Page 17 of Shakedown in Savannah

“Scumbags. The lender is obviously compounding the interest.”

“Is this legal?” Carlita asked.

“Is anything the mafia does ever legal? What’s the deal? I mean, what do they want?”

“I don’t know yet. They’re meeting with me, Tony, and Mercedes tomorrow morning.”

“Because the properties are jointly titled,” Vinnie said. “Do you think they’re legit? I mean, do you think you owed someone money?”

“It’s possible I signed for something blindly, having no idea what it was. I asked for proof. They said they would have it in the morning.”

“I can put some feelers out,” her eldest son said. “Try to figure out what’s going on.”

“I would appreciate it. The offer is basically a take it or leave it.”

“Take it or you’re gonna pay for it in some other way,” Vinnie said.

“Right. The possibilities are cause for concern.”

“Blowing your place up. Setting it on fire. Filling it full of bullets.”

“Pete seems to think it’s gonna be a shakedown.”

“I have to agree. A good old-fashioned mafia shakedown.”

Carlita could hear tapping on the other end.

“What time tomorrow morning?”

“Nine.”

“There’s no way I can make it there in time.”

“You don’t have to come down here. Besides, I’m not sure what you’ll be able to do to help.” Carlita suggested he hold off until they had more information.

“It’s a deal. In the meantime, like I said, I can do a little digging around. Did they give you a name?”

“They did. Danny Lombardo. Does his name ring a bell?”

“Nope. I’ll see what I can find out.” Vinnie promised to call his mother back as soon as he had more information.

Carlita thanked him. She ended the call and waved her phone in the air. “Vinnie’s going to try to figure out who Danny Lombardo is.”

“Are you going to call Mercedes and Tony?”

“I might as well. There’s no sense in prolonging it. Something tells me these two aren’t leaving town until they give the Garlucci family a good, old-fashioned shakedown.”

Chapter 6

Carlita rubbed the back of her neck and stared out the window. “We all gotta be on the same page when these two guys show up at nine.”

“Before we agree to anything, I want to make sure the debt is legit,” Tony said. “For all we know, these could be a couple of mafia wannabe scammers who are trying to make a quick buck.”

“What about Vinnie?” Mercedes asked. “Have you heard back?”

“He called first thing this morning and said he was still working on it,” Carlita said. “Unfortunately, we won’t have much information going into this.”

“Like I said, we’re not agreeing to anything right off the bat. We’re going to tell them we need to look into it, which will buy us some time.”

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