There were no lights, no sirens, no drama.
The SUV swung onto the Ed Koch Bridge, crossed the East River, turned right onto Vernon Boulevard, and stopped at San Remo, a tiny pizza parlor on the corner of 49th Avenue. Gideon went inside.
Minutes later, he got back into the car carrying a pizza box.
“You ever hear of this place?” Tommy Boy said. “Must be damn good if they drove all the way out here to pick up a pie at nine o’clock in the morning.”
He followed the SUV onto Jackson. A quarter of a mile later, it hung a right onto Crane. It was a dead-end street.
Tommy Boy waited till the two cops drove to the end of the block, pulled into a graffiti-covered garage, and closed the corrugated metal door. Then he parked behind a battered van a hundred feet away.
Forty minutes later, the garage door opened, and the SUV backed out.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Jojo said as the cops drove off.
“I’m waiting for them to get out of sight,” Tommy Boy said. “Then we can go in and find out what they’ve got going on in there.”
The SUV turned onto Jackson. “You’re gonna lose them,” Jojo yelled.
“We won’t lose them forever. We know where they work.”
“Follow them.”
“Jojo, they didn’t drive all the way out to a dump like this just to split a pizza. Your father is going to want to know what the hell is going on in there.”
“My father told us to follow them. You heard him—nothing else—niente. Now either get moving or get out, and I’ll drive.”
Tommy Boy started the car and headed up the narrow street. “Okay, but I think you’re making a big mistake.”
“Well, guess what, asshole?” Jojo said. “You’re paid to drive, not to think.”
He tilted his seat back and put in his earbuds. He was listening to Bruno Mars when his cell vibrated.
“Mom?” he said, putting his face close to the phone. “I’m busy here.”
“Did you find them?” Teresa asked.
“Yeah, they drove out to Long Island City to some dump.”
“What kind of dump?” Teresa said.
“I don’t know. Some old garage. A run-down cinder-block building on a dead-end street near the railroad yard.”
“Why did they go there? What’s in there?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“How? As soon as they leave, go inside. Find out what they’re up to.”
“They already left. TB and I are following them now.”
“Are you crazy?” Teresa barked. “Don’t follow them.”
“Don’t follow them? What are you talking about? Pop told me don’t do anything except follow them. Scope them out and report back to him.”
“Mannaggia! You find the place where these two do their dirty business, and you decide not to check it out? What do you think ‘scope’ means?”
Jojo pounded his fist on the dashboard. “Mom, I can’t check out the place and follow them at the same time.”
As soon as he heard it, Tommy Boy eased his foot off the accelerator.
“So follow them tomorrow. Today you have a chance to find out what they’re hiding in that building. Maybe it’s guns. Maybe it’s drugs from the evidence locker. Whatever it is, we know they’ll go back, and that’s when we settle accounts for Enzo. Or did you think you could just walk into a police station and take down two cops?”
Jojo rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Let me talk to Papa.”
“No. Stop running to your father and start using your brain. Think about it—that building is a godsend.”
“Mom, it’s a shithole.”
“They left my son facedown in the mud. A shithole is better than they deserve. Now check it out before they come back. I’ll deal with Papa.”
And then, dead air.
Jojo couldn’t believe it. She’d hung up on him.
“Hang a U-ey,” he said. “We’re going back.”
Tommy Boy tried not to smile as he guided the Buick into a smooth U-turn at 42nd Road. “Whatever you say, Jojo. You’re the boss.”
Chapter 69
When he was twelve years old, Tommy Boy’s parents sat him down and told him something they had been holding back for two years. He had an IQ of 147.
“So?” he said.
“So it means you’re like Einstein,” said Tommaso Montanari Sr. “Very smart. Smarter than everybody else.”
“So?” he said again.
“So that’s wonderful,” his mother said halfheartedly.
“But it’s gonna be a problem,” his father said, “and you got enough shit to handle already. How tall are you now? Six one?”