Death Wish by Iceberg Slim

Author:Iceberg Slim
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Cash Money Content
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

15

The day had come to put Tit For Tat Taylor to sleep. Collucci was alone behind the locked door of his study. One wall of the study was a bookcase crammed with works from Shakespeare to Schopenhauer. High up near the ceiling was an extremely well-thumbed volume of illustrated examples of human sex organ deformities and transsexuality. The urgency of removing Tat Taylor had given him no time to open a book in weeks. Not even his favorite.

Now he concentrated on matters that related to the everlasting sleep of Joe Tonelli.

Collucci stood before a mirror, bearded and mustached in the image of Dinzio “The Sphinx.” He mimicked into a tape recorder microphone the mumbly voice of “The Sphinx.” Collucci listened for the dozenth time to the playback and smiled his satisfaction.

Listening intently, he was unaware that Angelo had pulled the limousine into the driveway. Angelo got out and opened the rear door for Olivia and for Bellini, invited to Olivia’s celebrated lasagna on the cook’s day off.

Olivia and Bellini went into the entrance hall. They removed their coats before seating themselves in the living room. After brief chitchat, Olivia went to the kitchen to prepare her specialty.

Bellini listened to the odd sound of Collucci’s muffled rehearsal. He rose and went across a hallway toward the door of the study, then halted abruptly several feet away. He was surprised and shocked to hear what was unmistakably the voice of Tonelli’s most trusted bodyguard, miles from his responsibility.

Bellini’s further curiosity was impelled by the memory of Collucci’s hide-out derringers at the Tonelli conference. He put his ear against the door to hear the repetitious droning. Bellini went quickly back to the living room and pondered the mystery.

Collucci switched off the recorder. He stripped off and secreted the Dinzio beard, Old Country mustache and tape. Then he went into the living room and greeted Bellini with a wide smile and a warm embrace.

Bellini said, “Giacomo, how about letting me pick your pocket for a couple of sawbucks before lunch?”

Collucci bowed extravagantly and flung his palms out toward the study. Every play of the cards was a misadventure for Bellini. He was preoccupied with the mystery of Dinzio’s voice.

At lunch Collucci watched Bellini pick at his favorite dish and said, “Papa, have you found a new great love that steals your appetite?”

Bellini shook his head and said softly, “No, Giacomo, not after my Angelita.” He paused and looked squarely into Collucci’s eyes. “Perhaps even our simple pleasures eventually desert us like false friends near the end.”

Collucci grunted and said as he rose from the table, “Papa, a guy can say hello to you lately and you’re going to bend his ear with a buck and half worth of cracker-barrel philosophy.”

Olivia and Bellini looked at each other as Collucci stomped from the dining room.

Olivia said, “What on earth . . . ?”

Bellini leaned toward her and squeezed her hand. “Don’t be upset, my dear. I was not offended,” he said as he rose from the table.

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