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I get down to the street, and I can see where I am. 19th precinct. About as close to Wrigley Field as I can get. I walk that way. People move aside as I approach. I’m guessing the bruises on my face aren’t exactly appealing.
I get to the baseball ground, walking to gate fifteen, the only one open. I go through it, and at once, it swings shut. “How’s it going?”
“You look like shit.” My father emerges out of the darkness with a cigar in his hand. “Enjoying freedom?”
“That Captain Hall, she one of ours?”
“We have a mutual acquaintance. Let’s put it that way.”
“No, let’s put it this way. Who’s she working for?”
“Same person as you and me.”
“Stop talking in riddles, father. I’m too tired for this shit.”
“She works for the commission.”
“Since when does the commission help out a family like this? Aren’t they just supposed to clean up the mess when it’s all done and dusted?”
“Brody is kicking up a stink, and he needs dealing with. Hall can’t do anything without it leading back to her.”
“So she wants me to kill a cop?”
“Not at all. She wants the same thing I want, an orderly transition so I can retire in peace and try to spend some time in Rome before I die.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault Brody’s got a stick up his ass about me.”
“Isn’t it? You took his girlfriend off him. She died in your arms.”
“You arranged the marriage. I never even wanted to be with her. Don’t pin this on me.”
“I’m not here to bicker with you, Hunter. I’m here to sort this mess out. Are you willing to listen to me?”
“Sure, it’s not like I’ve got many choices.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’ve got all the choices in the world. You could return to the station and take your chances with the law. Or you could walk away from all this and live in the mountains. Change your name and chop wood for the rest of your life. Or you could listen to what I’m going to say and become head of this empire like I know you want.”
“You want me in charge? Hand over the reins.”
He sighs. “It’s not that simple. The commission has standards to uphold. Me too. I can’t simply give everything to the younger son.”
“You’re the Don. Who’s going to stop you?”
“Ernesto would be all over you like a rash forever if I simply chose you. He would never leave you alone.”
“So kill him.”
“I am many things, Hunter, but I am not a murderer.”
“Except your wife. My mother.”
“You want to know why I killed her?”
“You told me. To assert order.”
“That’s the lie I told you because the truth is far more unpalatable. She’d been fucking Brody’s father behind my back. Alfred Brody. Not only that, but they’d been planning my murder together. I only found out because I woke up to take a piss the night she was going to do it.
“She had the poison, and she was pouring it into my water when I woke up. I asked her what she was doing, and she told me to go back to sleep. Said it was all fine. I said if it’s okay, take a sip of that water. She went like she was about to, and then she poured it out, laughing as she reached into her drawer and brought out a knife.
