There was no love lost between Lisa and Andreas either. He'd given her a piece of his mind after shit had gone sour between his brother and her. After Gio spiraled out of control. Brothers did that shit for each other. Gio had confronted Andreas’ ex when a year later, she bailed on him. Tit for tat.
"Well, I thought it might help your decision. Kind of sorry, I did though." Andreas knew telling Gio all he found out would most assuredly make Gio’s decision for him. Seemed like Lisa was telling quite a bit of the truth.
"Just give it to me straight. What did you find out?" Gio pushed his coke away and waited for Andreas to speak.
"Well, I called Ross and Josh over at precincts 20 and 42. They handle the areas where Lisa and Albert have residences, just to do a little digging." Andreas was staring hard at his younger brother. He didn't know if Gio really wanted to hear all of this, but it was his motto that having more information was better than having too little. Gio didn't look away. His eyebrows raised slightly encouraging Andreas to continue. "Long time back, they found a few minor incidents in her first couple years of marriage. She was treated for a broken nose and rib. Report said it was a slip and fall. Then there was another hospital report where the doctor commented that she had what looked like abrasions on her wrist and ankles. The doctor made no mention in his report as to what may have caused those marks. Then the third incident they dug up said Lisa came into the emergency room with two broken ribs and was complaining about difficulty breathing. That doctor, seeing the past incidences, began to get suspicious. He asked her if she needed to talk to anyone else, and she said no. Lisa stopped going to that emergency room after that."
Gio’s only reaction was to look away in disgust.
There was more so Andreas surged forward. "Josh found two other incidents in his precinct when he did a little digging. Two more supposed accidents. The first one was a broken arm, and the doctor wrote in the report that she claimed to have fallen down the stairs. The second one is a bit more . . . interesting."
Gio made a snorting noise and looked at Andreas to hear what this episode might entail. "What the hell was this incident?" He'd already heard enough to know that at least one of the things Lisa had told him was true. She’d clearly been abused. The scars on her arms also proved that.
"She actually came in to file a complaint."
"Really?" So, she had enough at one point it seemed.
Andreas nodded before continuing. "Yes. Apparently she was just sitting down to talk to a detective when her phone alerted. The detective was baffled when she got up quickly and apologized for wasting his time. Then she left mumbling about it all being a misunderstanding."
Didn't take a genius to figure out what caused Lisa to make that move. Both
Andreas and Gio had done police work long enough to know that she'd obviously been spooked. Whatever message she had gotten via her phone made her change her mind. Gio knew from years on the job that Albert had either made some sort of threat or some sort of promise. From the sounds of it, Lisa had been telling him the truth, about some things at least. But his distrust of her ran deep, and long, and he wasn’t buying it all. Her marriage to Albert in the first place was one, done so quickly, covering her father’s mistakes, something no one in the neighborhood suspected, was just too convenient.
But for now it looked like he was headed back to New York to bail her out.
He checked his watch, and both brothers got up, each heading to their respective gates.
Gio hoped the plane was on time. He was cutting it close, but was glad Andreas had done the digging. It made his decision easier. He had a bail hearing to attend that afternoon. Afterwards, if she was even granted bail with these charges, he was going to do a little digging on his own. And he wanted to get the truth. All of it.
Gio was pissed. His plane was going to be late. He was all set to arrive at 10:00 AM, but thunderstorms had forced his plane to sit on the tarmac before being allowed to proceed to the runway. He didn’t make it in until 11:30. When he finally landed and got his luggage it was nearly noon. There was no way in hell he'd make the hearing which was for one o'clock. An hour and half was not enough time to make it to downtown Manhattan. He'd have to send a text to someone and hopefully it would get to Lisa so she wouldn't worry too much. Not that she deserved the courtesy, or the explanation. But that was who he was. Just because she was years late with an explanation that still had holes in it, didn't make it right for him.
As he waited for his luggage by the conveyor belt, he flipped on his phone and scrolled through his contacts seeing who he knew that worked at the courthouse that might be able to deliver a message. He was just about to give up when Vinnie Delaracco’s name whizzed by on the screen. He was a former detective, retired now. Only forty-five, but he seemed to remember hearing he'd gotten a part time gig as bailiff for some extra pocket change. His pension wasn't enough to support two girls in college even though his wife was still working. He took a chance, and shot him a quick text.
Gio: Hey, Vin! You still working courthouse? I'm in town and I need a favor.
He slipped his phone in his pocket, not expecting to hear back right away. Good thing too, as he nearly missed his bag going by. He reached for the black Samsonite suitcase, hard top. With his duffel over his shoulder already, he swung the fifty pound bag off the conveyor belt like it weighed nothing. Years in the gym had him in tip top shape. At thirty-two, he was built like a twenty-five year old MMA fighter. He took care of his body. Weighing in at 165 pounds at six foot tall, he was a solid wall of muscle, but his chest and arms were rock hard and massive from years of punching the heavy bag. He loved the gym in Tampa that he went to five days a week. He had the best trainers, and he had more time to do it now that he wasn't on the force and putting in those kinds of hours.
Once outside in the New York heat, he was met by a wall of cars waiting for arrivals. He hoofed it quickly to the back of the taxi-line with the others waiting for their turn. He passed several slower persons heading in the same direction. When he finally got there, he was pleased to see he was fourth in line for a cab, with plenty of cabbies waiting their turn to pull up to the front of the queue.
His plan had been to head to Rosedale first, and open up the house. He planned on staying home, well, his old home while growing up, and then heading into Manhattan on the train. He didn't change the plan too much because he needed to drop off his luggage. He couldn’t lug it around the courthouse, but he would make it a quick stop. He'd have the cabbie wait, and then drive him right in. It'd be a bit faster than catching the train which he'd have to wait for on the hour.
The JFK staffer motioned to him when it was his turn to get the next cab.
"Quick stop in Rosedale, then Manhattan," he told him. The older man in his JFK uniform nodded, then leaned down towards the open passenger window of the cab, and repeated Gio's request. He saw the cabbie nod so he approached. He slipped right into the backseat as the staffer already had the door open and grabbed his suitcase from him.
He tipped the man five bucks and then watched in the rear view mirror as the older man placed his case in the trunk of the car. As soon as the trunk was closed they were off, heading down the Expressway to the Belt Parkway then the Verrazano Bridge to Rosedale. It was only a ten minute drive if there wasn't noon traffic.
Gio was pleased when they made it in less than thirty minutes. At this rate he'd be in Manhattan just as the hearing was wrapping up.
He couldn't help get a bit nostalgic as they pulled onto his old block. The houses were all connected, and looked kind of like townhouses, but they were all brick as was popular when this community had been built back in the forties. It was one of the first suburbs of Queens for the Italians who had just enough money to get out of the city. "I just need to put my suitcase inside.” He handed the cabbie a fifty, which covered some of the fare, but ensured the cabbie would wait for the rest.
When Gio opened the front door, the musty smell hit him. He'd love to open it up
before heading back sometime tonight, but he didn't have the time to spare. He just shook his head sadly at the furniture all draped in sheets looking like ghosts of the past, and set his suitcase down inside at the bottom of the stairs that led to the upper floors. No one had been here in two years. His brothers always checked on the place when they were in town, but they usually just spent a few hours at most. It was still hard to be here, for all of them since his parent’s deaths. It was just too painful.
But this time Gio had decided he would do it. The past was coming back to haunt him in the form of Lisa, he might as well face all his demons at once and put this shit behind him for good.
Gio was just getting on the Van Wyck/Whitestone Bridge when he heard the notification on his cell. He whipped it out and saw right away he had a message from Vinnie.
Vinnie: I'm here now. On lunch break. What ya need?
Thank goodness. The time read 1:15. Lisa's hearing must just be getting underway.
His fingers flew across the keypad.
Gio: Lisa Rasmussen's bail hearing. I'm late for it. Plane was delayed. Need message sent to her. I'm coming. On way. ETA is twenty minutes.
Vinnie: I'll try. You owe me a beer.
Gio: Thanks. Will do.
He flicked the phone off and clipped it onto his waistband. He looked over the Robert Kennedy Bridge across to the Manhattan skyline. He loved this view. He had loved this city too, and working here. He was lost for a while after Lisa and then his parents. But working in vice as a detective, he'd found a new love. Putting bad guys away. He'd done five years on the force as a detective, and worked sixty to eighty hour weeks, both him and Andreas. It kept his mind off of the past. He and Andreas had even been partnered up in the end, and they both rose quickly.
But the politics of the city had eventually worn on them, especially Andreas. He'd seen too many things going on behind the scenes that he couldn't ignore, or look the other way.
That was one of the reasons they'd decided to move to Tampa. They could choose their cases while the bonds business paid the bills. The corruption had gotten to them, and they didn't want their younger brothers to have to see what was going on under the current mayor and chief of police at the time. Andreas had been convinced that the two youngest Marinos needed the change. Blaze had gone through a rough year, and for Nikko who loved to party just too much, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And it had been. Gio loved the move, and Marinos: Bail, Bonds, and Bounty had flourished.
The move hadn’t happened right away though. They'd stayed another year and a half, allowing the two youngest Marinos to get their feet wet and then made the move. That had been two years ago. And Gio had to admit, it had been a good decision. In Florida, the pressure and stress were gone. They were saved from the normal policeman’s worries of high blood pressure, heart attacks, horrible working conditions and hours. Both Nikko and Blaze had found love, and he and Andreas, although both single, enjoyed that particular state. Not getting too close to anyone, allowed them to focus on building the business, and yet still enjoy the beautiful babes in Tampa. Gio smiled remembering two weeks ago in Clearwater, and then there was that nurse a few weeks before in Maine. His appetite was healthy in that area.
But still, neither he nor Andreas were looking for, or even believed in a happily ever after. They enjoyed their down time, but liked to keep it simple. The longer legs the better, he mused, remembering the bikini clad Katie he had taken back to his place. Thinking about legs, then made his thoughts turn back to Lisa. She had them too. Fuck, why did he just go there? He shook his head.
Yes, he was in a cab rushing to Lisa's defense, but not because he wanted her in his life. He understood that now. It was a chapter he still needed to close, and shut the door on. And as the cab made its way to Pearl Street and the skyscrapers reached toward heaven beside him, he took out his wallet. He’d be there soon. Yup, just closing the door on that one, he told himself as shadows descended inside the cab now dwarfed into darkness by the looming courthouse. That's exactly what he told himself he was doing. Closing the chapter on Lisa. Letting her go, so he could finally be free.
It was nearly two o'clock when the cab driver pulled up in front of the courthouse on Pearl Street. Gio tipped the driver generously and got out of the cab. He took the steps two at a time to reach the front doors and became frustrated when he saw the line to get through the security checkpoint. He might miss the whole damn thing, and have to head over to Rikers to pick her up after he paid her bail.
But again, he got lucky. He didn't have to wait long. He saw Vinny on the other side, and when he recognized Gio he raised his eyebrows at him and with a nod of his head indicated that he could bypass the line. He grabbed one of the plastic bins and dumped his wallet, cell phone, and keys inside which Vinnie grabbed and placed on the conveyor belt ahead of the half a dozen others waiting for their turn.
"It's nice to see you man, although I wish it was under better circumstances." Vinnie waved him through the metal detectors, then gave him a brief hug. Vinny was another Rosedale boy who had gone into the police force. Although over ten years older, he had younger brothers who Gio had hung around with. He, too, knew Lisa and her family.
"Thanks man. I really appreciate you getting that message to Lisa and helping me out over here." He indicated getting him through security easily as he began to follow him towards the courtrooms.
"No worries. But like I said, you owe me a beer. I really want to catch up with you guys and hear what you’ve all been up to. I'm sure Sal and Rocco would like to tag along, they sure as heck miss you."
"Absolutely. I'd love to see them."
"I'll walk you down, but then I need to get back to the front. You just might catch the tail end of the proceedings."
Gio shrugged his shoulders hoping, but not really feeling it. It was highly unlikely that they would make it to her courtroom in time. He followed behind Vinnie as he weaved his way through the people standing idly and chatting with other courthouse personnel and legal professionals.
They passed by the bank of elevators and continued to weave their way through the crowd. They went past two hallways and then took the third. This hallway contained the courtrooms that dealt with federal crimes. Attempted murder was definitely a federal crime.
This hallway was slightly narrower and the floors were now wood instead of marble. They passed courtroom after courtroom, some larger than others. The hallway was long and getting darker in this older section of the building. Lights sconces illuminated the paneled walls. Everything shone brightly but the only natural light came from the massive bank of windows all the way at the end of the corridor that faced Worth Street.
And they were nearly there. Her hearing must be in the very last courtroom, Gio thought.
When they got there, Vinny reached for the double doors while nodding at the guard who stood sentry. Vinnie quickly let the guard know that Gio was the bondsman. And just like Gio thought, the court was beginning to empty once he got his first foot inside the door. He just caught a flash of ginger hair, being led out of one of the doors in the back of the room. He saw two attorneys standing up front conversing with the bailiff. He has sure one of them had to be Lisa's attorney, and the other the prosecutor, but he didn't recognize either one.
"Sorry man. I tried." Vinnie gave him a sheepish grin, and held out his hand for Gio to proceed ahead of him. Gio nodded, and then made his way up to the front skirting around the spectators from the galley who were leaving now that this hearing had been concluded. Gio recognized some of the more prestigious reporters. And one of them apparently recognized him.
He saw the smile spread across Cheyenne’s face. She tilted her head and whispered something to her photographer who looked up at him, startled. In the next instant a camera flashed in his eyes. Perfect, just fucking perfect, he thought. He wondered what headline would appear next to his photograph. He'd find out tomorrow. Cheyenne worked for The World and that paper wasn't well known for its well-researched
reporting. It was practically tabloid fodder. The stories were so sensational they bordered on yellow journalism.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Giovanni Marino. One of the prodigal sons of the city has returned." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Cheyenne. Still lining birdcages, I see." He tried to pass around her, but she just stepped into his path.
"I actually work for The Times now." Her smile was malicious.
"That’s a step up. Well I guess, you’ll have to play fair now. Won’t you?"
Her smile disappeared. And Gio couldn't help but hear the snicker coming from her photographer. "Oh, I’ll play fair, alright," she quipped, but as she passed him, she made sure to get in the last word. Dropping her voice down to a husky whisper, she pressed right up against him and got close. “You used to like to play, Gio.” Then she took off down the aisle on her way to write her story. Gio thought of that one night when he’d allowed her to take him back to her place. He’d been drinking then, and a lot of it was fuzzy.
"Smooth, Gio." Vinnie stated behind him. "You're in town ten minutes and you've already pissed off one of the biggest reporters in the city."
"It's what I do," Gio chortled.
Vinnie snorted. He remembered Gio’s humor all too well. The man was never about impressing anyone unless he wanted to get in their pants. And he could be a downright charmer. His younger brothers had thought him a God. "Let me bring you to her attorney, then I got to skedaddle. Looks like they're done up there."
“Yeah, let's go talk to him."
The galley had cleared of most of the observers by then, and it seemed only those involved in the workings of the court remained in the room. The judge must have called a recess for the courtroom to become nearly this empty. Lisa's attorney was well dressed, Gio noticed as he saw him pack up his briefcase at the defendants table. Across the aisle the prosecution was doing the same. The defense was dressed in Armani, so definitely not court appointed. Lisa must be doing well still, he thought.
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