CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Three hours later and Mick and Teddy arrived at the hospital in Vegas only to find Robby asleep in his hospital bed. Roz hurried to Gemma and Reno and Trina, who also lived in Vegas. But Mick and Teddy looked at Sal, and all three of them stepped out in the corridor.
“How’s Roz?” Sal asked.
“She’s managing.”
“She couldn’t make it?”
“She’s preoccupied with two-a-day rehearsals in New York,” Mick said. “She’s got an opening night coming up in less than three weeks.”
“What happened, Uncle Sal?” Teddy asked.
“The guys forgot to secure the beams before they started moving them on a scaffold. One got away.”
“Damn,” said Teddy.
“It could have been all of them falling. None of them had been properly secured. And if Robby hadn’t pushed me out of the way, it would have been my ass trapped underneath that beam too.”
“How’s Robby doing?” Teddy asked.
“Great considering. He didn’t break any bones, thank God. Got a big fat bruise on his leg, but other than that he’s mostly just shook up. But he’ll recover.”
But Sal knew Mick came to Vegas to get an answer to one question only. “Was it an accident, Sal Luca?”
Sal nodded. “I already thought about that. But yes, from everything I’ve seen, it was an accident. I told you that over the phone.”
“We’ve been having lots of accidents lately.”
Sal agreed. “I get that. But this was an accident. Frankie wouldn’t try to kill me.”
“I told Pop that,” said Teddy.
But Mick wasn’t hearing it. “You people have been giving Monk Paletti too many benefits of the doubt for my taste. And for far too long. A man with a syndicate to run has to look out for his syndicate first and last. He’s an ally when he can be an ally. He’s the enemy when he has no other choice.”
“But why would he do it, Uncle Mick?” asked Sal. “Why would he come for Robby? That don’t make no sense.”
“Maybe you were the target,” said Mick.
But that made it even more nonsensical to Sal. “Why would he come after me? I didn’t do shit to him and neither did Robby. This is Frankie we’re talking about. You’re barking up the wrong tree on this one.”
“For real,” said Teddy.
But they both could tell that Mick wasn’t at all convinced.