Victor kind of skipped the part where his life was on the line too, but I couldn’t really blame him for that.
“But… but…” Vinny searched his cousin’s eyes and found the truth.
“It doesn’t matter,” Victor continued. “It’s the price you pay. Tommy was out of line, and now he’s dead. The police are looking into it, and they want to tie it to Manetto. If they do, you’re taking the fall.”
It finally sank in, and Vinny swore a blue streak in his mind, muttering under his breath. The fight went out of him, and he slumped against the wall. “Whatever man. But it won’t come back to me. Whatever Tommy was doing, he did it on his own. I had no idea.”
Since Vinny was telling the truth, I threw him a bone. “Maybe we can work with that. We met some of the kids Tommy sold to at the Health Store. If they come back looking to buy some drugs, maybe you can find out what Tommy had going on.”
“That’s true,” Ramos said. “Even if they know Tommy’s dead, you can take his place selling drugs to them. Once word gets out, and they come to you for their drugs, we’ll make sure someone talks and get to the bottom of it. Are you willing to do that?”
“Hell yeah,” Vinny said.
“Good. That will help your case with Manetto, because I’ve got to tell you, he’s ready to kill you right now. Your cooperation will go a long way in appeasing him. But you’re not out of the woods yet. Not until this is solved. Got it?”
“Yeah, sure man. I got this.” He was thinking that he used to do business with Aaron back in the day, so it wasn’t a problem to get back in. That must have been what Tommy thought too, and now the guy was dead. What the hell was going on? “I’ll get the word out and head over there tonight. You want me to call you if one of the buyers shows up?”
“Yes,” Ramos agreed. He glanced my way, thinking that I might need to come with him. I nodded. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? That was my life now.
As Ramos and I left, Ramos told both of them not to screw this up, and I nodded to show my solidarity, although I don’t think either of them noticed. Soon, we were back on the bike and headed to Thrasher. The ride was way too short for my taste, but it was better than nothing.
“You coming up?” Ramos asked.
“Uh… you know, it’s getting late, I think I’ll call it a day.”
He nodded. “Sure. I’ll text you if I need you tonight, but I wouldn’t count on it. With Tommy’s death, I don’t imagine the word will get out for another day or two.”
“That makes sense.” We spoke for another minute before I hurried to my car, eager to get home and put my feet up. Talk about stress. It just didn’t let up, with one thing happening right after another; I was kidding myself to think I’d ever shed my trouble-magnet status.
Would things ever settle down? I had so much on my plate that I didn’t know what I should do first. Mack Haywood’s murder seemed the most important, so I put that at the top of my list. Next, I’d promised Dimples I’d show up his new psychic partner by solving their case.
And now I had Tommy’s murder to solve. At least Vinny was taking the lead, but I still needed to work with the police on the case for Uncle Joey’s sake. We certainly couldn’t have it tied to him when he was innocent. Then there was the big question of being Uncle Joey’s successor.
I drove home in a daze, mostly on automatic. Out of all the things I faced, being Uncle Joey’s successor scared me the most. Of course, I had to remember that Uncle Joey’s plans were for the future. None of it was happening right now. I wasn’t in charge of a darn thing. I hadn’t said I’d do it either, so I still had plenty of wiggle-room, right?
For now, I’d put the rest of my troubles off until morning… unless Ramos called me later. Sheesh! Maybe it was a good thing I had my appointment with Bob Spicer tomorrow. Hopefully, he had some coping mechanisms he could share that would help me with the stress. Not that I could tell him about the mob stuff, but the police stuff was probably more than enough.
Making it home, I walked into the house, and Coco rushed to greet me. I’d forgotten all about him, but the minute he appeared, a big smile crossed my face, and my worries lightened. I knelt on one knee and threw my arms around him. He licked my face, and I didn’t even mind.
“What are you up to, big guy? Keeping an eye on the place?”
He let out a woof. Yup.
“Good boy. Where is everyone?”
Another woof. Gone.
“Oh, that’s right. Josh had to work, and Savannah’s at Ash’s house. Do you need to go out?”
Yup. Yup. Yup. Coco ran to the back patio door, anxious and prancing a little. I opened it and he took off. Whoa, we should probably get a doggy-door installed.
Heading upstairs to my room, I kicked off my shoes and changed into a pair of shorts. Coming back down, I stepped out on the patio and sat back on the swing. Sitting in the shade with a cool breeze blowing across my face, I closed my eyes and let the cares of the day flow away. Coco joined me, and, with a little coaxing, he jumped onto the swing and laid his head on my lap.
Sitting together, with his undivided attention, I began to tell him about my day, which soon morphed into a conversation
