“Nothing specific. I just thought he worked for you.”
“You don’t know where he works?”
“He works at Wanamaker’s.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know. In the warehouse, I think.”
“Just between you and me, did you really think I would have somebody working for me who works in the Wanamaker’s warehouse?”
“No disrespect intended, Mr. Cassandro.”
“I know that, Sonny. Like I told you, Marco’s been saying good things about you. Look, I know you were mistaken, and I understand. But when you were mistaken, what did you think this guy did for me?”
Sonny did not immediately reply.
“Hey, you’re among friends. What’s said in this room stays in this room, OK?”
“I feel like a goddamned fool for not knowing it was bullshit when I heard it,” Sonny said. “I should have known better.”
“Known better than what, Sonny?” Paulo Cassandro said, and now there was an unmistakable tone of impatience in his voice.
“He sort of hinted that he was a hit man for you,” Sonny said, very reluctantly.
“You’re right, Sonny,” Paulo said. “You should have known it was bullshit when you heard it. You know why?”
Inspiration came, miraculously, to Sonny Boyle. He suddenly knew the right answer to give.
“Because you’re a legitimate businessman,” he said.
“Right. All that bullshit in the movies about a mob, and hit men, all that bullshit is nothing but bullshit. And you should have known that, Sonny. I’m a little disappointed in you.”
“I’m embarrassed. I just didn’t think this through.”
“Right. You didn’t think. That can get a fella in trouble, Sonny.”
“I know.”
“Ah, well, what the hell. You’re among friends. Marco says good things about you. Let’s just forget the whole thing.”
“Thank you.”
“You know what I mean about forgetting the whole thing?”
“I’m not exactly sure.”
“You know what you did tonight, Sonny?”
“No.”
“You wanted to be nice to the wife. You wanted to surprise her. You know a guy who works in the kitchen out there. You come to the back door and told him to make you two dinners to go. He did.”
“Right, Mr. Cassandro.”
“That it was on the house is nobody’s business but yours and mine, right? And you didn’t see nobody but your friend, right?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Cassandro.”