If Johnny suddenly walked in and caught him with this chick, Johnny would kill him. Toni had no doubt about that.
“Get your clothes on,” he said. “You and me are going for a ride. Come on!”
“I won’t go with you! Get out!” Melanie screamed. Then sliding down the bed away from him, she was on her feet and out into the sitting-room before be could stop her.
Cursing, Toni rushed after her, caught her at the front door and dragged her back into the bedroom. He pulled his gun and shoved the barrel into her chest.
“Get dressed!” he snarled.
She looked with horror at the gun, then he had no more trouble with her.
Twenty minutes later, he led her into Massino’s office.
“Something stinks here, boss,” he said as Massino glared first at him and then at Melanie. “Maybe you can talk to her.” He went on to tell Massino about Johnny’s car, about Melanie’s terror and no Johnny.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Massino snarled. “You telling me Johnny took the money?”
“I’m telling you nothing. She’ll tell you.”
Massino turned his bloodshot, enraged eyes on Melanie who shrivelled under his glare.
“Where’s Johnny?”
She began to sob helplessly.
“I don’t know. He went out on a job… that’s what he called it. Don’t touch me! He told me I was to be his alibi. He lost his medal…”
Massino drew a long slow breath.
“Sit down,” he said. “Here, Toni, give her a chair.” Then he began to question Melanie who talked, terrified by the staring bloodshot eyes and the fat, stone- hard face.
“Okay,” Massino said finally. “Take her home, Toni,” and getting up he went into Andy’s office where Lieutenant Mulligan was about to leave. Massino drew him aside. “I want you to pick up Johnny Bianda,” he said. “Turn every goddamn cop you’ve got on the job. Keep it quiet… understand?”
Mulligan gaped at him.
“Bianda? You think he’s behind this?”
Massino grinned like a wolf.
“I don’t know, but if you can’t find him in four or five hours, he could be. Drop everything… get after Bianda!”
At 10.00, Carlo Tanza arrived in a Cadillac with three bodyguards. With a wide, oily smile he watched them dump two heavy suitcases on Massino’s desk.
Tanza was a short, stocky Italian with a balding head, a big paunch, tiny, evil eyes and lips like red wine.
He shook hands with Massino, waved his men out of the office, nodded to Andy who stayed to count the money, then sat down. “There’s the money, Joe,” he said. “You ask, you get. How’s that for service?”
Massino nodded.
“Thanks.”
“The boss talked to me on the phone,” Tanza said.
“He wasn’t pleased. If you want to hold on to your Numbers, Joe, you have got to wake up your ideas. This safe…”
“I’m getting a new one.”
“I guessed you would. Now, who took the money?”
“Nothing certain yet,” Massino said, “but it points to Johnny Bianda. He’s gone missing.”
“Bianda?” Tanza looked startled. “I got the idea he was your best man.”
“Yeah.” Massino’s face turned red and his little eyes glittered, “but it points to him,” and he went on to tell Tanza about Melanie, the alibi and the fact Johnny’s car was still parked outside Melanie’s pad.
“You’re sure the girl knows nothing?”
“I’m sure. I scared the crap out of the bitch.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Massino closed his big hands into fists.
“If he’s skipped town, I want the organization to go after him. If he’s still in town, I’ll find him.”
“He can buy himself a lot of protection with all that dough,” Tanza said thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll tell the Big Man. So you want us to find him… right?”
“If he’s not holed up here… yes.”
“I don’t want to start something too soon, Joe. Once the organization gets moving its hard to stop and it costs. Suppose you make certain he isn’t in town, then give me the green light, huh?”
“If he’s skipped, the longer you wait the further he’ll go.”
Tanza grinned evilly.
“It don’t matter how far he goes… if he goes to China, we’ll find him. We’ve never failed yet. You make sure first he isn’t in town, then we’ll take over.”
He got to his feet. “I’m only trying to save you money, Joe. We don’t work for nothing.”
When Tanza had gone, Massino called Toni and Ernie into the office.
“Go to Johnny’s place and search it.” he ordered. “I want every scrap of information, every scrap of paper you can find there. I want you to send out some of the boys to ask around. I want to know who his friends are.
When they had left, Massino called Lieutenant Mulligan.
“Anything new?” he asked when the Lieutenant came on the line.
“It’s my bet he’s skipped town,” Mulligan said. “There’s no trace of him. I’ve dug up his record, his prison photo and his finger prints. Would they be of any use to you?”
“Yeah. I want everything you’ve got on him.”
“I’ll send a man over with the photostats right away, Mr. Massino.”
“Would you know if he has any relatives?”
“Doesn’t seem to from his record. His father died five years ago.”
“Anything on him?”
“An Italian: worked in a fruit cannery in Tampa. Johnny was born there.”
Massino thought for a moment.
“A dog to its vomit. He could be heading back South.”
“Yeah. Do you want me to alert the Florida police… can do.”
Massino hesitated, then said, “No. I can handle this, but keep hunting for him in town.” A pause, then Massino said, “The next time you’re passing look in and see Andy. He’ll have something for you.”
As Mulligan began mumbling thanks, Massino hung up.
At 19.00, Massino was still at his desk. Spread out before him were the various items that Mulligan had sent him and that Toni and Ernie had found in Johnny’s apartment.
Andy hovered behind him, chain smoking, but quiet. He could feel the intensity of Massino’s vicious fury that was only just under control.
“So what have we got?” Massino demanded suddenly.
“He’s our man,” Andy said. “No question about it now and he’s skipped town.”
“Who the hell would have thought Johnny would have done this to me?” Massino asked, pushing back his chair. “The sonofabitch! Well, okay, I’ll turn the organization after him. It may take time, but they’ll find him and then he’ll wish he’d never been born!”
Andy came to the desk.
“This interests me, Mr. Joe,” he said and picked up a much thumbed copy of
“How the hell should I know?” Massino snarled. “It means nothing!”
Andy was flicking through the pages, then he paused at an advert of a thirty-foot cabin cruiser that had been ringed by a pencil.
“Look at this.”
Massino glared at him.
