Boston Blood

Forty two

Frankie took her time walking back to her apartment. The weather was still very cold for this time of year but the constant shiver that was running through her body had nothing to do with the temperature. She took out her phone and dialled Aidan's number and waited impatiently for him to answer. It was strange, she never thought she would actually be eager to speak to Aidan O'Shea but after tonight and hearing just evil and unbothered her father was, Frankie found herself oddly excited to finally start working for Tony. She wanted Tommy dead and finally came to terms with her role. She no longer felt scared. All she wanted was for Tommy to be dead, Bill and Mary to be safe and her and Michael to finally get away from all of this. That was keeping her going. 
"Yeah?"
"I'm starting tomorrow. The Venetian Hotel. I'm meeting them there at 9."
"Good. Call when you have more info. See if he mentions a shipment of semi-automatics and Cocaine coming into the Harbour in a few weeks."
"Okay."
O'Shea hung up without another word and Frankie felt another, violent chill run through her body. She didn't want to go home yet so she went to the café and took a seat at the back. "Frankie! Jesus, haven't seen you here in ages. Where have you been?" Tracy smiled and took a seat opposite Frankie. 
"Oh, I've just been so busy and I was away from a few days." Frankie muttered, trying to be friendly. 
"Oh lovely, anywhere nice? God I'd love to get out of this dumb for a while, go somewhere hot, with an even hotter man." Tracy giggled as she took out her notepad and waited  eagerly for Frankie's response. 
"No, no, I wish. Just visiting some family." Frankie knew her face was betraying her when she saw Tracy's face drop, slightly.
"That's nice, hon. Anyway what can I get you? You look like you haven't eaten in two weeks!" Frankie smiled and felt her hands, self-consciously wrap around her body. 
"Erm, can I just get a B.L.T and black coffee to go?"
"Oh are you not staying?"
"Nah, I didn't actually realise how tired I was." Frankie's previously pleasant tone was faltering. She thought she wanted to be around people but sitting there, hearing this harmless woman ask innocent questions about her life was putting her on edge. Tracy shrugged her shoulders and stood up. "No problem. I'll get that right away, Frankie."

She didn't wait for her order. She threw twenty dollars on the table and skulked out of the café while Tracy's back was turned. She thought being around people was what she needed but she was sorely mistaken. She just wanted to go home and if truth be told, she wanted to just see the one person she hadn't been able to stop thinking of. 

                                                                        ***
It had been over a week since her first day working as the book keeper at Tony's hotel. In another world, working at a place like this was a dream come true. The building, itself, was stunning. Beautifully decorated in art-deco style with lavish furnishings and very fancy clientele who valued their privacy. There were no cameras anywhere in the building so of course, this clientele appreciated the lack of prying eyes into their incriminating goings-on. It only had ten bedrooms and a five star restaurant which added to its super exclusive air. Tony had insisted on a strict dress code for employees of the hotel, of course and requested that Frankie take his credit card and go shopping to buy some more appropriate attire. That of course meant sultry, skimpy but classy dresses, designer shoes and fitted pants suits, all of which got the not so subtle nod of appreciation from Tony. She still felt completely out of place. A place like this was not somewhere she would have ever been able to work under normal circumstances but in this case, she had no choice. 
She hadn't heard anything about a shipment, or anything to do with any business other than the day to day management of the hotel so she hadn't spoken to Aidan since the night Tommy showed up at Bill's. She was still only considered a underqualified accountant so she wasn't privy to the plethora of secretive meetings Tony held at his restaurant on a near nightly basis. She was both; equally ecstatic and terrified at this. She knew Aidan must be getting impatient with her lack of information. But she also knew that Tony had something huge in the works but could never get near enough to even eavesdrop. The only thing she did hear was a brief conversation between Kevin and Tony about Joe. The mention of his name while she was grabbing a cup of coffee in the hotel kitchen made her throat constrict and her palms burst into a sweaty mess. Kevin was asking if they had any leads on the prick who had robbed Joe and ultimately murdered him in cold blood. Tony was only half listening as he and Kevin breezed through the kitchen on their way to a club. He didn't seem bothered about Joe's death and for that, Frankie was thankful. But Kevin didn't look like he was going to let it go. Joe was a bastard but he was Kevin's best friend and Frankie knew that Kevin had a feeling Joe's untimely death was simply a mugging gone wrong. She had made a mental note that night to steer clear of Kevin as much as possible and to just keep her head down. But the knot in her stomach was making her feel like that would be no easy task.