Reno and Son: Don't Mess with Jim (The Mob Boss Series) (7 page)

“They arrested him,” Val said.

Reno’s heart plunged.
 
“They took him downtown already?”

“They, yes.
 
They took him to jail.”

“Was he hurt in the fight?”

“No, sir.
 
Not a scratch.”

Which, Reno knew, meant big trouble for
Jimmy.
 
Cops hated one-sided fights, and
always wanted to make an example of the victor.
 
Add that to the fact that Jimmy was a Gabrini, was Reno’s son, and Reno
knew he had a world of trouble on his hands.

“What bar was it?” Reno asked Val.

“It was . . . Excuse me?
 
Which what?”

Reno almost threw his phone, but Trina gave
him that look.
 
“What’s the name of the
bar? You said it was a bar fight.
 
What’s
the name of it?”

“Oh.
 
Yes, sir.
 
Skillian’s.”

“On Bronston?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay,” Reno said, and was about to kill
the call without saying anything more to Val, but Trina quickly snatched the
phone from his hand.
 
When Reno was
worried, he had zero manners.

“Thanks for calling us, Val,” she said to
the girl she hoped would one day be their daughter-in-law.
 
“I know this is a terrible thing for you to
have to experience.”

“It was so . . . surreal.”

“I know.
 
But his father will take care of it.
 
Don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to Mr.
Gabrini.
 
But I won’t allow my own father
to yell at me like that.”

This girl was in a world of hurt then,
Trina thought, if she did marry Jimmy.
 
There wasn’t a day that went by when Reno wasn’t yelling at somebody.

“I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful,” Val
said again.

“And I fully understand that,” Trina
replied.
 
“And Mr. Gabrini does too, so
don’t even think about it.
 
But what
about the other man.
 
Who was he?”

“He says his name is Costco.
 
He sits at the bar and was drinking himself
to death.
 
And hitting on the ladies.”

“He tried to hit on you?”

“Yes, ma’am.
 
That’s why Jimmy did it.
 
The guy slapped me.”

“And you said this Costco was hurt?”

“Yes.
 
Very much so.”

“But no weapons were used or . .. “

“No ma’am.
 
The way Jimmy was beating on him a weapon wasn’t necessary.”

Trina exhaled.
 
“And you’re okay?”

“I’m, yes, I’m fine.
 
Thank-you for asking.”

“Okay, dear, and thanks again.
 
We’ll keep you posted.”

“Thank-you,” Val said, and Trina then
killed the call.
 
She looked at
Reno.
 
He was already thinking, plotting,
contemplating his next move.
 
Contrary to
his personality, he never jumped up and did something without giving it
considerable thought first.
 
He never
operated half-cocked.

“Need me to phone Shell?”
 
Shell was Shelton Goldberg, the Gabrinis’
attorney.

But Reno was still contemplating that next
move.
 
Then he patted her on the
hip.
 
“Yeah, call him,” he finally
decided as Trina stood up and took the baby.
 
“Tell him to meet me downtown.”

“Let me go with you, Reno,” Trina said.

But Reno was already shaking his head.
 
“No.”

“I’m worried about him too.”

“And you’re going to stay here and worry
about him.”
 
He kissed her on the lips,
his eyes filled with his own concerns.
 
Then he frowned.
 
“Stop worrying so
much anyway,” he said.
 
“What are you
worrying about?
 
You think I can’t handle
this?
 
That I need my woman sitting home
worrying about it?
 
Stop worrying, you
hear me? I’ll take care of it.”

Trina knew he would, but her heart went out
to him.
 
He’d already had a long day of
work, she’d already made him suffer through a long night with that art exhibit
at Liz’s house, and now this.
 
But it had
to be done. She placed her hands on either side of his luscious mouth, and
kissed him.
 
“You be careful, you hear
me?”

Reno looked into her beautiful eyes.
 
He managed to smile through his
concerns.
 
“I hear you, babe,” he said,
and then he kissed his still sleeping brown-faced baby girl on the cheek, and
headed for the exit.
 
He was already on
his cell phone, calling his men, as he left.

FOUR

Reno sat leaned forward on the small,
backbench in the temporary holding cell, while Jimmy stood at the front of the
cell, his arms folded, his blue tie askew.
 
He knew he had gone too far.
 
He
knew it even as he was doing it, but he couldn’t stop himself.
 
That was the scary part for him.
 
He couldn’t stop.

Reno, his arms resting on his thighs,
finally looked up at his son. Jimmy stood there, his back to his father, a
tall, handsome, strapping young black male.
 
Reno’s young black male.
 
In jail
, Reno thought painfully.

“Talk,” he said to Jimmy.

Jimmy hesitated.
 
He didn’t want to face his father right
now.
 
But he knew he had to.
 
He turned around.
 
“What do you wanna know?”

“Everything.
 
What happened?”

“We were at this bar, this club, having a
few drinks and enjoying the music, when this guy starts getting fresh with
Valerie.
 
I knew she could handle that
part, so I didn’t do anything about his jawing.
 
But then he slapped her, and that did it.”

“Damn right,” Reno said, agreeing with
him.
 
Even that guy’s jawing at Trina
would have gotten Reno up.

“So I got up,” Jimmy continued, “and called
him out on it.
 
With my fists.”

“So it was a fist fight?”

“If that’s what you want to call it.”

Reno frowned.
 
“What do you mean if that’s what
I
want to call it?
 
What are you calling it?”

“An ass whooping.”

Reno would have smiled if the situation
wasn’t so serious.

Jimmy stared at his father.
 
“The cops say the guy’s in pretty bad
shape.
 
That true, Pop?”

Reno leaned back.
 
To Jimmy he still looked distinguished, even
in a jail cell.
 
“It’s true,” Reno
replied.

“How bad?”

Reno ran his hand across his face.
 
“Bad.
 
Life support.”

Jimmy didn’t close his eyes, but they
became so anguished he may as well had.
 
Then he shook his head.
 
“I don’t
even know his name,” he said.

Reno looked angrily at his son.
 
“What the fuck difference does that
make?
 
He’s in that hospital fighting for
his life, and I feel bad about that.
 
But
your ass is in this jail cell fighting for yours.
 
And it’s your ass I’m concerned about.
 
So don’t even start that, James.
 
You’d better forget about that soft shit and
get concerned too.”

“I am concerned!
 
I didn’t want to put anybody in the
hospital.
 
But he hit Val.
 
What was I supposed to do?”

“Beat his ass, that’s not at issue.”

“Then why did I get arrested?
 
Because I won the fight?”

“Just tell me what happened.
 
He slaps Val, you kick his ass.”

“Right.”

“And what did he do?”

“What did he do?
 
He didn’t do anything.”

Reno looked at his son.
 
“He fought back.”

“No.”

Reno frowned.
 
“He didn’t fight back?”

“No.”

“Then why did you nearly kill him?”

“Because he slapped Val!”

“But Jimmy . .
 
.”
 
Reno was staring at his son.
 
He
couldn’t believe he didn’t get it.

“What?” Jimmy was beyond confused.

“What are you killing him for if he’s not
fighting back?
 
He slapped your woman, so
hell yeah you rough him up.
 
You kick his
ass.
 
You make sure he understands who
he’s dealing with.
 
But you don’t kill
him over it.”

“Ah, Dad, come on!
 
You’re telling me if that was Trina, if that
was Ma, you would have eased up?
 
You
would have shown restraint?”

“Stop comparing yourself to me!
 
You’re a young man with your entire life
ahead of you.
 
And I’ll be damned if
you’re going to spend any part of it in prison!
 
But if you don’t learn how to control yourself, then that’s exactly
what’s going to happen.”

“But you don’t control yourself.
 
Why is it okay for you to do all those things
you do, but it’s not okay for me?
 
You’re
such a hypocrite.”

“Watch your mouth.”

 
“But
it’s true!
 
You do everything you’re bad
enough to do, and that’s fine.
 
But I do
it?
 
Something’s wrong with that.
 
First you get on my case for not being tough
enough.
 
So I get tough.
 
This is what my old man wants.
 
He says I’m too soft.
 
So I get tough.
 
Now you’re on my case for being too tough!”

“Not tough, Jimmy,” Reno said.
 
“You aren’t being tough.
 
You’re being stupid!
 
The guy wasn’t fighting back, what are you
trying to kill him for?
 
You have to know
what you’re doing at all times.
 
You have
to understand the costs at all times.
 
You calculate the risk.
 
You fight
back, your ass better fight back, but is it a fight to the death?
 
Every fight can’t be a fight to the death or
your old man, the one you were just talking about, wouldn’t be here.
 
I would have been dead a long time ago.
 
You’re a smart kid, but you can’t let anger
take away your smarts!”

Jimmy leaned back against the cell
bars.
 
There were so many rules that
sometimes he wondered if life itself was some kind of elaborate game.
 
He stared at his father.
 
He used to blame him for his mother’s
death.
 
He used to blame him for the fact
that he was seventeen years old before Reno even knew he existed.
 
It wasn’t Reno’s fault, it was his mother’s
fault, but there was a time when Jimmy couldn’t distinguish the two.
 
Reno didn’t know he existed, but Jimmy
somehow felt he should have known.

A police officer came to the holding cell
with Shelton Goldberg, Reno’s attorney.
 
Reno stood up as the cell was opened, Shelton walked in, and the officer
closed the door.
 

When the officer left, Shelton
exhaled.
 
“In the old days they didn’t
even search attorneys.
 
Now they make us
go through all of these magnetometers and gadgets and wickets just to speak to
a client in the holding cell.
 
Hello,
Reno.
 
How in the world did you get back
here?”

“I told him I was Jimmy’s attorney.”

Shelton was amazed.
 
“And he believed it?”

“He didn’t even question it.
 
I also dropped your name.
 
Told him you should be here shortly.
 
Since I wasn’t packing, had my ID, and got by
all of the gadgets without sounding any alarms, he let me come on back.”

Shelton smiled.
 
“Yeah, he did mention something about my
partner being here already. Good thing I didn’t question it.
 
What a young incompetent.
 
But it works for us,” Shelton said with a
grin.

But this was no laughing matter for
Reno.
 
“What’s the bottom line, Shell?”

“They wouldn’t let me see Bruni,” Shelton
said.
 
“But one of his assistants made it
clear that it doesn’t look like they will be playing ball on this one.”

“Meaning?”

“They want a scalp, Reno.
 
A Gabrini scalp.
 
Jimmy may not have the same rep that you or
Sal or Tommy have, but he’s still a Gabrini and that’s all the public will see.
 
A Gabrini has been tried and convicted and DA
Bruni has a big win under his belt.”

“Sorry-ass loser,” Reno said.

“The biggest ever,” Shelton agreed.
 
“No DA has had a worse record than Bruni
has.
 
But that doesn’t help us, that
hurts us.”

Jimmy looked at Shelton.
 
“Hurts us how?”

“Bruni needs to make an example of
you.
 
That’s why he’s probably going to
go at this hard.
 
That’s why he’ll charge
you pending status update on the victim.”

“In other words,” Reno said, “if that guy
dies they’ll slap Jim with a murder rap.”

“Right,” Shelton said.

Jimmy leaned his head back in anguish.

Reno was anguished also.
 
“That’s why you think hard, Jimmy.
 
You don’t just hit.
 
You hit, but you think.
 
He disrespected your lady, but you don’t
decide to kill the man!”

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Damn near!”

Jimmy exhaled.
 
Reno began pacing, thinking, plotting.

“It’s not looking good for us, guys,”
Shelton said in the silence.
 
“I’ll be
derelict in my duties if I told you otherwise.”

Jimmy looked at his father.
 
Shelton looked at him too.
 
Reno ultimately stopped pacing.
 
“We’ve got to get those charges dropped,” he
said.
 
“There’s no way around it.”
 

“I agree,” Shelton said.
 
Then he looked at Jimmy.
 
“If that man dies it’ll be a murder charge,
and you won’t survive that.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you get before a judge and jury with a
murder charge riding with you?”
 
Shelton
shook his head.
 
“You wouldn’t stand a
chance.
 
There’s no way a judge and jury
is going to pass on a chance to convict a Gabrini.
 
No way.”

“That’s why I can’t let it happen,” Reno
said.

“The best I can see,” Shelton said to
protect himself, knowing that Reno had less-than-legal ways in mind, “is that
James cut a deal with Bruni’s office, with the prosecution.
 
Get it reduced and hope for ten years or so.”

“Ten years?” Jimmy was incredulous.
 
He looked at his father.
 
It all seemed so real to him now.
 
This was no game.
 
No game at all.
 
Tears began to appear in Jimmy’s already sad
eyes.
 

Reno’s heart broke watching his son, a kid
who had been through so much already in his young life.
 
Now this.
 
He went to him, and pulled him into his muscular arms.
 
“I’ll get you out of this,” he said softly,
his hand resting on the back of his head.
 
“You hear me, James?
 
I’ll make
them understand it was a fight, a fair fight, and nothing more.
 
You hear me?”
 
Reno moved back from Jimmy, to make sure they were eyeball to
eyeball.
 
“Do you hear me, son?”

Jimmy nodded, ashamed of his own tears and
overwhelmed by it all.
 
“Yes, sir,” he
said.
 
But when Jimmy saw the dread in
his father’s eyes, the tears regained momentum and poured with a
vengeance.
 
And Reno pulled Jimmy, once
again, into his arms.

Val stood from her seat in the waiting room
when Reno walked out.
 

“They wouldn’t let me see him,” she said
anxiously as Reno approached her.
 
It was
nearly two in the morning by now, and there were only a few people in the
police waiting area.
 
But Reno still
wasn’t going to discuss anything in front of the few.

“Come on,” he said as he began walking
briskly for the exit.
 
Val hurried behind
him.

But she was still too anxious.
 
“Did you see him?”

“I saw him, yes.”

“Is he all right?”

“No,” Reno said, glancing back at her.
 
“Of course not.
 
But he’ll get through it.”