Robert B. Parker's Fallout by Mike Lupica

Author:Mike Lupica [Lupica, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, Thrillers, Crime, Suspense
ISBN: 9780593540275
Google: 10pTEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B09N6QRTSN
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published: 2022-09-06T05:00:00+00:00

FORTY-TWO

They met at a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant in the North End called Tony and Elaine’s. Wine bottles in baskets. Red-and-white checked tablecloths. The whole place smelled like red sauce. Jesse felt that if he looked hard enough, he could find a framed photograph of the Pope on one of the walls. Right next to a signed one from Sinatra.

“You can imagine my surprise when I got your call,” Richie Burke said.

Ex-husband to Sunny Randall. Son of Desmond Burke, which meant son of the Irish Mob in Boston. Father, Jesse knew, to Richard Burke, the product of Richie’s second marriage, long since over, the way his marriage to Sunny was, despite Richie’s best and continued efforts for a second trip up the altar with Sunny. Or Round Two, the way Jesse used to describe it.

Owner of his own saloon, a legitimate business by all accounts, a few blocks from here.

“Imagine my surprise at placing the call,” Jesse said.

They had been in each other’s company only a handful of times, usually by accident. It was always awkward between them, but cordial. Or perhaps wary. The only thing they had in common, apart from Richie’s family connection to the kind of bad guys it was Jesse’s sworn duty to put away, was that they both loved Sunny Randall.

“Before we get to it,” Richie said, “are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room?”

They had each ordered pasta with Bolognese sauce. When in Rome. Richie had a glass of Chianti in front of him, Jesse a Coke.

“Pretty sure Ms. Randall would be resistant to that reference,” Jesse said. “I assume she’s the elephant to which you’re referring.”

“You talk to her lately?”

“No.”

“Even though you two were broken up,” Richie said, “she was less than pleased when she found out you were with Rita Fiore.”

“It didn’t last.”

“Never does with Rita.”

“Fun while it did last, though.”

“So I’ve heard,” Richie said.

“Sunny with anybody these days?”

Richie said, “She was going around with some newspaper guy last I heard from her.”

“No standards.”

“I still see her for lunch or dinner sometimes,” Richie said.

“How does that go?”

“I’m now of the opinion she likes my son better than she likes me.”

Richie broke off a piece of the warm Italian bread in the basket in front of him, dipped it in olive oil, and ate it.

“So tell me about this guy Marin,” Richie said. “You say he worked for my father when he was a kid.”

“Only briefly, according to Healy. Your father never mentioned him?” Jesse said.

Richie grinned. “You’d probably be amazed about how little I talk to my father about his business. And how many Steve Marins he’s employed in various capacities.”

“According to Healy,” Jesse continued, “Marin didn’t last long with your father because he was too much of a hothead. Liked beating up people who didn’t pay more than he should have. When your father let him go, he moved on to Jackie DeMarco’s old crew, under new management by then. When he was still a kid, not even out of high school.

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