’s up?”
“Does the name Eileen McManus mean anything to you?”
“Eileen McManus? The name sounds familiar, but I don’t know from where. Who is she?”
“I don’t know. But see how she fits in with that thing we talked about.”
“Got yah.”
“Call me at this number if you get something.”
“I will.”
“And I haven’t forgot about that other thing we talked about.”
“See that you don’t,” Monika said and ended the call.
When we got to the club, I made my way toward the office. The club was packed. As I pushed my way through the crowd I wondered if CeCe was in there some place. If she was she’d be sitting somewhere near the office. I didn’t see her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there. I walked up the steps and thought about why I went out of my way to avoid her.
I was perfectly willing to fuck just about every other woman who set it out for me. Why not her? I thought about what she said the last time we talked. I’m diggin’ you, Mike Black. I think I’ve made that plain.
I walked into Bobby’s office and decided that I had too much goin’ on to worry about that now. A convenient excuse, but it is what it is.
“What’s up, Mike?” Bobby said, leaning back in his chair.
“I got something we need to talk about,” I said and sat down.
“I don’t like the sound of this already, what’s up?”
“Angelo Collette came to see me tonight.”
Bobby sat straight up. “Came to see you where?”
“At Cuisine. Just showed up at the door.”
Bobby stood up and went to the bar. “What he want?” he asked and poured us a drink.
“He wanted to talk about Stark.”
“He wants you to get them together or something?” Bobby handed me the glass and went behind his desk.
“He wants more than that, Bob. His exact words were that he was hopin’ for something a little more than just an introduction.”
“Like what?” Bobby asked and sat down.
“That he was thinkin’ that maybe I would take more of an active role. I could be kind of a stabilizing influence. You know, keep problems down.”
“What you tell him?”
“I told him that I would set up a meeting, but I would have to think about that influence shit.”
“How’d he take it?”
“He said that he would consider it a personal favor if I would do that for him.”
“What you gonna do?”
“You know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna tell him no.”