A Little Cute Leaf
1667 Words
If I knew about coming here before I woke up, I would sleep forever. I always wished to be a psychic, messing with people. It would be fun. But I really wanted to be one for these shits to not happen.
This old man, he was sitting there by himself. No reaction of surprise, no misinterpretation of grief. He was relaxing there, like a stone-cold b***h. And yet, he had the audacity to say, ‘Not all people have the courage to rat out his own father.’
I was angry, but not stupid. It wasn’t any time to fight over words. I had to cash in my favor.
I replied, ‘Well, in this side of business, sentiments are negligible.’
He laughed, ‘I stand corrected. Have a seat.’
I sat down. He still had some of that exotic whiskey. He once said, older the drinks, younger the nights. And somehow that was true.
He asked me, pointing to the whiskey, ‘You remember this? This big old boy was there when this all started. You and me, the enmity and everything, started with this simple bottle of whiskey. Ah son, wanna relieve some of that?’
Practically, no and never. But it was just a glass of whiskey, so who cared?
He gave me a full glass. The room always smelt like this whiskey, smooth smell.
I took a sip, ‘So, how is business?’
He asked, ‘Do you care? I don’t think. I'll tell you anyway. It’s going as it went over the past few years.’
‘Oh, you old fucker, why do you have to tangle every word?’ I said in my head.
I looked at him, ‘So you know about the case. And the victim?’
He was silent, ‘What case?’
I was confused, ‘You asked me about the interrogation.’
He sighed, ‘Oh Il pugnale, don't embarrass yourself. Do you remember what you said to me before going to your, uh, rather boring life?’
Ah s**t! I could remember. I said that if anything came up with my relation to him, I would come to him to say. This sly old fox remembered that.
I nodded, ‘I do. But I am not here for that. Do you remember about the favor you owe me?’
He took a ravishing sip, ‘Ah Lazio, there is no favors among family. You ask, you get, you enjoy. It is your right, not favor I owe you.’
I looked at him, ‘I am saying for the last time, I am not your family. I am just some pity for your casualty. So you should treat me like one.’
He sighed, ‘Lazio, what did I do to upset you? Is it because I killed your parents? Or because of Durante? Or maybe for Bernalio?’
I finished my whiskey, ‘I am not interested in this. I need my favor back. Do you know anything about a guy named Abiel Montero?’
He had a sudden stop. He was startled by the name, like it was too much familiar.
He asked, ‘Abiel? How do you know this guy?
I sighed, ‘Who is he?’
He knew I wouldn’t answer him without getting my answers. He poured another glass for himself, ‘Well, he was an old customer of me. I used to help him with making some of his decisions.’
I knew he would know the victim, but I didn’t know that he would be so close.
I looked at him, ‘So you were like his best friend?’
He sighed, ‘Not exactly. We met once. He wanted some advice about something, I gave him some.’
I tried to push, ‘What type of advice?’
He smiled, ‘Can’t say, I'm under oath.’
I scoffed, ‘Yeah, right, like you have oath ceremonies in your business.’
He didn’t go angry, ‘You will know when you get there, son.’
Why was I getting worked up? Why did he think I would consider joining again? He poured me some drink, ‘So, what did Abiel do? Piss off any FBI dogs?’
I took the half-filled glass, ‘He was murdered, quite brutally.’
He sighed, ‘yeah, makes sense. He was too confident of his games. So, why does it concern you? You are not a man running to me when a pity murder takes place.’
I was pissed, but this wasn’t the right time, ‘Well, the killer wrote a note and shoved it into his throat. It says my name and how he, or she, wants to write a story with me, addressing me as his or her lover.’
He didn’t expect that, ‘Damn, that’s too much screwed up.’
I sighed, ‘Yeah. So now I'm suspended for now, and I have no access to the case.’
He laughed, ‘And you wanna solve this case anyhow because your ethic related bullshit. Lazio, listen to me. This world, it isn’t any playground. It’s like a cartel. If you wanna stay, you gotta be a cold-blooded bastard. You can’t be any self-evaluating scumbag.’
I would never waste my attention to this type of crap, ‘You done? Do you want to help me or not?’
I knew he would help me. He was always a man of his word, no matter how dirty he was. I took my sip with a dignity.
He laughed, ‘Well, ever heard of the foreplay of fate?’
I looked at him, ‘That is not any expression whatsoever.’
H shushed me, ‘You don't have to talk. You can listen now. I met Abiel back in Italy. Back in that time, Durante and I were on the high sides of Milan. And to be honest, we were clean then, we have respectable jobs to feed ourselves. We used to live together.’
I sighed. The stories about clean times were so hard to swallow.
He continued, ‘I had a job. Through that, I met a lot of people. Abiel was one of them. He was a friend of Durante. He was a clerk then, a small house clerk with a struggling housewife as his moglie. He wanted to live life his way, but couldn’t. He came to me to share a secret. He asked me what he should do with it.’
I asked, ‘And what was that job?’
He looked at me, ‘Kid, I asked you to listen. Fish where you're allowed to fish.’
This old scumbag would never reform. I silenced myself.
He took another sip, ‘So what do you think? I met him once, you can't get anything from me. But Durante was his close friend, quite close. I think you should take a visit to my home.’
I knew he would bring Milan up somehow, ‘And why should I believe you? How can I be sure that you won't follow me again?’
He laughed, ‘I am too lazy for that now. You see, my time has come. Georgie will take care of my dynasty and Mr. Perez will find someone non-Renovese to run the Renovese family from the shadow. How pathetic that will be, right?’
He was a sly bastard, trying to provoke me to take over from him. I had no interest, ‘So, is he still living in Rho?’
He was delighted, ‘Yeah, you wanna go?’
I sighed, ‘Maybe not, I will just feed this to the bureau, they will be as good as me.’
He caught my act, ‘And do you really believe that?’
I wasn’t sure. FBI won't interfere too soon. IBCI could send a team. John was a total wreck, and I barely met Micah. Judging by her emotions and joyousness, maybe I wasn’t sure.
He asked, ‘Do you need a night to think over?’
He didn’t let me answer, ‘I think you need. Don’t worry, I'll make the plane ready for you.’
I got up, ‘I don’t think I'll need or want that.’
He looked at me, ‘Why are you so angry with me? How do you feed that ego of yours? Nobody is good, you just need to realize that. You have the whole America in your phone and mind, and you are still feeding your ego some crap about ethics. Oh god, Lazio, grow up. See this world. It's already a purge. Reincarnate from here.’
I would love to get on a quarrel with this prick, but I heard some footsteps coming towards the room. Who could it be at this hour?
I heard no guard stopping that unknown footstep. A second before opening the door, I knew who it was.
She opened the door, and saw me. I saw her after a long time.
I got up, ‘Mother, how are you? Haven’t seen you for a long time.’
She was furious, ‘How dare you have the courage to come here again?’
Grandpa stood up, ‘Flora, calm down. He is here for a work.’
She wouldn’t stop, ‘Papa, you know he is a betrayer. He has no right to even meet anyone from here.’
She came to me, grabbed my collar, ‘Listen, you piece of s**t. Never ever come back here, never. You should rot in hell. If I see you again here, I will forget that I raised you for seventeen years. You have ruined my life enough. Keep away from George, from Papa, from everyone I know. Just leave.’
She spat in my face, and walk away. I wasn’t angry. I could never be angry with her. She was all I had in my childhood. This spit, she earned it.
Grandpa whispered from behind, ‘Look at that, Lazio. Il fiore sta minacciando il pugnale. The flower is threatening the dagger. That is the world, it will be always wicked. Learn to live with it.’
I felt disgusted to even listen to him. I walked away, away from them.
I saw George in the stairs, ‘Georgie, I am leaving for now. Hope I'll meet you soon.’
He was happy enough, ‘Sure, come at the Break-A-Beer often.’
I started walking, when I heard, ‘Hey, have you met mother? She would be happy to see you.’
‘Yeah, she was,’ I had to say, George was too fragile.
- Writer
