Mob Boss 4: Romancing Trina Gabrini (28 page)

And somehow he managed to pull himself
together, put on some clothes, and make his way to this police station.

Nell was seated against the wall inside the
station.
 
Nell said the officer had
already turned down her request to see her son, and had told her to go back
where she came from.
 
But she stayed
right there.
 
Trina sat beside her, to
comfort her, as Reno walked over to the information counter.

There were two officers behind the
counter.
 
One was seated at a desk dozing
off, while the other one, a younger one, was standing at the counter.
  
He initially wasn’t rude, but he wasn’t
helpful, either.
 
When it was obvious
they were getting nowhere fast, Reno had to ask to see Jake Waverly, the chief
of police, a man he met at Sully’s dinner party.
 
But the officer, seemingly offended that he
would want to go over his head, took his pretty time as he went into the
chief’s office.

Reno could hear laughter coming from the
office that was a few feet away from the desk, and then the same young officer
finally came out and returned to the counter, grinning and looking all full of
himself
.
 
Reno stared
at him.

“As I said before,” he said to Reno, “there’s
nothing to be done here.
 
Y’all can’t see
the prisoner right now. You’ll have to go back home and come back at sun up and
then we’ll see what we can do.
 
But it’s
after midnight.”

“I asked to see your chief,” Reno said, trying
with all he had to maintain his cool.

“And I told you that’s not happening.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah,” the officer said.
 

“So you gonna stop me?”

“News flash: I have stopped you.”
 
The second officer grinned.
 
“So you can take your Rambo, shade wearing
self where you came from.
 
Because shades
or no shades, buddy, you ain’t seeing
no
prisoner
inside this jailhouse tonight.”

Reno had had enough of these yahoos.
 
He grabbed the officer by his shirt collar
and dragged him halfway across the counter.
 
Trina screamed Reno’s name as the other officer jumped from his seat and
rushed over.
 
Trina, terrified that the
officer might pull a weapon, hurried to Reno and pulled him away from the young
man.

But Reno held onto him, even as the other
officer attempted to separate them, too.
 
They were not accustomed to this.

“You listen to me you little cock sucker,”
Reno said to the officer.
 
“You take your
grinning ass back into that office and tell that chief of yours to drag his fat
ass out here now!
 
I don’t know who you
think you’re dealing with,” Reno made clear, “but you’re about to find
out.
 
I’m not the one.
 
You understand me?
 
Not in your wildest dreams am I the one you
want to play these silly-ass games with!”
 
Then Reno released him, causing the gaunt young man to nearly slide
backwards against his fellow officer.
 
Both seemed terrified of Reno’s threat.

“Sarge!” the officer yelled, and within
seconds the chief’s office door opened and a heavy-set man came hurrying out.

“What’s going on here?” he said angrily, a
drumstick in his hand, a napkin at his neck.
 
“What’s the matter with y’all?”

The young officers wanted to report Reno’s
behavior, but they didn’t.
 
For some
reason, staring into the black of those shades Reno
wore,
made them believe his threat.

“Well what is it?”

“This gentleman,” the officer said loosely,
“won’t take no for an answer.”

“Well that’s too bad,” the sergeant said,
looking at Reno.

Reno frowned.
 
“Who the
fuck are
you?
 
Where’s the chief?”

“He’s not here obviously,” the sergeant said.
“Now I’m gonna ask you people to leave.
 
Nobody’s seeing nobody at this time of night, I don’t care who you are.”

Reno moved toward the sergeant, to get into it
with him, but Trina pulled him back.
 
He
had already crossed one line.
 
This
sergeant may not let him get away with crossing another one.
 
“Let’s just come back later, Reno,” she said.

Reno, however, wasn’t about to come back
later.
 
If Nell wasn’t bullshitting him, then
his son was sitting in that jail.
 
He had
to see him.
 
He wasn’t about to wait.

“Get Sully on the phone,” he said to Tree.

“Sully?”

“You have his cell number, right?”

“Yeah, I have it.”

“Get him on the phone.”

Trina didn’t understand what Sully had to do
with this, but she did as she was told. When the line started ringing, she
handed her cell phone to Reno.

“Hello?” Sully’s voice came onto the line.

“This is Reno,” Reno said.

“Trina all right?”
Sully asked him.

Reno exhaled.
 
“She’s fine.”

“Then what’s up?”

“I need a favor, Sul,” he said.
 

Sully chuckled.
 
“Aren’t you afraid that I might actually say
hello to your wife while I’m performing this favor?”

“Look, are you gonna help me or not?”
 
Reno asked.

“Reno,” Trina warned.

Reno exhaled.
 
“Sorry about that.”

“What’s the matter, Reno?” Sully asked.
 
“I was just kidding around.”

“I’m here at the police station.
 
I need you to call your friend, the chief of
police, and tell him I need to see Jimmy Ridgeway.”

“Jimmy Ridgeway?
 
Who the hell’s Jimmy Ridgeway?”

“He’s my employee’s son,” Reno said, not about
to discuss this with Sully, “and he’s been arrested.
 
For rape and attempted
murder.”

“Ouch,” Sully said, realizing the
seriousness.
 
“I’ll call him right away.”

“Thanks, Sul,” he said, and hung up the phone.

Reno exhaled, and hung up too.

It was nearly an hour later, but Reno, Nell,
and Trina were allowed to see Jimmy Ridgeway.
 
And they were not escorted into the visitor’s room, either, where Reno
feared the place could be bugged.
 
He
requested from the chief and received permission to meet Jimmy in the chief’s
office, where there would be no fear of eavesdropping.
 
The chief agreed and called it in, and the
sergeant had no choice but to comply.
 

They sat at a conference table in the chief’s
office, an office that smelled like greasy fried chicken.
 
Reno sat at the head of the table, Trina sat
to the right of him, and Nell to the left.
 
When the door opened, and Jimmy entered, Nell hurried to his side.

Trina stood to her feet, staring at the young
man, but Reno remained seated.
 
The boy
was tall, probably five-eleven or around there, and he had a lean, teenager’s
body and a narrow, sculptured face that was more like a model’s face than an
athlete’s.
 
He was obviously interracial,
with features that made him appear
more white
than
black, and the combination of brown skin and bright, green eyes were stunning
to see.
 

Reno sat so stiff and
so
self-contained as he stared at the young man, that Trina wondered if he would
explode with emotion. But he didn’t.
 
He just
stared his blue eyes at the young man as if he was staring down the barrel of a
gun.

After Nell embraced her son, she then walked
him over to the table.
 
The boy looked as
if he’d been through hell and back, from what Trina could see of him, but she didn’t
quite see any Gabrini resemblance right off.
 

But she saw something there.
 
She couldn’t put a finger on it, but she saw
something there.
 
Nell’s claim that Reno
was the father still wasn’t a slam dunk for her, but it wasn’t a shot in the
dark, either.
 
Something was there.

Nell was still wiping her puffy eyes as she
and Jimmy arrived at the table.
 
Reno was
surprised to see that the young man didn’t appear to have shed a tear. And the
kid looked more uncomfortable than scared.
 
Reno had been around enough cons to know that look.
 
But it could mean different things.
 
It could mean out-and-out guilt, which it
usually meant.
 
Or the kid could just be
concerned about his mother, or angry that he was in such a shitty situation, or
grieving the fact that his girlfriend, or whoever that girl was, had lied on
him.
 
With this kid, who seemed almost
emotional-less, it was hard to read.

“This is Reno, Jimmy,” Nell said.
 
“He’s my boss.”

“You’re the new owner of Clauson’s?” Jimmy
asked.

“Right,” Reno said.
 

“Hi.
 
I
thought you were my lawyer.”
 
He extended
his long, thin hand.
 
Reno stood up
clumsily and shook it.
 
If it was true,
and this young man standing before him was his son, then Reno realized he was
touching his child for the first time in his life.
 
And it staggered him.

“Reno, you all right?”
Trina asked him.

“I’m okay.
 
Have a seat,” he said to Jimmy, and sat down, too.

Trina and Nell exchanged a glance as they sat
down.

“How you doing?”
Reno asked the young man.

“I’ve been better,” Jimmy said with a smile.
 
A very nice smile, Reno noted.

“How have they been treating you, Jimmy?” Nell
asked the son she was now seated beside.

“They’re treating me fine, Ma.”

“They haven’t tried to hurt you or get you to
confess to---”

“No,” Jimmy said before she could finish, and
Reno saw a flash of anger there.
 
“Stop
worrying,” Jimmy added, attempting to smile.
 
A fake smile, Reno also noticed.

“How could I not worry?” Nell asked her
son.
 
She looked like the very definition
of worry, it seemed to Trina.
 
“They have
my son locked in this place, and. . .”
 
Tears reappeared.
 
Jimmy
reluctantly hugged his mother.

“It’s not . . . Stop, Ma, please.
 
Why don’t you go somewhere until this is
over?”

Nell looked at him, astounded.
 
“Go somewhere?”

“Until this is over.
 
You
can visit Uncle Albert in Minnesota.
 
You
can stay with him until it’s all over.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving
you now!
 
How can you ask me to leave you
at a time like this?”

Jimmy looked at Reno.
 
“Can you help me get a lawyer?” he asked
him.
 
“I’m gonna need one.”

Reno removed his shades.
 
He had to get a better look.
 
His eyes were no longer puffy and red, but
even if they still had been he wouldn’t have cared.
 

“Do you know why you’re in here?” he asked
Jimmy.

Jimmy stopped hugging his mother.
 
His face became more circumspect.
 
“Yeah, I know.”

“Why are you here?”

“He doesn’t have to relive that terrible---”
Nell started, but Reno cut her off.

“Why are you here?” he asked Jimmy again.

Jimmy swallowed hard.
 
“They say I hurt somebody.”

Reno shook his head.
 
“No, they didn’t,” he said, and both Trina
and Nell looked at Reno.
 
“Don’t bullshit
me.
 
They said you raped a girl and
attempted to murder that girl.
 
That’s
why you’re here.
 
Right?”

Trina and Nell looked at Jimmy.
 
A look of pure frustration crossed his
adorable eyes.
 
He nodded his head.
 
“Yeah,” he said.
 
“They claim I did all that.”