Red Baker Read Free Page B

forty he’d mellow out some. But he still talked in his Godfather voice, still had to be the hard guy who gave people shit. Still hung around with his two goons, Frankie Delvecchio and Joey Capezi, both of whom had faces like hatchets and mean ferret eyes, though Joey wore a toupee these days. They were with Vinnie now, standing a few feet away, just staring at Dog and me. Old wars from childhood, which they would never forget.
    Vinnie looked at Billy Bramdowski and slapped him on the back.
    “You having a kid, Bill. That’s fine. I’ll be happy to buy you a drink. Have whatever you want. These other jerkoffs want to drink with you, they got to pay cash.”
    “Christ, Vinnie,” Crystal said. “Don’t be such a douchebag.”
    “Hey,” Vinnie said. “I heard what happened to you down the Starlight. You want to be out in the snow like Baker and Donahue here, that can be arranged.”
    “Hey, Vinnie, leave Crystal out of it,” I said. “She was just happy for Billy here, that’s all.”
    I wanted to say a hell of a lot more than that and could feel the anger rising in me, but I knew starting trouble wouldn’t do Crystal any good. Next to me, Dog was half off the barstool. Behind Vinnie, Joey Capezi and Frankie Delvecchio inched forward a little, moving together like they were attached at the waist.
    “Hey, it’s like I say, Bill,” Vinnie said. “You want a drink, you got it. You’re having a baby, that’s just fine. But what are
you
celebrating, Baker, getting laid off down the plant? Or maybe you got some new plans. Like running for mayor!”
    Joey and Frankie laughed in unison, only Frankie didn’t make any noise. He just opened his mouth and moved his head up and down like a spring doll of Gino Marchetti I once had in the back of my first car.
    “That’s all right,” Billy Bramdowski said. “If my friends can’t drink with me, then I’ll pay for everybody.”
    “Suit yourself, sucker,” Vinnie said, curling his fat lower lip into a snarl aimed at me and Dog. “As for you, Crystal, how many times I gotta tell you, when you’re working I want you behind the bar or mixing with the customers. Baker here ought to be home with his family anyway.”
    “Leave my family out of it, lardass,” I said, stepping down from the bar.
    “You telling me what to do in my place, Baker?” He turned and looked at his two boys, who took another step up.
    Dog slid off the bar and picked up a bottle of National Bohemian, and I saw doubt in Vinnie’s eyes.
    “You know?” Frankie said, “I don’t know why you don’t throw all three of ‘em out of here, Vinnie. Broad ain’t got any tits anyhow.”
    I was about to move forward when Crystal suddenly turned and slapped Frankie right in the face. He fell backward, and somebody sitting at one of the tables managed to stick his foot out, sending him ass over heels on the floor.
    “Don’t you ever talk to me like that again, you sleazebag. You want to fire me, Vinnie, I’ll walk right out of here now. You want that? Tell me. Just say so.”
    Now Vinnie stared hard-faced at Dog and myself. I caught a shot of Billy from the corner of my eye. He was picking up a bottle.
    “Hey, let’s take it easy,” Vinnie said. “Everybody’s getting too damned upset. Let’s all cool down, what you say?”
    He wasn’t about to fire Crystal just yet. She was the bar favorite, and the fat boy would have lost half the regulars.
    Besides, it wasn’t any secret that Vinnie had about as big a crush on her as I did, which was half what all this was about anyway. He had recently opened another place down in Curtis Bay called Mona Lisa Pizza, which was modeled after some Wop museum he’d seen on one of his Mafia charters to Italy. This place was his pride and joy, made from Formstone, with stained-glass windows and a moat full of plastic goldfish. Inside there were two rooms—the Da Vinci and the Michelangelo—and girls dressed like peasants with pretorn dresses, which Vinnie had