Chapter 7
It doesn’t take long for Tricia to make her excuses and to get a ride in a cab, much to Nicky’s annoyance. This wasn’t something she wanted Nicky to be dragged into. This was a family thing, and Nicky…Nicky didn’t deserve to be dirtied by something because some cop was trying to pin something on one of the family.
“Hey, Don…Trish?” Little Tony spluttered out from where he was sitting behind the interrogation table. “What are you doing here?!”
Tricia shook her head at her brother. Now wasn’t the time for pleasantries and remembered vows. “Rinny called me.” She took the seat beside him, knowing that one of the detectives would be long soon enough to start questioning. All she had to do was distract the guy long enough for Donny to get here and sort everything out.
Little Tony shook his head, the cuffs jangling the chains as he raised his hands to go through his hair before suddenly stopping at the pull at his wrists. “He shouldn’t have. I didn’t do this. I don’t do hookers. You know that.” At her unimpressed look, he gazed down at the table before looking back up to meet her eyes. “Well, not really.”
“You prefer freebies from the ‘good’ girls.” They both had a type that overlapped from time to time, but they had a code that they kept. They also knew how loose a definition ‘good’ and ‘bad’ could quickly be. Sometimes the lines could get a bit blurred.
Little Tony smirked but didn’t go down that line of conversation. “What do they think they have?” He was as serious as Little Tony could get without completely shutting down. Tricia really didn’t want to see the part of her brother that was too much like their father for her to ever be comfortable with. She had a similar side but liked to pretend that it didn’t exist.
Knowing the different ways to remove blood from different types of clothing before she reached ten was really the best way to describe the kind of life their father led them around after their mother died. There was also the kidnapping and rape, but she didn’t like to think too much about that kind of thing.
Assante’s are survivors. They know where to line up their loyalty and how to stick with it.
She shrugged, not knowing the answer to her brother’s question, which would have been very helpful in knowing. Uncle Donny probably already had someone on the inside looking at the evidence and coming up with a plan. The family just needed someone to stall until Donny could get the ball moving. “No clue. Know who the hooker was?”
“Meh, some chick Mattie liked to pick up. Diamond Glitter or whatever.” Tricia tensed up at the mention of Matteo. He grew up with them, and she has her own story with the man that the boy became. She has a few scars to prove it.
Not that she’ll ever tell her family. That was her shame, and hers alone. “Why they think you did it?” She scoots to get more comfortable in the metal seat. “You ever pick up Glitter Sparkle?”
Little Tony opened his mouth just as Tricia held up a hand to stop him from speaking as the door opens to the squad room. Two detectives walk in, of which one of Tricia just met about an hour ago.
Crap.