Page 63 of Kingpin
Dominic
Alannah never mentions Abram. She never asks what the guys did with his body, or how they did such a great job cleaning up the mess in her living room. She never asks me how I feel about it, and I never ask her. It’s over, and everything goes back to normal. At this point, she probably doesn’t even believe there’s such a thing as normal for me, and that’s fine, because the most important thing is that she has accepted it. So, as I drive her to Mercy Hospital after two days of privacy and separation from the rest of the world, I find comfort in her comfort. She’s able to believe she can relax and let her guard down now. We have a real shot at happiness now that the drama is over. At least, that’s how she sees it.
I know better.
There’s always drama in Our Thing. I haven’t gone back to the hospital to see Tommy yet, because I didn’t want to risk seeing Frankie and starting up a whole new dramatic scene for the people in the waiting area. I do know, however, that Tommy made it out of surgery just fine. The docs at Mercy did a great job removing the bullets from his back, and he woke up from surgery yesterday. He’ll be in the hospital for a few more days, so I plan to go see him since I’m taking Alannah to Mercy anyway. I don’t know if Frankie is going to be there or not, but Tommy’s my guy, and I’ve got to go see him. So, I’m just hoping everything stays as cool as Alannah believes it is.
“You nervous?” Alannah asks as I park my BMW. She looks better now, if that’s possible. Her face doesn’t carry as much stress as it did when the Abram thing was going on. Even with her hair in a bun and the purple scrubs, my Alannah is untouchable. She’s perfection.
“Umm, no, not really,” I reply, although I’m not sure if I’m telling the truth or not. “I don’t have a reason to be nervous, I guess. I’m just glad I can tell him the guy who shot him is gone for good.”
“Yeah, that’ll be good for him to hear, and it’ll be good for you guys to talk. I’m sure he wants to see you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
As we walk inside, I’m not sure what the hell Tommy might be thinking. The guys in my crew know I killed Abram, and I’m sure they told Tommy, but this shit with Frankie makes things a little murkier. When there’s a beef with the boss—or the acting boss, in this case—The Family always chooses the side of the boss. So, if you’re on the other side of that, the people you trust most could be the ones to put a bullet in the back of your head. That’s the life we live in La Cosa Nostra. It doesn’t make sense to anybody but us, but it’s our way of life. We love each other, and we hope to make money together, but we kill each other.
Alannah and I walk into the hospital together, but I make sure no one sees us holding hands. After what we just went through with Abram, I don’t need anybody else seeing us and thinking they can use her as leverage against me. What I love about Alannah is that when I told her public displays of affection might be a bad idea, she didn’t snap at me about it. She understood. I guess being tied to a chair because someone saw us together is enough to convince anybody.
I walk Alannah to the nurse’s station, and I tell her goodbye and that I’ll see her when she gets off. We kissed in the car, so we don’t do it here. In fact, we barely look at each other as I walk away. Better safe than sorry.
I walk down the hall with my hands in the pockets of my black suit, looking far ahead at the end of the hall to see if I can see anyone from The Family. Skinny Joe told me what room Tommy was in, so when I get close to it, I’m surprised I don’t see anyone around. I told Skinny I was going to be here around this time, so I’m a little confused as to why no one else is here, not even Skinny Joe or Charlie. Tommy’s room is completely unguarded, which I guess is because Abram’s dead now, so they figure the threat’s gone. I guess that makes sense; but why isn’t anybody else with Tommy?
I make it to the room and glance inside to see him. He looks normal, honestly. There aren’t any tubes sticking out of his mouth, and there’s no machine breathing for him, and he’s not surrounded by doctors with clipboards and stethoscopes. That’s all good, because it means he’s doing okay. He’s out of the woods and just waiting for time to pass so he can recover, so I feel good when I walk in to find his eyes open and a smile on his face.
“Look what the fucking cat drug in,” he says, grinning from ear to ear. “How you doing, Dominic?”
“I’m fine, man, but I ain’t worried about me, I’m worried about you,” I reply as I lean over to give him a hug, making sure not to handle him too roughly. “How you feeling,paisan?”
“Well, aside from the two holes in my fucking back, I’m doing alright. I’m ready to get the fuck outta here, I tell you that much. I heard you caught up to that Abram motherfucker.”
I pull a chair from the corner of the room and take a seat next to Tommy’s bed with a smile pulling at my lips.
“Fucking right,” I reply. “It was crazy how it happened, but it happened. He’s gone.”
Tommy’s face doesn’t seem as happy as I expected it to be. I figured the other guys would tell him about Abram’s demise, but I expected him to seem more grateful. His face goes blank as he looks at me, then it shifts to something else entirely. He seems pissed, and I’m confused.
“What’s the matter, Tommy?” I ask, never the one to wait for an explanation for something like this.
“Why’d you kill him, Dominic?” Tommy asks. He looks me in the eye and doesn’t look away.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Why’d you kill Abram?”
“I killed him for a lot of reasons, Tommy,” I try to explain, as the realization that I’m unsure of the answer dawns on me.
“Where’d you kill him?” Tommy asks, and I know where this is going now.
“At Alannah’s house.”
“Right, so did you kill him because he shot me, or because he shot at you, or because he threatened your girl?
I want to answer, but I’m not sure of what the truth is, so the words never come out.
“Frankie seems to think the only reason you killed Abram, is because he went over your girl’s house and tied her up. He thinks it had nothing to do with avenging me.”
“Fuck that,” I interrupt. “I don’t know what Frankie’s deal is with Alannah, man. He never liked that I was spending time with her, even though you have a fiancé, and every capo has a wife, including him. I don’t understand why he’s so bothered by me seeing her, but it doesn’t even matter, Tommy. You and I both know I wanted Abram dead before I started spending time with Alannah.”
