CHAPTER TWELVE
Later that night when Mick made it home, Duke was on the sofa strolling through his phone as if he didn’t realize somebody had walked in. Which concerned Mick. Because of Roz’s insistence that Duke not follow in his footsteps, Mick hadn’t taught him shit.
Jackie knew the corporate side. She was always asking questions and showing interest in that side.
Duke used to show some interest, but it faded away the older he became.
Now Jackie was at Howard pursuing her BBA in finance and accounting.
She was going to take over for Mick as CEO and probably Board chair when he eventually retired.
But Duke wasn’t interested in anything corporate.
Because it wasn’t in his DNA. Just like it wasn’t in Teddy’s.
Just like it wasn’t in Adrian’s. Just like it wasn’t in Joey’s.
None of Mick’s sons had ever been truly interested in anything but following in the footsteps of their gangster father. Not his business steps. His mob steps.
But Roz refused to accept it. No son of hers, she insisted day and night, was going to ever become a mob boss. They were never going to be about that life if she had anything to say about it. And that was why, Mick felt, Duke was lost.
“Hey Dad,” Duke said without looking away from his phone.
“I didn’t think you heard me come in.”
“I didn’t have to hear you. I saw you when you drove through the gate.” Then Duke looked up. “I integrated the security system on my phone. Anybody come on this property, I know about it.”
Mick actually smiled a very slight smile that nobody would notice. But Duke, because he studied his father so closely, noticed it. Which warmed his heart. He made his father smile! That was a feat.
But he knew not to rub it in. “What are you doing home so early?”
“I thought I’d have dinner with you and your mother.” He didn’t see her car out front, but that wasn’t unusual. She usually garaged her car. “Where is she?”
“I have no idea.”
“She’s not home yet?”
Duke shook his head. “She’s probably still at her office.”
But when Mick drove over to the Graham Talent Agency earlier and didn’t see her car, he had assumed it was because she had left for home already. But now she wasn’t home? And didn’t call Duke and tell him anything? That was unusual for Roz.
He pulled out his cellphone and called her. But the call went straight to voice mail, which was unusual too. She never turned off her phone.
“No answer?” Duke asked him. Seeing that concerned look on his father’s face made him suddenly worried too.
“It went straight to voice mail.”
“You mean like she has her phone off?” Duke sat up. “Ma wouldn’t turn off her phone. Even when she’s in big meetings she keeps it on in case any of us needs her.” Then he noticed his father was on the phone again. “Who are you calling now?”
“Her detail chief.”
“But I thought you pulled security off of her when she complained about them spying on her.”
Mick didn’t respond to that.
Duke smiled. “I should have known you kept a team on her. She just doesn’t know about it. Right?”
Mick didn’t admit or deny. He didn’t answer. But then her detail chief answered his call. “Hello, Boss.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m home.”
“What do you mean home? Where’s my wife?”
“When she opted to remain at the house all day, I made the decision for us to break off coverage by nightfall.”
“What do you mean she stayed home all day?” Duke asked before his father could. “She left the house this morning.”
“She left? But her car never came outside of the gate. We were there first thing this morning. We saw when you left, Boss, but her car never came outside of the gate. We assumed she was working from home today like she does sometimes.”
Duke got worried. “So Ma has no security on her at all?” he asked his father.
“She’s not home?” the chief asked, now worried himself, but Mick ended the call and quickly pulled up the GPS on his phone that tracked her car’s location. But no signal came up. Which meant it had been unplugged. “Shit!” Mick said.
Duke saw the terror in his father’s face. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
But Mick was already hurrying out of that living room and running to his home office.
Duke jumped up and ran behind his father. When he got into the office, Mick was already sitting behind his desk and turning on his desk computer. “Daddy, what happened?”
“Her GPS has been dislodged.”
“What GPS?” Duke asked. But Mick, as usual, didn’t answer.
Duke hurried behind the desk and stood over his shoulder looking at the computer screen too. “What are you doing now?”
“Pulling up the GPS.”
Duke frowned. “I thought you said it was dislodged.”
But Mick had a backup system in place for times like these and he pulled up the backup GPS to locate her Mercedes. And he got a hit.
Duke saw it too. “1072 Bartram Road in Fangen, P.A.. Where’s Fangen? I’ve never heard of no town called Fangen.”
But Mick had. He didn’t know why he heard of it, but he had. He pulled it up on the map. Duke saw it too. “That address is a police station? Why would her car be at a police station?”
But Mick was already pulling up the phone number to that station. And then he phoned it.
“Fangen Police Department. How may I help you?”
“I believe my wife may be in your custody?”
“Your name?”
Mick was always hesitant to give his name. It carried all kinds of is he or is he not a mob boss stigmas that he never wanted his wife or children to carry. But they carried it anyway. Especially Roz. “Mick Sinatra,” he said.
“Oh. Um. Just a moment please.” The call was placed on hold.
But only briefly. “This is Chief Browery. How may I help you, Mr. Sinatra?”
“I believe you have my wife in your custody?”
“We do, yes sir.”
Mick stood up. “And what’s the charge?”
“Reckless driving. We believe she fell asleep at the wheel. We had to impound her car. Our ordinances says we can’t let her drive for twenty-four hours.”
“May I speak with her?”
“No sir. Not tonight. Phone calls are first thing in the morning only.”
Duke rolled his eyes.
“I’ll send a team to pick her up.”
“Yes sir,” the chief said, and they ended the call.
Duke looked at Mick. “A team? Why aren’t you going yourself, Pop?” But Duke also noticed how his father was hurrying out of his office and toward the foyer. “You’re going yourself, aren’t you?”
Mick didn’t respond.
“I’m going too.”
“Like hell.”
“But I wanna make sure Ma’s alright too.”
“No.”
“But you may need me.”
Mick stopped, turned around, and looked at Duke. “Didn’t I say no?”
“But I can drive Ma’s car back home. Please, Daddy.”
Mick knew it was more practical to have another driver with him. But Duke had never been tested. Not like he should have been as the son of Mick Sinatra. But Mick also realized that now was as good a time as any.
He continued walking toward the exit. “Your mother is gonna leave me when she finds out I let you come on a run with me,” he said as they walked.
Duke grinned. “Since when did you care if Ma leaves you?”
Mick stopped and turned and then stood there. Duke almost ran into the back of him he stopped so abruptly. Duke looked at him. “What?” he asked him.
“From the moment I met her, I cared,” he said. And then he walked on out.
Duke, floored by his response, had to hesitate to take that in, and then he hurried out too.