13. Frankie
Chapter 13
Frankie
I look around as the barman runs over and puts his arm around me.
“Oh my god! Are you okay? I’ve called 911,” he tells me.
“I’m okay. I can’t believe he did that. We’d been talking, but when I got back from the ladies, he was just on the ledge. I tried to get him down … Do you know what happened while I was gone?” I ask, my concern obviously appearing genuine.
“Not that I saw. I’m sorry,” he says, leading me over to the bar.
“Can’t you look at the cameras,” I ask, almost certain that they don’t cover the far corner but wanting to make sure.
“They don’t cover the far side, so it won’t show anything. I really wish I could help, but the police will be here soon. Here, drink this, it’ll help with the shock.” He hands me a glass of what looks like vodka.
I leave it on the side and head back to the table, picking up my wine glass and placing it in my clutch. Moving toward the door I keep my head facing away from the cameras again and leave to go through to the bar inside.
Spotting the guy from earlier, I place my hand on his arm and tug him gently. “You ready to leave now?” I wink at him, and he smiles, then turns to the few of his friends that are left.
“Hey, guys, I’m leaving. See you tomorrow.” His hand rises in a wave, and he leads me out the door, his hand resting low on the bottom of my back, and that’s when I pounce.
I frantically start kissing him as we attempt to make our way downstairs. I can hear the sirens and people screaming as we get to the lobby.
He pulls back and looks around at all the commotion. I pull his face toward me, needing him to cover me as I can’t be sure of the camera angle on the way out.
We get outside as the police rush in, and I put my face into his chest as we fall between the crowds behind the cordon that is being put up.
I sigh and feel the rush of adrenaline … I made it out!
“Jesus! I wonder what happened there, it looks like someone jumped,” he tells me.
“Kinda puts a downer on things, don’t ya think?” I say, looking up at him. “Maybe another time.” I move away from him and start walking down the sidewalk.
“Hey, what about your number,” he calls.
“Yeah, sure, call me,” I tell him.
“Great, speak soon.” He waves and I get a few more steps before the moron calls back, “I don’t have your number.”
Turning to face him, I shrug and salute him.
I pull my phone from my purse, cursing myself that I have wine inside my bag because I didn’t empty the glass properly … as if I want to go fucking bag shopping!
Finding Tony’s number, I press call, and he answers on the first ring.
“Are you fucking serious, Frankie,” he shouts.
“Hey, Tony, how are you?” I ask sarcastically.
“Can you tell me why O’Connor’s body is splattered all over the sidewalk in midtown.”
“You want to talk about this over the phone?” I ask.
“Frankie!”
“Fine, I did what you asked. I don’t know what you're shouting at me for? I was just about to text the boss.”
“It was supposed to be natural causes, Frankie. Now his brother will want to investigate this, and there’s no way they’ll take this as a suicide,” he rants.
“What … he did die of natural causes,” I tell him.
“You pushed him from the top of a fucking bar, Frankie, how is that natural causes?” I hear him bang what sounds like the leather of his steering wheel.
“Gravity,” I tell him simply.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” He sighs.
“No, gravity is natural, and I did it my way. You’ll have to trust me on this one. No one will look into his death,” I tell him confidently.
“Jesus, Frankie!” I can see it now, and I bet his face is getting redder and redder.
“Look, the target was banging on all night about his brother, how he never takes him seriously, so I just simply took his phone and sent a farewell message. Trust me, they won’t be looking.” I sigh. “You know what, Tony, I’m getting really pissed that you feel the need for me to explain what I’m doing. I’m solid, reliable, and most of all, the job gets done cleanly. Why aren’t you riding the other guys’ asses about the jobs they go on?” I shout.
“Look, this one was important. I shouldn’t doubt you, but you’ve never worked for us before. We have to find a rhythm.” He seems to have calmed down but I haven’t.
“I have stuff to do, catch you tomorrow.” I cut the call before he can.
Before I get to the actual message I’ve been dying to send all night, I pull up the boss man’s number and send a text.
Me: Done.
I wait for a few minutes and nothing. I hear a ping from my phone but it’s my banking app not a message.
Jesus fucking Christ … how much! So, the guy doesn’t respond to messages, but he pays well.
He is obviously happy with what went down tonight otherwise he wouldn’t have paid.
I smile to myself and want to call Tony back to tell him I was right, but I have more important things to do or someone more important to do right now.
My fingers type quickly over the screen to let Nicolas know that tonight I’ll be heading to the club and should be there in the next half an hour.
I’m surprised to get a response almost instantly, telling me that the room’s booked and he will be there as soon as he can.
Reading his message causes a flutter in my tummy, and the adrenaline from tonight has me even more worked up than my usual sparring sessions but seeing his response and knowing what he can do has me hailing a cab rather than taking the subway. A stupid move I feel. I didn’t want to have anything that could link me being close to the bar tonight, but as soon as I knew he’d be there I couldn’t wait. I needed to get across town.
With my head down, I ask to go to the diner on the corner close to the club, it’s something at least … a girl can only try. I have a man I could only ever dream about coming to meet me, so I’ll allow myself the momentary loss of common sense.
Handing the driver some cash, I get out and head to the club. Waiting in line to check-in is the most annoying part, but I must speak to Tony. There has to be some way to speed this process up … If only there was something like the internet so we could do an online check-in, I mean we are in the 21st Century for fuck’s sake!
Finally, I get through, bypassing the coat check in, and head straight for Cat and let her know the room is booked.
“Yes, it is, but you can’t take your belongings in with you. You should have checked them in.” She smiles, looking down at my bag.
“I know and I checked everything else in, but I need my phone in case of an emergency,” I explain to her.
“House rules, I’m afraid.” She shrugs and points me back in the direction of the check in.
I sigh, turning on my heel and almost jog back up. Opposite the check in is a ladies’ bathroom that I slide into and snap the lock shut.
Taking my phone, I put it down my top, sitting it between my breasts. I don’t want to miss a message from him and sit there all night waiting!
Hurrying out, I pass my bag over and head back down to Cat, who now lets me through.
I go into the room that feels so familiar now, and it makes me feel calm. I head to the bed, sit and look around. My mouth drops open with what’s sitting in the middle of the floor.