Chapter 29

"Looking back, I'm sure Barnie wasn't too happy when he found out Mr. Garlucci planned to open a loan and check cashing business, too."

Carlita blinked rapidly. "What did you say?"

"I said your husband planned to loan money to people. Have you ever heard the term shylock?" June didn't wait for an answer. "More than one person told me your husband was a shylock."

"I'm not sure who told you that. Rumors certainly know how to travel," Carlita answered evasively.

"Did you mention this to the investigators?" Vinnie asked.

"No. Should I have?"

"You don't think Mr. Ziffra would have a problem with my husband opening a business similar to what he was running?"

"I-I suppose when you put it like that, he might have. Are you thinking…" June's hand flew to her lips. "Are you suggesting Barnie might have been behind bombing the building and the shooting?"

"It would be an interesting twist," Carlita said. "He had both motive and opportunity."

"But why would Barnie kill Mr. Enzo?"

"I don't know. It's a question I would like to ask Mr. Enzo's associate, Mr. Costanza," Vinnie said. "If we could locate him."

The color drained from June's face. "The other gentleman is missing?"

Carlita patted her arm. "He's around. We've caught him on camera."

"That's a relief. I've always known Barnie could be a wildcard," June admitted. "Not that I'm a saint by any means."

Carlita's radar immediately went on high alert. "Why do you think Mr. Ziffra could be a wildcard?"

"Because of the time he spent in prison. Of course, he never told me about it. I found some records online. It's been years ago."

Vinnie cleared his throat. "Do you have any idea why he was in prison?"

"For racketeering." June frowned. "Please, if you talk to him, don't mention you heard this from me. I don't want my business firebombed or for me to end up getting shot at."

Carlita made a zipping motion across her lips. "We won't breathe a word. We'll pretend we never had this conversation," she promised.

"Thank you." June made small talk and left not long after.

Carlita wandered to the window and stared out at EZ Check Cashing. A sign in the window said, "Open."

She spun around. "There's no way he's going to confess. The cops already think they have their killer—me."

"We need a plan, a way to prove it wasn't you." Vinnie rocked back on his heels, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I'm thinkin' it's time to coerce a good old-fashioned confession, family-style. But before we do, we need a few more players in place. There's also one other person we need to talk to."

"Costanza," Carlita guessed.

"Yep."

"How you gonna find him?"

"I have an idea," Vinnie said. "We might have to put off confession time until tomorrow."

"Better to get this done the right way than to rush in and mess things up," she said.

"Exactly. We need our ducks in a row before chatting with our new neighbor," her son said.

*****

"What's the plan, boss?" Luigi dangled his arm out the open car window. "We gonna give Costanza a beat down?"

"Nah. He's not who we're after. Although I'm hoping we can find him and ask him a few questions. We need to hit a few of the hot spots where he might be hanging out. The Black Stallion for sure."

"There's another place, a bar." Luigi rattled off the name. "It's right down the street from the Black Stallion Club."

Reaching the other side of town, Vinnie parked between both businesses. The club was to the right and the other bar was two buildings down on the left. Their first stop was the second hangout Luigi mentioned.

Entering the dimly lit bar, Luigi immediately approached a couple of regulars who were seated near the door. He greeted them by name. Within minutes, they discovered Costanza had made an appearance, but not the previous night. Vinnie handed the bartender, who was working until closing, a twenty and gave him his number, asking him to call if Costanza showed up.

Their next stop was the Black Stallion, where they discovered Costanza hadn't been in for a couple of days. Another twenty- dollar bill changed hands, and soon Vinnie and Luigi were back on the sidewalk.

"Now what?"

"We wait. I'm hoping he'll surface." Vinnie unlocked the car. The men climbed inside, watching as patrons entered and exited. Ten minutes passed. Twenty. Half an hour.

Luigi glanced at his watch. "How much longer do you want to wait?"

"Let's take a spin around town." Vinnie pulled out of the parking lot and drove along the river. With a few turns, they reached Morton Street. Cruising past Ziffra's check cashing place, they found it was dark except for a lone light beaming down from above the entrance door. The laundromat was the exact opposite and lit up like a Christmas tree, with bright lights illuminating the interior.

They slowly drove past and noticed someone inside doing laundry.

"I don't think I would pick this hour to do my laundry," Luigi said.

"Not unless you were packing heat," Vinnie said. "Then it might be an entertaining night out."

Luigi laughed. "Like back in the old days."

Vinnie shot his former bodyguard a side glance. "I know I've asked you this before, but do you ever miss it?"

"The family?"

He nodded.

"Once in a while. Not the job, but the people. Like you," Luigi said. "Thanks to your mother, I have a sweet life. A good job, a nice place to hang my hat, a girlfriend. I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad I made it out of the family alive."

Luigi nudged Vinnie. "What about you? Any chance you'll ever get out?"

"I always considered myself a forever family man, but as little Vin grows, I'm reconsidering."

"Carlita would love to have you here."

"I know she would." Vinnie admitted he was getting some pressure from Brittney, who wanted another baby, but not until they were away from their current lifestyle. "I got a lot to think about."

"The good news is you have options. Looking back, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat," Luigi said. "I got a family down here. Your family."

"Ma considers you one of her own."

"She's got some chutzpah," Luigi joked.

"Yes, she does. I'm proud of all Ma has accomplished." Vinnie's phone chimed. A call was coming in. "It's Phil Duce." He pressed the answer button. "Hey, Phil. What's up?"

"He's here. He just walked in."

"We're on our way." Vinnie ended the call and waved his phone in the air. "Costanza just showed up."

Following Luigi's directions, they took a shortcut through the center of town, arriving at the club moments later.

Vinnie sprang from the car and led the way inside.

Phil, who was behind the bar, caught his eye and motioned toward the pool tables on the opposite wall.

Vinnie zeroed in on the man his mother had described. Luigi circled around, heading at him from the opposite direction in case he tried to make a run for it.

Vinnie strode across the room. "Costanza?"

Costanza's head shot up. His eyes narrowed. "Who's asking?"

"Vinnie Garlucci."

Costanza spun around, ready to bolt.

Luigi was right behind him and blocked his exit.

"What's going on?"

Vinnie placed a light hand on his arm. "We want to step outside for a chat."

"I don't…"

Luigi cut him off. "And I don't think it's in your best interest not to go."

Costanza reluctantly let Vinnie and Luigi escort him out of the club.

Turning left, they walked several steps away from the entrance, far enough to have a private conversation.

Costanza jerked his arm free. "What do you want?" he growled.

"We want to know what happened to Enzo."

"What does it matter to you?"

"Because the police are breathing down my mother's neck," Vinnie said. "We both know she didn't kill your associate."

"We want to make sure the person responsible is caught," Luigi added.

"Lombardo is about to bring the hammer down on him," Costanza said.

"And then what? We know you're talking about Barnie Ziffra, the owner of EZ Check Cashing. You take him out and my mother becomes a suspect in Enzo's and Barnie Ziffra's deaths," Vinnie said. "What happened?"

"He confronted me and Enzo at the property, talking smack and threatening us. We told him he would be sorry and figured we had scared him off. Right after he left, I went to the store to grab some supplies."

"Supplies?" Luigi interrupted.

Costanza's eyes slid to the side. "Stuff."

Vinnie took a menacing step closer. "What kind of stuff?" And then it dawned on him. "You were going to finish blowing the place up."

The look on his face answered Vinnie's question. "Lombardo had it heavily insured as a beneficiary."

"So he was gonna finish taking it down and collect on the insurance." Vinnie gritted his teeth. "Technically, my mother still owns this property."

Costanza shrugged. "Hey, I'm not inside Lombardo's head. I had a job to do, and I was gonna do it."

"So you left to go buy explosives. When you came back, Enzo was dead."

"And that little weasel, Ziffra, killed him. I would bet my life on it."

"When are you taking Ziffra and his property out?" Vinnie asked.

"It's none of your business," Costanza said.

Vinnie, his eyes filled with rage, grabbed hold of the man's shirt so tightly he started choking. "You listen to me. This message is for you and Lombardo. This is Castellini family territory. You don't make another move. Do you hear me? Because if you do, you're going to join your buddy Enzo. Capisce?"

"Castellini?" Costanza gasped. "Who is a Castellini?"

"Me." Vinnie loosened his grip.

Costanza made a choking sound. "You can let me go. I'm not gonna do anything. Why didn't you tell me you were part of the Castellini family?"

"To repeat what you said—it's none of your business." Vinnie's eyes narrowed. "You can take this back to Lombardo and whoever else is involved. We'll handle Barnie Ziffra."

"When?" Costanza nervously wiped his brow. "I need more information."

"Tomorrow. You can tell them it'll be taken care of tomorrow."