CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Seven planes were in a holding pattern over the Jericho airfield as Sal Gabrini’s plane was cleared to land. Many of the pilots were incensed. Gabrini’s plane was like the last plane in the queue, but they had to wait for him to arrive and land before any further movement. And they all knew it was because of who he was. It was so unfair and everybody knew it.

Even Donnie Sinatra, whose plane was forced to circle, too, was especially incensed. “Why Uncle Sal gets to go first?” He was on the phone talking to his older brother Tony. “He just got here!”

“They go by clout at those smaller airfields,” Tony responded over the phone. “And Sal Gabrini has a lot of clout. It matters to some people.”

“Not to me it doesn’t,” Donnie said.

But when Donnie’s plane was cleared to land after Sal’s although he was near the back of the group of planes too, he smiled. “Now we’re talking,” he said as his plane began to descend.

“How did you get to be next?” Tony asked. “You just got there too.”

“I’m a top dog and they know it,” Donnie boasted. “I got clout too. What can I say?”

“I know what I can say,” Tony said. “I can say hypocrite with a capital H ,” he said, and both brothers laughed.

But when Donnie and Reno and Sal Gabrini made their way to Big Daddy’s house, there were plenty of complaints to go around. Mainly about why on earth would Brent let them arrest MaKayla. Anthony “Bobby” Sinatra, the mayor of Jericho and Brent’s younger brother, drove up nine minutes after they had gone inside. He hopped out of his Porsche and ran inside too.

Once Bobby walked into the kitchen and saw his kid brother Donnie, along with his older brother Tony, and Reno and Sal, and his father and stepmother, his mouth was off to the races. “Tell me I heard it wrong. Tell me that editor that called me for a comment this morning didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Please tell me that somebody. Please tell me my sister-in-law hasn’t been accused of killing Judge Alvin Clayton, and my big brother did not haul off and arrest my sister-in-law, who also happens to be his own wife!” Bobby shook his whole body when he said those words. “Tell me I’m dreaming. Somebody please tell me it’s all a dream.”

“You are so melodramatic,” said Tony. “Is that why all the ladies love you? Is that why you won reelection?”

“Is it true?” Bobby asked again.

Tony exhaled and then nodded his head. “It’s true,” he said.

Bobby leaned his head back. This was going to be a media circus!

Then Jenay looked around. “Where’s Gemma? I just realized she’s not here. I was told she’s supposed to represent Kayla.”

“She’s at the jail meeting with her as we speak,” said Sal. “We dropped her off there on our way in.”

“So Gemma’s representing Kayla?” asked Bobby. “I didn’t know that either. I didn’t know any of this shit.”

“Why would we know all the way in Vegas,” asked Reno, “when you, the pretty boy mayor of this punk ass town, just finding out?”

“Stop calling my town punk ass,” Bobby shot back.

“But you called it right, Reno,” said Donnie as he grabbed another slice of bacon from the warming tray. “He’s the pretty boy prima donna mayor that’s too glamorous to answer his phone late at night.”

“And for good reason,” Jenay said. “If he answered that phone late night, he’ll be answering it all night long. That’s how much these people expect from him. They pull him in all directions. He had to put some boundaries up or he wouldn’t get a moment’s rest.”

“Thank you, Ma,” Bobby said happily to his stepmother. “Prima donna my ass,” he added, as he looked at Donnie. Bobby Sinatra used to be a gangster himself. There was nothing prima donna about him and everybody in the family knew it.

“I’m the one who told him to keep that phone turned off after midnight,” Jenay continued. “Don’t blame him, blame me. His city emergency phone will ring if it’s that level of importance. Otherwise, no phone calls after midnight. Everything else can wait till morning.”

“And I still say that’s a bad idea,” said Charles. “A family emergency shouldn’t have to wait until morning.”

“But is all of it true?” Bobby asked again. “Is the murder charge true? Is that judge actually dead? And did Brent arrest MaKayla knowing full well she couldn’t have done something like that?”

“It’s true,” said Jenay. “It’s all true.”

“Ain’t that something?” said Reno. “He arrested his own wife. I’m still getting over that shit. It’s like me arresting Trina. Man, the firestorm that would cause!”

“An earth-shattering firestorm,” said Donald. “She’ll grab you across that table and whoop your ass again, Uncle Reno.” Everybody tried not to laugh.

“Very funny,” Reno said. “I had bumps and bruises for weeks behind that woman’s rage!”

Most of them couldn’t help it. They burst into laughter.

But their laughter quickly ceased when Bonita Sinatra, Big Daddy’s youngest child and the only child he had with Jenay, could be heard yelling for her parents.

Everybody jumped up and ran to see what was distressing her. But Donald grabbed another slice of bacon and eased his way into the living room. He was a man who took his time nowadays, a direct contrast from the impulsiveness of his youth. In his dark-blue Valentino suit with its Vlogo signature embroidery and his thousand-dollar haircut, he wore his newfound wealth and gravitas well.

When he walked into the living room, the family and Bonita were gathered around staring at the television set as a commercial was ending and the newscast that had teased new news about the DA’s arrest was just coming back on.

“Breaking news about the arrest of District Attorney MaKayla Sinatra,” the female anchor said. “Morning Eight has just obtained footage of Mrs. Sinatra’s husband, Police Chief Brent Sinatra, and how he spent his night after he arrested her, an arrest that sent shockwaves throughout the community.”

“Oh Lord,” said Reno. “How did he spend his night? Don’t tell me it was with another woman.”

Everybody looked at Reno as if he was insane. “ Another woman ?” asked Charles. “His wife is in jail and you think my boy spent the night with another woman , Reno?”

“I’m just saying,” said Reno.

“He’s just saying because that’s the kind of shit he’d pull,” said Sal. “Brent’s not you, Reno.”

“Ah fuck you, Sal,” Reno said, and Donald laughed. And then they all listened to the reporter as the anchorwoman turned it over to their man in the field.

“We’re outside of the Jericho Police Department,” the field reporter said into the camera, “but we’ve just received exclusive footage documenting what our chief of police has been up to after he arrested his own wife on suspicion of murdering Judge Alvin Clayton. This is where Chief Sinatra spent his night, ladies and gentlemen,” the young reporter said as the camera switched to a video of Brent and MaKayla seated on the jail bed with MaKayla on his lap and both of them fast asleep. “He spent his night with his wife in her jail cell. You heard it right folks. The chief of police spent the night in jail alongside his wife. A spokesman for the chief’s office confirmed the accuracy of the footage but said the chief strongly believes his wife is innocent of all charges and he therefore did not want her to spend all night alone in a cell. Although some in the community are saying that she’s only getting what she dishes out. Her bond hearing has been set for later this morning. Ben Enick reporting live for Morning Eight Jericho.”

As they moved on to other news, Bonita took the remote and turned off the TV. “This is big news, Daddy. It even made CNN because of her last name.”

“But at least this family can stop blaming Brent for doing his job,” said Jenay. “Because now everybody knows where he was all night. He was with MaKayla!”

“Yeah, Jenay, I hear you. But he still arrested her,” said Reno. “That shit ain’t never gonna sit right with me. Her ass wouldn’t be in no jail cell if he hadn’t arrested her.”

“Do facts not mean anything to you, Reno?” Tony asked him. “She was at the scene of the crime. He had no choice.”

“I don’t give a fuck where she was. Family doesn’t arrest family. Period!”

“Spoken like a man who never bothered to uphold the law a day in his life,” said Donald with a smile. He enjoyed pushing Reno’s buttons almost as much as Sal Gabrini did.

But he was no Sal Gabrini in Reno’s eyes. No matter how much money he had or power he’d earned or how bulked-up his body now was, he would always be the little kid cousin to Reno. That was why Reno gave him a look that let him know he was going too far. “Kid got money so he got more mouth now,” Reno said. Then he pointed at Donald as a warning. “Watch yourself. I’m still Reno fucking Gabrini to you.”

Donald lifted his hands in the air in surrender. He realized he had gone too far too. “It’s your world, Reno. I’m just dropping by.”

“Let’s get to the courthouse,” said Charles. “I want this over with and Kayla back home where she belongs.”

“Amen to that,” said Jenay as they all prepared to leave.