Page 11 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

And then he angrily threw his gun against the wall, shattering it.

He hated being put in that position. He hated doing what Graft forced him to do. He averted a war with a vicious man when Robby sniffed out what Graft was up to, but Sal still didn’t know the true extent of the damage. What secrets did Graft give away? He declared nothing much. Even as they beat him to a pulp, he was still declaring he did not tell any real secrets. But Sal didn’t believe that shit for a second.

He left the room.

“Throw out the trash,” Robby ordered the capos, as he looked one last time at Big Graft. “And clean up the mess too.” Then he hurried down the stairs behind Sal.

When they got outside, in the fresh Chicago air, Robby exhaled and shook his head. “Some bad business, Boss. Big Graft knew better. He of all people knew better than to pull that shit.”

“Put some guys undercover in Delarosa’s enterprise,” Sal ordered Robby. “I need to know what Dela knows.”

“Dela claims he don’t know nothing. He pretty much backed up what Graft said.”

“Yeah but that’s only because he knew his ass was dead if he admitted knowing more than that surface shit.”

“But what about the truce we have with him?”

“We’ll hold up our end,” said Sal. “But that don’t mean we’ll do that shit blind,” he added as his cell phone began ringing. “Spy on his ass. I need to know what Dela knows.

“What’s the bottom-line thing you need to know?” Robby asked.

“If Graft mentioned anything about our deal with Spain. If any of Dela’s guys are talking Spain, then we’ll know his ass been briefed.”

“And then?”

“And then the truce is over, what you think?” said Sal, as he answered his call. It was Jimmy. “What’s up, James?”

“You ought to think about coming back tonight, Uncle Sal.”

“Oh yeah?” Sal said, glancing at Robby to make sure he couldn’t hear the call. “Why’s that?”

“An old boyfriend of Aunt Gemma’s showed up. Guy by the name of Kidd Curry.”

“Kidd Curry?”

Robby smiled. Sal looked at him. “You know him?”

“He used to be the lead singer forthe Brooms. Yeah, I know him.”

Sal spoke back into his cell phone. “Why is that a problem, James?”

“I don’t know, Uncle Sal. And I may be way off base. But he seemed really smitten with Aunt Gemma. And they kissed.”

Sal’s heart dropped. That was his greatest fear. Not some mobster pulling some shit like Graft pulled. Not even a mob war. But losing Gemma to another man. “What do you mean they kissed?”

“They kissed. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and they were both thrilled to see each other. They said they went to college together.”

A college guy. Sal was always intimidated by those college guys. The only college Sal ever stepped foot into was the college of hard knocks. “Did he schedule a meet up?” he asked Jimmy.

“Tonight at eight at Pilgrim’s Pond.”

Sal exhaled. All he needed. “Okay, thanks, Jim.”

“You gonna show up?”

“What is that your business? Stay in your lane,” Sal ordered as only Sal could.

“Yes, sir,” Jimmy said.

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