“How’d you leave it with him?” Wanda asked.
“I told him that I’d think about starting a record company.”
Wanda looked at me without speaking while she considered the possibilities. “That could work for us.”
“See what it’s gonna take to make that happen and get back to me,” I told Wanda. Then I looked up and saw something that I never thought I’d see.
There in the foyer stood Angelo Collette and two of his men. Angelo was giving my manager Lexi a hard time, and pointing at me. She’s probably tellin’ him that she don’t care who he says he knows, he’s not getting in without a reservation.
I looked at Kevon, he was looking at me. I nodded my head; Kevon went to take care of it. That’s another reason why I chose him to be my bodyguard, Kevon never misses anything. He’s always aware of his environment and he’s always looking around so he sees everything.
“Isn’t that Angelo at the door?” Wanda said when she noticed the commotion.
“Yeah.” I watched as Kevon settled Lexi down and then let Angelo pass. He escorted Angelo’s men to the bar.
“What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to get Angee to come here for years. He wants something. Something major or he wouldn’t be here.” Probably some Crazy Joe shit. Out of respect, I stood up to greet him. Wanda did too.
“Mikey, Wanda,” Angelo said and shook my hand. “How’s everybody doing tonight?” Angelo hugged Wanda and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’m fine, Angelo.”
“How long has it been since I saw you, Wanda?” Angelo asked and took a seat.
“Been at least eight years.”
“Well, you’re as beautiful as I remember.”
I sat down without speaking and listened while Wanda and Angee made small talk like two old friends that hadn’t seen each other in years. While they talked, I couldn’t help but wonder what would make Angee come up here. It’s rare when he leaves his little area in Yonkers.
“Wanda, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to talk to this guy.”
Wanda stood up, so did Angelo. “I didn’t think you came here just to tell me how pretty I was. It was good seeing you.”
“Great seeing you, too.”
“We should talk more when you have some time,” Wanda said and looked at me. She wanted to explore, as she called it, legitimate business opportunities with Angee, but she knows I’m against it. Angee has his own problems with the law. This is not the time to be in business with him. But Wanda can be hard-headed sometimes. She turned to me. “I’ll be in the office, Mike.”
Wanda said goodnight to Angee and headed for the office. As soon as she walked off, Angelo leaned toward me and whispered. “Can we talk in here?”
“I have the place swept for bugs every day. But we can talk outside if it makes you more comfortable.”
I stood up and led Angee out the back door. Kevon and Angee’s men followed behind us.
Once we had gotten a little ways down the street, Angee got to the purpose of his visit. “I wanted to ask you about Stark.”
I wasn’t expecting that. “What about him?”
“I hear he’s a serious man, who’s deserving of respect.”
Now I knew what Angee wanted. He hasn’t been a player in this game since Cassandra got out. She had a dual degree in management and marketing, saw drug dealing as a business, and ran her program that way.
I learned a lot about business from her. One more reason to miss her. With the direction we’re taking now, Cassandra’s advice and involvement would have been invaluable to me.
When she left the country with me, Chilly sucked up what was left of her operation. With the rest of his Commission dead or in the wind, Stark controlled a big chunk of the drug market and Angee wanted back in. “You want to meet him?”
“I was hopin’ for something a little more than just an introduction from you, Mikey.”
“Like what?”
“I was thinkin’ that maybe you would take more of an active role. You could be kind of a stabilizing influence. You know, keep problems down.”
“What makes you think I got that kind of influence with Stark?”
“Come on, Mikey. You’re a legend ’round here. Stark probably grew up hearing stories about you. I hear this kid respects you; Idolizes you. And I also hear that you like him.”
“You hear a lot of things.”
“I do.”
Definitely wasn’t expecting this.
“I know I’m asking a lot of you. I know you’re tryin’ to move in a different direction. But with Stark out front you wouldn’t have to get your hands dirty. Naturally, you could charge a fee for your influence.” Then he hit me with it. “I would consider it a personal favor.”
Definitely wasn’t expecting this.
“You are askin’ a lot.” I stopped walking and looked Angee in the eye. “I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll set up a meeting with you and Stark. I have to think about what you just asked me, for personal reasons.”
“I understand completely, Mikey. All I can ask is that you think about it.”
Chapter 25
“What him want, boss?” Kevon wanted to know as we watched Angee drive off.
“Something I don’t wanna do,” I said and started walking toward the club.
I definitely wasn’t expecting Angee to come outta nowhere with that shit. I should have told him no. I should have said, flat out, no. What you ask, I can not do. I should have said that I can’t do it for personal reasons that he is well aware of, and that I was insulted that he would ask.
But I didn’t.
I’ve been goin’ to Angee with my problems for years, and he never, not once, has asked anything in return- until now. As Kevon drove, I thought about what my refusing Angee might cost me.
On the way to Marshall’s fundraiser with Wanda I didn’t have much to say. She asked me what Angee wanted, but I gave her the same answer I gave Kevon. When she pushed it, I told her that Angee wanted to talk about Crazy Joe and to my surprise, she left it alone.
Crazy Joe Delfino used to do jobs with Angelo back in the day. Me, him and Angelo were supposed to hijack a load of cigarettes. But me and Angee got there late, so Crazy Joe did the job alone. He was arrested by Newark police at the tollbooth when he got off the turnpike.
Joe found out later that we were late because on the way to the job, we stopped to rob a jewelry store to settle an argument.
The robbery went off without any problems, but we got stuck in traffic coming across the George Washington Bridge. When we got there we found Crazy Joe’s car, but no Joe. Angelo found out the next day that Joe was arrested. Since then he’s been talkin’ ’bout killin’ me. He says it was my fault that he got arrested. It ain’t my fault that he went and did the shit by himself. He should have waited for us. That shit didn’t make no fuckin’ sense. But they don’t call him Crazy Joe for nothing.
We arrived at the fundraiser in time to catch the speeches. Marshall spoke last. Martin Marshall was a state senator who I’d done business with a few times. But he was such a greedy fuck that I had to cut him loose years ago. Since we had no business ties, when Glynnis told me he was involved in Cassandra’s murder, I wanted to kill him. But I knew that he would be more useful alive. Without Martin’s help, DeFrancisco might still be alive.
Now he was running for congress, and if you can believe the polls, he’s probably gonna win. It was good business for me to re-establish our association.
After his speech, Martin made his way around the room, shaking hands and nodding his head as people told
