Chapter Fifty-Four
FIFTY-FOUR
Charlie Cardello heaved the body of his former capo off the dock, the splash loud enough to send the gulls screaming.
He watched the dead man sink deeper and deeper into the bay.
Curious fish hurried towards the body immediately, swirling and nibbling.
Wouldn’t be long before the crabs found him, and after they did, no one else ever would.
“Never shoulda risen up against me,” Charlie muttered, wiping his hands on his linen pants. The air smelled like old fish and rotten-egg sargassum. A fishing boat tied up next to him hit the rubber divider with a gurgling thunk.
Sure, he could’ve handled this right from the beginning.
He’d been without any real power when Ginny and Shepherd had shown up at his door, but he’d never been blind.
He knew his capo had stuffed a rich lady in the profitable private school, one of the many assets Charlie’d lost when his capo had forced a hostile takeover.
But giving up that information for free?
What kind of man would Charlie be if he did all his best work for free?
A broke one. And he’d been broke long enough.
“See,” he said, talking to the gulls as they resumed their perches, “I don’t need my ex-wife.
I got the money, I handled the body. And now?
” He pulled out a burner from his back pocket and dialed a tip line he memorized.
“Yeah. Your missing Kent is in the backroom of that private school off Biscayne Bay Avenue.”
With a grin, Charlie hung up and tossed the phone into the water.
Out of another pocket came a pack of American Spirits.
He lit one up, let it linger in his mouth as the sun rose over the open ocean.
“We’re even now, Ginny,” he said. “I got the money. You got your mom. All square. Except for the car, but I did you a favor with that.” One last puff, and he threw the cigarette into the drink and walked away.