Payback

'It’s Calamari with celery, lemon, and Caper Berries from Salina,' the waiter chimed in.

'You always order calamari, Wanda,' Glynnis said.

'I love it, what can I say?' Wanda replied and handed the waiter her menu. Glynnis ordered PolloallaCacciatora, which is chicken with Black LigurianOlives, while Nick had the grilled pork loin.

During the meal there was the usual amount of getting to know you small talk between Nick and Glynnis and plenty of what’s going on in the city gossip, supplied by Glynnis. After dinner, an uncomfortable silence fell over the table. 'So, we’ve shared a good meal, we’ve talked a lot of this and that, had some laughs. We’ve gossiped so much I think we’ve bored poor Nick to death. And you’ve plied me with sufficient quantities of alcohol,' Glynnis said as she raised her glass 'And I’ve had such a good time. But you still haven’t asked me whatever it is that you invited me here to ask me,' she said and signaled for a waiter.

'Maybe we just invited you out to enjoy your company, Glynnis, you know cause we’re friends,' Wanda said.

'I thought that it was your pretty smile, Glynnis,' Nick said and Wanda rolled her eyes.

'You keep talking, honey, I like you,' Glynnis flirted. 'I imagine that it’s you that has the questions.'

'What makes you say that?' Nick asked.

'`Cause when Wanda wants to know something she gets to it over drinks. But you were too polite to even bring it up over dinner.'

'All right then, what can you tell me about Martin Marshall?'

'The Justice Department has been investigating Martin Marshall for years.'

'For what?' Wanda asked.

'To be honest with you Wanda, there’ve been rumors about Marshall and corruption for years. There’s even been some talk about him being involved in drug trafficking. Justice even had bribery a case against him three years ago, but the case was dropped.'

'What happened?' Nick asked.

'Witness committed suicide.'

'How?'

'Sleeping pills. After that, the evidence that they had disappeared.'

'What was the case about?' she asked.

Glynnis paused and thought for a moment. 'That case involved drug money.'

'How so?' Wanda asked.

'The developer who was alleged,' Glynnis was careful to say. 'To have offered Marshall the bribe, his partners were drug dealers, from Argentina or Brazil or someplace like that.'

'Or Peru, maybe?' Nick suggested.

'Could be, but I can’t be sure.'

'Is there anybody at justice we can talk to about Marshall?'

'I think I know somebody that could help you,' Glynnis said.

'If Justice was investigating him and it involved drugs, then the DEA would have been involved.'

'That would only make sense,' Glynnis said.

'That would mean that the DEA would have to have at least some knowledge of or be heavily involved in this investigation,' Wanda said more to Nick than Glynnis.

'That’s a logical conclusion,' Glynnis said.

'You have to be pretty powerful to make evidence disappear. Marshall have that kind of power?' Nick asked.

'Marshall has that kind of power. He has a very strong and committed organization. Ruthless, when you get right down to it.'

'How does a guy like that continue to get elected?' Wanda asked.

'The thing he’s best at is playing the race card. The man is hassling me again while I’m out here doing your business, making sure your tax dollars are spent wisely, kinda crap. People buy into it.'

'Have you ever heard of a reporter named Tavia Hawkins, Glynnis?'

'Sure I have, she’s a reporter for the Post. Tavia Hawkins has practically made a career out of writing articles about Marshall.'

'So I noticed,' Nick said. 'I read at least a dozen of them and there were plenty more. What’s up with that? She got it in for this guy?'

'The gossip is that he had an affair with her, this was years ago. She got serious, wanted him to leave his wife, he dumped her, you know how you men are,' Glynnis mused.

'Sounds like she would be a great person to talk to,' Nick said.

'If you wanna know about Marshall she’s the one you need to talk to,' Glynnis said

'I wanna go,' Wanda said meekly.?

Chapter Twenty-nine

Martin Marshall sat alone at Ben amp; Jack’s Steak-house on East 44^th street in one of the six private rooms behind etched glass windows off the main dining room. He tapped his fingers on the table and waited impatiently for DeFrancisco to arrive. He hated waited for him because he was never on time.

There were times when Marshall wished that he’d never gotten involved with DeFrancisco, If I had to be honest about it, I don’t like him. Aside from being always late, DeFrancisco was arrogant and rude, had the worst table manners of anyone he’d ever known, and to top it off, his breath stank. But he had to admit that with all of his shortcomings, he had come in very handy over the years. However, lately, DeFrancisco was getting shaky. Always worried about things that didn’t concern him. He was even reluctant about setting up the sting on Mike Black. Wanted to know why, but who could blame him? Marshall had asked DeFrancisco to commit a considerable amount of resources solely on his assurance that it was important. But he wasn’t about to tell him that it was necessary to cover for somebody’s fuck up.

Finally DeFrancisco arrived at the restaurant without any sign of an apology for being late.

'Have you ordered yet?' DeFrancisco asked.

'No, I hadn’t planned on eating. I asked you here because I needed to talk to you,' Marshall replied.

'Well, you don’t mind if I do? I haven’t had a thing all day and I’m starved.' DeFrancisco motioned for the waiter and told him to bring the biggest steak they had, medium well. 'And a gin and tonic.'

'Anything for you, sir?' the waiter asked Marshall.

'Dewar’s on the rocks,' Marshall said, knowing that he was going to say what he had to say and be gone before the steak arrived.

Once the waiter was gone DeFrancisco asked. 'So what do you wanna talk about?'

'I need an update on the Black operation.'

'What do you wanna know? The operation is just getting started. The cop, Kirk reported to them, he seems to be cooperating. By the end of the week they should be up and running with wire taps on all of his operations, they’re working on picking up cell phone frequencies now and around the clock surveillance on the major players. All that based on the briefing they got from Kirk.'

'Make sure they pay close attention to Wanda Moore.'

'Who is she?' DeFrancisco asked as the drinks arrived.

'She’s their lawyer. Wanda has her hands in everything, both their legal and illegal businesses.'

'All that is fine, Martin, but you still haven’t told me what this is all about.'

'I’ve told you all I can tell you and that is as much for your protection as it is for ours. But I will tell you this, the success of that operation may weigh heavily on your future.'

'What’s that supposed to mean?' DeFrancisco asked, pressing for information.

'Look, I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you. You know damn well what I’m saying to you, both your bank account and your freedom are at stake here. If you can’t handle it, I’ll get somebody who can.'

'Right. You know there ain’t nobody gonna do the things I do for you, so let’s cut the crap. You need