CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mick Sinatra sat at the head of the table and listened with no expression as Reno told him about his decision, decades ago, to launch a preemptive strike on the Vatelli family.
Everybody looked at Mick when Reno got to the part about who was likely to be inside that house when he decided to bomb it. But Mick didn’t so much as blink when he heard the horrific part of the story. He just sat there, in his expensive suit all buttoned down in his usual sartorial splendor.
But it wasn’t what happened decades ago that had Sal still fuming. It was what happened hours ago. At that junkyard.
“How the hell could she still be alive, Reno?” he had to ask him. “You said she was the one running out of that shed. You said it was her.”
Trina looked at Sal. “Why are you acting like it was Reno’s fault what happened?”
“Because it is his fault! He was the one who said it was her.”
“That’s because I thought it was her,” Reno said.
“You thought? You wasn’t saying nothing about you thought when we nearly died trying to chase that Jeep.”
“That’s the key,” Tommy said. “Explosions.”
“That’s because Reno blew up Moose’s boys and grandbabies,” said Sal. “Lydia’s attacking in kind.”
Then he looked at Trina. “How could you forgive him so easily?”
Trina frowned. “What easily? What are you talking about, Sal?”
“You’re defending him like he didn’t cause all this shit to go down.”
Trina was confused that Sal would think she didn’t realize what Reno did. “He did cause all this mess,” she said. “And I know he did.”
“But then why are you defending him?” Sal asked.
“Because he knows he did too!” Trina shot back. “He knows it.”
But Sal was shaking his head. “Any self-respecting woman, after just hearing what Reno did, would have left his ass.”
“Then I guess I’m not a self-respecting woman. I’m just a woman who knows her man. And unlike your ass, I haven’t forgotten who Reno is despite what he’s done.”
Mick stared at Trina as her voice became emotional.
“Reno carries this whole gotdamn family on his shoulders day in and day out,” she said, “and you’re telling me I should have left him?
Reno is your backbone, and Tommy’s, and Jimmy’s, and Dommi’s, and mine too.
They were coming for him so he did to them first what they were plotting and scheming to do to him.
He got them first and lived. So excuse me if I’m not dying inside because he lived.
This is our world, Sal, where you been? This shit ain’t ever pretty when Reno does it, and it ain’t ever pretty when your ass doing your dirt too. Reno did what he had to do.”
Mick began nodding. “Damn right he did,” he said, breaking his silence. Everybody looked at him.
“Katrina is right,” Mick continued. “Reno did what he had to do and that shit’s done. That’s the end of that conversation. It’s done.”
It felt as if Mick had just spoke the final word on the entire situation and Reno and Trina both felt some sense of relief. Reno would never be proud of what he did, but at least somebody understood what he’d done. And that, for Reno, was as valuable as pride.
“The Moose is here,” Mick said.
Reno nodded. “Correct.”
“What’s his explanation?”
“His daughter Lydia came to me and told me that Moose just found out about what happened that night and that it was me who was responsible, not Billy Stallini’s gang like he thought, and that he was coming for me. But Moose denies it.”
“Moose also denies that Lydia’s dead,” Sal said, “when you said you saw her in that Jeep, Reno.”
Reno was flustered. “I thought it was her. It looked like her. Why would I think it was somebody else when I tracked her there?”
“She could have put that tracking device on another individual,” said Mick. “It’s not person-sensitive. It’s movement-sensitive.”
“Correct,” said Tommy.
“And I know that. But why would I think she’d remove it when there was no way she knew I attached that device to her?”
“Unless somebody else saw you do it,” said Tommy.
And as soon as Tommy said it, Trina realized it. “Jimmy was at that bar with his friends.”
“How do you know that?” Reno asked her.
“He told me. And he told me something else too.” They all were looking at Trina. “He told me that it was one of his friends that spotted you with that woman down at that bar.”
“Somebody go get Jimmy,” Reno said.
“I’ll go,” Tommy said as he got up and left the dining hall.
Reno placed his hand on Trina’s hand and squeezed it. When she looked at him, she could see the appreciation for her he had in his eyes. She had his back, and he was letting her know, by his eyes alone, that he loved her for that.
And then Tommy returned with Jim.
“What’s up?” Jimmy asked.
“Who were those friends you were with that night at the bar?” Trina asked him. “The night you saw your father with that blonde?”
Jimmy glanced at Reno, but told the truth. “Just some guys from work. Why?”
“Which one pointed Reno out to you?”
Jimmy had to think about that one. “I think it was Ellis. Yeah, it was Ellis. I mean, this kid Dawson told me they saw Dad in the bar, but he also said it was Ellis that pointed Dad out to them.”
“How do you know this Ellis?” Sal asked him.
“I hired him to work at Uncle Tommy’s company.”
“You didn’t know him before you hired him?”
“Not for long, I didn’t. Bud introduced us.”
“Bud?” asked Reno. “Bud Seagram, my lobby security chief?”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. That Bud. They’re cousins or something.”
They all looked at Reno. “There’s your breach,” said Sal.
“I’ll be damn,” said Reno.
Sal was getting up and pulling out his phone. “I’ll get Robby to bring him in.”
“If we can find out who hired him,” Trina said, “then we’ll find out who’s behind this. Right Reno?”
“I sure hope so. Or at the very least he can give us some clue about Lydia.”
“Or she can give it to us herself.”
When Mick made that statement, everybody looked at him. “What do you mean, Uncle Mick?” Tommy asked him.
“You know where Lydia is?” Trina asked him.
Mick didn’t respond. Which, they knew, would be a yes.
Reno was perplexed. “But how would you know anything about Lydia before now, when I just told you about her?”
But Trina was studying Mick’s facial expression. “That’s the wrong question,” she said. “When did you know?” she asked Mick instead.
Bingo, Mick thought. Trina was always smart in a down-to-earth, practical way. That was why he once thought about taking her for himself. “When it first happened,” he said.
Everybody was stunned. Especially Reno. “But how could that be, Uncle Mick? I didn’t tell you anything about that night. Sal and Tommy didn’t even know until after it happened.”
“Do I look like I’m Tommy and Sal?” Mick shot back.
“But how did you know?”
“I pay attention to your asses,” Mick said as he stood up, prompting them to stand up too.
“That’s how I knew. And after that shootout at that junkyard, I looked into it.
My guys,” Mick said, although he almost said my spies, “saw Lydia after that Jeep caught fire. We tracked her down. Now do you want to get answers straight from the horse’s mouth, or do you want that secondhand bullshit you’re waiting on? ”
“I’ll take the horse,” said Reno.
“Yeah I thought so,” said Mick. “Let’s go.”
As they began to leave out of the dining hall, Mick saw that Trina was heading out too. He stopped and looked at Reno. “Handle that,” he said.
“I am handling it,” Reno said with frustration in his voice.
Trina wanted to go along too, but they needed Mick, and she didn’t want him and Reno to have issues. Because she was certain there was nothing wouldn’t do for her after she heard what he did all those years ago, and decided to stay with him anyway.
She cancelled herself. “I’ll wait here,” she said to Reno.
Reno’s heart soared. Because, in that moment, if she had wanted to go he would have let her. He couldn’t say no to her. Not after the way she stood by him. He hugged her, whispered he loved her in her ear, and then they left.