Casino Moon

25

TEDDY AND VIN WENT for a walk around the block with Richie Amato that afternoon.

“You done good,” said Teddy, keeping to the outside part of the sidewalk.

“Yeah, yeah,” Richie mumbled, drawing his collar up over the scratches and gouges left by Nick’s grandmother.

It was turning into an ash-gray day with threatening clouds overhead. Salt-corroded cars lined both sides of the street.

“Today might be a day you’ll remember as maybe the greatest day of your life,” said Teddy, swinging his right foot over the curb. “Because today, we can talk about bringing you officially into this thing of ours, that’s been going for hundreds of years. You earned your button last night and I’m proud of you.”

He squeezed one of Richie’s shoulders. It was as hard as a coconut shell and as big as a football. But his face couldn’t handle a smile.

“So tell me,” said Teddy, “what was his last words?”

“I don’t know.”

“Whaddya mean, you don’t know? You pushed the button on him, didn’t you?”

Richie didn’t dare look him in the eye. “Well if you wanna get like specific, Anthony did that part. I was tied up with the old bitch.”

Vin began to cackle. “What’d I tell you, Ted? What’d I tell you? The kid’s got stones.”

A white Atlantic City Police Department car rolled by slowly and Teddy hushed both of them into silence. He stared after the car and wouldn’t allow the others to speak until it was out of sight.

“You mean you let that mutt pull the trigger?” He glared at Richie.

“Either he was gonna do it or it wouldn’t get done.”

“Hey, Ted, you wanted Anthony to do a piece of work,” Vin interrupted. “Why you getting upset about it?”

“I just want to make sure he’ll keep his mouth shut.” Teddy softened his tone. “We gotta be extra, extra, extra cautious from now on. There’s gonna be surveillance all the time now. They do that whenever they got two in a row dead, like this Larry and Nicky, and nobody locked up for it.”

“He’ll keep his mouth shut,” Vin assured him.

Teddy eyed the unmarked blue Chrysler across the street and turned his residual wrath on Richie. “Anthony get rid of the gun he used?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Think so isn’t good enough,” said Teddy. “It’s the little details that can fuck you up .. . Where’d you put the clothes from the last time?”

“Clothes?” Richie looked at Vin, like he needed an interpreter.

“Larry’s clothes, you moron,” Teddy said emphatically. “You got rid of them. Right? I don’t want anybody finding any fucking carpet fibers from the club.”

“Hey, what’d I tell you about calling me a moron, Ted?”

“You said you didn’t like it. So I hope you’re not still driving around with them clothes. There’s a lot of guys got picked up for driving with an expired license and ended up doing time for murder.”

“Well, my license ain’t expired,” said Richie as they turned the corner and came up on the Baltimore Grill, an elegant old restaurant with a red-and-white sign out front.

“Fine,” said Teddy, patting his abdomen nervously, “then we ain’t got nothing to worry about.”