LEO
The town of Gordon’s Cove is situated in a gorge with steep hills on either side. On one side is the casino, overlooking the whole place like
a disapproving Scrooge, busy sucking in cash.
It sees the town and wants its money, but the townsfolk rarely gamble. It’s the outsiders who bring in the actual cash. We skim what we can off the top before the records get put down in ink.
I can see the casino from where I’m standing on the opposite ridge. The casino exists because of a legal loophole exploited by the Belucci family back in the 1950s.
The Giannis now run the casino. Vincent is gone. The Don might ask me to take over the place. I don’t want it. I don’t want to end up like Vinnie.
On this side of the town is an old lighthouse, the reason I’ve climbed all the way up so high I can see miles out to sea. It was a hell of a hike, and I’m sweating inside my suit. The sun is sinking toward the horizon by the time I get here.
The lighthouse is clearly not in use anymore. There’s an old Keep Out sign stuck to the door, but it’s shredded and half the letters are ripped off. I look around me, working out how accurate the information might be.
A location ping that came from the lighthouse. It doesn’t seem likely. To get the cabling set up in there would take a lot of work, work that someone will notice.
Still, it’s worth checking out. If the Don gave the intel his okay, it must be credible.
I look at the surrounding ground. There’s a worn path in the long grass that leads straight to the front door. That alone doesn’t mean much.
People might come up here to look at the view. You can see the ocean from up here and it looks beautiful.
The sun shines brightly on the water, which ripples and sparkles like a cut diamond turned in the hand of a master jeweler. Far down below me sits the town. It’s hard to think of the snitch when I look down there. It seems so peaceful.
Already I’m getting to know the layout of the town pretty well. There’s the roof of Clive’s diner where I sat and ate with Amelia.
Over on the next road, the sheriff’s office. Further along and take a left, and then my eye works its way to Amelia’s house. She’s there waiting for me.
I can see the docks by the harbor. The warehouses lined up in two neat rows of six. I look along the harbor. My boat would go there, right at the end of the row, nearest the ocean. Take Amelia out sailing from there.
Work first. Then her.
The grass by the lighthouse is worn. That’s the first clue. I examine the lock. Paint freshly scraped away at the edges. It flakes off when I run my finger along it. A key is used regularly and has been used recently. Maybe this is the spot after all.
It would make sense, I guess. Come up here to send the messages out. That way any location tools can’t get closer than here. No way of knowing who comes up here or where they come from.
Messages sent out to law enforcement and the newspapers. Internet too. They designed everything to undermine the Gianni family. But why? Maybe the answer’s in here.
I pull out my lock picks and get to work. It doesn’t take long to get the door open. It swings silently inward. I touch the top hinge. Oiled. Another sign this place is in regular use.
It’s dark inside. I use my cellphone flashlight to guide me up the steel stairs, spiraling higher and higher until I step out into a living space about halfway to the top. There are plug sockets in the wall beside a battered desk. No dust.
Used a lot, then. An ethernet cable socket. Internet set up too. Interesting. I walk up the rest of the stairs, out onto the balcony that surrounds the space where a huge bulb once sat.
I spot something. Cellphone antenna. Small and hidden behind one of the metal pillars, but definitely recently installed. Now I’m getting somewhere. What I need to do is keep watch on this place and see if anyone comes back here. Leaning on the pillar beside the antenna is a sniper rifle, loaded and ready to go. I’ve no doubt it’s meant for me.
I can’t just sit here and hope they might walk straight into my hands. I need to draw them out. But how?
Can I use Amelia as bait? Make it look like I’m dating her for real? That could work. Might make the snitch complacent. Bring them out to deal with me directly. Maybe I need to make a bigger show of appearing in public around town, see what that does.
Got to be better than hiding in the bushes and hoping.
I take a last look out at the ocean, picturing myself sitting on one of those fishing boats down in the harbor. That was always the dream when I was little. Mucking around on a boat with nothing much to worry about. So different to how my life turned out.
Do we ever get to live out our childhood dreams? Life laughed at me for wanting that. I’ll be lucky to survive to retirement age in my line of work. Always looking over my shoulder.
I head back down to the living space. I glance around me, looking for any more clues. No paperwork. Nothing electrical. A dead space apart from the cables.
Whoever it is, they’re careful. I need them to make a mistake, no matter how small.
I get back outside and use the lock picks again to make it look like I was never here. I walk back down into town, doing my best to memorize the layout as I go.
The more I move around, the more distracted I get. It’s the quiet. When I first arrived, the silence was oppressive. I’m used to the noise of the city. It’s all I’ve ever known.
Here, it’s noticeable when a car drives past as you can hear it coming from miles away.
The only other sound is the rustling of the wind through the trees and the conversation as people talk to each other on the corners.
Everyone seems to know everyone, but none of them eye me
suspiciously. They just nod a greeting and then continue talking.
I think about settling down here. Could that be possible? I get an image in my head of me and Amelia living at her place. The past behind us both. The snitch gone. The Don gone. Just me and her and she’s got a huge bump because she’s got our first baby on the way.
It’s a dumb idea. It could never work. Like Mikey is ever going to let me leave. I’m lined up to be the next Don. If I don’t take over, the business crumbles and one of the other families takes over. I’ve got no choice in this.
I have to go back to the city and forget about her.
What about her debt, though? I can write it off after this weekend but will the famiglia? Franco will want her to become a whore to work it off. I could take her instead, bring her back to the city as my slave. That could work.
I won’t do it. For her sake. She’s like a delicate flower. She’d never survive city life. It would crush her. She belongs here in her small town. Shame I don’t belong here too.
Probably for the best anyway. If we were together, she’d be a target. Someone would come looking for her, use her to get to me. There are many people out there who’d be happy to find me dead. I had enough of them coming after me last time I was here.
The Belucci family isn’t dead and buried, not all of them. There were rumors Bobby had a bastard kid. I don’t know if it’s true, but it would make sense. A bastard kid with a grudge against the Gianni famiglia for taking over the territory.
Ratting us out would be a great way to get back on top. If they get it right. I’m here to make sure they don’t. Whoever the snitch is, they’re dead as soon as I get my hands on them. Although right now, all I want to get my hands on is Amelia’s body.
I tell myself to snap out of it.
The only way out of this life is via a box six feet underground. It can never work. The thought kicks me in the gut but I ignore the pain. I’m working. I need all emotions gone so I can focus.