Part 54 (2/2)
”Yes. He is losing his nerve.”
Behind the screen, the priest was shaking his head. ”I don't think the answer is that simple, Giacomo. Josef is an honest businessman now. And like all honest businessmen, he is worried what will happen if things with O'Hara get out of hand.”
Papa rubbed the pebble between his hands. ”And by not supporting me last night he has all but a.s.sured a war between O'Hara and my family.”
”That is one possibility,” the priest said patiently. ”Another is that O'Hara will bring narcotics into the city and the authorities will stop him.”
Papa shook his head violently. ”O'Hara will attack me then, thinking that the police are acting on my orders.”
There was a long silence before Rossi said, ”Not if you step down first.”
”Surrender?” Papa exploded. ”Walk away from all I have worked for over the years? And what do I receive in return?”
And in the gesturing palm Papa stretched out, toward the shadowy shape beyond the screen, lay the pebble.
The priest's voice was quiet but a.s.sured. ”What I am saying, old friend, is that if you are not seen as being in charge, there is no reason for Lou O'Hara and the others to come after you.”
Papa's stomach constricted. He felt bile rising in his throat. He thought last night had been the ultimate betrayal, but now here he sat in the one place he thought he would receive solace, understanding, and the one person he thought capable of giving him those things sat on the other side of this flimsy screen trying to convince him that the betrayal of others was the best thing that could happen to him. Forgetting he held the pebble, Papa's touched his heated brow, against which the tiny stone felt cold indeed. Beads of sweat slithered down his face and he struggled to shrug out of his overcoat in the tiny s.p.a.ce.
When he spoke again, his words were measured. ”Father, do you remember the last time someone tried to bring drugs into the city?”
”Yes.”
”What happened?”
”Your son, Paulo, was killed trying to stop them.”
Papa's voice became very quiet. ”Yes, Paulo was killed.”
”Do you want that to happen again? That is why I am counseling you to get out now, old friend. You have lost one son to drug runners. Do you want to risk another?”
”You know,” Papa said wistfully, ”you were never privy to the whole truth about that event.”
”They killed Paulo, and I a.s.sume that he was avenged.”
Tears mixed with the perspiration on Papa's face. ”That is not quite the truth, Confessor.”
”No?”
”It was Paulo who tried to bring the narcotics into the city, against my wishes. He knew that I wouldn't tolerate that poison coming in, so he did his best to hide what he was doing from me. He didn't hide it well enough. Do you know what I am telling you?”
He could see the priest shake his head, whether a gesture of ignorance or incredulity, Papa did not know.
”What I am saying is that I had my son, my own flesh and blood, killed for disobeying me.”
Papa heard the sharp intake of breath beyond the screen. Papa was shaking now. He clutched the tiny counter in front of him trying to regain control of his emotions, the pebble tumbling from his fingers to make a tiny clatter on the floor of the booth.
”I have shed the blood of my own son in order to keep this sin from entering the city, and now you tell me to allow this demon to do that very thing?”
”I . . . I did . . . didn't know . . .”
”Nor does anyone else . . . I pulled some strings out of town.”
”H . . . how could you?”
Papa's voice was a whimper now. ”I tried. Don't you think I tried? I did everything I could to get Paulo to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He thought he knew more than his father. He thought he was stronger than the family. I couldn't allow him to spread that poison into the city. I've seen it in other places. It starts with the weak, but eventually it also swallows the strong and the children. How someone, anyone, could sell bottled death to the young was more than I could comprehend. I wouldn't have stood for it if it had been one of the other gangs. There was no way I could stand by and let someone in my own family contaminate the future. Now I must take a stand with O'Hara as well.”
”That was years ago, Giacomo. The times are different. O'Hara is a powerful enemy with many allies.”
”I have allies of my own,” Papa said.
”O'Hara has Raven Milhone as well as both the Tongs and the Triads.”
”I have the Yakuza.”
”Do you think that you can trust Tos.h.i.+ro and the Yakuza?”
Papa's voice was cold steel. ”Yes.”
”How can you be so sure?”
”Do you remember Giuseppe?”
”The son you disowned?”
”Yes. Have I ever told you why Giuseppe was sent away?”
”No.”
”In the war, Giuseppe took up with a j.a.panese woman.” Papa paused. ”The fruit of this illicit affair was a child.”
”Yes?”
”If Giuseppe hadn't abandoned both mother and child, he would still be part of my family. That child was Tos.h.i.+ro.”
”Tos.h.i.+ro is your grandson?”
Papa nodded. ”When Tos.h.i.+ro came to this country it was I who arranged it. I paid for his education. He earned a degree in business and it was my hope that he would be the first of the Ghilini family to go legitimate . . . A fitting, if ironic, fate for my b.a.s.t.a.r.d grandson. That was not to be. I found out that he was fencing stolen art, using his business as a front. I decided that if he was going to enter the business anyway it would be best if he did it in such a way that I could keep an eye on him. It was under those conditions that he was sent to join the Yakuza. Though they are heavily into narcotics in j.a.pan, the Yakuza has been restricting its activities in the city to extortion and prost.i.tution. And now with Tos.h.i.+ro entrenched as one of their leaders, they will be a formidable ally. One, I'm sure, that O'Hara thinks will move to his side. That mistake may well be his last.”
”I thought I knew you, Giacomo . . .”
”Even with what I have told you today, Confessor, there is still much more you do not know. But I thank you for your time. Whether you know it or not, you have been of great a.s.sistance to me today. I now know what I must do.”
”I have done nothing but listen.”
”That,” said Papa, pulling his overcoat on, ”is an important quality to find, Father. It is hard these days to find a good listener.”
<script>