Free Double Blind by Vanessa Waltz Page A

me?
    “Vince, what the fuck?”
    “ Jesus .”
    The guys grab my arms before I can do more damage. He writhes on the tiled floor and cries like a little bitch as I stand above him.
    Frank gives me a wide-eyed look that makes me feel like a psycho.
    What the fuck am I doing?
    “ Jesus Christ, Vince.”
    I turn away from the crumpled boy, raising a shaky hand to my face. “Take him to the fucking hospital.” I reach into my pocket and grab a fistful of cash, cramming it into Nicky’s hand.
    Then I walk outside to breathe.
    I’m really losing it because of some broad. I feel out of control. Angry. Lost.
    I need to focus on what’s important—the informant in my crew. I need to follow each of them. Jack still has no idea that the Feds talked to Adriana, and if Tony finds out, she’ll be dead for sure. She might want me out of her life, but she has no idea how much she needs me right now.
    * * *
    My car weaves in and out of traffic as I follow Paulie around New York. Tailing someone in this city isn’t easy, but it has to be done.
    Someone’s been talking, and I need to find out who it is. After which, I’ll get permission from Jack to whack the son of a bitch.
    Out of all of them, I suspect Paulie the least. The man is such a hardass for the rules. That’s why he was made captain. There are dozens of possibilities. The rat might not even be in my crew, he could be in the other captains’ crews. I have my work cut out for me, and not being able to talk about it with the others makes this even harder.
    I pull up a block behind Paulie as he visits the laundromat. The laundromat, for God’s sake. He doesn’t even trust his comare to pick up his laundry, that’s how far his stick is up his ass.
    This is useless. I would have to search his apartment to find out for sure. The feds might already know that I’m on to them. They probably are.
    Fuck.
    I start the car and pull away from the curb. Then I take the bridge towards Brooklyn.
    I’m such a jerk-off for what I’m about to do.
    Jack’s warning is stuck in my head, and I feel like I need to do something to warn her mother. I planned this days ago, but I got distracted with all this bullshit over Adriana. Seeing Adriana in tears at Carmine’s game reminded me of how horrible I’d feel if something happened to her mother. Even if that bitch did try to kill me.
    After a smoldering drive across the Brooklyn Bridge, I park outside her shit-hole of a house. The brick steps are crumbling and the front lawn looks like a jungle. When I get out and march up to her front door, I don’t even bother knocking. I kick open the door and it flies inward easily, as if it’s been kicked in many times before.
    “Oh, God! No!” Her voice screeches like a banshee.
    My eyes burn as I step inside the house, almost as if I expect the whole place to be doused in piss. I snap my head towards the source of the scream and grab the woman fleeing the living room, and I hurl her back inside.
    “Relax, I’m just here to visit.” I take a good look at her heavily bruised arms and legs. “Ah, shit.”
    Mrs. Baldino cries when she recognizes me, pulling down her filthy shirt as if I might tear it off. “Don’t kill me!”
    “Why so worried?” I ask her, leaning over her trembling body. “You haven’t been talking to anyone, have you?”
    “No,” she moans.
    A quick search of her eyes makes me nod in approval. “What are all those bruises from?”
    She sits up. Jesus, she looks like shit. Her hair is overgrown, half of it blonde, the other half a dark brown. Her fingernails look picked raw.
    “I thought you sent them.”
    I set my mouth in a firm line. “No. I guess the Rizzos have been calling.”
    She nods. “They want to know what happened to Richie and that other guy.”
    “Oh, you mean the two guys you called over here to kill me?”
    That makes her flinch.
    Despite how much I despise her, I still feel a bit guilty looking at all those bruises covering her thin arms. Maybe