Mama’s Gone

by Leopold Borstinski

  “He needs me so I have to help.”

  “And how old does he have to be before you let him stand or fall by himself?”

  “Probably never: he's my son and I love him so I want to look after him. Just as I love you and want to look after you.”

  Alice glared and sulked, hiding her head behind her paper. This was not the weekend she'd wanted. Frank always got in the way. Always got more attention than her.

  “This isn't a debate. I'll book a flight now. Would be great if you'd drive me to O'Hare but I'll take a taxi if you won’t.”

  “Don't be like that, Mama. I'll drive you for sure. I'm disappointed. That's all.”

  Every word was true - Alice was saddened but not at the prospect of losing a weekend's shopping because retail therapy could wait. It was her mother and her blinkered attitude to Frank. That was disappointing her because it never seemed to change. The boy snapped his fingers and Mama came running. Every single time.

  FRANK FACED DISAPPOINTMENT of his own but this was business and not personal. Leonida had vanished and so had a cool half a million in cash from the Lucky Nugget safe. The two events were connected because it was too much of a coincidence and a member of the reception staff saw Leonida leave with a case in his hard. Frank might not have been Philip Marlowe, but he was no schnook.

  His gut told him to track the motherfucker down and slice his skin off while his head said he should focus on the business and not let the red mist take over. In the short-term his head won and he called Palm Springs only to hear Mama was somewhere in Illinois with the golden girl, Alice.

  A fresh layer of anger descended on his shoulders and he vowed to find Leonida and settle matters the old-fashioned way. Two hours later, three men burst into Leonida's hotel room. The guy hid in plain sight in AC instead of fleeing town at the earliest opportunity. All three wore plastic masks but only one spoke to the prostitute sitting astride Leonida.

  “Put your clothes on: the party's over.”

  As the whore scuttled off Leonida's body, he stretched his hand to the bedside table. Three revolvers aimed at his head.

  “Don't do it. Don't even try to get your piece.”

  “I was going to pay her.”

  “No need to bother. My treat.”

  The girl just finished putting on her dress and Frank pointed at her panties lying on the floor. She nodded, put them on as quickly as she physically could and looked round the room.

  “Got everything?”

  A nod. She tried her best not to make eye contact.

  “How much does he owe you?”

  “Thirty... plus tip. No offence.”

  “None taken. We all have to earn a living.”

  Frank pulled out a thick roll of bills from his pants pocket and held out a C-note.

  “Now beat it. And remember you were never here.”

  As the girl took the bill, Frank squeezed her ass under that short dress with enough venom for her to know he wasn't fucking about. The masks and the guns were sufficient reminder however, so she knew it was a just a cheap grope. Under the circumstances, she let it ride and scurried out the room.

  By the time Mary Lou arrived that evening, Leonida was missing three fingers but Frank was no expert in torture. They were holed up on the third floor of the Nugget which Frank had never bothered to renovate. Leonida was tied to a chair in an otherwise empty room. The two windows had one shutter ajar and a bare bulb was on, hanging in the middle of the ceiling.

  Frank's problem was simple: how to get Leonida to say where he'd stashed the money. While the guy was willing to talk, he reckoned he was a dead man so had no motivation to spill his guts.

  Mary Lou stood in the corner watching proceedings as she did when rats were being tortured. Her son was doing his best but all he was achieving was causing the dude pain. She beckoned Frank to stop for a moment and he walked over to her with Leonida's blood dripping from his knuckles.

  “Carry on like this and he'll be dead but you'll be no closer to our money. What leverage do we have?”

  Frank shrugged. His plan relied on hurting the guy until he squealed, which plainly wasn't working. Mary Lou sauntered toward Leonida, circling him before stopping in front of him. She leaned forward and raised his head by gently moving his chin.

  “How did it come to this? You are not looking in good shape. I hope you understand unless you tell us what we want to know, my son will continue to beat on you until you are dead.”

  “I know.”

  “That could take a minute, an hour or a day. Or longer. If I make a phone call, I could get someone who could kill you over the course of a week... or more.”

  She bent down until her lips were next to his right ear.

  “A week or longer: imagine that.”

  Leonida strained to look at Mary Lou's face but she had to stand up before he could check out her expression. When their eyes locked, he thought through the reality of her words. He swallowed hard. Mary Lou stood and waited.

  “The key in my jacket opens a locker at the station. The money's in there.”

  “If I send someone over and the green isn't there, do you understand I'll make that phone call?”

  “It's there. I promise.”

  One of Frank's goons rummaged through jacket pockets until he found the key. Then with a nod to Mary Lou he left the room. Mary Lou pulled a gun from her waistband and shot Leonida in the head.

  “Clean up this mess, Frank. And then find out how you missed that key in the first place. Now, get me somewhere decent to stay for tonight. Tomorrow I want to get back to your sister.”

  21

  DESPITE HIS ILL-health, Teddy Prescott came through for Bobby yet again and soon Alice's name was added to the roster of legitimate gaming professionals. Work began in earnest. A vessel had been located, bought and renovations were in motion. The infrastructure was only half the story because a casino was successful if you employed the right people and that was proving to be harder than they'd imagined.

  The riverboat's route would take it on a loop between Davenport near Iowa City and Fort Madison further south. Every two-bit outfit on both sides of the Mississippi wanted to get in on the action but there simply wasn't room to fit all those beaks in the trough. Instead, Alice found the task of hiring dealers, watchers and counters too difficult.

  “Everyone we approach is in somebody's pocket - it's ridiculous. We can't trust anyone because they owe somebody else a tithe.”

  “And we don't have this problem with the Lady Fortune?”

  “Hell no.”

  “That's the answer: pay the best we have in Vegas to do a stint afloat and every outfit will see they've got no way to earn off us. They'll back off and if there's anyone worth hiring then we can afford to pay them a premium. At least while the dust settles on the venture.”

  Alice understood the riverboat, which they'd christened the Queen of Sheba for no good reason Alice could fathom, was going to draw gamblers away from local games but their real market was tourists and high rollers. None of the penny ante hustlers nearby would lose out of the big money because neither group frequented their dive bars now.

  Her other thought - and natural response which she hadn't acted on yet - was to break a few heads so the various gangs who were buzzing around their ears would receive a clear message to stay out of their way. Alice knew her Mama would want a more subtle approach. Mary Lou preferred to give everybody a chance to do the right thing. If they made a poor choice, a ton of shit would descend on them, but they got an opportunity to succeed upfront.

  With the Queen of Sheba fresh out of the dry dock, they sailed the steamer up and down the mighty Mississippi as a pre-launch for the casino. A special guest list was operating where you only got on board if you were a Vegas regular or local dignitary.

  Like all Lagotti venues, cameras operated in every room. Technology had moved on from the early days of the Palace and video replaced the need to pick up the film from each device. Instead surveillance was set
up to catch thieves and blackmail the rich and powerful.

  The launch showed the debauchery of the average joe and revealed a few minor glitches in their security. With one round trip under their belts, the rest would be a walk in the park.

  THE WINDY CITY offered Mary Lou opportunities way beyond riverboat gambling and with the mob receded into the distance, there was every reason to exploit them as much as possible. In reality, the lack of any organized approach to criminal activity created a hole into which she happily jumped in.

  The sheer size of Chicago as a major city meant there were millions of worker bees and the onslaught of the Reagan years had left them with fewer rights and a much quieter voice. There remained unions representing the case for labor over capital, but they had fewer supporters than in the good old days. Mary Lou figured they needed an edge and she‘d be happy to supply it.

  Union membership was still strong among government workers like teachers and fire fighters although they weren‘t militant because of their sense of vocation. The same couldn‘t be said of the private sector and that is where Mary Lou focused her efforts.

  The Roofers and Bricklayers Union represented those in the building profession and Mary Lou reckoned they‘d want to ensure they had continuity of employment. With the large amount of skyscrapers still ripping through the horizon, there was a huge amount of money to be made from the inherent conflict between big business and the contractors they hired.

  “So let me get this straight: you want my members to pay you out of their hard-earned wages in case the bosses turn violent. And that is something that hasn‘t happened in Chicago since before the Korean War.”

  “That is correct.”

  Mary Lou sat with Jerred Dudley in the headquarters of the Roofers and Bricklayers Union building. The irony was not lost on her that the joint was a decrepit mess but it was no worse than she had been expecting.

  “That‘s not much of a proposal now is it?”

  “You see Jerred. That depends on your perspective. If all you ever do is to look back over your shoulder at the lessons of the past, it doesn‘t come across as an interesting proposition. But if you‘re the kind of man who has his eyes set on the future, that‘s a different matter.”

  “And I suppose you think I‘m that sort of guy?”

  “Naturally. I don‘t need to remind you of the brute economics facing your men. Big corporations spend millions to vie with each other to build the tallest, the fanciest skyscrapers in the world. They rely on hiring locals to do all the hard work. Only trouble is that union rates of pay cut into their profit and they are tempted to bring in outside agencies.”

  “We make our contributions so those kind of problems don‘t arise.”

  “Haven‘t happened in the past. Sometimes bribes are not enough.”

  “Listen lady, we don‘t get involved in bribery. We pay into an arbitration service so industrial action is minimized.”

  “You must consider what happens if that fails. Four major projects are about to break ground in the next six months and your members need to be on site for all of them.”

  “I am aware, of course, but I don‘t see why you are bothering me with this.”

  “Because Jerred, I have it on good authority that you will be facing this problem very soon.”

  Dudley laughed and allowed himself to wallow in his perceived joke. All the while, Mary Lou sat and stared at him. Motionless.

  “I suppose you want me to believe you can save us from an event that isn‘t likely to happen.”

  “Oh, it will.”

  “Tell you what: come back when we actually have a problem and if you fix it, we can have another conversation. Until then, you‘re wasting my time.”

  A DROP OF blood splatted on Alice's cheek after the sharp blast of air flashed past. Nikolay hit the ground almost before the slug had landed in Mama's body. Almost as though he knew it was coming. The tear that fell out of Bobby's eye and deposited itself on Mama's chin.

  Total disorientation. No sooner had Alice hit the floor, she lost track of which direction she was facing. Her entire focus was on Bobby holding Mama. Her red pool growing and pouring down her body and over Bobby too.

  Alice looked down at his hand and they were still listening to the sermon. The constant monotone was hard to follow. She wished the priest would shut up. A brief twist of her head revealed Frank sat on Bobby's other side.

  He was bowed and his hands gripped his knees like they were about to fall off. Alice had no idea quite how he was coping - they’d hardly spoken since the day Mama died. His knuckles were white. Not going well.

  Alice swallowed and blinked. Then she was back on the Queen of Sheba.

  22

  THAT WEEKEND, BACK in the summerhouse, Mary Lou, Bobby and Alice mulled over the week‘s events.

  “We can nix any plans for labor racketeering. Illinois is dead to us. The lack of organized crime has turned the town soft. The unions have figured out how to get on with management so we have no leverage.”

  “How many did you hit?”

  “Double digits: builders, carpenters, road repairers, duct repairs, refuse collectors and so on. I‘ve tried them all and got nowhere. It‘s time to leave Illinois.”

  “Apart from the Queen of Sheba, of course.”

  “We need to get out - there‘s nothing here for us.”

  “Gambling. That‘s working really well. We might not be at full pelt yet but we‘re in profit and set to do even better this year and next.”

  “Bobby‘s right. And I know we can build on the work we‘ve already done. We shouldn't walk away at this point.”

  “There‘s a time to stay and a point to go. And now we should say goodbye to the Land of Lincoln.”

  “Why not sleep on this? The revenue from the riverboat has been good for us already. We shouldn‘t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

  Alice nodded to reinforce Bobby‘s concerns. Her eyes flitted from him over to Mama and back again. All her hard work was about to be poured down the drain by her mother. It made no sense but what flashed across her mind was how the decision was so irrational.

  “We‘re leaving Illinois and there‘s nothing more to say.”

  Alice walked out the room and headed into the kitchen for more coffee. As she returned, she found Bobby sat on a lounger with a cigar in one hand.

  “Did you storm out or were you thirsty?”

  “BOTH. DO YOU know what happened in there?“

  “Not too sure. Mary Lou hadn‘t talked about this. I can see why the labor racket is not for us. But the Queen of Sheba is set to rake in a lot of cash.”

  “Yep.”

  They were silent for a spell and the only sounds came from Mary Lou inside the summerhouse.

  “What can we do?”

  “Keep the place running - at least for a while. Mama has had a series of knockbacks and that has clouded her judgment. Give her time for the dust to settle.”

  “How long is she going to need? I mean I can‘t sit here for a week and wait for her to see sense.”

  “If you go back tomorrow, I can handle the situation here.”

  “You intend to handle Mama?”

  Alice allowed an enormous laugh to erupt out of her mouth - so much so, her hand was forced to quickly muffle the noise. They both turned their heads to check on the summerhouse door but it remained firmly shut. Bobby smiled.

  “She‘s a force to be reckoned with, but she has been known to listen to me.”

  Alice raised one eyebrow in disbelief as a response.

  “No, really. But I don‘t have those kinds of conversation in public.”

  “That‘s your idea of pillow talk, I suppose?”

  “Don‘t get fresh, young lady. In private, away from people, is all I meant.”

  ALICE AND BOBBY sat down with Mary Lou, who had been sitting at the desk making lists. Once she noticed their return, she stood up and joined them on the more comfortable seating.

  “Is there anything
else for us to discuss?”

  “Alice will go back to the Queen of Sheba tomorrow and begin the wind down. I‘m sure we can find someone to buy the license off us pretty quick.”

  “No more boat trips, you understand darling? We are quitting Illinois as of this minute.”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  A glance to Bobby. Alice was far from happy lying to her mother but they couldn‘t afford to stop the riverboat operation now. The payoff for all their hard work would land in their laps over the course of the next twelve months.

  “Good girl. I can always rely on my Alice.”

  Mama hadn‘t spoken those words to her daughter since before she was in High School. She almost felt like a child again. This perspective repeated itself that night when Alice stayed over in her old bedroom. She was so unnerved that when she woke up in the darkness just after midnight, she crept downstairs and crashed out on one of the living room couches.

  Before the rest of the house surfaced, Alice got up and headed back.

  BOBBY RECKONED HE woke first but Mary Lou beat him to it. He rolled over and they hugged.

  “I think I heard Alice‘s convertible roar into action a few minutes ago.”

  “Me too. I wonder why she‘s off in such a hurry. She could have waited for us to have breakfast together.”

  “Perhaps she wants to beat the worst of the traffic.”

  “Even so.”

  She nuzzled in and they hugged some more.

  “Do you still feel the same way about Illinois this morning?”

  “Yes, babe.”

  “Because I‘m not so sure.”

  “Oh? The Queen of Sheba will make us a lot of money over the next two or three years.”

  Bobby was puzzled because Mary Lou had made a complete turnaround since last night.

  “Keep the riverboat?”

  “Sure thing. Why not? You think we should ditch it? To be honest, babe, Alice has done another fantastic job and we should let her keep going. It‘s right for her and right for us.”