Page 60 of Saltwater Promises
Chapter 25
Making a plan with Lenny was easy, because Lenny was a born follower. He deferred to Mike on everything – how to frame Marco, when to hand him in, and even how to smuggle the money out of the country.
Mike was even able to sneak out for half a day, claiming that he needed to meet with his FBI contact to make things look normal. While he was out, he bought a wearable sound recorder that was nearly invisible, and made sure that he had it running at all times.
He also made a drop at the attorney general’s office, letting him know about his current progress, as well as the evidence that would be forthcoming.
Ideally, Mike would’ve talked to Joe face-to-face so they could make a plan, but there just wasn’t time for it. Ever since Lenny bought into the story that he’d been sold out, he was on edge. He wanted to do things as quickly as possible – to get his money and run.
Mike was happy with that, mostly, but it did create some complications. It made Lenny sloppy, and if he acted too hastily, he could scare off Benzini and ruin the whole deal.
Mike’s efforts paid off when he finally got to meet the state treasurer, David Monroe, in person.
It was all very covert, or at least what Lenny considered to be covert. They met at a restaurant outside of the city called “The Shrouded Mermaid.” The place wasn’t open in the middle of the day, but Lenny convinced the owner to let them have a private meeting anyway.
When they walked in, Mike eyed the enormous fish tanks in the dining area where two women, dressed as mermaids, swam around.
“Can you believe this?” Lenny said as they walked in. “They even brought intwomermaids just for us.”
Mike grunted. He wasn’t impressed by this, and “Gary” wasn’t impressed by it either. “Lucky us.”
They sat in a booth in the middle of the restaurant and waited. They were a half hour early, and the idea occurred to Mike that Benzini might be above a place like this. “What are the chances they cancel on us?”
“Benzini wouldn’t do that. He’s afraid of me.”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “Afraid of you? Or afraid of Marco?”
“Me. I’m the muscle out here. I handle everything.”
“Ah, right.”
He doubted that Benzini was afraid at all. Mike was just fishing for more information and checking on Lenny’s fragile mental state. Usually the more vulnerable he felt, the bolder his claims got.
Mike had been able to extract a lot of information from Lenny over the past few days, and he was slowly piecing it all together.
It was true that Lenny had become the “muscle” out west, though he’d had a slew of sidekicks to do most of the actual work. The most recent was a guy named Vinnie that Marco trusted from back east. He’d gotten picked up for a bar fight, though, and was in jail for the foreseeable future.
Marco was the mastermind of everything – not Lenny, though Lenny liked to believe that he was. Marco and Benzini knew each other from back in the day in New York City. They’d worked together for twenty years, but neither of them were that big in the beginning.
Benzini had always appreciated Marco’s discretion, though, and the relationship persisted. Mike could only laugh, thinking at how annoyed Benzini must be for being forced to deal with a fool like Lenny.
Recently, Benzini had started using Marco’s services more and more, especially to take out competition. Since the Sabinis were so feared, usually a threat was all that was needed, but sometimes things got ugly.
Mike thought back to the investors who had disappeared, seemingly into thin air. Lenny couldn’t tell him the specifics, but he now had a good idea of what had happened to those guys.
When Benzini expanded out west, it took some time for him to establish himself as an authority and make new contacts. Once he was ready, though, he brought Marco in again.
It started with the properties. Actually, it started when Marco sent his idiot son to help out Benzini’s idiot son on that zombie movie.
What a riot. These two guys spent so much time obsessing over money that they completely neglected any fatherly duties.
And look at the outcome; look at the cost. Two idiot sons unleashed on the world.
Though the movie fell through, Benzini took it as a sign of goodwill and the new scheme began. Lenny bought run-down, cheap properties on the San Juan Islands before turning around and selling them to Dirk Gold Group, Benzini’s chosen investment firm.
That was Marco’s first payout, but it was only a small slice of the pie. DGG could reasonably pass off these junk properties as high-end. It wasn’t uncommon for island dwellings to sell for millions of dollars.
They rolled the properties into a “premium” portfolio, which the Washington State pension was now going to invest in, much to its detriment.
