Page 32 of Remember When We
Jade smiled, nodded vibrantly and motioned her head to the tank with the anaconda. I didn’t need to guess the way that story ended. While Jade might have had her tongue cut out and looked quite dainty sitting on her chair; I figured she wasn’t the kind of woman you pissed off or screwed with.
“I am Xiou.” The man introduced himself. “I am Jade’s husband, I also translate for her. As she signs, I will speak for her. We are told you need information and we may be able to assist you.” He looked to me.
“My friend Marshall Carson was killed years ago. Eight years. Four months ago, was eight years. We’ve received intel that shows that his death was more than what’s on record.”
To my surprise Jade nodded. She nodded and then started signing to Xiou.
“I knew Marshall, he was a good customer of mine. I was one of his dealers. We offer the good stuff money can’t buy. Herbal from Asia. He kept my secrets as such he was a friend. Another friend brought him here and before I got married, we were together.” Xiou spoke.
I tensed. I was supposed to be Marshall’s best friend, but never once did he mention this woman.
“When did you meet him?” I asked. It was perhaps an irrelevant question, but I just wanted some context.
Jade signed her answer to Xiou.
“Ten years ago. Give or take. Marshall was the kind of man who went where the money is. Always, always where the money was. He did a lot of jobs and favors, but the one I was most uncomfortable with was that he was a police informant.”
I straightened up. “What? Are you sure?”
Jade nodded and signed to Xiou.
“There was a cop who was good to him. I don’t know him, but he went by the name of X. My guess was that they met while at the support group, because X wanted him to quit using and dealing.”
Using and dealing. I of course knew about the using part, but not the dealing.
“What makes you think they met there? It could have been anywhere else.”
“It was what he said. Certain things he said that made it seem like that was
where they had met. He seemed to know a lot too about what Marshall did. if you use and deal that’s not the sort of thing you go blabbing about on the streets and definitely not to a cop. X paid him for information and the money there stopped him from dealing which can almost be more dangerous than trying to get a fix. Never know who could kill you and take your stash.”
Fucking hell, how did Marshall ever get himself mixed up in shit? This must have been what he’d gotten up to when I was away. The times I headed back to Chicago saw him here getting deeper into the underground in the worst way.
I didn’t know what it was about her, but something made me trust her. She had the same presence as Gibbs. Like she owed no allegiance to anyone, but herself. Didn’t care who she pissed off either, because she didn’t have a price.
It was clear from the way she smiled when Dante asked about the people who cut out her tongue. I was willing to bet they must have gotten her at a vulnerable moment, and when she got them back, I bet she watched her pet eat them alive.
I took the envelope from my pocket and handed it to her. Inside the envelope was the coroner’s report and the note. She took it from me and read the note lingering over the coroner’s report.
“What do you think?” I asked when she looked at me and a tear ran down her cheek.
“Ricin?” She actually said. It came out like a hollow sound from her mouth, but I knew what she said.
Ricin.
“Yes, they killed him with that and set it up to look like he was shot,” I answered.
She signed to Xiou. “Only two places you can get something like that around Philly and it’s been like that for years. My grandfather owned this place long before me. You can get ricin in pure form here from the beans, but it wasn’t the beans that killed him. The other kind that killed him is only curated amongst the Santora family.”
My breath hitched. It stilled and fucking stopped.
The fucking Santora’s were linked to the Vitalis, the Philadelphia crime family who were practically like Claudius and the mafia structure set up back in Chicago.
In Chicago we had an alliance with the Fontaines, Romanos, and Gambinois. They were the main ones, but all of them didn’t compare to the one group of Santoras.
Not to mention that Claudius and us as The Four were new age in comparison to the old set up most crime families had.
Raphael Rossi was the last in that old way of tradition. He had Amelia, his daughter who was now married to Claudius’ brother Luc who was supposed to be the next boss. He however gave up the title, because Amelia didn’t want to be part of the business.
