CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
But for Tommy it was no laughing matter when they arrived at the Celtic restaurant inside the Pacific Place Mall.
Hammer, who had business to handle, stayed in the SUV with Robby.
But Tommy, Sal, and Mick made their way inside the mall.
Tommy was concerned because he knew seeing her again would be like seeing a ghost from his past. And not just any ghost either. But the one he tried to keep around.
After he met Grace, Vera Lang was one of the numerous women he broke up with.
But unlike the others, he didn’t tell her to her face that it was over.
He didn’t phone her or leave word for her.
He just stopped taking her calls, and stopped going to see her.
He had convinced himself at the time that she was strong enough to get the hint, accept it, and move on.
And she did accept it. And she did move on.
But he came to realize something he was ashamed to admit back then: He didn’t officially break it off with Vera because a small part of him wanted to keep her in his pocket as a just in case.
As somebody to have in his corner if it didn’t work out with Grace.
He realized that truth when he and Grace were having a difficult patch early on in their relationship and he called Vera.
He told himself it was just to check on her because he truly cared about her at the time.
But the truth was because he was stunned by the level of separation anxiety he was experiencing for his carefree, former life after committing himself to just one woman.
He didn’t know if he could ever be that kind of one-woman man Grace deserved, and he needed Vera to be, he realized later, his backup plan.
But after he had ghosted her and later tried to contact her, she was the one who wouldn’t take his calls.
Sal, who knew the backstory because he and Tommy had always been that close, was watching his big brother as they walked toward that restaurant. “You okay?”
Tommy wanted to say of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be, but he didn’t play those games with Sal. “I’d rather not be here,” he said, “but it can’t be helped.”
“You think Vera could be involved in this?”
“I doubt it, but I haven’t seen her in decades. People change.”
“But Vera turning on you like that?” Sal shook his head. “I don’t see it. She’s one of your few girlfriends that I actually liked.”
Tommy looked at him. “Quit lying? You couldn’t stand any of my girlfriends. Not even Grace at first. And it had nothing to do with their personalities.”
Sal looked away from Tommy. He would be the first to admit that he used to be a racist prick back in the day.
But when he met Gemma, and he got to know a black person personally rather than based on some stereotypical image he had been fed all his life, everything changed.
“You and Reno always said a black chick was gonna change me, and you were right. But guess what I said?”
Tommy had no clue what Sal would have said of any value back in those days. “What?”
“I said a black chick was gonna change you and Reno too. And they did. Including Vera’s ass if she’s involved in what happened to TJ.”
Tommy exhaled. It would be a tough pill to swallow if it was true. “Let’s just get this over with,” he said as Mick pulled open the door of the restaurant, and they all walked inside.
But almost immediately when Tommy saw Vera, he stopped in his tracks, causing Sal to bump into him.
Sal was ready to cuss his ass out. What was wrong with him? But then Sal looked down the hall where Tommy was looking and saw Vera Lang talking with one of her waitresses. And he was gob-smacked too. She still looked undeniably gorgeous after all these years.
When the waitress left, she turned to go down another hall.
But that was when she apparently saw something familiar from her side view.
When she looked down the hall and saw Tommy and his racist kid brother and the man she knew as Mick Sinatra standing near the entrance, her entire face changed.
For a few beats she just stood there as if she was as shocked to see Tommy as Tommy was to see her.
And then she hurried down that hall and out of their view.
“She’s getting away,” Sal said anxiously as he, Tommy, and Mick hurried down that hall.
Mick didn’t know the woman from Adam, so he let them take the lead.
But it was Sal who surpassed Tommy, rushed up to her before she could turn down another hall in that maze of hallways, and he grabbed her by the arm. “Why you running?” he asked her.
“Who said I was running?” She snatched her arm away from him.
“I said it,” Sal said, “because that’s exactly what your ass was doing.”
But Vera looked at Tommy. It was as if nobody else mattered in that moment but Tommy. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.”
There was a hesitation, and then she escorted them down another hallway to her office. Mick and Sal glanced at each other. It was instructive to them that she didn’t bother to ask why they needed to talk.
Once they entered her office, she closed the door, went and sat behind her desk, and Sal and Tommy sat in front of the desk.
Mick, like always, found a wall to lean against. A wall that would give him a view of the door, the window, and the entire office.
With his arms folded as he stood there in his white, tricked-out long coat, he looked like a man who never took chances.
Who stayed ready for trouble. And if he had to venture a guess, that gorgeous black lady behind that desk was nothing but.
She smiled at Tommy. “I see you didn’t lose your looks down through the years.”
If she expected Tommy to return the same compliment to her, which he could from what Sal and Mick saw, Tommy didn’t go there. At all. “I’m sure you heard about that school shooting.”
“Absolutely. You can imagine how shocked I was when they claimed TJ was responsible. I said Tommy’s TJ? That made no sense to me. He’s not that kind of person. It made more sense when they exonerated him. I was glad they cleared him.”
Sal looked at Tommy. Had they been in touch and he didn’t know about it? If not, how the hell would she even know his son’s name, let alone his nickname?
If Tommy found it odd too, he didn’t let on. “Thank you,” he said to her. “That’s why I’m here.”
It was the first time she seemed confused. “Why would you be here about that school shooting? I don’t know anything about that.”
“Do you know Barry Sedaka?” Tommy asked her.
Mick and Sal were staring at Vera. She called herself thinking about it, but it seemed contrived to them.
“No,” she ultimately said. “Should I know him?”
Sal had had it with her dumb broad routine. “What kind of question is that?” he asked with a frown on his face. “How would he know what you should know?”
“This is an A and B conversation,” she said to Sal. “You can C your racist butt out of it please?”
“Fuck you, Vera!” Sal yelled at her.
She was about to zing him back, but Tommy interceded. “That’s enough, Sal. You too, Vee,” he said to her. Then he got back down to business. “You have a lockbox here?”
She hesitated. “Yes. Why?”
“Who all have a key to it?”
She frowned. “Why would you need to know that?”
“Just answer the question lady for crying out loud,” said Sal. “Nobody got all day to be fooling with your ass.”
Vera gave him a look filled with hatred even though she knew he was one of the most powerful mob bosses in the world that could eliminate her from the face of this earth with just one order to one of his made men.
But she also knew Tommy wouldn’t let him touch her. “I have a key,” she said to Tommy.
“And who else?”
“Nobody else.”
Tommy continued to stare at her.
“Unless you mean my rental lockbox.”
“You have two lockboxes on this premises?”
“Yes. One I use, and one my renter uses.”
Tommy and Sal glanced at each other. Mick was staring at Vera as if he was taking the measure of the woman. “Who’s your renter?” he asked her.
Her demeanor changed when Mick asked her a question.
She knew Mick the Tick was somebody you didn’t trifle with.
She’d heard he was even more powerful than Sal and somebody who was beyond vicious.
He was somebody even Tommy couldn’t protect her from and she knew it.
She got to the point. “I don’t know his name. But I know he works for Trammel.”
Everybody was shocked. “He works for my wife’s company?” asked Tommy.
She seemed surprised. “Your wife’s company? Oh yeah right, she does own Trammel, doesn’t she?”
Sal looked at her as if she wasn’t fooling anybody but herself.
But she kept talking. “That’s what he said anyway. He said he had just started or hadn’t been there long or something like that, and that he needed a safe place to keep some receipts for his guys to pick up. I don’t have a key to that box.”
“What’s your renter’s name?” Tommy asked her.
She shook her head. “He didn’t give a name. He pays me every month on time, and I don’t ask any questions.”
“Describe him,” Tommy said.
She thought about it. Again, it seemed fake to Sal. “I only saw him once. I wouldn’t know him again if he was sitting in front of me right now.”
“Come on, lady. Is he black, white, Hispanic, Asian? Is he tall, short, fat, skinny? Give us something!” Sal was frustrated with her.
“I told you I don’t remember,” Vera said, frustrated with Sal too. “He’s black is all I remember. And good looking I think. But I don’t know for certain. I only saw him once.”
“How does he pay you if you only saw him once?” asked Mick.
“He deposits two thousand into my account every month. That’s all I need to know.”
“Two thousand to rent a lock box?” asked Sal. “That’s excessive.”
“It’s not if you need anonymity, and a place where somebody can pick up cash without anybody noticing,” Vera said.
Tommy pulled out his phone and went to Trammel’s website. He pulled up a photo, and then showed it to Vera. “Is that him?”
Vera stared at the handsome black man looking back at her. “That could be him maybe.” Then she shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t be positive.”
“But you think it’s him?”
“Maybe. Or maybe not. I just don’t know, Tommy.”
“And you never heard of Barbell Barry Sedaka?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
Then Tommy stood up. Sal did too. “If you see him again,” Tommy said, “let me know.”
“How will I get in touch with you?”
Sal looked at Tommy. Would he give her his cell number? But when Tommy pulled out a business card and handed it to her, Sal was pleased. His brother, whom Sal felt still held a candle for her, was over that bitch. Grace was safe.
“So how has life been treating you?” she asked Tommy as she accepted his card.
“I’m okay. What about you?”
She smiled. “You mean since you dumped me for that trollop you married?”
Tommy didn’t smile, nor did he respond to that, which Sal also appreciated. Tommy didn’t play when it came to Grace.
“I was just joking, Tommy, geez,” she said, although nobody in that office believed her.
“Call me if you see your renter again,” Tommy said, all business-like. “And stick around in case something comes up,” he added. And then he left the office. Mick walked out too. Sal gave her an evil eye, and left last.
But once they got out of the restaurant, he caught up to Tommy and Mick. “You guys buying what she’s selling?”
“What you think she’s selling?” asked Mick.
“Half-truths and airheaded-ness,” said Sal.
“She’s hiding something, that’s for sure,” said Mick.
“Have Robby put a tail on her, Sal,” said Tommy. “If she’s involved, we’ll find out.”
“I know that’s right,” Sal agreed. Then he looked at Tommy as they made their way out of the mall. “What photo from Trammel did you show her?”
“Orenthal Neal’s photo.”
“The new guy? The one you think Grace has the hots for?”
Tommy gave Sal a hard look. This was news to Mick. “Who is this guy?” he asked.
“The new COO,” said Tommy. “Don’t listen to Sal. Grace doesn’t have the hots for anybody but me.”
Mick laughed. “That’s what your ass thinks. Every woman has the hots for another man.”
“Oh yeah?” asked Sal. “So who does Roz have the hots for?”
“None of your gotdamn business,” said Mick without breaking his stride.
Tommy laughed that time. “Very funny,” said Sal.
Then Mick looked at Tommy. “What you make of her? You believed her?”
“She said she didn’t know Barbell and she didn’t recognize the renter.”
“That’s what she said,” said Mick. “That’s not what she showed. She’s hiding something.”
“I agree,” said Tommy. “That’s why I want a tail on her.”
“She’s sneaky, I’ll give her that,” said Sal.
Tommy looked at him as Robby drove up in Mick’s SUV. “Sneaky?”
“Hell yeah she’s sneaky. She knew your son’s nickname, but she didn’t know your wife owns the biggest trucking company in the northwest? Give me a fucking break.”
But as they climbed into the SUV, Tommy was baffled.
Why would Vera be involved in a school shooting and a kidnapping and implantation technology that only a few people were supposed to even know about?
It didn’t compute with the woman he once knew.
But he hadn’t seen her in decades. And he knew long ago you could never put anything past anybody.
“Put a tail on Orrie Neal too,” he said to Sal when he sat down.
Sal looked at Tommy. “You don’t think we should pick his ass up?”
“And ask him what? It’s too soon. We need to know who he answers to. We need to know, if Vera is involved, who she answers too. I want the head of this snake, not the tail.”
Mick looked at Tommy. “Sounds like you believe this COO might be involved.”
“It seems like a stretch to me,” said Tommy.
“But Vera didn’t rule him out. She couldn’t rule him in either, but she didn’t rule him out.
Besides,” Tommy added, “it’s a hellava coincidence that her renter also happens to work at Trammel.
And be the new guy at Trammel, which Orrie Neal is. Which makes it no coincidence at all.”
“I know that’s right,” said Sal, as he gave instruction to Robby Yale.
But as they drove back to the house, Tommy kept feeling that he was missing something. Something obvious. Something right in his face. But he just couldn’t put his finger on it.