“Good. Now let’s see where this woman takes us.”
Andrews shot a querulous look at Rosales. “What’s with you and this woman?”
“Her behavior doesn’t bother you?”
“Sure, but she’s not the reason we’re here.”
Rosales shrugged.
CHAPTER 19
Bruno had expected Louis and Janet to arrive thirty minutes earlier. He’d become more agitated with the passage of every minute. When the knock sounded on the apartment door, he leaped from his computer chair, opened the door, and felt a surge of warmth when Janet smiled at him. Bruno reached to take her hand, but she walked forward and hugged him.
“Good to see you, Bruno.”
Bruno looked over Janet’s shoulder at the mischievous smile on Louis Massarino’s face.
The cab deposited the Asian woman back at the hotel where she’d left her Audi. Rosales and Andrews watched the front of the place. Ten minutes later, after a parking valet brought the Audi up from an underground lot, the woman drove away. It was after 8:00 p.m. when they observed her remotely open a gate to an underground parking lot beneath a Manhattan building. The gate closed as soon as she pulled in. Andrews threw open the passenger side door and told Rosales, “I’ll be right back.” He stepped from the car, slammed the door shut, and ran to the building entrance.
Double parked, Rosales decided to circle the block. When he came back to the front of the building, he picked up Andrews who stood on the curb.
“Talked to the doorman,” Andrews said, as Rosales drove off. “After I flashed my badge, he got real helpful. Told me the only Asian in the building was a good-looking young woman named Victoria Nguyen in Unit 15B. He doesn’t know what she does for a living, but said she’s in and out at odd times.”
“Nguyen is a Vietnamese name.” Irony heavy in his voice, Rosales said, “You think there might be a connection between her and the Vietnamese guys who grabbed Janet in El Segundo?”
Andrews scoffed. “Gee, you think?”
Rosales said, “I’m hungry. What say we go back to that street in Brooklyn where the Lincoln was parked and hang around there? There were a couple restaurants on the same block.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
At 9:00 p.m., Rosales and Andrews took seats at a window table in a pizza parlor up from where the Lincoln Town Car had been parked. Although the car was gone, the big guy in the overcoat was still standing outside. Rosales could just see a sliver of the building where the man stood guard.
“You know Janet may have left,” Andrews groused.
“Yeah, I know,” Rosales said. “But I’ll bet ya five bucks Pedace’s in the building where that bruiser is standing guard.”
“We have a subpoena for Pedace to appear in court in California. Let’s just go knock on the door.”
Rosales chuckled. “Whatsa matter, you got a hot date?”
“Shit. I haven’t had a date in months. Since I partnered up with you, all I do is work.”
“Bitch, bitch, bitch. Just think of all the experience you’re—”
“Wonder who the big guy is protecting,” Andrews said.
“Let’s wait an hour and see if the guy takes off. If he does, we’ll go knock on the door.”
“And if he doesn’t leave?”
“Then we’ll go introduce ourselves to him…and then knock on the door.”
As he continued to stare down the street, Rosales tucked into a slice of pizza. “This ain’t half-bad,” he said.
“I was famished,” Andrews said.
They finished a large pizza and consumed several cups of coffee. They’d ordered a couple cannoli just to keep the owner happy, but hadn’t touched them.
Bruno and Janet sat on a two-seater couch, ate take-out Chinese food, and talked.
“You really believe your former partners are behind all this?” Janet asked.
“No doubt in my mind,” Bruno answered.
“So, why would you endanger yourself by coming to New York?”
“I can’t answer that, Janet. The less you know, the better. But take my word that those men will pay for what they’ve done.”
A shiver jolted Janet as fear snaked through her. “What are you up to, Bruno? I don’t want anything more to happen to you.”
Bruno patted her hand and smiled. “Don’t worry about me. Louis is keeping an eye on things. Besides, no one knows where I am.” He chuckled. “Ninety-nine percent of the time that I’ve been back here I’ve been holed up in this place.”
Janet scowled. “It’s the one percent that could be a problem.”
Bruno took her hand. “It’s nice to know you’re concerned about me.”
Janet scooted toward him and said, “Are you just figuring that out?”
Bruno’s face reddened. He looked at his lap and shrugged.
“You really are a klutz sometimes.”
Still eyeing his lap, he nodded. “There hasn’t been anyone who cared about me in a long time.”
“Nonsense,” Janet said. “What about Carlo Massarino, Louis, the Pappadopouloses?”
“I meant—”
Janet put a hand under his chin and lifted, turning his head. “Look at me, Bruno.” When their eyes met, she said, “I understand. It’s been the same for me. Other than my mother and a few people at work, I’ve been alone for a long time.” She leaned toward him and pressed her lips against his. For a moment, he responded to her kiss, but then he suddenly pulled away and clumsily stood and moved away from the couch.
The frightened, lost expression Janet had seen on Bruno’s face back in that alley in Redondo Beach had returned. The confidence she’d observed in him of late had disappeared.
“Bruno—”
“I think I’d better call Louis and have him send someone to take you back to his place.”
Janet nodded. She felt empty. She’d misread the look Bruno had given her when he’d opened the apartment door earlier. She’d thought their conversations back at St. Anne’s had been more than just idle, casual talk. She’d deluded herself into thinking that Bruno felt about her the way she felt about him.
Massarino’s driver returned to the apartment at 10:15 p.m. After Janet and Caniglia left with the driver, Bruno repeatedly walked the length of the apartment, talking to himself and maniacally waving his arms, looking like a crazed windmill. The look he’d seen on Janet’s face when he’d broken off their kiss had made him feel as though his heart had shattered. He’d wanted so badly to take her in his arms, to tell her how he felt about her. But he couldn’t encourage something that might end in disaster. The plan could backfire and he could end up in prison…or dead. Sy Rosen and his partners could accomplish what they’d wanted to do for years—murder him. Until those possibilities were gone, there was no way he could encourage a relationship with Janet. But, as he continued to roam the limits of the apartment, his mutterings became shouts. He screamed at the walls, “Pedace, you’re an idiot.”