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When mass was over and we walked back outside into the summer sun, I felt free again. I never had any issues with my Catholicism before, but suddenly bringing my knife and a gun into a place of worship did not seem like the right thing to do. Besides, nothing had ever happened to us at mass. I should've just left them in my car. I saw Marco standing uncomfortably near the door, and I wondered if he felt the same way.
“It's been a while since I've been here.”
He nodded to me, but his eyes were elsewhere. He was always on the lookout. It was his job.
“What did the father say? Did he ask where you’ve been?”
I shrugged. “He told me to make sure I start coming back to confession. But I did my confessions in prison. I was one of the most religious guys in there. I didn’t want to take up all the father’s time when I got out.”
We both laughed. A man walked up to us in a dark blue suit. I didn't recognize him. I noticed that his body was tense.
He had sandy blonde hair and a light complexion. I looked into his eyes but there was no recognition there.
He extended his hand to me. “I assume you’re Luka.”
There were Jersey undertones in his speech. My body went rigid.
“And you are?” I extended my own hand.
“Luis, Luis Agnelli. Is there somewhere we can go and speak in private? I don't want to disturb the parishioners.”
I lifted my hand toward the church. He nodded and walked up the steps back into the chapel. He sat down in one of the pews about halfway in. I looked over my shoulder to Marco. “No one comes in and no one comes out. Understood?”
Marco nodded and closed the doors behind me. It was so quiet. Rarely had I come to the church when it was empty. A couple times, I'd come to pray as a teenager. Especially after Vienna had been taken. I felt small in its presence. I sat behind him and he turned around to face me. I wasn't expecting that.
“It seems you met with one of our dealers. He wasn't very pleased. I appreciated the handiwork.”
“I'm glad. But that doesn't tell me why you're here. We don't do business on Sundays. It’s the day of rest.”
He put up his hands. “If it wasn't important, I wouldn’t drag you away from your family time. I only just got out of mass myself. I understand.”
“Fine. What is it you want to talk about?”
“You have a rat. And he is playing you.”
“Armani…”
“So you already know then. And Vienna? What do you know about her?”
He was smart, and he knew too much. I couldn’t kill him here. Not in the church. I cracked my knuckles. But he couldn’t threaten the mother of my child either.
“I think the question is here, what do you know? I haven’t seen her in years, but I recently heard she is running with your family now, is that true?”
“Haven’t seen her, really? I’ve heard otherwise.”
I maintained my innocence. “Why would she be here?”
“No idea. A little crush I guess? Everyone knows you’re out. Armani has been talking.”
“And now so have you.”
He shrugged, “Not the same. See Armani got planted here by Roberto, to keep an eye on you. He wasn’t supposed to do any real business. But he got greedy, and he took some of my customers. I told Roberto but he won’t listen. So I figured I’d tell you, and you could take care of the problem for me.”
“Sounds fair, you get your business back, we get revenge on a rat. But Roberto will kill you if he finds out.”
“Doubt it.”
Roberto killing him wasn’t my problem, why did I care?
