14 Prudent

The Next Day

The next day Liu Shifu sat at his desk and stared at the paper Dunkin' Donuts napkin in his hand. Dominick Provenzano's beeper number was written in ballpoint pen on the napkin. Shifu couldn't decide whether he should call him or not. He wanted to get things rolling with Dominick, but he didn't like going to people, coming right out and saying what he wanted. It made you seem desperate and put you in a weaker position. He preferred to have people come to him.

But he needed the cyanide. Zhang Xiaohua and Cao Feifei were out there somewhere. They could get in a jam and start talking again. They would tell stories about him just to save themselves. They'd cut another deal with the state, agree to give up a bigger fish in exchange for dropped charges. They'd do it, no question.

That's why Shifu needed the cyanide, and he shouldn't wait on this. Dominick said he could get it.

Shifu picked up the phone and punched out Dominick's number. He waited for the tone that gave him the go-ahead to enter his own phone number into the system. After it sounded, he hesitated for a second, then punched out his number. He hung up the phone and waited.

A half hour later the phone rang. He stared at it and let it ring a few times. He didn't want to seem anxious. "Hello?"

"Hello. Shifu?"

"Yeah."

"Dom."

"How ya doing?"

"Good, good. Yourself?"

"I'm okay."

"What's up?"

He glanced down at his briefcase on the floor. "Remember what we were talking about yesterday? The stuff we were talking about? The white stuff?"

"Yeah?" Dominick sounded cautious.

"Is it okay to talk?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm at a pay phone. How about you?"

"I'm at home."

"Oh." Dominick sounded cautious again, and suspicious.

"Listen, I was wondering. How much of that stuff could you get?"

"How much do you need?"

"A lot."

"How much is that, Shifu? What're we talking about here?"

"Fifty."

''Sure, no problem." Dominick didn't hesitate.

"Let's get together and we'll figure out the when and where."

"Yeah, okay. Soon as I know my buyer is serious, we'll get together."

"What you mean, 'serious'. You never done business with this buyer before." Dominick sounded upset.

"No, I've worked with the guy before. He knows I don't like no bullshit, so he's always been straight with me. When he knows for sure he can put the cash together, he'll call me. Then I'll call you."

"Oh."

"No sense our wasting our time for nothing, right. I like sure bets."

"Of course." Dominick still sounded suspicious.

"So you can get it."

"I told you, no problem. My guy's good for it. All I need is two days' notice. Okay.''" Dominick seemed very confident of his source.

"Soon as I know my buyer's good for the money, I'll call you."

"Great. I'll give my guy a call to make sure he's got stuff coming in. But don't worry. This guy's never run dry on me before."

"Good."

"Okay, Shifu, you call me when you know something. I'll be talking to you—"

"How about that other stuff we talked about, Dom." Shifu picked up the Dunkin' Donuts napkin.

"What stuff?"

"The other stuff."

"Oh, the stuff for the rats?"

"Yeah."

'I'm working on it. I got a call in to someone. I'm waiting to hear from him."

Shifu crumpled the napkin. "Okay. I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget."

Dominick laughed. "My friend, when it comes to business, I don't forget."

Shifu smiled into the phone. "That's what I like to hear."

"Okay, if you want to do this big order, you call me. Soon as I know about the other stuff, I'll call you. Can I usually get you at this number? Three-eight-five—"

"Yeah. If I'm not here, the machine picks up."

"Okay then. I'll talk to you soon."

"Right. Take it easy, Dom."

Dominick hung up on his end. Shifu laid his receiver back on the cradle. He looked out the window at the backyard. Bullshit, he thought.

He picked up the phone and dialed the pay phone at "the store." It rang twice.

"Hello?"

"Is Lenny DePrima there.?"

"Yeah, he's here. Who's this?"

"Tell him it's Angel."

"Who?"

"Just tell him it's Angel. He'll know."

"'Angel? Okay."

He could hear the hubbub of "the store" coming through the line. Shifu picked up a pen, smoothed out the napkin, and drew a box around Dominick's phone number. There were very few people he trusted in the world. Lenny DePrima was one of them. Lenny had always played straight with him, no bullshit.

Someone finally came back to the phone. "Hello, Shifu?"

'Yeah."

''Hey, how's it going?"

''I don't know yet."

"Huh? What you mean?"

"This Dominick Provenzano—is he for real or what?"

"Sure, he's for real."

"How do you know?"

"Hey, Shifu, if he wasn't for real, do you think I'd send him to you?"

"Yeah, but how do you know he's for real? What do you know about him?"

"I know he's connected."

"Yeah, right. Everybody's connected these days."

"No, for real. I heard that from someone else. I sold Dominick some stuff myself. He's always been good for it with me. I never had any problems with the guy."

"So you think he's for real."

"Hey, his cash is green, and he keeps his promises. That's about as real as he needs to be as far as I'm concerned."

"Yeah...I guess so." He underlined Dominick's phone number a few times. "As long as his cash is green, that's all that counts."

DePrima laughed. "You can say that again, brother."

"All right, I just wanted to make sure before I got into anything with him."

"He's okay. Shifu. You don't have to worry about him."

"Tell me something. You hear anything about Shade lately." Shade was Zhang Xiaohua's nickname.

"What'you, kidding? He knows better than to come around here, the bastard. I hope he's got cancer, the fuck."

"Nobody's seen him?"

"Nah. State's got him in protective custody. You know that. He won't be coming around here no more. Not after what he did."

Zhang Xiaohua had worn a wire for the police and got a kid in his own gang to admit on tape that he took part in a house robbery where a man was killed. The cops were dying to lock up somebody for that murder, and the kid was good enough. Thanks to Zhang Xiaohua, he was serving a life sentence in Rahway now. Zhang Xiaohua would rat on his own mother, Shifu felt. As for Cao Feifei, she had helped Zhang Xiaohua try to trap her own cousin Li Xian into admitting to that murder, but Li Xian wouldn't talk about it. These two were inhuman. They'd turn in their own families. Liu Shifu knew he had to take care of them before they did any more damage.

"You still there. Shifu?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Listen, don't worry about Dom. He's okay. And listen."

"What?"

"If you find Shade, you let me know. I know a lotta people around here who'd love to pay him a visit. You know what I mean?"

"I know. Take it easy, Lenny."

"Yeah, you, too, Shifu."

He hung up the phone and swiveled his chair toward the window. Looking out through the Venetian blinds, he could see the two small concrete lions on the patio. He was thinking about Li Xian.

Zhang Xiaohua and Cao Feifei had to go to sleep the same way Li Xian had gone to sleep. Maybe not as messy as Li Xian had been, but he wanted them to go the same way. He ran the edge of his hand over the crumpled napkin on the desktop. That's why he needed the goddamn cyanide.