One Last Kill

by Spenser Warren

  “Who is this fine young lady?”

  “This is my girlfriend, Maria. Maria, this is Vinnie.”

  Maria and Vinnie shook hands before Vinnie raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. Maria flinched and drew back toward Cal. Vinnie flashed his trademark smile at her and she exhaled in relief.

  “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion. It’s a greeting I use with all beautiful women.”

  “Not at all,” Maria said through a strained smile. She scratched the back of her head and looked around the foyer. Vinnie introduced Maria to Stephanie and followed Cal into the living room. Cal was pleasantly surprised to see Frankie Ramone and Al Meransky sitting in the living room talking to the Ranieris.

  Frankie waddled his way from the couch to where Cal was standing and wrapped him in a bear hug. Frankie was on the shorter side and had a hefty stomach that bulged over his gray slacks. What little hair he had left was dark and parted to the right. Despite his flabby appearance, Frankie was as tough as nails, a quality that served him well leading the mafia’s operations on the South Side.

  “You made it all the way out here? I thought you hated coming this far north,” Cal joked. Frankie was notorious for going years at a time without leaving the city limits.

  “Ha ha, very funny. You brought this fox with you?”

  Cal wanted to roll his eyes at the comment as he introduced Maria for the third time that evening. After their brief meeting, Frankie stepped out to help Susan in the kitchen. Frankie had been the Petrocelli family chef when he was younger before rising up the ranks as an enforcer with Alfredo and often helped out with the meal preparations whenever members of the family cooked a fancy meal.

  Meransky jumped up from the couch to take Frankie’s place. Cal noticed him ogle Maria’s body. Cal shot him a menacing look when his eyes fixated on Maria’s cleavage, which rose gently above her dress. The North Side capo flinched before regaining his composure. “Cal, I heard what happened with MacErlean. Nice job, mate.”

  “Al, not now. I’d rather not talk business in front of Maria.”

  Maria poked Cal in the arm. “No, I want to know about business. You’re so secretive as it is.”

  Meransky’s lips closed tightly as if he wasn’t sure what to say. He knew he’d slipped and broken one of the long-standing rules of life in the mob—don’t talk about business around those who don’t know anything about the business.

  “Well, Cal is a quiet guy. That’s why we love him.”

  Cal was relieved when Susan and Frankie emerged from the kitchen and asked everyone to take their places in the dining room. Dinner would be served shortly.

  With the precision of a military company, everyone took their seats at the large ten-person table. Each plate was set with some of the fanciest china that Cal had ever seen. He knew Susan only brought it out for special occasions. The plates were porcelain white with an ocean-blue trim with vine and floral patterns. There were matching coffee cups on saucers and dessert plates. Full glasses of water and red wine were at each plate.

  Susan tugged on Cal’s shirt before he and Maria could take their seats and wrapped him in a motherly embrace, squeezing far too tight, like she hadn’t seen him in years.

  “I’m glad you finally brought a girl home to meet the family. She must be quite special.”

  Cal gazed lovingly at Maria and realized how right his adoptive mother was. His heart was filled with a warmth from having her at his side again, no longer fighting. He only hoped Alfredo wouldn’t find a way to use Maria against him and that she still saw some good in him after spending an evening with the mafia’s finest.

  “Yes, this is my girlfriend, Maria. Maria, my mother, Susan.”

  Susan’s smile was as bright as Cal had ever seen it. He could tell Susan wanted to hug her, but she instead reached to shake Maria’s hand before stepping back to gaze upon the couple with adoration.

  “It’s so good to meet you, Maria. I always hoped Cal would find someone to share his life with. You look absolutely perfect.”

  Cal noticed the other guests staring at him as Susan and Maria finished their greeting and Susan ran back to the kitchen.

  An aroma of freshly baked bread filled the room as Frankie brought in a basket of bread for each end of the table. Susan balanced a large tureen of Italian wedding soup and placed it in the center of the table. Frankie returned with two large bowls of salad, and Susan followed behind carrying a giant platter of pasta. Even after many years of large family meals, Cal was amazed at how so much food could fit on one table.

  “Shall we dig in?” Alfredo asked.

  In the midst of worrying what everyone’s impressions were of Maria, Cal hadn’t seen the boss enter the room. Everyone sprang into action with the food item closest to them as if hypnotized by his authoritative voice.

  Susan started with the soup, pouring a sizable portion into her bowl before passing the tureen to the right until it finished with Alfredo. The remaining dishes made their way around the table in a similar fashion until everyone was enjoying the hearty meal. Cal especially loved the pasta choice, a linguine Bolognese with Italian sausage. Susan had a gift for making sauces, and the Bolognese had the perfect blend of sweetness and tomato flavor.

  “Cal, it’s so wonderful that Maria is here with us,” Susan said between bites. “She’s more beautiful than I could’ve imagined.”

  Maria smiled and rubbed Cal’s arm. “Stop, you’re making us both blush.”

  The table broke out in a soft laughter. Cal felt everyone’s eyes on him. He didn’t like being the center of attention.

  “So, what does your girlfriend do?”

  Susan had a tendency to think it was the man’s duty to speak for his woman when presented with the opportunity. She continued to allow Alfredo to speak on her behalf after nearly forty years of marriage.

  “She’s a PhD student at U of Chicago. She’s studying psychology.”

  “I’m into industrial organizational psychology,” Maria said.

  Susan had a blank expression on her face and turned to Alfredo in confusion before flicking her eyes in Cal’s direction.

  “What does she want to do with that?”

  Cal looked to Maria, hoping Susan would take the hint and ask her the questions from now on.

  “I’m still deciding. Part of me wants to do research and pursue academia, but I might want to open up my own practice or work in companies doing talent development work. I’ll see where things go.”

  “Interesting,” Susan said. She nodded her head for a few moments until Alfredo tapped her arm.

  “You know, Maria,” Alfredo began, “Cal may look rough, but he’s a great guy. I’m sure he takes extra-special care of you.” He peered directly into Cal’s eyes, as if he was reading exactly what Cal was thinking.

  It was the fuck with me and she dies look Cal had seen many times before. But why would Alfredo be upset with Cal? Even with the messy pickup of MacErlean, Cal was doing his job, a job that, while he still enjoyed doing it, he suddenly felt at odds with, as if what Fonzie had asked him yesterday was a sign.

  He looked at Maria and saw that her face glowed with happiness. For the first time, he imagined that, someday, he and Maria would be sitting at a large table gathered around a home-cooked meal with their own family.

  The pleasant thought left Cal as soon as it arrived. Ever since lunch with Fonzie earlier that afternoon, Cal kept wondering what secret Alfredo was worried about the mayor revealing. They’d exhausted all possibilities in their discussion from the revenge angle of Caruso against the mob, to the squashing of the mafia’s business interests, to wanting to see Alfredo thrown in jail. None of them made enough sense.

  The loud clanging sound of Vinnie’s spoon stirring his soup against the bowl gave him a clue. He remembered arguably the worst kill he’d been asked to perform in his time as a hit man. Killing then-boss and Alfredo’s father, Louie Petrocelli.

  Even for a man with loose morals, Cal had been opposed to killin
g the old man. Killing a boss meant nothing less than death, unless such a hit was sanctioned by the Commission. Only Alfredo’s threat of throwing Cal off the payroll coerced him into executing the hit. It wasn’t hard to do. The old man was on so many medications for various illnesses that all Cal had to do was crush several of his pills into a powder and mix them into his soup. Within a half hour, the old man was dead.

  Frankie slammed a large piece of Susan’s tiramisu down on the table in front of him, driving Cal’s thoughts away from the old boss’s hit. But once he’d recalled it, he knew it was the secret Alfredo was dying to protect.

  “This is delicious,” Maria said. “I need to get the recipe.”

  “Well, that’s a family secret,” Susan said. “But if Cal smartens up and marries you, we can keep it all in the family.”

  “I don’t know about that, Susan,” Cal said. “Maria makes the most amazing tamales, so you might want to give up that closely guarded secret now.”

  Cal glared at Alfredo as he said “closely guarded secret” and swore he saw a flash of terror in the boss’s eyes.

  “Vinnie, Cal, meet me in the study,” Alfredo said. “I’ve got something to discuss with both of you.”

  “Oh, dear, can’t talk about business wait?” Susan asked. “We’re enjoying each other’s company.”

  “Oh, it’s not business. We’ve got a special present for you.” Alfredo got up from the table and kissed his wife’s forehead. He flared his nostrils at Cal before leaving the room.

  Vinnie and Cal got up from the table and kissed their own significant others as they followed Alfredo into the study. Vinnie took his familiar seat in the back corner next to the window. Alfredo sat at his desk and Cal remained standing.

  Surprisingly, Vinnie started the conversation. “Have a run-in at City Hall today?”

  Cal felt like a pig trapped in a corner, ready to be slaughtered. The tiramisu he’d eaten was starting to do backflips in his stomach. Vinnie and Alfredo both had looks of dissatisfaction on their faces, and Cal wondered how much they knew.

  “It was the men who were protecting MacErlean. They weren’t too happy about running into me. I took care of them.”

  Cal kept his answer short and sweet on purpose. He didn’t want to bring up Tony’s involvement in the affair. If he could play the whole thing off as his idea, he would probably suffer, but at least he’d keep the kid out of it.

  “Oh yeah?” Vinnie asked. “I heard one of them is still in the hospital. He could talk.”

  Cal nodded. He’d expected Phillip’s wound hadn’t been fatal. Alfredo poured himself a brandy and tilted it toward Cal.

  “I take it you started surveillance on Caruso?”

  Cal nodded and told Alfredo everything that had happened, without mentioning Tony’s involvement or going into exact detail about how the transmitter was placed on Superintendent Walker. Cal explained that the mayor’s interest in going after Alfredo was because of what was done to his grandfather.

  “It’s clearly a revenge ploy, but the mayor has his own interests as well,” Vinnie said after a pause. “You think it’s time to set up a meeting?”

  “That might not be a bad idea. If I think we need to whack Caruso, Cal, you’ll have to make this one a lot cleaner. You better get that second guy before he’s out of the hospital and thinks about talking. Hopefully Walker or Caruso haven’t gone to see him already. It would make my meeting with him less effective.”

  “Yes, sir.” Cal was hesitant to take out Phillip. Suddenly everything Alfredo or Vinnie said made him feel queasy, like killing for their interests wasn’t such a good idea anymore.

  “Are we done here?” Vinnie asked. “Mom will worry about what we’re up to.”

  Alfredo stood from his chair and reached for his bottle of brandy, before flinching and pulling his hand away. “Yeah, I’ll see if I can meet with Caruso this week. Cal, you better get out of here. I’ll have a car take Maria home, tell her you had to cover bouncing duty at one of the clubs downtown.”

  Alfredo made a move to exit the study but then turned to face Cal.

  “You’ve been off lately. I hope this doesn’t become a regular thing. I need you, son. More than ever.”

  Son. Alfredo had no right to call him that. The last seventeen years, Cal had been more than grateful Alfredo had taken him in after his parents’ deaths. He considered the Petrocellis a real family. After tonight, Alfredo was nothing more than a boss hell-bent on achieving his own goals.

  12

  Cal left the Petrocelli house in the same car he and Maria had been picked up in. He sat in the back seat, not wanting to be bothered with small talk with Alfredo’s driver while he plotted out his mission for the night. He’d need to text his hospital contact to find out where they were keeping Phillip. He realized he hadn’t brought his gun with him to the Petrocelli house, but he did have his jackknife in his pocket. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it and could instead rely on a more “accidental” method of killing.

  Cal told the driver to head downtown, saying that he’d give him more precise directions once he knew which hospital Phillip was at. He got on his phone and sent a text to his contact, Forrest. Forrest could tell you anything you needed to know about any shady character in Chicago. Cal assumed he would know about Phillip’s whereabouts so he didn’t have to do all the digging on his own.

  I need to find someone. A man who got shot in the ribs near City Hall this morning. Still alive.

  Forrest responded to the text almost immediately.

  I had a feeling you would ask. He’s at Rush, 10th floor.

  Cal hadn’t expected Phillip to be at Rush, since it wasn’t the closest hospital to the shooting. Yet, he trusted Forrest and instructed the driver to head there.

  Less than a half hour later, the car stopped alongside the curb and dropped Cal off. He saw a young woman walking out of the hospital. She looked to be in her midtwenties, around Maria’s age. She was carrying a small child in her arms. Cal noticed they both smiled at him on their way out.

  People don’t smile at you, Callahan. You’re a killer, for crying out loud.

  Cal watched as the woman walked farther up the street, stopping as a car pulled to the curb to pick them up. Again, Cal thought of Maria. He imagined picking her up from the hospital to take her child home. Their child. Having children was something he’d never thought about before. If there was anyone he imagined creating life with, it was Maria.

  Cal found himself pausing just inside the hospital doors. The smells of the warm outdoor air called to him from one end, and the unpleasant odors of death and decay beckoned from the other. One direction signaled life and possibility of a new world if he acted on his subconscious. The other would keep him down the same path of murder and evil.

  He turned around and exited through the doors, much to the delight of the person behind him who was trying to sneak past. Cal didn’t know where he was going, but he couldn’t go in there and kill Phillip. At least not with the image of the woman and her child fresh in his mind. Maybe he would go somewhere and get a quick drink. That would do it.

  Cal turned left and took a few steps down the street. A tap on his shoulder caused him to turn with the fright of a person who’d seen a ghost. Whoever had touched him had more than startled him.

  “Going someplace?”

  “Fonzie, what are you doing here?”

  “Just here in case you need some backup, brotha. Frankie told me that Fredo sent you down here to kill the man Tony couldn’t quite kill. It’s a shame, isn’t it? You could’ve stayed and enjoyed dinner.”

  Cal was shocked. Yesterday, Fonzie was questioning whether the mob life was worth it. Here he was checking up on Cal, almost as if he could sense his newfound hesitation at carrying out Alfredo’s orders.

  “Yeah. Just staking out the area. You never know if the mayor has any more guys. Could be waiting for me.” It was the only thing he could think to say that would explain why he was walking away from his mis
sion.

  Fonzie nodded. “Good to see your instincts haven’t gone away. Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle any guys out here while you go in and take care of business.”

  Cal shook his head and walked through the hospital doors once again. It was exactly the wake-up call he’d needed. The trip to the elevator was free of hassle from hospital staff. He’d have no trouble reaching Phillip’s room.

  Cal rode the elevator to the tenth floor where Forrest said Phillip would be. He shook his head at his foolish fantasies of having a family with Maria. He couldn’t have a family. He couldn’t keep being a hit man and have children; it wouldn’t be safe. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he and Maria would work out. He didn’t know if he could keep his promise of revealing more intimate information about himself. It was too painful.

  When the elevator doors opened, Cal stepped into the hallway. All Forrest had told him was which floor Phillip was on. Now he’d have to find the actual room. Cal decided to start with the hall to his left. He walked down the hall as quietly as he could. He peered into the first three rooms, but all he saw were elderly patients hooked up to various machines. Those rooms smelled the worst of all.

  A nurse started walking down the hall toward him, her clogs galloping with the speed of a dozen horses.

  Crap.

  He’d have to make up a good story about why he was hanging around the hallway at eight o’clock.

  “Hi, sir? We’re closing this floor to visitors for the rest of the night.”

  “Really?” Cal asked. “My sister is here visiting her husband. He was shot today, but I hear he’s gonna pull through. I parked the car while she found the room. Can you tell me where it is?”

  The nurse eyed him with empathy, as opposed to the suspicious look Cal had been sure he would receive. “Oh, Mr. Kowalski? Poor thing. He’s in the last room on the right.”