by SUE FINEMAN
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The nurse gave Vinnie a sponge bath. He’d rather take a hot shower, but with all the wires and tubes hooked up to him, a shower would be a logistical nightmare. He couldn’t stand up that long anyway. He sat in the chair while they changed his bed. It felt good to be out of that uncomfortable bed, but he felt so damn weak his legs would barely hold him.
After the nurses finished with the bed, Vinnie lay down, shaking from the effort of being up. Minutes later, Antonio came in. “Hey, Papa, how are you feeling?”
“Weak as a kitten. I’m glad to see you, son. Where’s Mario?”
Antonio shrugged. “We had a fight about what he did to Alexandra.”
“You mean sending that pervert to the motel?”
“And talking to that reporter. Higgins couldn’t keep his hands off her at the restaurant. He said he wouldn’t sign the contract unless he could spend the night with her, and I said that was up to her. Mario told him she’d do it, but then Alex quit and I thought it was over.”
“I told Mario where she was. I told him to go over there and make peace with his sister, but I sure as hell didn’t tell him to send the client there.” Why in the hell would Mario tell the guy Alexandra would sleep with him? She wasn’t a prostitute. She was Alexandra Porcini, Vinnie Porcini’s daughter, a woman to be treated with respect.
“I’m sorry about the business, Papa. I shouldn’t have let Mario take over.”
“You didn’t need his kind of help. Hell, Alexandra would have done a better job of it. She’s been helping me the last couple weeks, and she’s doing a damn good job.”
“Do you want me to help you until you get better?”
“No. I sold the distribution division to Dominic. He and his sons are going to run it.”
“What about the cannery and the trucking division?”
“I have someone checking out the trucking division.”
“Mario put Jabrowski in charge a few months ago.”
“What happened to Stevenson?”
“Mario fired him.”
Vinnie stared at his worthless son. “Why?”
“Because he wouldn’t do what Mario wanted. Mario wanted to ditch the maintenance schedule and fix the trucks as they needed to be fixed. Stevenson said that was crazy, that he was going to talk to you about it, and Mario fired him on the spot.”
Vinnie groaned. No wonder the trucks wouldn’t run. They probably didn’t have as much as an oil change unless the engine gummed up. But he couldn’t blame Mario for this. Mario didn’t know shit about engines. Neither did Antonio. “Why in the hell would you let your brother do this when I put you in charge?”
Antonio hung his head. “I’m sorry Papa. I did my best, but Mario—”
“Yeah, I know. Mario takes over everything.” He always had, even as a child. He took over any games they played, made his own rules, and expected everyone to follow them. Vinnie should have known this would happen when he put Antonio in charge and asked Mario to help him. Mario didn’t help with anything. He took over.
Waving his hand, Vinnie said, “Doesn’t matter now. You and Mario won’t be running the business again.”
Antonio’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re selling the whole business?”
“I have plans for the cannery, and I doubt the trucking division can be saved. We’ll see. Have you talked with your sister lately?”
“No. She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you. You’re her brother, my oldest son.” Vinnie grasped his son’s hand as tightly as he could. “You’re my son, and I love you.” He’d given Antonio too much responsibility at the business, more than the boy could handle. “I won’t be around much longer, and I want you to watch out for your sister after I’m gone.”
“What about Mario?”
“Mario can take care of himself.”
As Vinnie said the words, Mario and Gina walked through the door. Gina came over to kiss his forehead and fuss over him while the boys glared at each other.
Vinnie said, “Antonio, thanks for coming to see me. I should be home in a day or two, and I want you to come see me there. We have some things to talk about in private.”
Antonio nodded and kissed Vinnie. “I love you, Papa.”
“Yeah, I love you too, Antonio.”
Gina put a bag on the wide windowsill and pulled out a thermos. “I know they don’t feed you right in the hospital, so I brought you some lunch.”
Vinnie smiled. Leave it to Gina to bring him food. She didn’t know he was on a special diet. But why diet when he wouldn’t live much longer anyway? “Don’t let the nurse see that.”
He glanced at Mario, the son who looked the most like Vinnie’s father. But he was a bully, pushing other people around, doing things his way no matter what other people thought. Vinnie blamed himself for that.
Mario was barely a teenager when Vinnie was sent to jail, and when Vinnie came home, he did everything he thought a good father would do to make up for being gone for several months. He gave them everything they wanted. He spoiled them, when he should have been more strict. The kids at school teased them about having a jailbird for a father. But that was in the past. The boys were grown men now. Irresponsible, but grown.
Mario walked toward the bed. “Papa, I know you’re trying to run the business yourself, but you can’t do it from the hospital. How can I help?”
“Alexandra and I have everything under control.”
“But—”
“I don’t want you at the business, Mario. You’ve done enough damage.”
“But he’s your son,” said Gina.
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Vinnie muttered. “Mario, I want you to make peace with your sister. Apologize for your part in her attack. I don’t want to die knowing my kids can’t get along.”
“What do you expect me to do, Papa?”
“You heard me. Apologize. Quit telling lies and apologize. She’s your sister, not some hooker you picked up down on the street corner.”
Mario didn’t respond, but Vinnie didn’t expect him to. Even as a child, Mario never apologized for anything.
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Charlie asked Jabrowski for the maintenance records for the truck being worked on. Jabrowski crossed his arms and glared at him. “They’re not available.”
Putting his face in Jabrowski’s, Charlie spoke slowly and clearly. “I want to see the maintenance records.”
Jabrowski stepped back and punched Charlie on the chin, nearly knocking him over. Charlie rubbed his chin. So the guy wanted to play dirty. Charlie slugged the guy in the stomach, then in the face, and the man fell, cracking his head on the cement floor.
Two mechanics ran over to help, but they weren’t there to help their boss. They both wanted a piece of Jabrowski. “Get up, jerk face,” one of them said. “It’s my turn.”
“I want a turn, too,” said Jenkins.
Alex walked in carrying an envelope as Jabrowski pushed himself off the floor. “What’s going on here?”
“Just a friendly little dispute,” said Charlie. “Go ahead and do your thing.”
Alex motioned Jabrowski to the office. Charlie couldn’t hear what she said, but from the angry look on Jabrowski’s face, he wasn’t happy. A second later, he saw Alex slap Jabrowski, and Charlie took off running toward the office. He didn’t want that jerk hitting Alex, and from the look on his face, he was about to slug her.
As Charlie reached the office, the man pulled his fist back. Alex ducked, and Charlie hit Jabrowski in the face, knocking him back into his chair. “Get the hell out of here before I call the police to remove you,” Charlie said. “If you ever raise your hand to her again, I’ll hunt you down, and when I’m finished with you, you’ll never get off the floor again. You got that?”
Jabrowski didn’t answer, but Charlie didn’t expect him to answer. The man was angry, but not as angry as Charlie was at that moment. Why would anyone hire a jerk like that?
Jabrowski grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the garage, an
d the mechanics on the floor stopped working long enough to applaud. “Good job,” one of them called.
“You okay?” Charlie asked Alex.
“I am now. What went on here after I left?”
“The man didn’t want me to see the maintenance records.”
Jenkins came into the office and opened a file drawer. “We used to keep the records on the computer, but Jabrowski doesn’t know how to use a computer. What you want should be in this drawer. Maybe. I’m not even sure he kept records the past few months.”
Charlie nodded his thanks and looked through the drawer. The papers weren’t in any kind of order. “I don’t have time to go through all this junk,” he said mostly to himself.
“I’ll do it,” said Alex. “Does anyone know what happened to Stevenson? Is he working somewhere else?”
“No,” shouted the man on the other side of the garage. “Mario wouldn’t give him a reference, so he’s still looking for work.”
Alex picked up the phone. Seconds later, she said, “This is Alexandra Porcini. I need a home phone number for the previous manager of the garage. Last name is Stevenson.”
She glanced over at Charlie. “How many mechanics are working here now?”
“Three, including the one he tried to fire this morning. Apparently the last manager helped with the work. This jerk wouldn’t help with anything, said he was hired to manage, not get his hands dirty.”
“So what did he do with his time?”
“Sat around playing solitaire, went to girly shows, talked on the phone, and yelled at the mechanics when they couldn’t handle all the extra work.”
“What a guy,” she said on a sigh.
“Yeah, what a guy!”
Alex got the phone number for Stevenson, called him and asked him to come back to work. He might not be there long – they might all be gone soon – but they could sure use his help now.
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Three days later, Charlie and Alex finished up in the garage. The next morning, they went to visit Vinnie at the hospital.
“So how did it go at the garage?” Vinnie asked.
“Three of the eight trucks hadn’t had as much as an oil change in months,” said Charlie. “Since they’re on the road so much, I’m surprised they’re still running.”
Vinnie cocked his head. “Eight trucks? We had ten.”
“I could only find records for eight.”
“Damn,” Vinnie said softly.
“Alex fired Mario’s manager and hired Stevenson back. He’s getting the trucks back in shape and reinstating the maintenance schedules Mario said they didn’t need.”
Vinnie groaned. “I shoulda checked out the trucking division last week, before this damn heart attack.”
“It’s okay, Papa,” said Alex. “Charlie and I got everything back as it should be, and Stevenson said they’d all work overtime to get caught up on the routine maintenance chores.”
Charlie dropped into a chair. “Two of the trucks needed brake work, and I said that had to come first. You don’t want someone to have an accident or your insurance premiums will go up. Besides, someone could get hurt.”
“Good, good.” Vinnie nodded. “Do we need to take any of them off the street?”
“I don’t think so. If they stick to the maintenance schedule and take care of things before they become problems, the trucks should all be okay.”
“But what happened to the other two trucks? Nobody said anything about selling trucks.”
Alex glanced at Charlie. “We’ll check it out, Papa. Stevenson asked about them, too, but none of the mechanics knew where they were. We still need to check out the scheduling. We didn’t have time to do that yet.”
“Get Mario on the phone,” Vinnie barked.
Alex pulled out her cell phone and punched in some numbers, then handed it to her father.
Vinnie listened for a minute, then asked, “Mario, where are the two missing trucks? We had ten and now we can only find eight.”
After a few seconds, Vinnie yelled, “What in the hell do you mean, you don’t know? How could you lose two big semi-trucks?”
Alex took the phone. “That’s enough, Papa. This isn’t worth having another heart attack.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Charlie took the phone from Alex. “Mario, this is Charlie Kane. At your father’s request, I just spent three days in the garage. The records are a mess, but that doesn’t explain what happened to the two missing trucks. Did you sell them? Or did someone steal them from you?”
“Go to hell. I don’t have to answer to you.” The phone clicked off.
Charlie handed the phone to Alex. “He hung up on me.”
Vinnie stared at the dark spot on Charlie’s chin. “What happened to you?”
Charlie rubbed his chin where Jabrowski hit him. “A slight altercation with Mario’s manager. He didn’t like anyone snooping around in his garage.”
A laugh bubbled up in Vinnie’s throat. “What does he look like?”
“Worse than Charlie,” said Alex. “I slapped him when he made a nasty remark to me, and Charlie hit him.”
“Sorry I missed all the fun, but that still doesn’t explain what happened to those two trucks.”
At that moment, Vinnie knew what to do with the trucking division. “Alexandra, would you call Bernie and tell him I need to see him again?”
“Sure. Did Mario and Antonio come to see you?”
“Yeah, Gina was here, too. She brought food, but the nurse confiscated it as soon as Gina left.”
Charlie grinned. “The nurses probably had it for lunch.”
Vinnie waved his hand. “I told them to go ahead and eat it, since I couldn’t. Alexandra, call Bernie.”
“Papa, you need to rest.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be resting for good soon, and I have things to do first.”
Charlie looked at the old man and wondered if he’d get everything done before he died. What would happen to the rest of the business if Vinnie died before he sold it?
What would happen to Alex when she lost her father?
And what in the hell had Jabrowski done with those trucks?
Chapter Eighteen
Friday morning, Alex checked Papa out of the hospital.
After they got settled in the car, Papa asked, “Where’s Charlie?”
“He’s meeting with Jamison this morning.” Michael Jamison ran the dispatching office of the trucking division. “Charlie wants to know the last time the missing trucks were out on a run. I called Don in Accounting this morning and asked him to see if he can find where we sold them. We’ll find out what happened to them. If Jabrowski sold them and kept the money, I want to bring in the police.”
“Yeah, okay. Why don’t you ask Mario again? Maybe he knows something.”
“Maybe he does, but Mario isn’t about to talk to me about business. He acts like I’m too stupid to know anything.”
Papa looked so sad it hurt her heart to look at him. He’d relied on his sons to not only take care of the business, but to make it prosper. She knew he was more than disappointed with their behavior, but Alex couldn’t change her brothers. As a boy, Antonio had done poorly in school, and as a man, he couldn’t handle running three businesses at the same time. He probably couldn’t handle one. Mario thought he knew everything and bullied people into doing what he wanted. But what he wanted wasn’t always the best thing for the business.
Aunt Gina met them at the door with one of the private duty nurses Alex had hired to help take care of Papa. Minutes later, they had him settled in bed, and he almost immediately dozed off. The trip home had exhausted him.
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While Jamison searched through the dispatch records, Charlie stepped outside and called his sister. “Ginny, can you do a background check on Jake Jabrowski for me?”
“Why? Who is this guy?”
“He was the manager of the garage for Porcini Trucking. Alex fired him, then we discovered there were two trucks missing, and not
just any trucks, but the newest. They have to be worth at least fifty or sixty grand each.”
“Did you ask the people who work there?”
“Yeah, but nobody knows anything. Mario Porcini won’t talk to me, and Jabrowski is gone. I don’t know if he left town or if he just isn’t answering his phone, but I can’t reach him. Something smells funny. If someone is selling company assets without permission, we’ll need to get the police involved.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
Ginny was still a patrol officer, but she was on the fast track for becoming detective. It couldn’t be easy for her, following in Dad’s footsteps. He was the hometown boy who’d come up through the ranks, first as patrol officer, then as detective, captain, police chief, and now mayor. People trusted Donovan Kane, and they expected great things from his daughter. But nobody could live up to Donovan Kane’s reputation.
Charlie walked back inside to talk with Jamison.
“As near as I can tell, the last time the newest truck was out was last fall. Late September. Jabrowski told me it needed extensive work, to take it off the schedule, so I did.”
“But you never put it back on the schedule.”
“No. Jabrowski said Mario sold it.”
“What about the other truck?”
“Week before Thanksgiving it went into the shop for what I thought was a routine maintenance check. That’s the last I ever saw of it. It was only three years old and in excellent condition, so I know they didn’t junk it. If they sold it, they got at least sixty, maybe sixty-five thousand.”
“How are you getting along without those two trucks?”
He shrugged. “So many of the customers have cancelled their contracts since Mario took over, it hasn’t been a problem so far. We’re getting by, although I don’t like it that the trucks aren’t going into the garage for routine maintenance. That’s asking for trouble.”
“They are now,” said Charlie. “Jabrowski is gone, and Stevenson is back in charge.”
“Good. What about Mario?”
“Gone. So is Antonio. Vinnie was under the impression that the trucking division was failing.”
“It will if we don’t get more customers.”
Charlie nodded. Mario had been chasing customers away, and if Alex and Vinnie wanted to resurrect the trucking division, they’d have to figure out a way to get some of those customers back. And they’d have to find those missing trucks.