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“Can I speak to him at least?”
“Afraid he’s incommunicado right now. It’s for the best. Lot of pissed off Capos are looking for him for what he did.”
I feel my heart sink. “So he killed Vincenzo.”
“That’s what I thought he’d do too, but it turns out he surprised us both.”
“He didn’t kill him?”
“Vincenzo Marino is currently in custody. Got so many charges railed against him, I wouldn’t know where to start with listing them. Kidnapping, murder, drug dealing, human trafficking. You name it, he’s got it on his rap sheet. He was providing the girls for Firenze. Who’d have guessed it?”
“The guy at the wedding?”
“The pedo at the wedding. Dirty fucker had it coming to him, I tell you that. And Vincenzo was in on it all. Going down for a long time no matter how judges he’s got on his payroll. You want to know the best part?”
I say nothing. I’m still trying to process what she just said. Jack didn’t kill Vincenzo. After everything he said, he didn’t do it. Why not? I wish I could talk to him, find out the reason. What if I never get to find out?
“Your father’s safe deposit box had a memory card in it that contained a lot of things. Account books, receipts for deals, blackmail footage, bribes paid to city officials, including their names. Everything we need to make sure Vincenzo doesn’t get back out until hell itself freezes over. That’s before I get to the best part. There’s a file on there that shows him poisoning your father. Isn’t that interesting?”
“What?”
“I know, a lot to take in. Just bear all this in mind. Jack did a good thing this morning. Didn’t kill a soul. Got your Will and the proof we need to make sure Vincenzo is out of play for good. Got his niece back and you get your inheritance and a cute little Madonna figurine. Not bad for a morning’s work, is it?”
“I won’t touch that money. I told him that.”
“Reckon you’ll change your mind eventually. Stay on your high horse for now. You’ll have to come down to eat in the dirt with the rest of us, eventually.”
“That’s blood money. I won’t touch it.”
“Blood money washes clean, same as all the rest, my dear.”
“I want to speak to Jack.”
“That’s not happening. He said you were a stubborn one, and he was right. You think about this. Jack did all this to keep you and your daughter safe. Almost lost his niece to do it, but didn’t falter for a moment. Stuck to his guns. Ironic, seeing as you are so against killing. Tell me something though, if he’s such a murdering son of a bitch, how come you want to speak to him so bad?”
“I want to know why he didn’t kill Vincenzo.”
Morgan taps me on the shoulder. “Because you asked him not to.”
I turn around to face him. “What?”
“I’ll explain when you’re off the phone.”
“Don’t worry,” Imelda says down the line. “We’re about done here. Morgan’s got my number. You call me when you’re ready to take what belongs to you. Until then, you keep scrabbling for pennies and thank your lucky stars it was Jack that was given the job on you. Any other organization employee and I doubt you’d have been so lucky. Think about who gave him the job and why. Anyway, you take care.”
There’s a click, and the line goes dead. I hold the phone like it’s alive and might bite me. Feels like it just did.
Morgan takes it from me, setting it back on its cradle before resuming his seat. “Came to me long before he went off from here,” he says, smiling warmly across at me. “Asked me to go to the vault to retrieve your money from his box. Wanted me to do a couple of things while I was in there.”
He points at me, jabbing the air. “I got to thinking that maybe the organization wanted Vincenzo taking out, maybe thinking he’d got too big for his boots, wanted to teach him a real lesson about power.” He walks over to a bottle of whiskey and pours himself a generous measure. “Takes power not to kill but to punish instead. That’s what he did with your uncle. He doesn’t get the release of death. He gets to spend the rest of his life locked up and knowing that Jack was responsible. Only he wasn’t. That’s the thing. Vincenzo did all this to himself when he killed your pop and sent Jack after you, set all the wheels in motion, and then lay down in front of the train without even knowing it was coming down the track.”
“What did you do in the vault?”
“Didn’t mention that, did I? Been tweaking the plans of these Russian dudes I hacked into. They had this gas they were working on and I thought it might be worth a try in this situation. One sniff and you’re out cold for thirty minutes, no long-term effects. Like going under for surgery. Knocked out their cameras for a few minutes. Put the gas in Vincenzo’s box, gas mask in Jack’s. In they go, down goes Vincenzo, and the rest is history.” He downs his drink, pouring another, holding it high in the air. “To Jack, the cause of and solution to all my problems.”
“Where is Jack now?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
