1 Law 4 All. Billy Angel
He noticed a man and woman at the club's entrance. He immediately perked up and walked towards the front of the club.
As Rob and Amy were surveying the club, Devonte stepped towards them. "Good evening, may I be of any service to you," he said.
Rob looked at him, "We have an appointment with Mr. Venuti."
"Are you Rob and Amy Winebush?"
Amy nodded and said, "Yes.”
"Right this way.” Devonte pointed and led them to a corner booth in the back of the club.
Devonte sat the couple. The waiter brought a bottle of Dom Perignon, Rose Champagne and two glasses. Devonte opened the bottle and poured them each a glass. He said that Mr. Venuti would join them soon.
Devonte left them and immediately went to the office. He knocked on the office door. Sal said, "come in."
"Mr. and Mrs. Winebush are here."
"Thanks, I'll be right there."
Sal was relieved that the couple had made their appointment with him. He wasn't in the mood to start searching for another hit team. He left the office and Devonte escorted him to the booth with Rob and Amy.
"How do you do?" Sal said. "I hope your flight was enjoyable." Sal had provided them with first class tickets to San Francisco and a room at the Radisson. And after the job was finished, he promised first class tickets to anywhere and two weeks holiday at the resort of their choosing.
"We ran into some fog that delayed our landing, but other than that all was fine," said Rob.
"The accommodations at the Radisson are very nice," said Amy.
"Well, let's get down to business. You come highly recommended by Carl Jewett. He says you take your work seriously and are extremely professional.” In mob terms, that meant leaving no traceable evidence, connecting anyone to the hit.
”I have a cleanup job for you. As we speak, an envelope is being placed in your hotel room. It contains all the details."
"I'm glad I didn't leave any underwear out," Amy said with a half smile.
Sal appreciated her sense of humor but wanted to keep this meeting as professional as possible. Sal smiled but cautioned. "Any future contacts we have will be through Nick Tomasi."
"How will we know who he is?" asked Rob.
"He's sitting at the end of the bar. He will nod to you as you leave the club. You can't miss the Italian nose and the pony tail on his balding head.
Sal stood up. "Enjoy your evening. Devonte will attend to your needs. It's all on the house." Sal smiled and walk away from the table.
Rob and Amy looked at each other. The job was on, but the night was young. "We might as well enjoy the scenery and the champagne," Rob said as he winked at Amy.
Amy shook her head. "Get your hard on here, because I'm going to make you suffer while I'm on top later," Amy grinned wickedly.
An hour later, just before closing, Rob and Amy slowly walked towards the front of the club. As they passed the bar, Nick made eye contact with them. Nick nodded and handed Rob his card.
The couple left the club and flagged a cab.
Chapter 21 For Help
Kitiona woke up with more questions than answers. The good cry from the night before cleansed her soul. She envisioned her father’s positive nature while stretching for inner motivation. She focused on his determined spirit to find out who caused her family's death.
Details of the fire created a deceptive mystery. She knew all the employees at Motorhead personally. They were part of her community. They wouldn't have had anything to do with the fire. Kitiona's suspicions focused on Motorhead's parent company, Amerastar.
She reasoned that her father didn't have any enemies until he tried to form a union. Then strangers started showing up around town. They made threats that fell on deaf ears. The strangers had no idea of the community's closeness and culture.
She remembered one story about two guys that tried to beat up her father. One evening he walked into town after work. Two of these out-of-towners spotted him. They stepped in front of him from in between the jewelry store and the pharmacy on Main Street. According to witnesses, one guy put his hand on her father's chest. The other guy circled behind him.
Words were exchanged. Patea, her father, started to walk away when the guy in front swung at his head. Patea caught the guy's fist when the other guy made a move from behind.
Kitiona's father was the strong, silent type. Patea's strength more than matched either of his two attackers. He didn't need any help disposing them.
But suddenly Patea heard a screeching scream from behind. He twisted the fist of the first man so hard that the man fell immediately to his knees. When Patea looked back, he saw Jared sticking a hot soldering tool into the other man's ear.
Jared had witnessed the entire confrontation. Jared got involved to help his best friend's father. He snuck up behind the second man and swung the hot tool at the man's head. The man reacted just as the tool entered his ear. The hot tool burned a hole through the top half of the screaming man's ear.
At home later that evening, Patea told his family that these two men represented the anti-union movement. Everyone knew that they were from outside the local Motorhead community. Kitiona asked her father why did they want to hurt him. He simply said follow the money. She did that instinctively after the fire and it led her to Amerastar.
She found herself at the kitchen table searching for direction. She wondered if the two guys chasing her were the same two guys that attacked her father.
She finished her yogurt. She washed it down with an apple-banana fusion drink. Then she thought that a good clean up might spark an idea or two.
Kitiona took a shower in the porcelain tub surrounded by a plastic see-through curtain with turtles, fish and palm trees stamped all over. She had picked up some exotic smelling Lush shower gel called 'Garden of Eden' and used it generously all over her body.
She proudly took to washing the tribal tattoo on her back. The large diamond shaped tattoo meant hope, home and the future to her. She used a back-scrubbing brush to suds over it. As she was scrubbing the emblematic tattoo, she closed her eyes. She was back home, saying to her friends, let's go down to the ponds and cool off.
She slowly opened and focused her eyes. Her mission became clear. She wasn't home because her mom, dad, brother and cousin were all dead. She had to find the people responsible for their death. These were the same people responsible for her being in the shower instead of in an oceanside pond with her friends.
After being chased around the City for the last few months, Kitiona realized she did not have the resources for a lengthy, in depth investigation. She realized that she was going to need help, and maybe lots of it. But where was she going to get help?
Feeling challenged, she energetically pushed the shower curtain back towards the wall. She got out of the tub, toweled off and put on jeans and a t-shirt.
All this worrying was making her hungry. Her stomach began growling. She checked the refrigerator. “Nothing here but more yogurt,” she moaned softly to herself. She knew that Azalea's was open. So, she threw on her oversized windbreaker.
The corner market sat adjacent to Kitiona’s flat. She exited her building and turned left. She approached Azalea's market. Before entering the front doors she noticed a older man walking across the street, kitty-corner from her. She recognized Ben, the guy she helped yesterday. She stopped and walked into the street to intercept him.
"Hi Ben," she said smiling at him.
Ben looked up and a huge smile beamed from his face. Someone watching would have thought he was in love. "Kitiona!”
"How are you doing today?" she asked sincerely.
"Well I feel better today. I think the dizzies were