“Get him a glass,” Paulo Cassandro ordered. “You hungry, Sonny? I get you up from your dinner?”
“No. A glass of wine would be fine. Thank you.”
“You’re sure you don’t want something to eat?”
“No, thank you.”
“Well, maybe after we talk. I figure I owe you for getting you here like this. After we talk, you’ll have something. It’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Marco tells me you’re pretty well connected in your neighborhood. Know a lot of people. That true?”
“Well, I live in the house my mother was born in, Mr. Cassandro.”
“The name Frank Foley mean anything to you, Sonny?”
Sonofabitch! I didn’t even think of that!
“I know who he is,” Sonny said.
“Me asking looks like it made you nervous,” Paulo said. “Did it make you nervous?”
“No. No. Why should it?”
“You tell me. You looked nervous.”
Sonny shrugged and waved his hands helplessly.
“Tell me about this guy,” Paulo said.
“I don’t know much about him,” Sonny said.
“Tell me what you do know.”
“Well, he’s from the neighborhood. I see him around.”
“I get the feeling you don’t want to talk about him.”
“Mr. Cassandro, can I say something?”
“That’s what I’m waiting for, Sonny.”
“I sort of thought you knew all about him, is what I mean.”
“I don’t know nothing about him; that’s why I’m asking. Why would you think I know all about him?”
“I got the idea somehow that you knew each other, that he was a business associate, is what I meant.”
“Where would you get an idea like that?”
“That’s what people say,” Sonny said. “I got that idea from him. I thought I did. I probably misunderstood him. Got the wrong idea.”
“Sonny, I never laid eyes on this guy. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in that door right this minute,” Paulo said.
“Well, I’m sorry I had the wrong idea.”
“Why should you be sorry? We all make mistakes. Tell me, what sort of business associate of mine did you think he was?”