Chapter 14
New York City
T he following morning, Giovanni was asking Frankie a multitude of questions about her evening with her friends. “How was the concert? Where did you go? Are your friends living here now?”
Frankie’s stomach was beginning to churn. She couldn’t keep lying to Giovanni. She had to tell him the truth. She sat across the table and took his hands into hers. “This is not easy for me, Gio. I do not want our relationship to be riddled with lies, and untruths.”
“Of course, cara .” The expression on Giovanni’s face was bleak. He was expecting the worst, even though he had no reason to, but he had to admit Frankie’s behavior the previous evening was odd. “Tell me. What is on your mind?”
“I lied to you about last night.” She paused. “Before you think I did anything that would hurt you, please don’t go there. I was out with Nina, but we weren’t at a concert.”
“Okay. So, what is the big lie?”
“I lied about what we were doing,” Frankie said, and continued. “Remember the woman, Carol, who got mugged outside my building?”
“Yes. The bad Santa.”
“Yes. Anyway, I saw it happened to two other Salvation Army people.”
“It is not such a nice thing.” Giovanni’s face relaxed slightly, but he knew there was more to Frankie’s story than informing him of the news.
“You know how much I enjoy solving mysteries, right?” she asked, and Giovanni nodded.
“I had one of my funny feelings, so I opened a map and pinpointed the muggings.”
Giovanni’s expression began to change again. This time he closed one eye and tilted his head. “What did you do, Frankie?” he asked calmly, but knew the answer was going to be pazzo . Crazy.
“I triangulated where the incidents happened and drew a line from each one and found an address where all the lines intersected.”
Giovanni folded his arms and leaned his elbows on the table. “Tell me you and Nina did not go to that place?”
“I can’t do that; otherwise, I’d be lying again.” Frankie waited for an explosive reaction.
“Where was this address?” he asked, and inhaled a huge vol ume of air. Then he let it out as he waited for her response.
“A warehouse area in Brooklyn.”
“You went to Brooklyn with Nina to find a warehouse?”
“Yes, but we didn’t do anything. I mean, not anything that had to do with the men in the truck.”
Frankie knew she could not un-say what she just said, knowing Giovanni was certainly going to blow a fuse.
“Two men. A truck. A warehouse in Brooklyn.” he said, slowly piecing it together. “Frankie, you put yourself in an extremely dangerous position. You are not stupid, so I don’t understand why you would do such a thing.” His voice was still calm, but stupefied.
“I know. But I was so shaken by what happened to Carol, I wanted to do something. I know the police are too busy. Then when I did the research, I got one of those vibes.” She reached over and gently touched his cheek.
“All I wanted to do was see if my hunch was correct. I wasn’t going to do anything.
Just scope it out. Take a photo if possible and send the information to the police. ”
Giovanni had a distinct Italian accent, but his English was impeccable.
It was only when his emotions were heightened, or he got excited, that his accent became much more obvious.
“You make-a the cookbooks. Not a Sherlock-a Holmes.” He took her hands again.
“Frankie, you lead-a with-a your heart, but sometimes, I wish you lead-a more with your head.”
Frankie bit the inside of her lip. There was much more to the story, but she didn’t think Giovanni could handle the wild-goose chase part of the escapade.
She also wasn’t sure she should mention her new friends.
Maybe she would never see them again, so maybe she should keep that information on the down-low for now.
“I am happy you are okay.” He kissed the back of her hands. “And you tell me the truth.”
Her stomach churned again. Better go for it and tell him everything. “We met two other women. A reporter and a long-haul truck driver.”
“Where?”
“While we were on the stakeout,” she said, and held her breath.
Giovanni blew a huff of air through his lips. “We can discuss later. I have to pick up Mama and Aunt Lucia. We have dinner with them tonight, remember?”
“Of course. And thank you for bringing the things for the memory book,” Frankie said when she spotted them on the table.
“For you? Of course.” He got up from his chair and placed his arms around her. “I’ll see you later. You stay out of trouble. Please?” He kissed her on the forehead.
“I’ll do my best,” Frankie said, with a huge amount of relief. The rest of the story would be brief. Or so she thought.
Pinewood
Charles and Fergus spent a good part of the night tracking down information regarding the warehouse and pizzeria.
Like most illegitimate businesses, the real ownership was buried behind one shell company after another.
But that wasn’t usually a problem. It was simply time-consuming.
They finally found the name of the proprietor.
It was Buchwald Barflow, who once worked for an organized-crime family in Belarus.
As they checked further, they discovered he was implicated in money laundering, human trafficking, and illegal off-track betting on the side.
Charles began to read the rest of the dossier.
“The pizzeria was once owned by Louis Amato, who also had mob ties, but his was central to New York, and it was limited to illegal betting. Lots of punters back then.” Charles was referring to gamblers.
“When sports betting became legal, he retired and sold the business to Barflow.”
“So Barflow has maintained the bookie business but is also operating from the warehouse, you think?” Fergus asked.
“Probably. He’s a dodgy bounder from what I can tell,” Charles continued. “He’s not big or bad enough for the DEA. Small-time in comparison.”
“Still, what he is doing is horrid at any level.”
“I totally agree. I think he deserves an evaluation from Myra and Annie. If the FBI, NYPD, or Interpol don’t have the resources to go after him and his little gang, perhaps there is something we can do to facilitate the dismantling of his business enterprises and assist in his deportation.”
“Splendid idea. They should be at the townhouse by now.”
Charles phoned Myra in New York and brought her up to speed with Mr. Barflow. “I suspect they nicked the wrong trailer, which is why they returned it. There couldn’t be any other reason.”
“I am sure you are correct. We also have this Santa thing. I’m not sure how we are going to approach it. I asked Maggie to invite Nina and Frankie over later this evening, after we have dinner.”
“Crack on, love. We’ll keep on the Barflow situation. Meanwhile, we’re running facial recognition from the photo Kathryn sent. The tosspot in the Santa hat. Everything else on schedule?”
“Kathryn met with the other drivers, and they are en route to the Hilton. It seems like we are back on track,” Myra said.
“Bloody good. Chat later.”
“Bye, Charles.” Myra ended the call. She turned to Annie and said, “They’ve identified the owner of the warehouse. As Charles said, ‘very dodgy.’ Fergus is trying facial recognition on the Salvation Army kettle-pilfering Santa.”
“Excellent. So, what do we do between now and dinner?” Annie asked.
“Shop? Check out the decorations?”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Annie agreed.
Brooklyn
Vinny was about to do the unthinkable, but his physical well-being was in jeopardy.
He went downstairs to his mother’s apartment after she left to go to the beauty parlor.
He entered the room where his mother kept a desk and a filing cabinet with all the family paperwork.
Lucky for him, she was well-organized, and he was easily able to locate the deed and property bill for the house.
He wasn’t going to mortgage the house to the hilt.
Just a small equity line of credit. Enough to cover his debt to Bucky.
He’d find a legitimate job and pay it off.
It was the holidays, and lots of businesses needed extra help.
He knew his position as one of Bucky’s lieutenants and enforcers was over.
Besides, he hated the job. Like Jimmy said, they had no manners.
He had enough skills for construction work, but for now he had to hustle to the bank.
The loan officer had known the Massella family for years and expedited an approval for 60,000 dollars.
The house was worth well over 650,000. The neighborhood was being gentrified, and the value would only go up.
The money was available within an hour, but Vinny could only withdraw 20,000 per day.
That should keep Bucky from bashing his brains out for one more day.
He took the cash in hundred-dollar bills and placed them in a leather pouch. Jimmy was waiting outside in his uncle’s truck to drive him to the warehouse where Bucky had been spending more of his time lately.
Bucky was surprised to see Vinny so soon, especially with a good chunk of money. “Maybe you not such bad worker. Maybe I keep you on the payroll.” Of course, Bucky’s payroll was on a cash basis, and there were no contributions to the IRS. No health care or retirement plans, either.
Vinny wasn’t about to contradict his lender and current employer. He was going to wait until he paid off his debt, which should be within the next forty-eight hours.
Fergus was able to get a hit on facial recognition. “The name is James ‘Jimmy’ O’Mara. Small-time stuff. Breaking and entering, shoplifting.”
“What do you suppose he’s doing with Barflow?”
“Once I discovered his name, I reached out to Snowden, who gave me a little more background. He’s mates with a Vincent Massella, who was busted for assault. The person dropped the charges.”
“Of course they did,” Charles said, and grunted. “We can easily imagine the assault was more of an incentive.”
“Right. Vinny worked for Louis Amato, and Bucky kept him on.”
“So, this Jimmy person and Vinny run together?”
“Seems so.”
“Then the other person with Jimmy the other night was probably Vincent.”
“Let’s run the financials on this Vincent chap,” Fergus said, and the two men went back to their investigating.
Frankie was surprised and delighted when she got Kathryn’s call. “How did the toy transfer go?” Frankie asked.
“All good. That’s one issue we can put behind us.”
Frankie’s interest piqued. “And what is the other one?”
“The bad Santa.”
Frankie shuddered. On the one hand, she wanted the people to pay for stealing the money, but on the other hand, she did not want to get in over her head, especially with Giovanni. “What do you have in mind?” she asked with great trepidation.
“Are you available to meet for lunch tomorrow?”
“I have a few things to do in my office. Can we meet around Rock Center?”
“So funny you should say that. Annie suggested Limani, which is right there.”
“Perfect. I haven’t been in a while.”
“Do you know if Nina is available?”
“Possibly. I’ll give you her contact info.”
“Excellent,” Kathryn replied, and wrote down the information.
“Looking forward to seeing you in the daylight,” Frankie said, and signed off.
Vinny and Jimmy hauled out of the warehouse parking lot, just in case Bucky had changed his mind about giving Vinny one more day.
“You still got that Santa suit?” Vinny asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Can you get your hands on another one?”
“Why?”
“Can you or can’t you?”
“But why?” Jimmy said with a huff.
“I’ll explain tomorrow. Find one that’ll fit me. Pick me up tomorrow at three.”
Giovanni’s restaurant was brimming with laughter and music.
This was the first big family meal they were having together in almost a year.
Marco and Anita took the children to Italy during the summer, and Giovanni had a short visit when he was in Campania for business, but now they were all together. It was a season to celebrate.
Over a dozen live fir trees with tiny white lights served as area dividers, creating cozy seating areas, and accommodating large private parties.
Large matching wreaths with lights hung along the walls, and fifty small crystal angels were suspended throughout from the ceiling.
Soft classical holiday music floated through the air. It was magical. It was inspiring.
Frankie played a major role in the decorating.
Lucia hadn’t been to the restaurant in several years, and it was the first time ever for the Parisi brothers.
Frankie’s goal was to make a banger of an impression.
She knew she had hit it out of the park when both Lucia and Rosevita’s mouths dropped open as they entered the holiday fairyland. Elio and Anthony were also speechless.
“Magnifico,” Elio remarked.
Giovanni put his arm around Frankie. “This is all Frankie’s idea.”
“Bellissima,” Lucia said in awe.
The table was set with fir branches that ran down the center of the table, interspersed with candles covered in bark, pine cones, and small cache pots with live rosemary plants. More ooh s and aah s echoed around the room.
Frankie’s part of the evening was over, except for handing out the envelopes with the tickets. “Before we start, I wanted to give you my holiday gift.”
“But we don’t have your gift; it’s not Christmas yet,” Rosevita protested.
“It’s okay, because if I wait until Christmas, then it won’t be a surprise. Well, it will be a surprise, but not a good one,” she said, and chuckled. “Whatever your plans are for tomorrow, you will have to change them.”
Rosevita looked at her sister and shrugged.
“Please. Open them.”
Everyone eagerly opened the mysterious envelopes. Inside were tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!
Cheers of delight from the adults, and squeals of glee from the children, rang in the air. Frankie was once again relieved. Her mission for the evening was complete. Now all she had to do was enjoy the company of loved ones and indulge in some fabulous food.
It was almost ten by the time dinner was over. Everyone was stifling yawns and congratulating Giovanni and Marco for a wonderful meal. Marco hired a van to bring the family back to Tenafly, and Giovanni and Frankie walked to her apartment a few blocks away.
The air was crisp as they casually strolled through Madison Square Park, where a large Christmas tree with twinkling lights stood in the middle of the reflecting pond.
“It’s a beautiful night.” Frankie sighed and rested her head against Giovanni’s shoulder.
“Bellissima,” he said in response, “you make it beautiful.”
And Frankie’s legs turned to Jell-O once again.