“Hey, how’s that thing on the Esplanade going?”
“7am in the morning and that’s what you’re calling to ask about? Yeah right. What do you know?”
I act confused. “What doIknow? What do you mean—What do I know?”
“I mean you wouldn’t be calling me at the frigging crack of ass unless you knew something.”
“Knew something about what?”
He huffs out a breath, “Look, I’ve got a situation here. I don’t have time to fuck around. If you know something, start talking. Otherwise…”
I pause to make it sound like I’m hesitant, then say, “I might have a situation myself. I was wondering if you’d heard anything?”
“Heard anything about what?”
“You know…anything…anything going on?”
“Aboutwhat?”
I add another long pause before saying, “Armenians.”
“Armenians?”
“Yeah, Armenians.”
“Armenians, huh?” He says it like it makes sense.
“Yeah. Heard anything?”
“Maybe…” I can practically see him nodding through the phone…like he’s thinking.This is working.“Our friend with the stomach?”He’s talking about another capo named, Bennie Lupo.When we say ‘our friend’ that means he’s a ‘made guy’.
“Yeah?”
“There was a thing yesterday with one of his guys. Armenians maybe. I don’t know.”
“A thing?”
“Was doing his collections. He won’t be coming back.”
“Listen,” I try to sound worried, “this might be a problem. If you hear anything, I’d consider it a favor to me personally, if you’d let me know.”
“Same with you?”
“Of course.”
“Alright, I’ll talk to you.”
*Click*
“Whew,” I look at Francis, “that was fucking close.”
“Did he buy it?”
“Who the fuck knows? I think so. Time will tell. You need evidence before you accuse somebody. At least now he’s looking in the wrong direction. Word will spread. He trusts me.”
“Okay, I gotta go. I’m late. I’m sorry Anthony.”
“Yeah,” I pat my brother on the back as I push him out the door.