Mick Sinatra: The Harder They Fall (10 page)

But when
Mick said, “yeah, you can talk,” it warmed Joey’s heart.
 
He wasn’t dismissed.
 
He wasn’t being treated like some
outsider.
 
Maybe his father was beginning
to understand what he was trying to tell him.

“We got
nothing,” Teddy said to Mick.
 
“No matter
what we try, no matter how we try it, they’re sticking to their story.
 
There’s no mastermind, they claim.
 
They work alone.
 
They run insurance scams like this up and down
the coast.
 
That’s how they make their
living.
 
And we checked, Pop.
 
We investigated the shit out of them.
 
It’s true.
 
They would have never run into Roz if they knew who you were.
 
They just thought she was just another
wealthy black woman in Philly going about her business.
 
They target expensive cars, they said.
 
They don’t give a fuck about who the people
are.”

Mick took a
moment to digest what Teddy had just told him.
 
What surprised him wasn’t what Teddy was saying, but the fact that he
would come to him with this at all.

But Teddy,
unlike the way Joey realized he had handled it, didn’t fill his father’s
silence with more talk.
 
He waited for
Mick to speak.
 
And Mick did speak.

“You believe
them?” Mick asked Teddy.

Teddy nodded
his head.
 
“They’re very believable,
Pop.
 
Yeah, I believe them.”

“If you
believe that bullshit,” Mick said, “you can kiss my ass.”

Joey was
shocked by his father’s retort.
 
Teddy
was too.

“Of course
it’s a scam they run all the time!” Mick said angrily.
 
“Of course if we investigate we’ll see that
they run it up and down the line.
 
They
were recruited because they run these kind of scams, and because they run it up
and down the line.
 
It wasn’t a blind
because they aren’t traditional crooks.
 
They wouldn’t fall for a blind.
 
Whoever paid them to pull that swoop and squat bullshit on my wife is
known to them.”

Teddy
exhaled frustratingly.
 
“Then you need to
come, Pop, because they aren’t giving us shit.
 
No matter what we say, no matter how we threaten, they aren’t giving us
shit.
 
And we’ve been at it all night.”

“Did you
torture their asses?” Joey asked.

Teddy was a
little offended that his kid brother would be asking a question like that.
 
But what surprised him even more was when
their father didn’t tell Joey to shut the fuck up.
 
Mick, instead, seemed to be waiting for
Teddy’s answer.

“They’re
old,” Teddy said.
 
“And like I said, they
aren’t your run-of-the-mill crooks.
 
We
weren’t going too far, but yeah.
 
We
gave’em the business.
 
We put fear in
their hearts.”
 
Then he looked at his
father.
 
“But none of it worked,
Pop.
 
They’re sticking to their story.”

The intercom
button buzzed again.
 
Mick pressed it
again.
 
“What?”

“Mrs. Benny
Blake is here to see you, sir.”

Joey and
Teddy glanced at each other.
 
They both
knew who Benny Blake was.
 
He was the
starting wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 
His wife was Roz’s friend.
 
His wife, they both also knew, was a pain in
the ass.

“Send her
in,” Mick said into the intercom.
 
“Wait
downstairs for me,” he said to Teddy.

“Ah, Pop, I
can’t.
 
I’ve got to get to a meeting.”

“A meeting?”
Mick asked.
 
“What meeting?”

“A
meeting.
 
I told you I’m trying to get my
nightclub off the ground.
 
I have
meetings to attend.”

Mick stared
at his son.
 
He was a hustler like Mick
used to hustle.
 
And rarely ever in a
legit way.
 
“Make sure your business
doesn’t interfere with mine,” he warned him.

“Don’t
worry, Pop,” Teddy assured him with a smile.
 
“I’m not stupid like some I know.” He glanced at Joey.

Joey
frowned.
 
“Ah, forget you, Teddy!”

Teddy
laughed.
 
And began heading toward the
exit.

“Wait
downstairs,” Mick said to Joey.
 
“You’re
going with me.”

Teddy
glanced back, surprised by his father’s pronouncement.

Joey,
however, was downright giddy with shock.
 
“Yes, sir,” he said with excitement in his voice.
 
“I’ll be right there waiting!”
 
And he headed for the exit too.

Tamron
Dawson-Blake was coming in just as they were going out, and she spoke to both
boys.

“Hey, Tam,”
Teddy said.

“Hey, Miss
Tamron,” Joey said.

Tamron
smiled as they walked past, with her eyes giving tantalizing Teddy that extra
look.
 

Mick rose to
his feet as the office door closed and Tamron made her way to his desk.
 
“Good morning,” she said.

“Good
morning.”

“May
I?”
 
She motioned toward a chair.

Mick motioned
for her to sit down in front of his desk.
 
She did.
 
He sat down, and then
leaned back too.

“Every time
I come to S.I.,” Tamron said, “I’m impressed.
 
This is a beautiful corporation, Mick.
 
And all of the people you employ throughout the city.
 
You should be very proud.”

Mick knew
Mrs. Benny Blake
didn’t come all this
way for chitchat.
 
“How can I help you?”

“Direct and
to the point,” Tamron said with a smile.
 
“Okay, I can deal with that.”
 
Then she sat erect.
 
Her proud
stance.
 
“As you know, I am a very
well-known philanthropist across the state.
 
My charity functions, through the years, have been legendary.”

Mick wanted
to roll his eyes.
 
For Roz’s sake, since
she liked this woman, he began rocking in his chair instead.

“I raise
large sums of money each and every year for charity,” Tamron continued.
 
“In fact they call me Miss Charity in many
circles.”
 
She laughed.
 
Mick didn’t.

“My major
charity function is my Success Ball,” Tamron continued.
 
“Did Roz tell you about it?”

“She told
me, yes.”

“Will you
come?” Tamron asked him.
 
“It’s a
masquerade ball, and everybody has such fun.
 
You’ll love it.
 
Will you come?”

“No,” Mick
said pointblank.

Tamron
batted her eyes.
 
He was not an easy man
to talk to, especially not when the stakes were so high.
 
She had already put out the word that he would
be attending.
 
He had to attend!
 
“It’s for such a worthy cause,” she said.
 
“Just having a man of your reputation there
could bring in thousands more dollars, and far more patrons, than we could
otherwise hope for.
 
Please tell me
you’ll reconsider.”

“I’m not
going to be able to attend your function,” Mick said.
  
“I’m sure my wife already told you that
because I already told her that.”
 
He
stared at her.
 
“Why are you here?”

Tamron knew
she had to go there.
 
She didn’t want
to.
 
She loved Roz.
 
But this was the biggest event of the year,
and she had already put his name out there.
 
Her backers demanded he be there.
 
She felt she had no choice.
 
“I
saw you in New York last weekend,” she said.

Mick
continued to stare at her.
 
“I don’t
recall seeing you,” he said.

“I saw you
in New York last weekend with Bella Caine.”

Bella Caine
was Gloria’s mother and Mick’s ex-lover.
 
When Mick realized where this was going, he quickly rose to his
feet.
 
When he felt under attack, it was
his natural instinct to strike back.

Tamron rose
too.
 
She never wanted to look up to
anybody she was negotiating with.
 
“Since
you like direct and to the point,” she said, “I’ll be direct and to the point.
 
I won’t tell Roz that I saw you, and Bella
that is, if you come to my ball.”

“You won’t
tell her?”

“I won’t
tell Roz anything about that weekend.
 
I
won’t mention seeing you at the fashion show with her.
 
I won’t mention seeing you at the restaurant
with her.
 
I won’t mention seeing you go
into that hotel room with the luscious Bella Caine.
 
If you come to my ball.”

Mick
nodded.
 
“I thought that was what you
meant,” he said, and began walking around his desk.

“I don’t
want it to come to that,” Tamron pointed out, “because I know how much Roz loves
you.
 
I know how much it’ll break her
heart to hear such news.”

Mick walked
up to Tamron.
 
She could feel his
machismo.
 
His
maleness
.
 
And it was
powerful.
 
“But this event,” she said,
trying not to feel the attraction, although she did, and trying not to back
down, “is very important to me.
 
I really
need you to be there.
 
That’s the only
reason I’m resorting to this.”

They were
within an inch of each other.
 
Mick had
purposely invaded her personal space.
 
“That’s why you’re resorting to what?” he asked her.
 
“To threatening to blackmail me?”

Tamron
smiled.
 
“Blackmail?
 
I think that’s a little strong.”

“You think
it’s too strong, do you?” Mick asked.
 
“Then you’re going to think this,” he said as he grabbed Tamron by the
arm and flung her against the wall, “is downright criminal!”

He was up to
her as quickly as her back was against that wall.
 
He was all over her.
 
Tamron’s heart was beating so loud Mick could
hear it.
 
“Who do you think I am?” he
asked her.
 
His mouth was touching her
ear.
 
His face was frowned with
incredulity.
 
“You think I’m some fucking
chump you can roll?
 
You think I’m some
fucking novice who just hit the scene?
 
I’ve
got scars older than your crusty ass and you’re threatening to blackmail
me
?”

“But I’m
not!” Tamron said quickly, shaking her head.
 
Beads of sweat appeared on her upper lip.
 
“I wouldn’t dare.
 
I know who you are.
 
I was just . . .
 
I wasn’t blackmailing you, no, that wasn’t my
intent at all!
 
And I promise I won’t
tell Roz anything.
 
What am I going to
tell her?
 
I didn’t see a thing.
 
Not one thing.
 
I wasn’t even in New York last weekend!
 
I was mistaken.”

All mouth
and no backbone, Mick thought as he stared at Tamron.
 
Rosalind would run circles around her weak
ass.
 
“Get the fuck out of my office,” he
said, “before I throw you out.”

“Yes, sir,”
Tamron said, nodding her head and walking so fast toward the exit that she
began to run.
 
She slammed the door
behind herself.

Mick opened
his suit coat, placed his hands on his hips, and exhaled.
 
That was a meeting nobody was supposed to see
or know about, and some blabber mouth friend of Roz’s saw it without even
meaning to see it.
 
He was getting
sloppy.

He pulled
out his cell phone, and called Bella Caine.