What I did know was that the body that had come into play, creating this mess, was the remains of someone Jimmy had killed. I didn’t have a name or anything but whoever they had dug up, had Jimmy shaking in his boots. The man was manic when he showed up at the compound the night of the fire. I couldn’t tell if he was scared because he did a shit job of burying the body or if he was nervous about them identifying who he killed. It could’ve also been the fact that he had been sloppy and by being sloppy, Victor had heat on him. Either way I couldn’t help but keep going back to the way Jimmy acted that night and how out of character it was for him. Jimmy was an eccentric asshole, but he was always calm, cool and collected, a controlled man who knew his limits but that night he acted as if he didn’t have any.
It made sense that if anyone were going to tamper with the fan it would be him. He’d cover his tracks and save his own ass. I know that if it were my crime being investigated I’d want to be the man who made it all go away, leaving no room for error. The more I thought about it, the more I saw Jimmy’s face and I tried to wrap my head around all the possible scenarios. The bureau wasn’t looking into Jimmy they were more interested in taking down Victor. If the Fed went missing or ended up dead, the first person they were going to think was responsible was Vic. Even if Danny’s evidence disappeared, they’d work to drum up more evidence against him determined to take down the mob boss, especially if they think he killed one of their own. So if my theory was right that would put Victor in jail and with him in jail the only one to gain something would be Jimmy. He was next in line to command the family as the underboss.
Still, he didn’t have the time to fuck with the fan after leaving the dog pound that night. I was missing something else. If I was right and able to find the proof I needed to confirm my suspicions it would all be for nothing. If Victor’s hands were clean in all this, I had no bargaining chip. I made the deal with Jack hoping I’d blackmail Victor into letting me leave the mob but if Jimmy was the one responsible, I had nothing. Vic would whack Jimmy and move me up in the organization desecrating my chance of reclaiming my relationship with Adrianna all together. I’d roll over and die before I took her and her boy back into my life only for her to end up like Maryanne and Mike.
I was sure of one thing, I wanted Adrianna back and nothing was going to stop me from getting what I wanted, what I fucking deserved.
A car pulled into the Valente’s driveway and seconds later Mike stumbled out of the car. He wasn’t alone, always had one woman or another with him. This time she was blonde with tits the size of watermelons. I wondered where he found these over processed broad’s, maybe they were strippers. None of them ever looked like the girl you bring home to Mom. Mike towered over his date, standing about six feet tall and despite the fact that he couldn’t play football anymore, he was in prime shape. He definitely wasn’t the lanky kid I remembered. He wasn’t as broad as I was but he had an athletic build. Mike and Adrianna were the same age, twenty-five, but they both looked older. A part of me believed that was due to the lives they lived and the sadness they endured. His brown hair was mussed by way of either his own fingers or his date’s. I haven’t been up close to Mike, haven’t been face to face in years, but I’d bet anything that his brown eyes would stare at me blankly. He was empty, a fact proven by the way he lived his life. He started to hide it better though. He didn’t use his date as a prop to hold him upright like he did those first few times I had followed him from bar to bar. Mike wasn’t living, he was existing, just a shell of a man. It was a real fucking shame.
I tried to figure out the point of these trips, what Vic was hoping I’d uncover by sitting here for hours as Mike got drunk and then got laid. I watched as he entered the house and the front door closed as the lights flicked on inside. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard, knowing that in approximately two hours, a cab would pull up and the blonde would be a distant memory. I moved to recline my seat when I saw a police car creeping down the street out of the side view mirror. As the car passed me, I noticed the cops paid close attention to the house numbers before stopping in front of the Valente house.
“Ah, shit Mike what the fuck did you do?” I mumbled loudly and watched the cops turn off the engine of their car and slowly make their way up the walkway to the front door. I lowered my window in hopes of being able to hear what they were saying but I was too far away. They rang the bell first but after waiting a minute and getting no response, they started to bang on the door. So much for my nap, I thought as I ran my fingers through my hair and Mike opened the door half dressed. They exchanged a few words but nothing I could make out and then the blonde was beside Mike, handing him his shirt. Within minutes, the woman Mike had brought home ushered him to the passenger door of his car before climbing into the driver’s seat. The police made their way back to their car, waited for Mike and his girl to peel out of the driveway before they started their car and followed them.
What the fuck just happened?