this is low priority.”

It’s pretty high priority for me, and I’ll have to play this carefully. If one of his guys is talking to the Romanos about shit like that… Yeah, I’m not liking where that could go at all. I need to find out who it is before they cause any more damage.

“Agreed. I’ve already been by Ntimacy and Ruby’s and all, so there’s really no need to go back. I have the names of the gay clubs anyway, and we’ve checked those out too.” I shrug. “I guess I can double back anyway and ask some questions, but I’m not getting us involved in a war.”

I need to figure this problem out, but I can’t tell Giulio. He’s been a loose cannon as it is. Fuck.

“Anyway, let’s get back. I’m fucking hungry.”

Damien, then. I’ll get in touch with Damien and see if we can hash this out before we bring Giulio’s crazy ass into this mess.

This is going to be a long, long night.

18

DAMIEN

“Coffee?” I ask Slayer, motioning to the pot on the counter. There’s an empty mug sitting next to it already, waiting for him.

Out of everybody who could visit me late at night, Slayer is at the bottom of the list for me. But I couldn’t leave the apartment, not with…

…Not with Vanessa sleeping peacefully on the couch. She’s been here for almost a week, recovering from the cuts that Slayer had given her. Part of me still wants to punch Slayer for that, but I’ve managed to calm down since I first saw the injuries.

Giulio’s random visits had helped defuse my ire, too. He’s still in a strange mood, but he’s no longer taking it out on Vanessa, at least.

“Yeah, please,” Slayer says with more manners than I’d have given him credit for. He heads straight to the coffee pot and pours some into the mug I’d left for him. “Thanks for letting me drop by. This is probably something I should talk to Giulio about, but…” He trails off as he takes a gulp of the hot coffee.

The fact that Slayer is calling him Giulio and not Jules speaks volumes.

“Yes. I know.” I take a sip from my own mug and sit by the breakfast bar, angling myself so I can watch Vanessa. “It really couldn’t wait until morning?”

“It looks like there’s a mole in one of Giulio’s clubs. Someone who knows about a certain missing person,” Slayer says bluntly. “Someone who told Nilo Romano about it.”

I wish I could be more shocked about it, but in this line of business, there’s always somebody who thinks they can get rich by selling out the organization, or at least use it as a get-out-of-jail-free card. But that missing person… There aren’t a lot of people who know about him. The ones who’d helped dispose of the body had no clue who the guy was.

“Why are you talking with Nilo Romano anyway?” I ask. “He’s the… Which one was he? Not the oldest Romano son. We just had dinner with him this week.”

“The one who looks like a kid,” Slayer says with a grimace.

Right, the one Giulio had taunted so often in the past few weeks. I’d almost forgotten about him because of how insignificant he is in the grand scheme of things, but Giulio must have left an impression on Nilo. He tends to do that.

“We had to stop by The Web to chat with the manager, and Mancini shows up with Nilo Romano in tow. Romano was pretty happy to try to throw ‘the fag,’” Slayer made quotes with his fingers, “under the bus. Says he has a contact.” He pauses, then his eyes meet mine. “Worst part? My fucking partner was with me.”

My hands tighten around my coffee mug. More witnesses. “Is your partner the type to follow up on this?”

Slayer hesitates, then slowly shakes his head. “I don’t think so. He thinks Giulio Pavone is insane, and he wants nothing to do with it. I told him I’d double check, but we’ve already gone through his clubs. He shouldn’t be writing paperwork on it since he had a lap dance when we were there, but I just don’t know. I don’t like it.”

I don’t like it either. I put my coffee down so I can rub at my brow. “What was Nilo Romano doing there anyway? The Romanos don’t deal in sex.”

He shakes his head. “He’s the fucking assistant manager. Or at least, he was. Mancini probably fired him. He was fuming when Nilo kept talking.”

“I’ll talk with Mancini,” I say. “He’s usually reasonable. But he owes a lot to the Romanos, so he probably can’t simply fire Nilo.”

Slayer grimaces. “If you talk to Mancini, you’ll have to be careful. He asked us to keep it on the downlow, what Nilo said, and I don’t want him realizing you’ve got either me or Tiago on payroll.”

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