Forced Out by Stephen Frey Page A

his gaze from her until she moved off when the baby started crying.
    "Karen's a pretty girl, huh, Deuce?"
    Johnny's eyes snapped to Treviso's. "Yeah, sure. Real pretty." Had Treviso known he was staring at her? Had Treviso picked up on the implication that he might drop in on Karen when she was here alone? "You know." He tried to say it like he wasn't really thinking about it. Like he was saying what anyone would say.
    "A lot of people can't believe it when they see her, Deuce. They tell me I married way over my head." Treviso took a long drag off the cigarette, then tapped it on a glass ashtray sitting on the windowsill. "I say it's the other way around. I say she married way over her head. Her whole family's on welfare, for Christ's sake. She's living the dream now."
    Johnny's eyes flickered around the cramped kitchen. "Yeah, the dream. Put out the cigarette, Tony. I don't like the smoke, especially this early in the morning." He really didn't like cigarette smoke, but he'd said it for another reason, too. Making Treviso put out the cigarette was a quick way of asserting dominance. "Now."
    "What? Oh, sure."
    Johnny waited until Treviso had tamped the burning end down into the ashtray before speaking. "Tell me about that thing that happened outside Marconi's house a couple of years ago." A thin column of white smoke rose toward the ceiling from the stillsmoldering cigarette.
    "What thing?"
    "You know what thing." Johnny studied Treviso's face carefully, searching for the truth.
    "When his grandson was killed."
    "Oh, that thing."
    "Yeah, yeah. That thing. Tell me about it."
    "What do you wanna know?"
    "What happened?" It was obvious Treviso was stalling. Clearly he didn't want to talk about this, and he was trying like hell to figure out how not to. Marconi had told Johnny not to make any judgments, but that was impossible. He had to know what really happened. "Exactly what happened."
    Tony leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "There's not much to tell, Deuce. A guy I loaned a lot of money to was way behind on his schedule. He lived close to there, close to Marconi's place in Queens. I was meeting Marconi to talk to him about something else anyway, so I told the guy to meet me there. I wanted to talk to him before I went in to see Marconi. Kill two birds with one stone while I was all the way up there in Queens."
    "Kyle McLean, right? That was the guy's name?"
    Treviso gazed at Johnny for a few moments, like now he was searching. Like his antennae had suddenly sprung up. "Yeah, I think that was his name. Why you so interested, Deuce?"
    "Tell me about this McLean guy."
    "What's there to tell?"
    Johnny took a deep breath. He wasn't a man blessed with a reservoir of patience. "Look, pal, you know I only work for one man in the family. I'm here as a personal favor to him. This isn't a family council deal. Now I want answers, I want your cooperation. I'd hate to tell Mr. Marconi that you wouldn't give me that." Johnny leaned back, exposing the butt end of his favorite pistol sticking out of the shoulder holster. He saw Treviso's eyes flicker down to the gun, watched them linger there for a few moments. "Come on, Tony. Stop fucking around."
    Treviso nodded solemnly. "Yeah, okay." His voice was barely audible. "But can you at least tell me why you're here first? What Marconi wants to know?"
    "Look, here's the...uh, here's the--" Johnny did a subtle double take as he stuttered. Karen was standing in the hallway outside the kitchen again, where Treviso couldn't see her. She was gazing straight at him with those incredible eyes, sending a message to him without actually saying a word. God, she was beautiful.
    "What's the problem, Deuce?" Treviso wanted to know. "You all right? Hey! Deuce! " 13
    J ACK PULLED THE covers over his head to shield his eyes from the blinding light suddenly streaming into his bedroom. It was as if the sun were right outside the house.
    "What the hell's going on?" he grumbled.
    "Time to get up, Daddy,"