Page 10 of Meet Odin
Office. 9:00 AM
-AD
***
IwalkedintoMr.De Angelis’s office precisely at nine in the morning. The wedding had been Saturday night, and Sunday, I had spent all day making plans. I knew exactly who Luca Carazzo was. Serena was right. He'd make a mistake.
Mr. De Angelis was sitting at his desk waiting for me. His suit was crisp, not a hair out of place.
I knew him better than that. He was patiently waiting for me to give him the report on the wedding.
“Odin, my boy. How was the wedding?”
I didn’t expect him to make pleasantries first. “It was good,” I responded. “I make a meanbourbon neat.” His lips twitched at my joke. “I bet you do, my boy.”
Bourbon, the mafia’s drink of choice.
I went for the direct approach. “The Italians have an undercover cop among them. He’s the reason they were raided.”
“Do they know? The raid didn’t yield anything.”
“No, they don’t. I suspect they have contacts within the department that notified them prior.”
Mr. De Angelis leaned forward in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Talk.”
He’d given me that command since I was sixteen. I handed him a file that I had put together on the cop. He started to flip through it, but he’d want to hear it from me.
“Meet Luca Carazzo. He’s actually the fire chief’s youngest son. It’s safe to assume that he didn’t want to follow the family tradition. All of the sons are firefighters except him. At eighteen, he graduated high school and started to pursue a Criminology degree. When he graduated at twenty-two, he immediately applied for the academy on his father’s recommendation. There’s speculation that he had some help. He was the last in the class, and by all accounts should have been cut.
"It took him two years to get a promotion, more than likely due to daddy's intervention, not because he earned it. All of a sudden, he’s friends with Sergio Lombardo, Giuseppe’s grandson. That’s how he was introduced to the family. They say he’s moving up the ladder fast, but eventually, they’ll ask him for loyalty. Depending on what the test is, he’ll have them. If he doesn’t fuck up sooner than that.”
Mr. De Angelis was still flipping through the file when he asked the question that I dreaded. “How did you find this out?”
“A credible source.”
His eyebrows shot up as he peered at me. This was the first time that I had ever avoided a direct question. I had never had a reason before.
“I have never known you to protect someone. Who is she?”
How did he know? I was that sixteen-year-old kid again who had picked his pocket.
"You're trying to hide it, but with our history, I can see right through you. I am not sure you would care if it was a made man, so I went with the obvious answer. You met a woman, and she gotten under your skin."
“Serena Lombardo.”
He sat up and leveled a look at me. “Talk,” he said again.
“I caught the conversation by accident. Giuseppe's granddaughter is best friends with Katalina Petrakis, the third daughter of the Greek Don. They’re young and didn’t know anyone was listening. Serena told Katalina that she’s providing the cop useless documents to keep him occupied until he makes a mistake.”
“Do you think he will? Make a mistake?”
“Eventually.”
There was a pause. “You don’t like that plan?” I shook my head. “What would you like to do?”
This was the first time he had ever asked my opinion. I was walking into a trap, but I couldn’t see any way out of it. I wouldn’t lie to this man.
“He’s bullying an innocent woman. There’s no telling how long she’ll be able to placate him. What happens when he’s no longer satisfied, or the department puts stress on him? She’ll be targeted. Let me take him out and put an end to this.”
