MURDER TAKES TIME

Chapter 41

A Busy Year

Brooklyn—20 Months Ago

Manny interrupted Tito’s reading, risking his foul humor. Four months had passed, and there was still no sign of Gina or his money. “Boss, I got an idea a little while back. Remember that source we got that gets us cop-type information sometimes?” 

Tito nodded. 

“I had Gina’s phone checked out. It was bought in Hershey, PA.” 

“She could have bought it there to throw us off.”

Manny shrugged. “She could have, and I agree she did good with the Fed-Ex thing, so she’s smart, but maybe she didn’t know we could trace this. Just maybe, she thought a throwaway phone was invisible.” Manny waited while Tito absorbed this. “Hershey, PA, isn’t that big. Just a bunch of chocolate and a few piles of manure. It’s worth a shot.”

Tito’s head was already nodding. “Put Bobbie and Little T on this. And tell those assholes we sent to Baltimore to go too. I want every mall, hair salon, and—” Tito stopped when he saw Manny shaking his head. “What?”

“Churches,” Manny said. “Gina won’t miss Sunday mass. All you got to do is watch every Catholic church in the area, and you’ll get her.”

Tito thought for a minute, then jumped up and hugged him. “You’re a genius.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

#

A few weeks later, while Tito Martelli ate his eggs, sipped on his cappuccino, and read the morning paper, Manny’s heavy footsteps clomped across the dining room floor on the way to the kitchen. “We just got a call from Chicky. He says it’s urgent.”

“You got a different number? I don’t want to talk on that one.”

“He’s got a clean phone.” Manny tossed him a throwaway cell phone, then turned on the kitchen fan and a few other appliances. Tito had the place swept constantly, but just in case, the extra noise would provide enough “reasonable doubt” when listening to a conversation.” 

Tito grabbed the phone, then dialed the number Manny gave him. 

“Yeah?”

“Chicky?”

“We just spotted Gina going into church. Pretty as a picture she was, all dressed in her Sunday best.”

“Stay with her, Chicky. If you lose her…”

“I don’t lose nobody.” There was a pause, then, “You want me to—”

Tito almost jumped out of his chair. “No.” He paced the kitchen. “Find out where she lives and stay on her. I’ll be in touch.”

Tito handed the phone back to Manny then walked to the table and sat. He scraped up the last of the eggs and slid them onto his toast, then sat back to finish his cappuccino. “Manny, get me Johnny Muck.”

“You got it.”