by Ali Vali
“Joe, is it?”
The young agent nodded and decided he liked the woman he had been watching for so long. She probably instilled such loyalty in people because of her humor and smile, which in his opinion lit up her face.
“Agent Daniels would like to talk to you.”
A short talk later Joe pointed to the van and cocked his head to see if she really would accept a ride.
Cain stopped them a block from her house and promised she would be fine the rest of the way. “Thanks for the escort, gentlemen. I feel better about paying my taxes this year after such accommodating treatment from the feds.”
“Anytime, Ms. Casey. We’re always available if you’d like to chat,” offered Anthony.
“I’ll just bet. Run off to wherever Daniels needs you. I won’t be going out for any more interesting meetings until around ten tonight.”
As soon as she closed the side door, the van sped off down the street, headed in the direction of the river. Whatever Shelby had going was important enough for her fellow officers to abandon their post, so Cain would do her part and stay put. The afternoon would give her time to think about Emma’s sudden appearance. Having her there might be for the best, if anything went wrong.
Merrick met her at the door to tell her Jarvis was sitting in her study.
Not ready for a fight, Cain took her time stripping off her coat and gloves. “Don’t tell me. Bracato’s out in the car and wants to talk to me?”
The sarcasm wasn’t lost on the old man, and he held his hands up in surrender. “Cain, it hurts me that you would even ask me that.”
“Why not? It’s a fair question after your actions lately. What are you hoping to gain, uncle?” She took a seat next to him and put her hand over the one he had resting on the soft leather of the chair arm.
“I want you to be happy, Derby. You’ve lost so much in your young life, and the one person who’s balanced all that and made you want to live again was Emma.”
She didn’t let go of his hand as she contemplated what he had just said. “But did you forget it was Emma who left and took so much with her when she did? Or is your matchmaking selective memory?” A picture of the beautiful little girl Cain had seen in Wisconsin popped into her head. Yeah, uncle Jarvis. Emma took so much with her when she left.
“Do you remember the first day your father gave you a job to do for the family?”
“I’m not ten anymore, uncle Jarvis. These little life’s lessons won’t work on me.”
“Humor an old man, and just play along for a moment.”
“It’s hard to forget. I screwed up so bad I figured he’d pass me over and hand the job to Billy permanently.”
“But he didn’t. Dalton forgave you and gave you more than one chance to get it right. I grew up at our father’s knee just like your father did, and when the time came he made more mistakes than you did when Papa started to trust him with more responsibility. At night we would sit out on the porch and smoke a cigarette when Mama wasn’t looking, and he would tell me how tomorrow we’d have to try harder so the old man wouldn’t just give up on us.
“The day he had you, he held you up in the hospital and showed you off to the rest of the family. ‘This is my legacy, Jarvis,’ he told me with those big blue eyes full of tears. I thought your mama was going to faint when he put that big finger soaked in Irish whiskey in your mouth.”
Cain laughed and remembered her father telling her that story. In fact, she could remember his exact words. “The Catholics, they got ahold of you soon enough, me pride, but the whiskey—that was a Casey baptism. That spirited drink’s in your blood, Cain. No oil and water a priest pours or rubs on you is going to wash that away. The whiskey’s not only our business, it’s our heritage, our history, and soon it’ll be your turn to keep that tradition alive. Your mother didn’t understand that first taste was a welcome home to a Casey. A bit of a reminder of who you are and what you come from. You’re a Casey, and you’re mine, but only for a time. When I set you out in the world, the one thing that’s for certain is you’ll be a hell of lot better than your old man.”
“He said a lot more that made Mama’s hair curl,” she said, smiling. Suddenly she felt melancholy. “You know, uncle Jarvis, he told me that story for the last time about a week before he died. When Hayden was born, I don’t think Emma understood any better than Mama. ‘A taste to welcome you home. You’re a Casey and you’re mine, but only for a time.’”
She had repeated the line when her son was first placed into her arms. The whiskey she had wet her finger from had been the same bottle her father had used on the day of her birth.
“You’re so much like him in so many ways, lass. Your brother Billy had the brawn to muscle his way in life, but the brains and the tactician your father was, that’s all you, Derby. For as much as you’re like him, though, you’re both very different people. You don’t do business the same way, but that’s how he wanted it. He was so hard on you at first because he wanted you to find your own way and lead your own way. Dalton learned from our father that experience makes the seeds of success grow.”
Cain shook her head and walked over to the windows. “This is different, uncle Jarvis. Pop forgave his family, but he never once had cause to question us.”
“What’s Emma to you, if not family?”
“My father was my family, as is my son, my mother, Billy, and Marie. But even they would have turned their back on me had I helped the snakes crawl so close to our nest.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That our sweet little Emma has changed much in her time away from us Caseys. I’m willing to bet Pop never had a day when Mama went against him or thought of walking out that door because of something he had done. I can’t say the same thing about Emma.”
“Don’t be so sure about that, Cain. Your mother was a great many things, but she was never your father’s lapdog. Your father never wanted her to be. She went against him plenty of times, but he never let it get in the way of how he felt about her. You had to let Emma go, if only so she could find her way back to you. Can I ask you one more question? I promise to leave you to your business once we’re done.”
Cain nodded but didn’t turn around.
“Do you still feel anything for Emma? Look into your heart before you answer.”
She closed her eyes and searched her soul for the most truthful answer she could give him. “A part of my heart will always love her. The sad thing is, it’s the part that shrinks every day we’re apart. But it’ll take an eternity for it to fully die.”
When she turned around to see if Jarvis was satisfied with her answer, she found his chair empty and the door slightly open. So much like her father, she thought. Dalton would ask questions that begged for truthful answers. In the end the answers mattered only to you, since you would be ultimately deciding how to change your life.
Could she forgive the woman who had shared such a large part of her life? Who had made her forget her responsibility to her family? Had her answer affected only her, she could decide more easily, but she wasn’t alone. How would Hayden accept that his mother cared more for his unborn sister than for him? And what of Hannah? How would the little girl adjust to her after knowing only Emma and her parents? Carol had no doubt used the long four years to work on the little girl’s thought process.
When she had time she would find some answers, but now she needed to put Emma aside and think of the upcoming night and any possible complications.
*
“Park out of sight and meet us on the roof of the American Coffee Company,” said Shelby.
“Where in the hell is that?” Anthony asked as they drove through one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city.
“Look to your right. It’s the abandoned building at the foot of the block.”
“What are you, a walking historian of old city architecture?” He had never heard of the business, much less what building it had occupied.
“Yeah, I’m a genius
who can read the company name and logo on the side of the building, even though it’s faded. Hurry up and bring the audio booster with you, and be careful on the stairs. They were a little shaky when Lionel and I went up.”
“A little shaky? I’d hate to see what you would consider dangerous.” Lionel looked through his binoculars and laughed, thinking of the four times they had almost fallen through the wooden steps on the five flights up.
“Shut up and tell me everything’s working perfectly, and we’re taping all of this?”
“Chill, Shelby, we’re getting it all, and man oh man.”
Lionel Jones was a mousy-looking little man who was never mistaken, at any time or by anyone, for a law enforcement officer of any kind. Fine brown hair and a milky white complexion, no matter the time of year, made him the focus of more than one bully on the playground that had been his life. He had passed the FBI’s grueling requirements, not with speed on the obstacle course or high scores at the shooting range, but with his brain and computer capability. Kyle had been lucky to get him assigned to the New Orleans office to help with the wiretaps and other surveillance they had set up for Cain’s case.
He turned back to Shelby, and from the creases around his eyes caused by his big open smile, she could tell he was happy. She noticed, not for the first time, that he had the lushest, longest eyelashes she had ever seen on anyone, male or female.
“What’s got you so rocked today, Li?”
“You ever feel like a big bucket of shit and those two guys down there are a fan?”
“Don’t worry about it, Li. We’re high up enough here to come out of this smelling like veritable roses, once the manure settles down. Glad you guys could join the party. Took you long enough, don’t you think?” She could hear the heavy breathing behind them, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the meeting on the wharf.
“This had better be damned good, Shelby. I think we almost met a very messy end at least twice on those damned stairs.” Anthony put down the equipment she had asked for and waited for someone to explain what he was doing there. Lionel handed him the pair of binoculars he had been using so he could add the new piece of equipment to what he had already set up.
“What’s so interesting down on the water?”
“Jesus, Tony, could you just stand up here and wave a red flag so they’ll see us.”
“Please don’t call me that. Anthony. Is it so hard to remember?” he asked, as he reached the level of the short retaining wall that ran the perimeter of the roofline. “Oh my God, is that…?”
“Yes, I would say this confirms everything in that box Cain gave us.”
Joe nodded as he adjusted his own set of lenses. “I just thought it was a big case of sour grapes on Cain’s part when you first showed me all that stuff, but who would’ve guessed she’d turn out to be the class act.”
“Am I the only one having a huge problem with the fact that you all seem to be on a chummy first-name basis with the head of one of the city’s crime bosses?” Anthony asked as he reached into his pocket for a roll of antacids.
Shelby leaned back against the small half wall and looked at her team members. “He’s right, guys. This is your last chance if you want out. I promised a friend I’d do my job, and that’s what I’m doing. If you think differently, it won’t hurt me if you want to just climb down and forget about all this. Because I can’t promise there won’t be any fallout once this goes down.” Just because she owed Cain didn’t mean they did.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Shelby. You’re right. This is our job just as much as bringing down Cain is. It just stings that she was the one who uncovered this. I feel like I’ve had my head up my ass to have missed something so big.” Anthony reached over and patted her on the knee.
“She’s really not all that bad, if you forget all the stuff she does for a living.” She laughed and blushed a little, remembering the way Cain felt when she had pressed against her.
“Shelby, she’s not worth losing your career over,” said Anthony.
“The way I see it, Anthony, she’s the one who’ll launch our careers when all this is over. Can you live with that?”
Both Anthony and Joe looked back to the wharf and nodded, but Anthony answered for both of them. “I can live with that, if she isn’t expecting anything in return.”
“Maybe a nice dinner.”
“We’ll be happy to take her out for donuts.”
All of them laughed at Anthony before they continued to monitor the talk still taking place below them.
*
“My men tell me Cain’s bitch is back in town sniffing around. Any truth to that?” Giovanni Bracato chewed on the end of the unlit cigar in his mouth and never took his eyes off the muddy, swirling waters of the Mississippi River. He had waited a long time for this day, and he didn’t want anything messing it up.
Giovanni Bracato was what most people called swarthy when they were trying to avoid using the words “greasy” or “slimy,” lest they be thought of as politically incorrect. Too much of the city’s good food and liquor had put on the pounds over the years, and Big Gino, as he was known to his men, with his tight shiny suits and his trademark custom-made alligator shoes, looked like a movie rendition of a bad gangster.
Through the years the Bracato family had fought, along with all the other up-and-comers, for their piece of the city and their share of the action. The third-generation Italian Americans had chosen heroin and cocaine as the means to fill their coffers, setting them apart. They killed without hesitation or remorse, so people on the street had learned to fear the name. Forty years had passed since the first Bracato had immigrated to the states. The family still controlled the biggest part of the drug trade in New Orleans, but Big Gino was ambitious. He wanted control of what the other three families in New Orleans owned.
Vincent Carlotti and his son had their unions, women, and rackets. The Bastillo family, with women, gambling, and protection services, was the newest addition to the city landscape. The Cuban-born Ramon Bastillo and his twins got along with Vincent and Cain and had formed an easy alliance with the two less radical families. With what Giovanni considered a wise but costly investment, all that was ending. After the night was done, the other three bosses would regret ever laughing at Giovanni Bracato.
“Don’t you think you’d be the first person I’d call if the bitch was a problem?”
Giovanni glanced at the man standing next to him, bit off the soggy part of his cigar, and spat it in the water. “I don’t really know you at all, so why don’t you tell me this isn’t a problem.”
“It isn’t a problem. Don’t worry about anything. I’ve got this all under control. Try and remember that we both benefit from Cain’s demise tonight. I’ll hold up my end. Try not to forget yours.”
“Don’t worry, Fife. You’ll get yours when I get mine.” With a laugh, Giovanni walked back to his office and the small listening devices in the walls. He had been so good for so long that even the feds just monitored him from the main office.
When both men went on their way, the young guns watching on the roof scrambled for the stairs. They had a lot to do before the witching hour of Cain’s operation, and they had their own list of people to meet with.
*
By seven, all the players were getting ready for the showdown. Those with a role in Cain’s upcoming tableau felt like the city was doing her part to up the drama by dropping the temperature to almost freezing and enveloping the sky in a heavy blanket of gray, menacing clouds.
Jarvis didn’t give out any more advice as he watched Emma come downstairs in a formfitting blue dress. It was the last gift Cain had bought her, and the color was Emma’s favorite because it perfectly matched Cain’s eyes.
A few blocks away the two Caseys headed to the door, dressed completely in black for their dinner reservation.
Merrick, Mook, and six others followed close behind, wearing long black coats that wouldn’t come off that night unless they needed the firepower the
fine wool fabric hid.
“Mom, is something going on?” asked Hayden.
“Saturday night and the natives are restless, I guess, son.”
“Nothing else?”
“Tomorrow I’ll have a hell of a story to tell, but for now think of this as a night to remember. Because for so many people it’ll be a night hard to forget.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The restaurant Irene’s was dimly lit and full of soft conversations. Cain wanted to spend a few hours with Hayden before the business of the night started. “Hey, kiddo, thanks for having dinner with me. I want to talk to you.” She sat back with a glass of iced tea, looked across the table at her son, and mentally clicked through her montage of memories. She relived the past years, which had given Hayden the fine-chiseled features that branded him a Casey.
“I’m kinda glad to get some time alone with you too. Maybe now you’ll tell me what’s going on. Please, Mom, I want to know, and it’s not like Mook to be so quiet about stuff.”
“Hayden, don’t be in such a hurry to grow up, buddy. Life throws the years at your feet soon enough, so learn to enjoy each stage as it happens. When I was your age my main concern was a redheaded girl named Caroline who lived down the block.”
“Grandpa didn’t have you doing stuff? ’Cause uncle Jarvis told me he was always teaching you things.” The paper on the sugar packet in Hayden’s fingers was getting thin from his constant flicking.
“He was always teaching me things, that’s true, but not always about what you think. When I was eleven it was how to get Caroline to realize I was alive. Why? Do you feel like I’m neglecting your education?”
“No…well, sort of.” Hayden’s shoulders caved in a little. “I want to be ready, you know?”
“For what?” A quick dip of her head to try and catch his eye didn’t work, so she tapped her finger on the table.
“I want to be ready when it’s my time. You make running the business look so easy, and I don’t want to mess up.”