Chapter 5 – Joey
DeCarlo
He pulled
his long black hair behind his head and banded it with a black rubber
band. He couldn’t believe how long it
had gotten in the front. The hair was
touching his stomach when he had bent forward to pull it back into its
customary tail.
Maybe he
should cut a few inches off? Brit would
like that. The thought of Brit made him
smile. What star had he found her on? He
didn’t recall. The fact that she had
been willing to come to this place with him though and for him made him smile
even bigger. Her naming day was rapidly
approaching and he had a flight to Japan to catch to get her birthday
gift. He checked his watch. Then he moved towards the large oaken door
and opened it.
The blinds
of the office were closed and the room was very dim, with shadows dancing off
everything. The office was old, very
old, and furnished extravagantly in the old styles, was if late 30’s or early
40’s? He didn’t recall, the world had
moved on since then. There were leather
high back chairs across form a large antique mahogany desk. Each wall was lined
with naked leather couches. The couch on the right wall was the more worn of
the two. It had several old scars on it,
some roughness, dog scratches, and cigarette burn or two. It was the only thing in the office that
wasn’t kept immaculately. This is where
Joey DeCarlo parked himself. The lived on look made it the more inviting. The cushion was well worn and
comfortable. The couch on the other wall
made you feel like you were sitting on a stone slab. The couch on the right wall belong more in a
dorm room than an office. That was
probably why Joey liked it so much.
Once Joey
sat down he pulled out his Camel Lights and lit one or where they Camel Blues
now? He immediately ashed his cigarettes
in the old black stinkycigar stand that sat next to the couch. More of a habit he had picked up over his
long years of smoking. He assumed this
couch got so much more use because of the stinkycigar stand than any other
reason. He knew comfort and an ash trey
were to things he liked in a seat. As he
took a long pull off his camel he looked behind the desk at the man who sat in
brown leather executive style chair. It
was old chair. It had been his father’s
chair and so on and so forth. Joey knew
the family history of this house better than all but a few. It was Joey’s job to know.
The man in
the office chair hair was brown and combed straight back. It was shaggy on the sides but always seemed
to stay in place. It wasn’t unruly like
Joey’s and didn’t need to be constantly pulled into a ponytail. No it just sat perfectly. The man’s pail blue eyes were cold and
focused on the boy who sat across from him.
The man rubbed his throat in between his faded blue office shirt then
ran his hand through that perfect hair.
It didn’t seem to move.
“La vostra famiglia è Torelli?” The
man said.
“Hai!” the boy replied.
“Then I suggest you act like a
Torelli.”
The boy shot to his feet and
grabbed his suit jacket off the opposite chair. He didn’t even glance at Joey as he passed
on his way to slamming the large oak door and poof he was gone.
The man behind the desk opened his
desk drawer and pulled out a can of Kodiak.
He snapped it between thumb and forefinger and then twisted the top
off. He placed a large pinch between gum
and check. Then packed it in with his tongue.
He looked over at Joey for the first time, and then looked down to the
drawer while he put his chewing tobacco back into the drawer.
Joey got up and walked behind the
two leather chairs and looked at the man behind the desk. Then he looked back towards the door and then
again at the man.
“Why do you hurt him?” He asked.
The man behind the desk swallowed
and looked Joey in the eyes. Very few
people on this Earth could look Joey DeCarlo in the eyes with out
flinching. Brent Torelli was one of the
few that could look at Joey and even make him flinch on occasion. He
didn’t this time, but then again there was no malice in Brent’s jus now. Before he walked over here, oh yes, but now
his eyes only showed his calm confidence “Because I know I can.”
“He is your baby brother.”
“He is a Torelli and he needs to
act like one. Same as the rest of us.”
Joey nodded. “Is it a girl?”
“No, not this time.”
Joey stood there and waited for
Brent to elaborate, but he didn’t. “So you
are going to tell me what that was about?”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Because, you called me in here to
hear the end of that conversation. You
want me to re-enforce what you just lectured him about. You want me…”
“To be the darling cousin that you
are and go to my baby brother and ask him what is wrong. When you here is musing then you will of
course do as you say re-enforce what I lectured him on and…”
“And because I was here to over
hear it I can go ask him without you ever saying a word to me. Then as you say I am the darling cousin who
would…”
“Council and give the trusted
advice and if that just happens to be the same thing I told him, then he had…”
“From not only his Dinh but from
his trusted and loyal cousin as well.” Joey
smiled and shook his head. “You think he
is that dumb and not realize you set him up?”
“I think some day, my baby brother
might be that smart, but that day isn’t today.”
“He is still in school, does he
have to grow up so fast?” Joey walked back over to the stinkycigar and put his
Camel out.
“He is my heir now. So yes, he needs to grow up fast. It is the way.”
Joey looked at his cousin. He smiled and walked back over to the chair
and rested his hand on them. He and
Brent had played these games for to long with to many lives. Family or not, this was the way of things and
what must be done. So much depended on
it.
Brent sat back in his chair and steeple
his fingers together. “I understand you
are planning on going to Japan?”
“Yes, leave in a few hours. I will be back in 48 hours.”
“Your not going.”
“But…” Joey started.
“But you aren’t going. That is final. I know it is Brit’s birthday and I know you
think you need to pick up your’ her gift yourself. I applaud you cuz for that, however, I need
you here.”
“I have had these plans on the
books for a while and…”
“And I need you here and that is
that. We have a warden in the Far East
do we not. Call Master Krug tell him
what is needed to be picked up and where and he will get it delivered to you in
more than enough time for Brit’s birthday I promise you.”
“Krug isn’t a delivery service, he
is…”
“A Torelli, and if his dinh
requests something of him he will do. No
questions asked. Since something has come up and you are needed.”
Joey turned away form the
chair. He rubbed the stubble on his chin
and then turned back and looked at Brent.
He could tell by the look on his cousin’s face that no arguing or anger
would change his mind. If Brent said
there was business he was needed on then he was needed. Brent Torelli was a lot of things but unfair
wasn’t one of them. If his dinh needed
him, then his dinh needed him and well, that was that. It was the way of things.
“Very well. I will make the calls…”
“No need, I already did.” Brent smiled.
“I took the liberty since I knew that I was putting you out.”
“How did you know what to do?”
Brent raised his eyebrows and gave
his cousin a look that said really? He
giggled and shook his head. If it was
Joey’s job to know things, then it was Brent’s to know them too and pull the
strings on them.
Joey stepped around the leather
chairs and sat in the one on the right.
It wasn’t comfortable. He wished
he were back on the couch. Joey crossed his legs and began. “Sow what is it we need to do?”
“There is trouble.”
“There is always trouble cuz.”
“This trouble is in our home
town.” Brent said tossing a newspaper to
Joey. Joey scanned the paper.
“A dead girl in our home town,
there are lots of dead girls in our home town.”
“Then there is this article which
will be released in this mornings paper which is due out in three hours.” He tossed the next paper to Joey.
Joey scanned the article and
frowned. “You think its?”
“I think it is a dead girl.” Brent cut in he looked at Joey and leaned
forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his desk. “I think it is empty graves. I think it’s a situation that needs to be
monitored.”
“Ok, you want me to send Shawn?”
“No, I don’t want you to send
Shawn.” Brent replied.
“Then you want me to send
Billy? I can send Billy, I guess.”
“No, I don’t want you to send Billy
either.”
“Kane?”
“Nope.”
“Koy?”
Joey licked his lips and looked at
his cousin. “Doc, you want me to get Doc
involved?
“No, we don’t need to get anyone
involved. The board is set. The pieces are in place. All we need to do is sit back and watch the
game unfold.”
“No offense cuz, but I am little
confused?”
“My dear Joey, I thought you would
have been up on this before. I am disappointed in you. First article. Again.”
Joey shuffled papers in his
hands. He read the first article this
time more closely. “Kody?”
“Kody.”
“It will be a cold day in the all hells
before Kody Ransom asks us for any help.”
“He doesn’t need to ask us for
help. He just needs to do his job.”
“So you want me to lead him in the
right direction?”
“No, I just want you to monitor
it.”
“Just monitor it?”
“Just monitor it?”
“I am very interested in how Kody
Ransom will handle this one aren’t you?
“Very interested.”
Book
II
Things
That Go Bump in the Night
Chapter
6 – Officer Mayfield
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Bloggers Note: I don't know if anyone actually cares about the guardian at the the gate series. my fiction it seems is my least read blogs. I know in my writing my ability to make a reader feel my emotion is my strength. Perhaps, I don't have that ability in story form yet. I will keep trying. The point of the note isn't a plea for people to tell me to keep writing Guardian at the Gate, that is going ot happen no matter what. Kody Ransom has to much still to do and say. The reason I am writing this is because Joey DeCarlo is important. He is becoming my favorite in a long list of Anti-hero's I have created. He in some way shape or form touches all parts of my fiction. When I was a kid and I wanted to write a gangster movie I created Brent Torelli, shortly their after his cousin Joey DeCarlo was born. Joey was a prick, an asshole, and originally just a blunt object to the bidding of his dinh. However, time and space and KA has a way of changing people. Joey has become central to all lines of fiction I work in. He is a cornerstone of my mythology. You might like him or hate him, it doesn't matter. Because he represents to me something that is so important to me right now, the ability to grow and change. At a time in my life where I have to let things go and move on and I need time and space and Ka to move me along the path, I have to believe that change is possible. In my minds eye I have watched Joey DeCarlo change and grow. I must say I am quite proud of the man Joey has become. I might be foreshadowing here and saying to much. However, Joey is important. I hope your first real exposure to him leaves wondering about him. I know it did me. I know I need to change. I know I need to move on. I know I need to let go. I need to change and grow.
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