Read Online Deadly Diamonds by John Dobbyn - Free Book Online Page A

that’s keeping blood off my hands in this matter.”
    â€œI do understand, Dom. And no one would want you to live up to that promise more than Matt. You can help in another way. I’m representing Matt. I need some unorthodox information.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI’m going to mention a name. I need background, and—I’m sorry, Dom—an assurance that I won’t read his name in tomorrow’s obituaries.”
    â€œI gave you my vow once, Lex. Don’t dishonor me by asking for it again.”
    â€œI won’t. Forgive me, Dom. I’ll never ask again.”
    â€œWhat’s the name?”
    â€œTony Napolitano.”
    There was a heavy hanging silence for five seconds.
    â€œWhat do you have to do with this man, Lex?”
    â€œI’m sorry. I can’t say. Someday I’ll explain. What can you tell me?”
    â€œStay as far away from him as you can.”
    â€œDo you know him?”
    â€œYes. Tony Nap. He’s, we say
pazzo
. He’s crazy. I’ll be frank. There are those in our organization who will kill for business. This man will kill for no reason. For his pleasure. The slightest insult. You do well to fear this man.”
    â€œWho does he work for?”
    â€œThis goes no further?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œI’m out of the organization, but I still hear things. He’s a ‘mechanic,’ a ‘cleaner.’ You know these words?”
    â€œI can guess. For whom?”
    â€œHe was number one boy for Sal Barone. Barone was a
capo
, a big shot in the organization. He was the one found dead in the trunkof his car. I have to assume that Tony Nap works for Barone’s successor, Pasqual Salviti. Packy, they call him.”
    â€œAnd where can I find this Packy?”
    â€œYou haven’t been listening to me, Lex.”
    â€œI’ve been listening. This is for Matt.”
    I could hear another five seconds of silence.
    â€œI’ll tell you two things, Lex. Packy does his business from a bar on Prince Street in the North End. It’s called Collini’s.”
    â€œThank you, Dom. What’s the second thing?”
    â€œJust this. As I promised you and Matt, I’ll restrain myself as far as humanly possible. You understand? A man can be pushed beyond his limits. I’ll be clear. If anything should happen to you or Matt, the rules of the game will change.”
    He hung up and we were back in conference.
    â€œMichael, I know we handle every case together, but this one’s mine. I know what I have to do. You’ve got your hands full with the O’Byrne kid anyway. Just one thing I’d like you to do with me.”
    â€œAnything.”
    â€œI want to set up a meeting with Billy Coyne. I need to work with someone in that D.A.’s office with an ounce of sense and an eye on something other than her career.”
    â€œAgreed.”
    â€œLet’s meet at Marliave’s for dinner. Six o’clock. I’d like you there. You sometimes see things these old eyes miss.”
    He said it as a passing thought, but if I live through the next century, I’ll remember every nuance of how he said it. It was Babe Ruth asking a rookie for batting tips.
    I left the office about four thirty. I had a few things to do, but I made sure that I was at Marliave’s before six o’clock. Roy, the maître d’, part owner, and occasional chef, brought me up to the private room on the second floor. I always got special treatment because I stood in the shadow of Lex Devlin.
    Billy Coyne, who to my knowledge has never been either late orearly for an appointment, appeared shortly, and I could set my watch at six o’clock on the dot.
    We both ordered club soda and deliberately kept the conversation to the Bruins, the Celtics, and the Patriots until Mr. Devlin might appear.
    That never happened. By six thirty, I had tarantulas in my stomach the size of groundhogs. Billy