Nice Girl (6 page)

I hear Anthony on the phone.  He isn’t talking that loud but I notice that the acoustics seem to travel down this narrow hall of offices.  I knock softly on his open door.  He smiles at me and mouths “five minutes”.    I nod and walk back to the lobby to start looking through the boxes.  Feeling a little overwhelmed with where to begin, I don’t even notice Anthony walking back in. 

“Good morning Grace.  I’m happy to see you have decided to give us a chance after Vinnie’s performance yesterday.”

“Well you did warn me.”

He gives me a relieved a laugh.  “Yes I guess I did.  Don’t worry.  It won’t be an everyday occurrence.  Actually, we rarely will be in the office this early.  Many of our cases require evening work.  Hopefully you will be comfortable holding down the ship in the morning?”

I look around the lobby again.  “Yes, I think I will be busy for awhile.”

“Well, if it helps, this morning I have a rather large office furniture delivery.  You will have a new desk and several filing cabinets.”

He proceeds to point out all the boxes that have their past cases.  I am actually looking forward to reading through them to get a sense of the work they do here.  Anthony then gives me a key to the office and shows me how to punch in the alarm code to activate and deactivate.  As we are discussing plans to organize the office, the furniture order arrives.  I am ecstatic.  Now I can really get busy. 

Anthony is right.  No one comes in the office all morning.  I start to think that maybe I can make it at this job.  I don’t see Anthony for the rest of the morning but I do hear him on the phone.  After awhile, I can’t even keep track of how many phone calls he made.  I am impressed at how busy he is.   This office does seem to have a lot of potential clients. 

“Hey gorgeous, how’s your morning been?”

The front door opens to an adorable Jamie, smiling at me.  I sigh.  I could get used to such attention without the hassle of it going anywhere but friendship.  Today he is dressed in a button down shirt with a color pattern that begs the eyes to stare. Several shades of blue crisscross in sharp lines that bring out the blue in his eyes.  He has his shirt tucked neatly in his jeans which emphasizes his thin frame.  His hair contains the perfect amount of hair gel.  How did I not notice he was gay the first time I met him? 

“Well Jamie, my morning is now complete since you’ve arrived.”

“Aaah,  I love flirting with a beautiful woman.”

Yes, I could really get used to hanging out with Jamie.

“Ready for lunch?  We were working on a case until 3am last night.  I just woke up and I am starving.”

Lunch?    In all my nervousness, I hadn’t even thought about lunch. 

“I only work 5 hours a day. I’m not sure if I should be taking a lunch.”

“Well we’ll call it a working lunch then.”  His gorgeous blue eyes twinkle.  “Anthony!”  He yells down the hall.

Anthony pokes his head out from his office.  “Jamie.”  He says dryly.

“I’m taking Grace to lunch.”

“Okay” says Anthony as he goes back in his office. 

Wow, they are laid back here.

“What do you have a taste for?”  Jamie asks.

“I‘m not fussy. “  I then add in a teasing tone  “How are we justifying a working lunch?”

“I have to get you all caught up on the office gossip.  Believe me.  No two men are more fascinating than Anthony or Vinnie.”

Gossip?  YES!  

Jamie takes me to an Irish pub called Mahoney’s.   It is two doors down from the Starbucks across the street.  I never noticed it before.  Jamie said that the food is excellent.  Then he told me lunch was his treat.  This, of course, made me uncomfortable. 

“I’m not broke, Jamie.  I can afford to buy my own lunch.”

“I never assumed you were destitute, Grace.  I want to celebrate your first day.  I also want to bribe you.”

“Bribe me?” 

“I was the one who dragged you in the office to apply for the job.  You wouldn’t believe some of the applicants who applied before you. I’ve lived in the city for ten years but even I couldn’t fathom what crawled through the woodwork to interview for the secretary position.  You were the first
normal
person I saw looking at our sign.  Plus you are so pretty and nice.  I’m afraid when you hear about Anthony and Vinnie in more detail, you’ll run for the hills.”

Damn.  This gossip was going to be good.

“Wow, Jamie.  You have me quite intrigued.  Please go on.”  I tried not to appear so eager.

“Well our food is here.  I’ll tell you a little now and save some of it for when you’re not eating.”

Some details I had to hear when I wasn’t eating?   Okay, now I was getting that anxious feeling from this morning back in my stomach.

My salad was delicious.  Jamie was right.  The food was awesome.  I know I was nervous but I think my hard workout this morning plus hours of emptying boxes gave me an appetite.  Jamie ordered a humungous bacon cheeseburger that made my mouth salivate.  Why are skinny men allowed to eat like that?

During lunch I found out some incredible details on the beginnings of A and V private investigations.  I felt like I was reading a true crime novel about the mob.  Anthony’s family is heavily connected.  Yes, I am talking mafia.  This felt surreal to me.  I wasn’t ignorant to think that organized crime didn’t exist.  I was a criminology major for goodness sake.  I just figured I would never be this up close to it. 

Anthony’s family wanted him to follow in his two older brother’s footsteps.  The problem was it was not a life that Anthony wanted.  His parents let him go to college out of state to get whatever he needed out of his system.  He came back four years later with a degree in business determined more than ever that he did not want to go into the family business.  He had only been home after college graduation a few days when he was out celebrating with his friends. 

Here is where Jamie said the details are kind of fuzzy.  Anthony confided a lot of his past to Jamie on those long nights doing surveillance cases.  Jamie could tell that Anthony was purposely vague as to the details on what happened that fateful night.  Jamie thinks one of Anthony’s child hood friends pissed the wrong people off and a hit was ordered.  Anthony went outside for a smoke and saw his pal getting dragged into a car.  He yelled into the bar for his friends to come out to help.  One of his childhood friends that didn’t hesitate to help was Vinnie Lewis.

Vinnie’s childhood story was tough to hear.

Anthony and Vinnie are actually second cousins.  This surprised me because I saw no resemblance.   Vinnie’s mother and Anthony’s mother were first cousins.  Vinnie’s mother made the mistake of falling in love with Vinnie’s father who wasn’t Italian.  Even worse.  Vinnie’s father was half Irish and half black.  Now that I think about it, it is hard to make out Vinnie’s ethnicity.    He did look something beyond Italian. 

As many stories go, some relatives are known for their prejudices. Vinnie’s mother’s family disowned her for marrying a man that not only wasn’t Italian but, heaven forbid, part black.  Vinnie’s father was a talented boxer.  He was infamous as an Irish hothead that never lost a fight.   He provided well for Vinnie and his mother.  Then, tragically when Vinnie was five years old, his father died from a head injury.  It wasn’t long before Vinnie’s mother became impoverished.  The only family member that helped her was Anthony’s mother, her first cousin.  However, her cousin’s help wasn’t enough to stop Vinnie’s mother from spiraling into prostitution and drug use.  Vinnie grew up watching TV and feeding himself while his mother served men in the next room.  Often, Anthony’s mother would take Vinnie for weeks at a time to shelter him from seeing what had become of this mother. 

The night that Anthony, Vinnie, and their friends came running out of the bar to help their friend was a fateful night.  There were four of them.  All of them were shot.  Only Vinnie and Anthony survived.  Right there in the hospital, Anthony told Vinnie he was out of this lifestyle for good and he wanted Vinnie to join him.  Vinnie was ready to change his life.  He was basically just a henchman for the mob.  He was the muscle that was called in to provide fear and intimidation.   Vinnie knew he had no future if he continued down that dark path. 

Anthony’s parents, after seeing that they almost lost their son, wholeheartedly supported Anthony’s decision.  They even lent him the start up money for A and V private Investigations. 

“So, that’s where we are today.”  Jamie finishes.

At that point I was speechless.  What a story.  Yet, there was still so much more I wanted to know.

“This didn’t happen that long ago?”

“Well, they had been in business a year when I joined up.  I have been with them about 15 months so yeah, they were both shot only a couple of years ago.  Kind of wild, huh?  Like an action movie.”

“How did they ever find you?  No offense, but you don’t seem to fit my stereotype of an Italian mobster.”  We both laughed at that image.

“They needed a tech expert badly.  Anthony is a talented businessman.  He knows how to find the clients and keep them happy.  Vinnie has street smarts like I’ve never seen.  He always seems to know what the next step is when it seems our case it at a standstill.  He calls it instinct but I swear the guy can read people like he is literally in their mind.  Neither of them is any good with computers or the electronic equipment.   They found me when I was at my first job out of college.  It was this boring IT position.  I went out on a case to provide their office with technical support.  Anthony hired me on the spot.  They pay me a cut of all the cases.  Their business is exploding.   I could’ve never made this kind of money in my last job.  If they manage their money well, Anthony and Vinnie will be quite wealthy one day.”

I couldn’t have walked into a more fascinating place to work.  There was one thing though that was in the back of my mind.

“What did you want to tell me that we needed to have finished our lunch for?”

“Oh yeah.”    Now Jamie actually looked uncomfortable.  It was strange to see.  I‘d only known him for 24 hours but it was hard to imagine him when he wasn’t smiling.

“Okay, Jamie. We are done with lunch so just spit it out.”

“Anthony is sort of an exhibitionist.  Do you know what I mean by that?”

“No.”

“Damn.  I had a feeling I was going to have to explain it.  I knew you were too much of a nice girl.”

“You know.  I’ve been called a nice girl my entire life.  I’ve had it with that label.”

“Oh believe me, Grace, that is a compliment.  We see the seedier side of people in a lot of our cases.  You will be the breath of fresh air in the office.  You are pretty and smart and….. definitely not Carmella.”

“Who the hell is Carmella?”  I say it in a snappy voice determined to NOT sound like a nice girl.

“Have you ever seen those reality TV shows on mob wives or girlfriends.”

“Not really but I think I know the type you are talking about.”

“Yeah?  Describe the type of woman I’m talking about.”

“Thick New York accent, snapping gum, big hair, lots of makeup, slutty clothes.”

“You have just described Carmella perfectly.  She is Anthony’s girlfriend.  Oh, you forgot one more detail.  A total bitch.”

“Great.”

“Oh no, it gets better.   Back to Anthony’s little exhibitionist problem.”

“Okay, I think I get it.  I’m
afraid
I get it.  An exhibitionist wants to be watched.   Anthony and Carmella want to be watched?”

Please tell me I’m wrong
.

“You got it.  You also know we’re talking about sex right?”

“In his office?”

“Yeppers.”

“Oh God, now I know why you wanted me to finish my lunch first.”

“Please don’t quit.  It’s just a small inconvenience.”

“Inconvenience?”  I almost choked.

“Yeah.  It really isn’t that big of a deal.  Do what I do.  When Carmella is there, don’t go down the hall.  Anthony’s office is the last one before the conference room and kitchen.  Just make sure you avoid that area until he, uh, finishes.”

“He actually leaves the door open?”  I still couldn’t get over this. 

“Yeppers.”

“Anything else?   Does Vinnie have any weird fetishes?”

“I only saw a problem with him, maybe, once or twice a year.”

“WHAT HAPPENS ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR?”  Now I was freaking.  “Please tell me he doesn’t leave the door open too?”

“Oh, nothing like that.  I think Anthony is one of a kind in that area.  No, the problem with Vinnie is that he is such a cold hearted bastard. Don’t get me wrong.  He is loyal as hell and I know he would have my back in any situation.  He isn’t even threatened that I’m gay.  However, he has no respect for women.”

“What do you mean by that?”  I’m sure I had a look of fear on my face.

“Oh no, Grace.  I don’t mean directed at you.  I mean in his, for lack of a better word, relationships.”

Now I was confused.  I knew I was sexually inexperienced but this was all out of my realm of thought.

“Okay, Grace, I just need to be blunt.  Vinnie never screws the same girl twice.  He basically just fucks them and walks out the door.  Twice, we’ve had an angry woman show up at the office.  Both times it was an ugly scene. “

Remembering my first impression of Vinnie, somehow this does not surprise me.

“Okay, we’re on a roll here.  What do I have to worry about Jamal?”

“Oh, Jamal is awesome.  You’re going to love his fiancée, Ivy.  She is also a graduate student.  She is a film studies major at NYU.  She reminds me of you.  Smart and going places.  She is the reason Jamal is in New York.  He followed her here.“  Then, Jamie pauses.  “After he got out of prison, of course.”

The diet soda I just took a sip of goes down the wrong pipe and I start coughing like a tuberculosis patient.  Jamie slaps me on the back.

“You okay, Grace?  Don’t get hung up that Jamal is a felon.  It wasn’t a violent crime.  White collar.  Because of Ivy, he has really turned his life around.”

“I guess I now have someone to talk to when I take my history of incarceration course.”  I answer dryly.