“That isn’t good, Romeo.”
“I know that.”
“Have you checked to see if they planted anything in the house?” he asked.
“I’ve been keeping an eye out. But so far? Nothing. I have no idea why those guys broke into my home, Vinny. And I have no idea how that detective somehow knew to look at me for those gun runners. I left no trace. Nothing. The police had nothing there to tie us to that shooting.”
“I think you already know the answer to this question, you’re just waiting for me to say it.”
“I was hoping you had another theory,” I said.
“Someone’s trying to set you up. At least expose you for what happened down at the docks. And there’s only one reason anyone would cross a Martine like that.”
“Fuck,” I said with a groan, knowing exactly what he was about to say.
“Someone wants their hands on your business.”
“And that doesn’t help me at all because Dad made plenty of enemies in his spare time.”
“There are whispers of you trying to clean up your family’s act. If anyone perceives that as a weakness, that might be why they’re coming after you now. They think you’re a pushover for trying to clean up your family’s reputation and see you as an easy target.”
“And I’m not one,” I said.
“There are other off-handed explanations about what could’ve happened that night, but none of them fit with the rest of the surrounding circumstances,” he said.
“I’d be open to hearing them.”
“I’m hesitant to tell you because none of them are nearly as bad as the one you’re set on. And if you work with the worst-case scenario—”
“Anything else is a pleasant surprise.”
“So you were listening all those years,” he said with a grin.
“You talk too much. Some of it was bound to rub off.”
“Do you want a drink for the rest of this conversation? We could sit at the kitchen table.”
“I’ve been lying in a bed for the past two days. Standing feels good right now,” I said. “Vinny, what if those assholes planted evidence in my house? Something that seemed so innocuous that I missed it.”
“That’s one theory. Another is that break-in was staged as a way to get the police in your house and snooping around in order to plant the evidence themselves. If you’ve got a cop friend, they probably do too. Maybe this detective that’s sniffing your balls.”
“What the fuck,” I said.
“It’s nasty business. Cleaning up your family’s reputation isn’t going to be easy. Especially when people back you into corners that make you react the way your father would. And the motive could be a number of things. Taking over the family business. Dethroning you. Teaching you a lesson that things work a certain way and you shouldn't change them. But not knowing that motive is going to make it hard to filter through the enemies your father and I made.”
“Has anyone lashed out at you recently?” I asked. “Anyone pop up out of the blue?”
“Nope. Everything’s been quiet here,” he said. “But I keep it that way for a reason. This is the only place where I don’t have to look over my shoulder all the damn time.”
“Do you have anything you could give me? Any place to start?” I asked.
“I do, but you’re not going to like it.”
“I don’t give a damn. I need something. I’m four steps behind, and I’m tired of seeing my enemy’s ass.”
“Come. Follow me,” he said.
I walked behind Vincent and followed him into his library. He headed straight for a globe and rotated the top. Up it popped and underneath the hood of the globe were crystal glasses and a small container of dark amber liquid. He poured each of us a glass and handed it to me, then he walked over to the corner of the library.