Johnny Porno

Chapter 45

The phone call from her former daughter-in-law and her son had kept Marie Albano up most of the night. First Nancy had said John owed the mob money, but later John had said his ex-wife was lying. Marie couldn’t trust her ex-daughter-in-law, but the fact her son wanted her to take Little Jack someplace safe was cause for concern.

This morning she was thinking she might take her grandson to the theme park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Marie was thinking she’d book a room in a motel nearby the amusement park. Little Jack was eating cereal in the living room while watching television. She didn’t mention anything to her grandson while she looked over her road atlas.

She took notes of the roads and highways she would have to take and had just written the directions through Pennsylvania using Interstates 78 and 81 when the doorbell rang. Marie glanced out the kitchen window and saw a tall man with red hair standing at the front door.

“Grandma!” Little Jack called to her.

“I got it,” Marie said. She looked through the peephole and asked who it was.

“Police, ma’am.”

She was about to ask him to show his identification when a badge appeared. Marie opened the door enough to show her face.

“Morning, ma’am,” the detective said.

“What is it?” Marie asked.

“I’m looking for your son.”

“My son? What for?”

“It has to do with money he owes, ma’am. I’m not here officially this morning. More as a favor. Your grandson here?”

“My grandson? Why?”

“I was asked to ask, ma’am.”

“Why? Who asked you to ask?”

“A friend. If you could pass along a message to your son, that he needs to speak to the man in Brooklyn today, it’d be much appreciated.”

“What man? What is this about?”

“Money, ma’am.”

“What money? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Your son does.”

“And you’re police?”

“A detective, ma’am.”

“Says you,” Marie said.

The detective smiled, then turned and walked away.

Detective Levin was sitting up high in the passenger bucket seat of the surveillance van. Brice had joined him a few minutes ago with two fresh coffees and a couple of packs of Yankee Doodles. Levin had been sitting surveillance on Detective Sean Kelly since just after midnight. He yawned before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Last night he meets Eddie Vento on the Canarsie Pier and this morning he’s doing house-to-houses,” Levin said.

They had just watched Kelly approach the front door of Marie Albano’s home about half a block away.

“I guess you didn’t get any sleep,” Brice said.

“I almost missed him,” Levin said. “Somebody stopped over last night and put a bug up my ass.”

“Think about the bug up my ass,” Brice said. He was watching Kelly. A stocky woman with gray hair opened the door the detective had just knocked on.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

“Albano’s mother’s the woman lives there, owns the house.”

“The guy, Johnny Porno, his mother?”

“The same.”

“And Kelly’s visiting her why?”

“Something to do with missing money from the porn flick.”

Brice adjusted the van’s rearview mirror so he could see through both rear windows.

“So, Kelly is working for Eddie Vento,” he said.

“Oh, yeah.”

The two detectives sat silent the next few minutes while Kelly and the gray-haired woman continued their conversation.

“I’m sure it has something to do with last night,” Levin said. “This Albano, Johnny Porno, he’s supposed to be missing with cash and some bootlegged copies of the movie they’re peddling. That’s off an OC bug in Vento’s bar.”

“You have somebody with OC?”

Levin ignored the question. “Whatever’s going on, it looks like Kelly’s helping to find him.”

He wrote the time down in a notebook and started the van’s engine. He waited until Kelly’s car was a full block ahead of them before pulling out.

“Where’s he going?” Brice said.

“Pay phone,” Levin said.

“You’re sure of yourself.”

They followed Kelly through the streets before he turned onto a busy commercial street. Four lights later, Kelly pulled into a gas station and used a pay phone there.

“What’s going on?” Brice said.

“I was a betting man?” Levin said. “Kelly’s checking in.”

Louis returned to the pay phone at the motel office and dialed Nancy’s home number again. This time she was a lot more pleasant when she answered.

“You calm?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Can we talk?”

“What do you mean? Of course.”

“Is it safe?”

“It is now. I’m alone.”

“What happened? Why were you so crazy before?”

“Because men came here looking for John last night and one of them hit me,” Nancy said. “They went through the house and then they grabbed me down there and said they’d be back.”

Louis had to be careful with her. Nancy was loyal but not crazy. If mobsters had come and smacked her around, there was a chance she was setting him up now.

“What else did they say?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“They’d be back. They said they’d be back.”

“And John?”

There was a pause that unnerved Louis.

“And John?” he repeated.

“He thinks it’s some guy he had a fight with at the bar,” Nancy said. “Somebody broke his windshield on the Buick. He thinks it’s the same guy.”

Louis remembered the broken windshield. “Great,” he said. “That’s great he thinks it’s somebody else.”

“Where are you?” Nancy asked.

“I’ll be back tonight.”

“What time?”

“I can’t come there, Nan, to your place. Not yet.”

“You going to the apartment?”

He didn’t like the question. “Maybe, I don’t know yet.”

“Louis, where? I can meet you.”

He could see Holly crossing the parking lot.

“Look, I’ll call you tonight or tomorrow morning.”

“What time? Nathan left me and I’m all alone now.”

“Just hang on and I’ll call you.”

Holly was waving at him.

“Okay?” he said into the phone.

“I miss you,” Nancy said. “And I’m afraid.”

“It’ll be okay,” he said.

Then Holly yelled his name and he tried to hang up but missed the cradle and had to try again. He missed a second time, while Holly yelled she was hungry, and then he finally hung up.

“Shit,” he said under his breath.

“I’m starved,” Holly said. “Let’s get breakfast.”

“Sure,” Louis said. “And maybe a stiff drink.”