For better or worse, Terry was also clean. I had full speech-to-text logs on him going back a month, which was actually kind of handy. He’d gone from the Moretti household to some shit bar by Dearborn Park and hung out with two friends he called along the way. They were still there – or at least his GPS equipped phone was. I wasn’t going to have time to go through all his logs until later, but it would be convenient if I ever needed anything on him.
The third one I checked was Steven Hobbs. He did a lot of the grunt work when it came to siphoning funds from the world of electronic payments and turning it into cash that could be used anywhere. The man probably had three hundred bank accounts, credit card accounts, and ACH routing numbers in his pocket at any given time. He was paid well for his services, though he could probably just pay himself any time he wanted.
There weren’t any phone logs, but there was one call that looked a little strange. Someone called him from a payphone across town – not an area of town where my boss’ people were usually to be found. It didn’t make him a rat, but he went to the top of my list.
I went through the family next with a bit of trepidation. Bad news to a family like the Moretti’s was likely to go from no Christmas card next year to an all out war in just a couple of minutes if the wrong words were said. The last thing I wanted to be was the catalyst for a family war. Fault or not, I’d be one of the first casualties.
The two in question were second or third cousins to Rinaldo and not close in the family business. Close enough to not be stupid, I would have hoped, but they didn’t have their fingers in all the little pies Moretti had going. They had been at the house to see Luisa – Rinaldo’s fair daughter. Like Jonathan, she had a birthday coming up apparently, and they were all planning a cruise somewhere in the Mediterranean.
I made a mental note to come up with a suitable gift.
All the family members checked out, too.
Even Steven Hobbs’ boss checked out, which left me – interestingly enough – just the one real suspect. I wondered if I might actually get that lucky that quickly. It was possible.
I needed more intel.
I called Eddie-boy back and got Hobbs’ location – a bar over on North Michigan Avenue – and quickly made my way over there. I recognized the guy at the end of the bar when I walked in, but he didn’t look up or notice me.
Hobbs was a chunky guy, mid-thirties with bad skin and greasy hair. He was just the sort that spent his life trying to make up for all the times he was picked on in grade school. I had no patience for the type, but that didn’t make him my traitor. If nothing else, I would have expected him to be a little more nervous. Who would betray a mob boss and then sit in a grubby bar with a Miller Lite in his hand?
It wasn’t long before a woman joined him. She had short blonde hair, a skinny ass, and ridiculous heels – definitely not my type. She sauntered up to Steven and practically sat in his lap. The music was up a little, and I couldn’t hear her at first. With practiced subtlety, I moved around the bar and sat with my back to both of them where I could hear pretty easily.
“So, no calls from work?” the blonde was asking.
“I told you, Maria, I did everything I needed to do earlier,” Steven responded. “Part of what I like about working for Moretti – I get to set my own hours.”
“He’s a demanding boss, though,” Maria said. “Maybe you’ll get a call about him.”
She kept asking questions, and the dumb-ass kept answering them for her. At one point, she said the words I needed to hear.
“So, how is Mario’s mother?”
“I don’t know,” Stephen said. “Once he left Moretti’s place, I didn’t hear from him again. She went to the hospital in Gary – that’s all I heard. Why do you care so much, anyway?”
Why, indeed?
She flirted and kissed on him for a while and then claimed she had errands to run and would meet up with him again later. As she left, I tossed some cash down on the table for my seltzer and followed her.
She wasn’t all that bright.
“He hasn’t heard a thing,” she said into the phone as she walked away. “Tell Gavino no one is on to him – we’re good to go.”
It was all I needed to hear. I didn’t even wait – I just moved up behind her while she was still distracted and on the phone. She hung up and started to rummage around in her purse for her keys. By the time she got the car door o
pen, I was on her.
An elderly couple and a bum on the sidewalk both watched me as I grabbed her by the arm, covered her mouth with my other hand, and shoved her into her own car. I didn’t care who saw me – eyewitnesses were unreliable at best – and the one person who was sure to remember me later wasn’t going to live long enough to tell anyone about me.
I also just didn’t care. It wasn’t like I was going to go to prison for anything. If I was caught, I’d either be acquitted or dead. Prison wasn’t going to enter into it.
Before she really grasped what was happening, I punched her once on the side of the face to stun her, then grabbed her keys and got the car going. By the time I pulled into traffic, I had my gun to her head.
“No words unless I ask you a question, and no movement – you understand?”
“Y…y…yes!”
“What’s your name? And don’t say Maria.”