Johnny Porno

Chapter 20

The Walther was still under the spare tire in the trunk. Billy had followed Albano to the Ackerman home and watched from half a block away. At any point he could’ve taken the gun, walked to the house, rung the doorbell and shot the man.

He didn’t.

He continued following Albano instead; first to a diner on Queens Boulevard where Albano sat at the counter and had a cup of coffee while he chatted with a waitress.

Later, after Albano paid for his coffee, he was on his way again. Billy kept his distance, but not so far that he might lose sight of the Buick. The trip to Williamsburg took twenty-five minutes. Billy waited off the corner on Hooper Street, close enough to where Fast Eddie’s was located to see Albano park alongside a fire hydrant near the bar.

After a few minutes he was feeling tired. He did a line of cocaine. The adrenaline rush was strong and made him fidgety. A car door slammed up ahead and Billy saw Albano was standing alongside Eddie Vento’s Cadillac. The two men had a short conversation that ended abruptly when the big car pulled away from the curb.

A minute later Albano was back in the Buick heading along the reverse route they’d just taken coming from Queens. Billy pursued the Buick a little closer before he noticed a set of taillights in his rearview mirror. Albano was moving faster this time, catching the synchronized traffic lights without fail. Billy pulled to the curb and let the car he suspected was following him pass. He waited a moment and pulled back into traffic, this time tailing the banged-up Chevy Impala. He lost sight of Albano at the next light and didn’t see the Buick again until it pulled into the diner parking lot on Queens Boulevard. The Impala pulled into the same lot.

Billy parked along the curb and waited a few minutes. When he saw the Buick heading out the exit at the other end of the lot, the Impala followed it. Billy waited until both cars were out of the lot before pursuing them. A few minutes later he realized Albano was following the white car directly ahead of the Buick while being tailed by the Impala. Whatever was going on, Billy doubted any of the other drivers knew what it was.

A short time later Albano pulled into a driveway directly behind the white car. The Impala parked further up the same block.

Albano was out of his car. He followed the waitress to the front door of the house and then they were inside.

“The girlfriend,” Billy said. “What a nice surprise.”

They were on her couch, Melinda on top. Things were getting heated fast. She was grinding against him. His hands moved down her back to cup her ass. She moaned when he slipped one hand under her skirt. She could feel herself coming, then pushed herself up and off him.

John looked up and saw she had moved to the end of the couch. She was breathing hard with both her hands raised.

“Sorry,” she gasped. “I had to stop.”

“Why?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t, John, please.”

“You okay?”

“Too okay, yes. I want to, trust me, but I can’t. I shouldn’t. I won’t. Not this soon. I’m sorry, really.”

She got up off the couch and headed for the kitchen. “I’m getting cold water for myself. You want?”

“Please,” he said.

He heard her chuckle. “I really am sorry,” she said.

He was hard and had thought it would happen after thinking it wouldn’t, not for a while yet. He did his best to lose his erection, but it wasn’t easy.

A minute later Melinda did an exaggerated hop and skip into the living room with his glass of water. She was smiling as she sang, “‘Morning friend, we recommend, blue plate number two.’”

“That supposed to relax me?”

“Yes.”

“It’s from some movie, right?”

“Guess which and I won’t be able to deny you.”

“Something with Betty Grable.”

“Close, but this ain’t horseshoes.”

“Ever hear of close enough for jazz?”

“Moon over Miami,” Melinda said. “I had to say it so you wouldn’t guess.”

“I wouldn’t have.”

Melinda sat in an armchair across from the couch. “You’re a great kisser and I was way too worked up way too soon,” she said. “I’d hate myself in the morning whether you did or not. Then I’d take it out on you. It’s better this way, trust me.”

“Okay,” he said, unconvincingly.

“So, what are your plans for the weekend?”

There was no way he was telling her about the job he’d just agreed to stay with a couple of hours ago, but John did tell her he was busy until Sunday night.

“Can you get off early enough to see the movie?” Melinda asked. “Or we could go Monday.”

“I can try for Sunday night but can’t guarantee it. We could always go for drinks and a late snack.”

“Drinks to loosen me up?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“Clever boy.”

“Or we could be adults and just go for it now.”

“I’d love to, John, believe me.”

He patted the couch alongside him.

“But I think you’d better go.”

“Huh?” he said.

“Please,” she said. She motioned toward the door.

He got up and walked around the coffee table. He stopped at the door. “Kiss good night first?”

Melinda bit her lips. “No way,” she said. “Go.”

After convincing Nancy to front him one thousand dollars to cover his gambling nut, Louis spent the rest of his Friday scouting locations for the robbery he planned to commit Sunday. There were seven stops he’d clocked along John Albano’s route. He had focused on the last three in order to guarantee the most bounty, Massapequa, Rockville Centre and Valley Stream, the only stops Albano sometimes took out of order.

Louis still had no idea what kind of cash he might net, but he did know he’d have a bunch of porno film reels. He wouldn’t be able to get rid of the film in New York for fear of the mob behind it, but selling them off on his way south would provide some extra cash for the road trip.

He was thinking about Florida on his way back to the apartment. He’d been there twice, once to Disney World with Nancy on their honeymoon and another time right after their divorce, to Miami, where he went to purchase marijuana from a Cuban connection he’d made in Manhattan.

Florida was also where Louis first learned to hotwire a car. After he’d made his pot deal in Miami, Louis had decided he liked the warm weather and the women in their bikinis on South Beach enough to stay there awhile. He had rented an apartment on Collins Avenue and lived large until the money dried up. When he was forced to find new income, a friend told him about a chop shop in Ft. Lauderdale that provided tutoring on how to steal cars to anyone eager enough to risk the consequences of getting caught.

Louis moved to Ft. Lauderdale and spent the next six months boosting cars. Mostly, he took them from parking lots, but for high-ticket sports items like Porsches and Corvettes, Louis would take them off the streets or go into private driveways.

He eventually stopped when Nancy called him from New York with news that she was pregnant and getting married again.

“To who?” Louis had asked her.

“You don’t know him,” Nancy had said. “What’s the difference? You don’t care. You live down there now.”

It was the first time Louis was jealous over his ex-wife. “What’s his name?” he’d asked.

“John Albano,” she’d told him.

“Never heard of him.”

“How would you?”

“I don’t know. Come down here before you do it.”

“What? Don’t be crazy. I can’t.”

“Yeah, you can. If you love me you will.”

“I can’t, I’m engaged now.”

“Come down or you’ll never see me again.”

“I’ll never see you again anyway.”

“You will, I promise. Come down now and I promise I’ll move back up after you’re married.”

“And what good’ll that do me?”

“Take it or leave it.”

“What do you mean, take it or leave it? How can you say that to me? I hate you, god damn it.”

Louis had hung up on her that day, but his plan eventually worked. Panicked he might turn her away for remarrying, Nancy flew down a few days before her wedding and the two carried on a three-day affair before she returned to New York. Two years later, after his partner in a stolen-car and pot-dealing ring was arrested, Louis didn’t stick around to see if he’d be given up. He flew to Chicago instead, where he stole a car out of the long-term airport parking lot and drove to New York.

His affairs with Nancy had been on-again, off-again, ever since. As much as she was hooked on him, he needed her, too. Although she had argued against his plan, Louis knew he could count on Nancy. He enticed her with a promise to start over; they would take the money and run.

He’d still need a backup plan, however, just in case. Louis was starting to think the bazaar Nancy had mentioned in Valley Stream was the place to make his move. He’d even come up with an idea of how to put Albano in position to be robbed. It wouldn’t hurt to have Holly help him with some of the details.

He gave her a call and was annoyed when her line was busy. He turned on the television to watch the late, late show, but was asleep before the first commercial.