on the door of the Gallo residence. Dante opens up. He tries to refuse entry without a warrant, but the officers have probable cause. Reluctantly, he lets them in the house.
The rest is relayed to me via Officer Hernandez himself, later that night, in his usual colorful manner:
“So we go in the house, and we start poking around while Gallo’s standing there all sulky, arms crossed. He says, ‘See, no firefight going on. So get the fuck out.’ Miller is lurking in the dining room, looking squirrelly as fuck. So I say, ‘Can you come out here please, sir,’ like I have no idea who he is. He comes out in the hallway, eyes kinda darting back and forth, not knowing what the hell is going on. Nervous as can be. Gallo is cool as a cucumber, not giving anything away.
“O’Malley says, ‘What are you two gentlemen up to?’ And Gallo says, ‘None of your fucking business.’ And Miller tries to make some excuse and Gallo cuts him off and says, ‘Don’t answer any of their questions.’ Then I say, ‘Do you have any weapons on you, sir?’ And Gallo says, ‘No.’ So I say, ‘Good,’ and I pull my gun on him.
“Gallo says, ‘You better watch yourself, officer. I’m not some kid outside a 7-11. You don’t get to put eight in my chest and call it self-defense.’ Then O’Malley says, ‘Don’t worry, we’re not here for you.’ And he pulls the Beretta and empties half the clip into Miller.
“Miller goes down without a peep, just a dumb fucking look on his face. He didn’t even see it comin’. O’Malley kicks his leg to make sure he’s dead, and sure enough, Miller is an insta-corpse.
“I’m watching Gallo the whole time. He’s like a rock, man, he doesn’t flinch. But as soon as he sees the Beretta, he recognizes it. His eyes get wide ‘cause he knows he’s fucked. He looks at me, and I can see his brain workin’. I think he’s gonna run at me.
“O’Malley says, ‘Don’t even think about it, I’ve got four shots left.’ He turns his gun on Gallo. I’ve got mine pointed right in his face.
“Cold as a popsicle, Gallo says, ‘How much you getting paid for this?’ Which of course I don’t entertain at all, boss. I say, ‘None ya fuckin’ business. You ain’t gettin’ out of this one.’
“So we cuff that son of a bitch and O’Malley puts him in the squad car. I wipe down the Beretta, then I shove it into Gallo’s hands while they’re cuffed behind his back, to get some prints on the gun and some residue on his hands. I make sure the scene looks nice and pretty, then I call it in. It all went down peachy, boss. Just like we planned.”
Just like I planned. Those two idiots could barely fill out a McDonald’s application without help.
“Where is he now?” I ask.
“Miller?”
“No,” I say, through gritted teeth. “I assume Miller’s at the morgue. I’m asking about Dante Gallo.”
“Oh. He’s down at the station. Gallo called Riona Griffin down there the same hour, and she tried to get a quick dismissal, but it’s Judge Pitz running cases this week and he said no fuckin’ way, and no bail either. He’s not a fan of the Gallos. So Dante gets to sit in jail for the foreseeable future while we investigate this thing, nice and slow.”
I smile, picturing Dante in a crisp set of prison blues, crammed in a cell barely big enough to fit his burly body. And his siblings, all too eager to run wild without their older brother keeping them in check. Enzo’s getting old—Dante is the lynchpin holding the Gallos together. They’ll fall to pieces without him.
“You want me to figure out who’s in the cell with him, boss?” Hernandez asks. “I can get a nice rusty shank put between his ribs any time you like.”
“No,” I say.
Dante is going to rot in there, miserable and furious.
When I decide it’s time for him to die, I won’t be delegating the task to a moron like Hernandez.
I like that Riona Griffin is defending Gallo. That gives me plenty of opportunity to dirty her hands as well—not that anybody was under the impression that she got her legal degree to uphold the law.
It’s all falling into place beautifully.
Of course, I’m expecting some pushback from my enemies. They’re not going to take hits like this lying down.
Sure enough, the very next day the Griffins’ men confiscate a