AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So, we zig-zagged around Brooklyn, picking up random things I thought Dad would like—a cheesecake from Junior’s, whiskey from the liquor store, knishes from a deli just off Ocean Avenue. Brandon had the brilliant idea of stopping at a mall to purchase an iPod and a music streaming service. Dad, of course, wouldn’t be able to listen to his records downstairs while he was on bedrest.
When we stopped for some of Dad’s favorite challah from a bakery on Ditmas Avenue, David ended up parking the car across the street from Nick’s bar.
I knew it was a bad idea, but I had too much angry energy built up after the hospital visit. I decided to pop in to see if Nick had delivered my message. Maybe I wouldn’t have to wait until Monday to talk to the guy who had beaten my father senseless.
“I’ll be right back,” I called through the backseat window to Brandon, who was on another phone call.
“What?” he mouthed, but I just tossed the bread on the seat and took off across the street.
Considering it was only a few hours into the afternoon, Nick’s wasn’t technically open, but I guessed he would get there early to prepare for sound check and do inventory or whatever else was needed to open a bar. I was right.
The narrow space seemed even darker than usual in contrast with the bright sunshine.
“Nick?” I called as my eyes adjusted enough to make out his lumbering form behind the bar, where he was refilling bowls of nuts.
Nick looked up with surprise. “Hey, kid. What are you doing here?”
“I just came to drop off that message,” I said as I approached.
“Ah, well, actually, funny you should say that…”
Nick nodded his square-shaped head in the direction of the stage, where a small card table had been set up and was surrounded by four men in cheap slacks and button-down shirts. I recognized the one closest to us immediately: Victor Messina.
“What’s he doing here?” I whispered.
Was this where Dad had run up his debts? I doubted his trouble was only stirred up at a horse track.
Nick shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. “It’s a free country, baby girl, and the bar’s open. But I don’t know about this, kid...”
I looked suspiciously back at the table, which was littered with glasses of liquor and lit cigars. Normally it was illegal to smoke inside public establishments in New York, but these guys didn’t seem to think there was any problem.
“I heard my name. What can I help you with, honey?”
Messina strode up and gave me a head-to-toe look that made me want to jump into a shower. He looked exactly as I remembered. His stumpy form was a walking cliché for a small-time gangster: short and stocky with slicked black hair, meaty hands, and a paunch that tested the buttons of his thin blue shirt. He grinned lasciviously, revealing a mouth of crooked, tobacco-stained teeth.
“You look familiar, doll,” he said. “Do I know you?”
It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. This guy thought he was Lucky Luciano.
“She’s Danny’s kid,” Nick put in quietly before skittering to the other side of the bar to busy himself stacking glassware.
Messina looked at me up and down again, this time a bit more critically. “That’s it. You got the face. Them freckles like his. Guys, you see them freckles?” He looked back to where his cohorts chuckled, but when he turned, his eyes hardened. “You wearing a wire, cutie?”
I sighed, then undid the top two buttons of my sweater and spread it across my chest so he could see that there was no listening device.
Messina eyed my modest cleavage appreciatively. I clapped my sweater closed, and his belly jiggled when he chuckled again.
“Pants too,” he said as he beckoned with a few beefy fingers.
I grimaced, but unzipped my jeans to reveal the top of my underwear.
“Lace, huh? Very nice. We got a fancy girl here,” Messina leered.
“Everything okay?”
I whirled around to find Brandon striding quickly down the long tunnel of the bar front. His eyes flicked angrily down to my undone pants, which I quickly refastened.
“Fine,” I told him, giving him my best “get the hell out of here” look I could muster. “You can wait for me outside. We’re just finishing up.”
