“I’ve been giving it a lot of thought,” Nunzio sez like he never left the conversation, which of course, he hadn’t, “and I’m not sure the Boss knows he’s crossing Don Bruce by sending us back here.”
Now this set me back on my heels a bit. I had been assumin’ all along that Skeeve sendin’ us here was a premeditated move. The idea that he might be ignorant of the consequentials of this action had never occurred to me.
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, the way I see it, the Boss is a real sharp cookie, except in two areas: the Mob, and broads.”
“That’s true,” I sez, ’cause it was. While I have nothin’ but the highest regard for the Boss overall, in those two areas he tends to be what we refer to in the Mob as “dumb as a stone.”
“Also,” Nunzio continues, “there’s the fact that he didn’t consult with us about the advisabilities of startin’ a ruckus with the Mob, or even warn us to be careful of anything except Hemlock … which is not like him at all if he was expecting trouble from Don Bruce.”
Again he has hit on a valid point. Skeeve has easily been the most considerate Boss we have ever worked with and has always been sensitive to our feelin’s … especially those which is attached to parts of us which bleed or break. This has a lot to do with the loyalty and genuine affection we hold for him … along with his pay scale which is both generous and dependable.
“Now that you mention it,” I sez, “it wouldn’t make much sense for the Boss to get into a power struggle or try to take over from Don Bruce, as he has never expressed any interest in or desire to elevate his standin’ in the Mob.”