Chapter 14 #2
Ferraro gets up from his seat, goes over to Caligula, and kneels down on the floor stiffly, painfully.
“Of course it does. And even if you hadn’t done that for me, you’re the heir.
You’re Don Clemenza now. I shoulda shown proper respect the moment you came to my door.
” He takes the Clemenza’s hand from the armrest and presses his lips to it.
The Clemenza just sits there and lets it happen.
And then I see him smile.
“He can’t be the Don,” I growl. “He never even made his bones.”
Ferraro sends me an irritated look. “Well, he can make ’em right now and put you down, Orsini. It’d be a fucking honor to watch him do it right here in my living room. All we’d need after that is the Don’s ring.”
“I’m not going to kill Dami,” the Clemenza says, exasperated. “And as for the, uh, traditions, they’re not something we need to think about now. I just want to find out who else will be loyal to me.”
“There’s a whole lot of us,” Ferraro says eagerly. “I’ll call them over right now, you can meet them—”
“Not here,” I say at once. “Jesus, think about security for two seconds, maybe?”
Ferraro glares, but the Clemenza breaks in before he can speak.
“It would be better to meet them somewhere quiet. Somewhere unexpected. Perhaps you can think about where that might be. I’ll be in touch with a date and time.
But for now, Strike, could you tell me if you know anything about—about why my father killed Vincent Orsini? If they were friends—”
For the first time, Ferraro clams up. “No idea.”
“But maybe if you thought some more—”
“I told you, I got no idea. Sir,” he adds at the end.
“I can make you talk, old man,” I snap.
“He said he doesn’t know,” Caligula says, and shoots a warning glance at me when I open my mouth again. “And I won’t have a Giuliano threatening my people in front of me, Orsini. Apologize.”
I laugh.
He sits there looking at me, the threat implicit.
Rosa. Vito. Sammy, who was so furious this morning when I came down to talk to him that he slammed his bedroom door in my face after shouting at me that I was a lying hypocrite.
I’d never hurt any of them. Not Rosa, not Vito, and definitely not Sammy, who’s been hurt enough for ten lifetimes. But the Clemenza would throw all of them under the bus without blinking if it meant saving his own hide.
And he’d hurt them to hurt me.
“Sorry,” I spit out to Ferraro.
“You don’t sound it,” he says with a grin. “You wanna try again?”
“He’s apologized,” Caligula says. “And that’s the end of it. Now, what kind of protections can the Clemenza Loyalists offer me?”
Ferraro launches into detail about the Clemenza safe houses that are still operational and the men who might be able to stand guard. He includes himself in that number, which I hope will make the Clemenza see how useless they really are.
“Thank you,” Caligula says at last, with a gracious smile. “So much. I feel I have a better grasp on the situation now.”
“Whatever you need, sir. Whatever you need, we can get for you. Anything to see you where you rightfully should be, instead of Luca D’Amato, that fucking—” He breaks off.
But I’m pretty sure I know what word was about to come out of his mouth.
The Clemenza knows, too, but his smile stays plastered in place.
“There’s one other thing I should mention,” he says lightly.
“I’m gay. And I’m also under Don Morelli’s protection at the moment, as it happens.
He has been a great friend to me, just like Dami, here.
So if those facts are going to be a problem for you or your group—”
“Oh, no, sir, of course not,” Ferraro stammers out. “And I never meant any disrespect toward Don Morelli, of course. Or you! I just…” He sighs. “You know how it is. The way people used to talk. Times have changed but not everyone, you know, uh, changed along with them.”
“See that they do,” the Clemenza says, clipped and cold despite that smile.
“Because as everyone keeps pointing out, I’ll have to kill someone to be able to claim my position.
So I’m looking for candidates.” He rises, ignoring Ferraro’s astonished face.
“I’ll leave you now, Strike, but I’ll be in touch. Don’t fail me.”
“Never,” Ferraro says stoutly, rallying as the Clemenza makes his way back to the front door.
I catch Caligula in the corridor, worried he’s going to waltz right out in the open and make himself a tempting target. “Let me check outside,” I mutter at him. He gives a slight nod and I step out cautiously, looking for problems.
I see a huge one already. Big Gee couldn’t do in a lifetime what Caligula just did in fifteen minutes: rally people to his cause. Sure, they might all be useless. But they’re still warm bodies ready to sacrifice their worn-out lives for an end-of-the-line heir.
Vito’s at the car, standing by. He gives a thumbs-up when I look his way; he’s seen nothing to be worried about. I take a long, hard look around, but I don’t see any threats either.
Except for the threat of the Clemenza Family rising again. And God knows I’ll do whatever I can to prevent that.