Murder Takes Time (44 page)

During these scouting trips, I also got to see where the FBI had their posts set up. One above the deli and another was down the block on the second floor of an older, well-kept home across from Tito’s. Every window there had the curtains open except one room above the porch, the one with the good view of Tito’s front door.

Shame on you, Bugs.

During the next few days, I saw Tito going to work two more times, using the same routine.

Shame on
you
, Manny.
Watching their movements, I got the idea of how to do it. It took me two days to line up the rest of the plan, but on Thursday, I was ready. I should have planned longer, but I wasn’t about to let Tito Martelli live one extra minute I didn’t have to.

H
ARDING WAS NEARLY BOUNCING
off the walls of the surveillance room. He got on the radio and called Maddox at the other house. “Did you get that? He was in the cab.”

“We got him, sir. It’s the second time he’s been by in the past week.”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, sir. Just drove by.”

Harding turned to Frankie. “We should have taken him. Goddamnit. We should have taken him.”

“And done what? There’s not one piece of evidence that ties him to these crimes.”

“So what do we do, wait to film him killing Tito?”

Frankie turned his head. “You make me sick, Harding, acting like you give a shit.”

“Don’t worry. We
will
get your wop friend when he goes after Tito.”

“He won’t take Tito here; he’ll want him to suffer.”

“I have eight agents ready to go on my signal.”

“Anybody on the street?”

“As soon as we see him coming out, we can cover him.”

“Suppose he—”

“Detective, I’ve got a car with two agents on the corner, and we have six agents between here and the corner above him. And the back door is covered by your man and a sharp shooter.”

Frankie nodded. “You didn’t tell me you had a car on the corner.” He paced for a minute, feeling nervous. “Going out for a smoke.”

As soon as he got out back, he called Mazzetti. “I need back-up, Lou.”

“Get a cop with lungs, will you?”

“Not that kind of back-up. I need two cars. These assholes only got one car to cover the street.”

“It’s a one-way street.”

“Lou, get me a couple of cars.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Might be off-duty guys. You cover overtime?”

“I’ll get it. Have them call my cell.”

“Got it.”

I
WAITED FOR
P
AULIE’S
family to leave then walked up to his door and knocked. When he saw it was me, he froze.

“Nicky.”

“You going to invite me in, Suit?” I had a gun in my hand, not pointed at him, but tucked against my stomach.

“Come on in.” He stepped back as he said it, his eyes on the gun.

“I saw your family leave, or I wouldn’t have come.”

“Yeah, I appreciate that, Nicky. You want coffee?”

“I could use some.” I followed him to the kitchen, checking each shadow as we went.

“There’s nobody here,” Suit said, watching me.

“Be a lot of blood if there is.”

Paulie nodded. “I know. You want something to eat, or just coffee?”

“Just coffee.” I laid the gun on the table within easy reach. “You hear what they did, Paulie?”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “If you mean about Gina? Yeah, I heard. I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t know her, but I know she meant something to you.”

“You have anything to do with it?”

“No way.”

“When we’re done, I want you to call Tony.”

Paulie shook his head. “Can’t do it, Little Nicky. You know I can’t.”

I reached for the gun and gripped it firmly. “So you can’t betray Tony, but you could me. Is that it?”

“Like hell. I don’t know what went on here, but if Tony did something, it must have been because Tito had him in a tight spot.”

I grabbed the gun, jumped up and shoved it against Paulie’s head. “A tight spot? That was my
wife
.”

Paulie looked scared. “Shit, Nicky. I didn’t know. All I know is Tito had a contract on Gina. There was nothing Tony could do.”

That pissed me off. I took my finger off the trigger, not wanting to make a mistake. “Paulie, I want to keep you alive, but if you don’t call Tony, I
will
kill you.”

He nodded, but when he did, his eyes looked sad. “I know, Nicky, and Christ’s sake, I don’t want to die. I got kids. I got a boy who reminds me of Bugs when he was little, and another that sure as shit is the Mick reincarnated…but I won’t hand you Tony on a platter.”

Now I
really
wanted to squeeze the trigger. Even tried to, but couldn’t do it. “All right. As long as I find out you didn’t have anything to do with it, I won’t kill you. But you keep quiet.”

Paulie was shaking. I’d never seen him scared like this before. “Can’t do that, either. I’d do the same for you. I hope you know it.” His eyes teared. “I swear, Little Nicky, I never wanted this. Neither did Tony. He just fucked up. Got himself in a jam.”

“‘Got himself in a jam.’” I shoved the gun against his head again. “What do you call getting your wife killed? Tony
killed
her.” I smacked him in the head with the gun, drawing blood. Paulie fell, bringing his hand up to his temple. He reached for a towel to stop the bleeding.

“Christ’s sake. Don’t kill me, Nicky. I don’t mind for me, but my kids…” Paulie blessed himself, and tears welled in his eyes. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know how much you’ve lost already. Your mom, your pops…I don’t know anybody who’s lost more than you…but I swear on my mother’s eyes, we didn’t plan on hurting you. Ever.”

I thought for probably ten seconds, and our entire childhood passed before my eyes. Images of us smoking, stealing cigarettes, fighting, laughing. It came together in the center of my mind, forcing me to lower the gun. “I don’t know why, Paulie. Maybe it’s because of what we had, but I can’t do it.”

He grabbed me and kissed my cheek. “I swear. Tony didn’t mean this.”

The mention of Tony’s name fused my spine with steel. “Call him or give me the phone.”

He handed me his. “Number’s on there.”

I punched the contact and waited while the phone rang. He picked up on the third ring. “Suit, where are you?”

I heard the voice, and though it hadn’t been that long, it seemed like twenty years since the last time I’d heard it. “It’s me,” I said.

A very long silence, then. “That you, Rat?” His voice was weak, pleading.

“I’m here with Paulie.”

“Is he okay?”

“Why would you care? Or is it just some of us you care about? Did you forget the oath? I didn’t.”

“Hey, fuck you and your stupid oaths. That was thirty years ago or something. Grow up.”

“Wrong answer.”

“Yeah, well, don’t come around here, or I’ll get you the right answer.”

I didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, “Did Paulie have anything to do with it? I need to know.”

“Is he there? Is he hurt?”

I looked at Paulie. “Say something.”

“I’m okay, but he’s serious.”

“You get all that, Tony?”

“Fuck you again, Rat. What do you want?”

“Did Suit have anything to do with it?”

“Nothing.”

I sighed and hoped he didn’t hear it. “I’m coming for you.”

“Yeah, I know. But don’t think I’m going down like Donnie or Muck.”

“We’ll see.”

I hung up the phone, wiped it off on the towel Paulie had, then handed it back to him. “You’re off the hook.”

He looked at me, sweat covering his face. “Can’t you let Tony off? For old times?”

“Can’t, Paulie. And you ought to get out of here. They got FBI all over the place. You’re all going down.”

He took the towel back, dabbing his head. “I’ve been thinking that anyway. Thanks.”

As I left, I turned to him. “Tell the kids good stories about me, will you, Suit? I wouldn’t want them knowing the bad stuff.”

“I will.”

“And, Suit, leave the door unlocked when you leave. I might need the house for a few days.”

“You got it.” He walked over to me, gave me a big hug, then left.

I
KNEW
P
AULIE WOULD
call Tony to reinforce the fact that I was coming for him, so I headed for Cataldi’s. It was only a matter of time before Tony showed up there on any given day. I found a good spot to watch from and relaxed, listening to music while I waited. It took about two hours, but he came, although he was back out again in less than twenty minutes. I followed at a safe distance, making sure he didn’t pick up on it. Tony was an arrogant shit—didn’t even check for tails.

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into a parking garage. I didn’t follow right away, but waited for another car go in then made the turn into the parking garage and headed up the ramp. On the fourth floor, just as the car in front of me pulled into a parking space, I saw Tony getting on the elevator. I parked two levels up then took care to clean everything in the car and brush it out real good. Afterward, I took the elevator to the floor where Tony parked and found a nice spot to wait—inside an unlocked car about thirty feet away.

The wait felt like days, but it was only about an hour and a half before he came out. I lowered myself into the seat, allowing him to pass, then slowly got up. I’d left the door ajar and made sure the overhead light wasn’t on. Now I waited until he bent to open his door, then eased out of the car and moved up behind him, gun in hand.

“Get in. Don’t try anything.”

F
RANKIE GOT TO THE
surveillance apartment in half an hour. He was tired and eager for the day to be over with. “What have we got, Harding?”

“We have a wire in Tito’s house.”

“
In
the house? How?”

“Got a court order. We had the wire put in after he left this morning.”

“He didn’t leave any of his men there?”

“The past few days, he’s taken everyone with him.”

“Don’t blame him; he’s scared.” Frankie looked out the window, then asked the guy at the scope. “Any sign of Nicky?”

“We still don’t know if the perp is really him, Detective. We’re taking your word for it at this juncture, but we have no positive identification on the man.”

“You can take my word,” he said, then, “What about Tony? Is he wired?”

“They did it this morning.”

“Where is he?”

“He is probably on his way to that restaurant you people eat at all the time.”

For the next half hour they took turns watching and listening, and arguing about damn near anything. As Frankie finished one of his shifts, he handed the headset to a young agent who had been in the morning’s presentation. “Be back in a few. Going to catch a smoke.”

Before he hit the door, Agent Cross called him. “Detective Donovan, we’re live.”

“What?”

“Live, sir. We’ve got action.”

Frankie looked at Harding, who took the headset from the guy at the window and stared at Tito’s house. “Nobody in the kitchen.”

Cross turned. “Not him, sir. Mr. Sannullo.”

“Give me that,” Frankie said and grabbed the headset from Cross. As he put it on, he heard Tony’s voice.

“Nicky, what are you doing here?”

Frankie yelled. “He’s got Tony! Get some bodies over there…shit, where is he? Can we tell?”

Cross looked at the screen. “Looks like…forty-third and…hang on…”

“Tell Harding,” Frankie said and headed for the door. “And get some people on it, now.” As he ran out the door, he called back. “Harding, call me on my cell when you get anything.” Frankie bounced down the steps, taking them two at a time, holding onto the rail. As much as he hated Tony right now, he didn’t want him suffering the kind of death Nicky probably had planned for him.

Hang on, Tony. Hang on.

CHAPTER 69

JUDGMENT DAY

Current Day

“N
icky, get the fuck out of my car.”

“Don’t say a word.” I drove out of the garage with the gun pointed at Tony, but covered with my coat.

Despite what I told him, he started to talk as soon as we got on the street. “Why are you going this way? We—”

I shoved the gun into his side. “Shut-up.” As soon as I had a chance, I pulled to the curb, reached over and undid his shirt.
A wire.
I ripped it off, tossed it out the window. “Any more?”

Tony looked desperate and shook his head. “That was it.”

“Can’t believe you stooped to wearing a wire.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

When we got to Paulie’s house, I took Tony to the kitchen. Paulie’s blood stained the floor.

“Sit,” I said. “And don’t try anything. I’m not going to torture you like I did the others. Maybe it’s Mamma Rosa. Maybe it’s the friendship we had. You should thank God for whatever it is.”

Tony stared at me; he had a way of staring at people that pissed them off.

“How do you want it?” I asked. While I waited for his answer, I struggled with my decision. Tony had been like a brother—hell, he
was
my brother, for all practical purposes. But he betrayed me.
He
was the reason Gina was dead. “Decide, Tony. I don’t have a lot of time.”