Page 72 of Cold Hard Cash

“It’s, like, four o’clock in the afternoon on a Sunday!”

“Please?” Rowena pouted. “I wanna drink and go out dancing tonight. You know you wanna go out with me.”

Jimmy tapped his foot anxiously, indecisive. He knew he didn’t officially have an appointment with Cold this evening, but he hoped he would change his mind later. “I don’t know… I’ve only been home for a few hours, and—”

“And what? Do you need to throw more stuff in the burn pile?” Rowena whined. “Jimmy, I’ll go ahead and help you out. Just burn everything in here and start over.”

“I was kinda wanting to stay unoccupied in case Cold… um… needed me.”

“He’s gonna be pretty busy tonight,” Rowena said with a thoughtful glance at her nails.

Jimmy remembered how tense Cold seemed this morning. “Is everything okay?”

“Peachy.”

“Does this have to do with the Three Stooges being in Central?” Jimmy asked stubbornly.

Rowena pursed her lips. “Maybe.”

“Who are they?” Jimmy pressed. When Rowena stared off at the ceiling and hummed loudly, he decided to try a different tactic and said, “If you tell me, I’ll go out with you tonight.”

“Ugh, fine.” She groaned, accepting defeat far too easily with a proud smile. “Look at you, bribing people for information. Maybe you do have what it takes to be a mafia boyfriend!”

Jimmy couldn’t help but feel a little smug, and the word boyfriend set his ears on fire.

“Okay,” Rowena said, eagerly tapping her nails against the table. “Here’s the tea. Larry, Curly, and Moe? Luigi, Cristian, and Matteo… Luchesi.”

“What? You mean the same Luchesis that Cold ran out of town?”

“Yup. That’s them. Don Rafaello’s boys. You see, after Rafaello was killed, they started an all-out war amongst themselves to see who would get Daddy’s crown. They all accused each other of killing Rafaello, and no one would fess up. It was a bloodbath for years. Total chaos.”

“And that’s when Cold took over.”

“You got it. My big brother is all about opportunity. After the Luchesi brothers tried to murder the crap out of each other and exhausted all their resources, Roddy got his Gentlemen together. He waited for the perfect time and made his move. He drove them all out and made Strassen Springs his bitch.”

“So, w-wait,” Jimmy stuttered, trying to keep up. “Who killed the Don?”

“Who knows.” Rowena shrugged. “Maybe Matteo. He’s a total shit. I mean, we’re technically, like, third cousins or something? But fuck them. Everybody thinks Roddy did it to set off the little gang war, but all he did was jump at the beautiful opening those idiots gave him. He didn’t kill Rafaello. One of his shitty kids probably did.”

“But all of them are back,” Jimmy continued to press. “The three sons. They’re here in the city. That’s what Rod was told last night. I mean, Cold.”

“Yeah. Which is super shady. The Luchesis finally learned to play nice and they rebuilt elsewhere, but they still have a lot of ties here. Who knows. They might just be in town for a wedding.”

“Or they’re planning something,” Jimmy said slowly.

Rowena tapped Jimmy’s nose. “Gold star for you!” She hopped up, heading into the kitchen to pull several bottles of alcohol out of her purse. “You don’t need to worry. Roddy is a big boy, and he can handle this.”

Jimmy frowned, watching Rowena mix up a fruity-smelling batch of drinks. He didn’t feel very reassured, and a knot started to twist up in his stomach. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Cold was in constant danger.

Rival gangsters, the cops.

He wondered if that was part of why Cold made such an effort to keep him at arm’s length.

Maybe the distance was to protect Jimmy.

Finding the Christmas mugs in the cabinet, Rowena filled the snowman with alcoholic slush and handed it to him, cheering, “Drink up!”

Jimmy cringed at the tart bite when he took a sip. “God, what’s in this?”