Teddy pushed the door open with one crutch and hobbled in.
Pete Genaro was seated at his desk, about to light a cigar. It fell from his hands when he saw Teddy.
“Hi, Pete. How’s it going?”
* * *
—
Teddy and Pete were seated in chairs with brandies. Teddy didn’t need a brandy, but he saw no reason not to be social.
“When you first asked me for help, I wasn’t in a position to assist. Times have changed.”
“I see. Now that your service isn’t so valuable, you’re willing to give it.”
“Granted, I am not in the best physical condition. What you see is what you get.”
“What changed your mind?”
“For one thing, Sammy Candelosi burned down my house, a bad move on his part, and it’s coming back to bite him. I may not be a hundred percent, but I can still handle the likes of him. Which of your men knows the most about him?”
“That would be Jake, my personal bodyguard. I have him spying on their operation.”
“Get him in here. I have a lot of ground to cover, and I’d hate to do it twice.”
Genaro snatched up the phone. “Sherry, get Jake in here.”
“I don’t know where he is,” she protested.
“He’s got a cell phone, doesn’t he? Get him in here.” Pete hung up and shook his head. “I swear, if she wasn’t so darn pretty.”
Jake showed up fifteen minutes later. He gawked at the man with the cast on his leg.
“Don’t look so surprised, Jake,” Pete said. “This is Billy Barnett, the man Bambi advised me to call.”
“Let me fill you in,” Teddy said. “Pete called me to help with a mobster named Sammy Candelosi. At the time, I was not eager to do it, but certain things have changed. He burned down my house. Now I’ve purchased a new one and I’m getting it renovated, but before I move in I need to be sure it won’t burn down, too. That’s where you can help. You have the inside track with Sammy Candelosi. Pete tells me you know more about his operation than anyone else. You can tell me what I need to know. First off, how many bodyguards does he travel with?”
“Just one, but the guy’s a stone-cold killer. Scares the shit out of me. Guy named Slythe. Tall, thin, long hair, carries a straight razor. Candelosi’s got other goons, but that’s the one he’s always with.”
“How many other goons does he have?”
“Hard to say. They’re scattered throughout the casino. Some are goons, some are bouncers, some are pit bosses. Most of them are local. He’s got maybe ten or twelve men he brought from Jersey.”
“Suppose he went out to dinner. Not at his casino, but at a private dining room at a restaurant in town. How many men would he take?”
“It would depend on who he’s dining with. If he were on a hot date, there wouldn’t be many and she wouldn’t see them.”
“Say it was a business meeting with a couple of out-of-town guys that he didn’t know.”
“He’d bring muscle. Slythe for sure, maybe five or six others.”
Teddy nodded. He turned to Pete. “Okay, here’s the pitch. I said I’d handle this for you, but obviously I can’t. I do owe you for the Russian, and I like what you said on the phone. I can’t do it myself, but I need to get it done. So I lined up two guys to do the job. They’re young, but they’re good. They’re protégés of mine, actually, and they owe me, just like I owe you. I’m not going to give you their names—in fact, you’re not going to meet them. They’re going to contact Sammy Candelosi posing as young movie executives with their own studio in Hollywood, who want to talk to him about a multimillion-dollar money-laundering scheme. They’re going to set up a dinner meeting with him in a private dining room at an out-of-town restaurant. That’s why I want to know how many goons he’ll have with him.”
Teddy turned back to Jake. “So I want you to keep an eye on him. When he agrees to the dinner, I want to know it, and I want to know how many goons he’s going to bring. Can you do that?”
Jake looked at Pete.
Pete nodded. “What Billy tells you, consider it comes from me.”
“Yeah, I can do it.”
“Good man,” Teddy said. “Go see what you can find.”
When Jake went out, Pete said, “You’re paying these guys yourself?”
“They’re doing me a favor.”
“You always were a stand-up guy.”
Teddy jerked his thumb in the direction Jake had gone. “You think he can do it?”
“He’s not very bright. I think that’s why Sammy lets him hang around. He’s no real threat.”
“No argument here.”
Pete frowned. “Why did you ask him to report in when Sammy agrees to the dinner? Won’t your hit men do that?”
“Yes, they will,” Teddy said.
“Then why did you ask him?”
Teddy smiled. “To see if he does.”
Pete raised his brandy snifter. “I always knew you were smart.”
92
Jake burst into Sammy Candelosi’s office. “Billy Barnett’s here!”
Sammy frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Jake said. “He’s got a cast on his leg.”
“Then why is he here?”
“He came to help Pete. Pete asked him to take you out. He can’t do it, but he lined up two hit men to do it for him.”
“Two hit men?”
“Yeah. They’re going to call you up posing as movie types and ask you out to dinner to discuss a deal. They plan to hit you during dinner.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“But now you know not to go.”
“Yeah.” Sammy frowned.
“What’s the matter?” Jake said.
“If we don’t go, they’ll just try something else,” Slythe said. “On the other hand, this gives us an excellent opportunity to neutralize the threat.”
“When did you hear this?” Sammy said.
“Just now, in Pete’s office. Barnett sent me here to see if you’re going to go for it.”
Sammy smiled grimly. “Oh, I’m going to go for it.”