I’d spoken with each of Santo’s men, made sure they understood the new order of things, what they could and could not do.
I finished with Michael, who didn’t even seem insulted by our cursory conversation, and had him send Vincent in.
I grimaced when I looked around the dim office. Funny, but this wasn’t exactly how I had thought of a promotion. Stuck in the room all day talking to idiots and assholes, but when I reflected on it, it made sense.
Running the show and being hands-on in the action weren’t completely compatible.
“You wanted to see me?” Vincent came into the office, standing with arms hanging loosely at his sides. He was supposed to be giving off the air of nonchalance, but I could see how angry he was.
He’d been waiting for over ten hours, and I had spoken to the seventy-eight-year-old barman before him. I would understand if he was upset, but this was all part of my test and how he responded would tell me whether the potential I saw was real. I’d taken good measure of Santo’s men, and with few exceptions I didn’t see any too ambitious among them, Vincent and Michael being two big exceptions.
“Yes. Come in. Sit if you want,” I said.
“I’ll stand,” he said.
“Suit yourself,” I said, moving over to the closest chair.
As Vincent watched, I saw the gleam of satisfaction in his eye. He thought he was winning. Probably attached some significance to the fact that he stood and I did not.
There was none. Standing, sitting didn’t matter. I was in charge here, held the key to his life or death. Something he would understand soon.
“Vincent, what did you do for Santo?” I asked.
“Why should I answer your questions?” he said.
I looked at him. “You’re the first person to ask me that all day,” I said, excited at the prospect that at least one of Santo’s men might be more than worthless.
“Asking questions doesn’t get you too far around here. Besides, guys are a little shaken up with your so-called change in management,” Vincent said.
“Not you,” I said.
He shrugged, again going for nonchalance, but instead showing pure defiance.
“You may be right, but I would have expected a little more reluctance to tell an absolute stranger everything,” I said.
“Who says they told you everything?” he asked.
“They told me enough,” I replied.
“So I got nothing to add. I’m done here?” he said.
“No,” I said.
“Fuck that. I’m gone,” Vincent said.
“Your choice, but know that if you walk out that door, you won’t see tomorrow,” I said.
“And I will if I stay?” he replied.
“You’ll have a chance,” I said.
Vincent looked at me, and I could see the battle warring within him. He’d need to do a better job of hiding his emotions, but so far, he was the only one of the men who had shown anything like independent thought.
A moment later, he sat down in the chair across from me.
“Good start. Let’s cut the shit, Vincent,” I said.
“Finally,” he replied, reclining in the chair.
“I hear you’re Santo’s best hitter,” I said.
“I don’t like to brag,” he replied.
“Is that all you want from life?” I asked.
Vincent laughed. “What the fuck is this?”
“A question,” I said.
He laughed harder. “You gotta be shitting me. The guys are pissing their pants about the fucking Syndicate, and you bring me in here for career counseling.”
I said nothing, just watched until he stopped laughing. “You done?”
He snorted. “Yeah.”
“What’s your answer?”
“I’ve never given it any thought, like to play it day by day,” he said.
“Give it thought now. Is that all you ever want to be?” I said.
“I have other options?”
“You could, if you’re not too stupid to recognize them,” I said.
He wasn’t. He might have tried to pretend to be, but I had Vincent pegged. He didn’t want to die in some alley only ever having been Santo’s enforcer.
“Why all the questions?” he asked, serious now in a way he hadn’t been before.
“Because I need to know who I’m dealing with,” I replied.
“And you think this conversation has told you who you’re dealing with?” Vincent asked.
“Yes,” I said.
He didn’t contradict me, so I continued. “You understand that you don’t take orders from Santo or anyone else who’s not me.”
“Not the worst news I’ve heard today,” he said. He clammed up quickly, though, probably having realized his words could be taken as disloyalty. I’d overlook it—he’d worked for Santo, after all—but it was good he instantly recognized the error.