Salvatore Fiore raised his gun and aimed.
Mickey Nicola screamed, “Wait a minute! You guys must be crazy!” He looked into the little man’s eyes and said quickly, “Yeah. I’ve worked with Jackson.”
The woman cried out angrily, “Mickey!”
He turned on her savagely. “Shut up! You think I want to be a fuckin’ eunuch?”
Salvatore Fiore turned to the woman and said, “You’re Jackson’s sister, ain’t you?”
Her face was filled with fury. “I never heard of him.”
Fiore raised his gun and moved closer to the bed. “You got two seconds to talk to me or you two are gonna be splashed all over the wall.”
There was something in his voice that chilled her. He raised his gun and the blood began to drain from the woman’s face.
“Tell them what they want to know,” Mickey Nicola cried.
The gun moved up to press against the woman’s breast.
“Don’t! Yes! Frank Jackson’s my brother.”
“Where can we find him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t see him. I swear to God I don’t know! I—”
His hand tightened on the trigger.
She screamed, “Clara! Clara would know! Ask Clara!”
Joseph Colella said, “Who’s Clara?”
“She’s—she’s a waitress Frank knows.”
“Where can we find her?”
This time there was no hesitation. The words spilled out. “She works at a bar called The Shakers in Queens.” Her body began to tremble.
Salvatore Fiore looked at the two of them and said politely, “You can go back to your fuckin’ now. Have a nice day.”
And the two men departed.
5:30 A.M.
Clara Thomas (nee Thomachevsky) was about to fulfill her lifelong dream. She hummed happily to herself as she packed her cardboard suitcase with the clothes she would need in Canada. She had taken trips with gentlemen friends before, but this was different. This was going to be her honeymoon trip. Frank Jackson was like no other man she had known. The men who came into the bar, pawing her and pinching her buttocks, were nothing but animals. Frank Jackson was different. He was a real gentleman. Clara paused in her packing to think about that word: gentle man. She had never thought of it that way before, but that was Frank Jackson. She had seen him only four times in her life, but she knew she was in love with him. She could tell he had been attracted to her from the very beginning, because he always sat at her booth. And after the second time he had walked her home when the bar had closed.
I must still have it, Clara thought smugly, if I can get a handsome young guy like that. She stopped her packing to walk over to the closet mirror to study herself. Maybe she was a little too heavy and her hair was a couple of shades too red, but dieting would take care of the extra pounds and she would be more careful the next time she dyed her hair. All in all, she wasn’t too dissatisfied with what she saw. The old broad’s still pretty good-lookin’, she told herself. She knew that Frank Jackson wanted to take her to bed, even though he had never touched her. He was really special. There was an almost—Clara furrowed her forehead, trying to think of the word—spiritual quality about him. Clara had been brought up a good Catholic and she knew it was sacrilegious to even think such a thought, but Frank Jackson reminded her a little bit of Jesus. She wondered what Frank would be like in bed. Well, if he was shy, she would show him a trick or two. He had talked about their getting married as soon as they got to Canada. Her dream come true. Clara looked at her watch and decided she had better hurry. She had promised to pick Frank up at his motel at seven-thirty.
She saw them in the mirror as they walked into her bedroom. They had come out of nowhere. A giant and a little fellow. Clara watched as the two of them moved toward her.
The small man looked at the suitcase. “Where you goin’, Clara?”
“None of your business. Just take what you want and get out of here. If there’s anything in this joint worth more than ten bucks, I’ll eat it.”