Rocco's place was small and cramped. Sarah sat crammed between Murphy and Connor, mindlessly chewing on a slice of pizza. Connor cracked open a beer and handed it to her. Murphy gave her a cigarette and she blew a smoke ring at him.
They told Rocco everything and he was taking it surprisingly well. But that could just be because they were all slowly getting drunk.
"Anybody you think is evil," Rocco repeated.
"Aye," Connor said.
"Don't you think that's a little weird? A little psycho?"
"You know what I think is psycho, Roc?" Sarah said. "It's decent men with loving families. They go home every day after work and they turn on the news. You know what they see? They see rapists and murderers and child molesters. They're all getting out of prison."
"Mafiosos getting caught with 20 kilos, getting out on bail, the same fucking day," Murphy added in.
"And everywhere, everyone thinks the same thing," Connor put in, "that someone should just go kill those motherfuckers."
"Kill them all," Murphy said. "Admit it. Even you've thought about it."
Rocco sat in silence while Sarah tossed her pizza crust onto the table, draining the last of her beer in one go.
"Shit," Rocco said. "You guys should be in every major city."
Sarah snorted with laughter, "Easy for you to say." She took a deep pull of her cigarette, letting the smoke fill her lungs.
"This is some heavy shit," Rocco said. "This is like 'Lone Ranger' heavy man. Fuck it! There's so much shit that pisses me off. You guys should recruit, cuz I am sick and fucking tired of walking down the street waiting for one of these crack-piping, ass-wiping, motherless lowlifes to get me."
"Hallelujah, Jaffar," Murphy chuckled.
"You're not just talking mob guys, right?" Rocco asked, sitting down. "You're talking pimps and drug dealers and all that shit?"
The three looked at each other and nodded.
"Fuck. You guys could do this every goddamn day," Rocco leaned back in amazement.
"We're like 7-11," Murphy said, leaning a bit forward. "We're not always doing business, but we're always open."
"Mmm, that is nicely put," Sarah nodded.
Connor handed her the bottle of whiskey and she took a drink. Rocco was messing with masks and knives while Murphy was regaling the night's events. Sarah was cooing the cat and passing a beer with Connor. Rocco was complaining about still working as the message boy for the Italians. He could never get up the ladder. Permanent package boy.
"You can take credit on it," Sarah suggested. "It's all you can do, really. I mean it's not like you can say it was us or anything."
"Climb the corporate ladder, boy," Connor agreed. "Don Rocco."
Rocco, overcome by his desire to get above things in the world, worked himself into a frenzy. He talked himself into doing it, to taking credit for the death of the Russians. In victory, he slammed his fists on the table near Sarah's gun.
BANG!
The gunshot shot through the room and, shouting, they all ran to the other side of the room as fast as their drunken bodies could, checking to make sure that they weren't hurt. Sarah looked up and down, no blood on her, no blood on anyone else either.
When Rocco had slammed his fist on the table, causing Sarah's gun to go off, it shot the cat that was lounging on the table. All that was left was a softball-sized hole in the wall and a huge splatter of blood. Connor took a step towards the wall.
"I can't believe that just fucking happened!" Murphy shouted.
"Is it dead?" Rocco asked.
"Oh, my God!" Sarah exclaimed, going to the next room.
She collapsed onto the couch in utter disbelief as Rocco passed out in the kitchen, leaving Connor and Murphy to patch up the wall. They were talking in hushed whispers and doing their goddamn twin thing. Sarah stood up and went next to them, demanding to be part of their conversation.
"What are you two talking about?" she asked, grabbing the tape from Connor's hand. "Don't you dare fucking lie to me either."
The twins shared a heavy glance and Sarah felt her blood pressure rising. She opened her mouth to chew out her brothers when Murphy put a hand over her mouth.
"Shut up and listen," Murphy whispered, lowering his hand. "We think that that Poppa Joe is trying to get Roc killed."
"What are you on about?" Sarah hissed back. "Why the fuck would he do that?"
"This was the gun he had on him," Connor pulled out a revolver.
"A six-shooter?!" Sarah exclaimed. "They gave him a six-shooter for nine fucking guys?"
"Hush!" Murphy shushed her. "Exactly our point. We've been mulling it over. Rocco's good, he'd probably nail the fat man, maybe a few others – "
" – but he wouldn't be leaving the scene except for in a body bag," Connor finished.
"With the shooter at the scene, dead," Sarah connected the dots, "then no real investigation and Poppa Joe gets off free."
"And he knows Rocco," Murphy continued. "Rocco would go in and try to shoot everyone. Anyone else would have gone in and out, no big deal."
"Fuck," Sarah breathed, running a hand through her hair. "You know you gotta tell him, right? Get him outta there."
"Yeah, we know," the twins said together.
Sarah looked past them and to Rocco's sleeping form on the floor. A rush of emotion welled up in her chest.
"We can't let him die," Sarah said. "We can't."
Sarah woke up on the couch. Connor and Murphy were outside. Presumably to tell Rocco what they believed. Sarah rubbed her eyes and sat up, giving a tremendous yawn. The door opened and Murphy walked in. His face was red and his eyes flashed with anger. He caught sight of Sarah and his face wilted.
"Sorry," he shrugged. "There's just no talking sense to him."
Sarah sighed. She walked to the kitchen and pulled a Pepsi from the fridge, tossing one to Murphy and another to Connor when he walked in through the door. Might as well get comfortable while they wait.
The three of them sat down at the table, sharing a few smokes and reading the morning paper, cans of soda opened between them. The phone rang and Murphy answered it before it finished its first ring. Rocco was on the other end. Murphy shook his head when he hung up. No new news. The door opened and Donna and Rayvie stumbled in. Sarah raised an eyebrow and looked at her brothers. They had the same look of disgust on their faces. Within a few minutes, they were both passed out on the couch.
"Fucking whores," Sarah said under her breath.
To help her anger, Sarah got started on the pennies, boiling them in salt water to give them shine and wipe away fingerprints. The door burst open and Rocco came in, hysterical and crying and screaming, shoving everything in a bag. She let him scream it out, trusting Connor and Murphy to handle him, keeping an eye on the pennies. All she heard were the words "We gotta get outta here!" and "I killed them!"
"The cocksucker sold me out!" Rocco shouted, catching Sarah's attention.
"Didn't I tell you, Roc?" Connor yelled. "Did they pull on you first?"
"What am I doing? I'm at the middle of the Lakeview!"
"Lakeview the Deli, Roc?" Sarah groaned.
"Looks like we got us a new fucking recruit," Murphy said.
Rocco ran to Donna and Rayvie, still shouting up a storm. Sarah, Connor and Murphy were packing their bags, getting their money, guns and everything else. Sarah got the pennies out of the pot, ignoring the scorching pain. Murphy tossed her a duffle and they walked out to the car, bags over their shoulders.
"Those rat fucks!" Rocco exclaimed. "All of them were all laughing at me."
"Are you sure you killed them all?" Sarah asked.
"Fucking-A right I did," Rocco snapped. "I had a goddamn turkey shoot over there."
"Listen, Roc," Connor said, "did anybody see you?"
"Fuck, man, I might as well have gone around posting flyers. Right out in public."
"Liberating, isn't it?" Sarah said as they jumped into the car, driving off.
They drove for a good twenty minutes, Sarah in the backseat next to Rocco, braiding her hair and pinning it behind her head.
"Connor, stop the car!" Rocco suddenly shouted. "Stop the fucking car, man!"
They were in front of a building called the Sin Bin. Vincenzo, right hand man for Yakavetta, is the one who set up Rocco the other night. He comes here, every Wednesday night about 10, and goes to the same booth. Like clockwork.
"What's your point?" Sarah asked.
"Let's kill the motherfucker," Rocco said. "I mean, what are you guys? That's your new thing, right?"
"Yeah, well." The twins share a glance.
"What the fuck?" Rocco asked. "I mean, who makes the cut? Is there a raffle or something?"
"I think, what my brothers are trying to say," Sarah leaned forward, "is those first guys kinda fell into our laps. We don't really have a system of deciding who."
"Me!" Rocco yelled. "Me! I'm the guy! I know everyone! Their habits, who they hang out with, who they talk to. I got phone numbers, addresses! I know who they're fucking! I know where they live!" his voice lowered to a hushed whisper. "We could kill everyone."
"I'm okay with it," Sarah shrugged. "What about you?"
"Yeah," Murphy said, turning to Connor. "What do you think?"
"I'm strangely comfortable with it."
They waited until nightfall to put their plan in action, giving them time to get into their turtlenecks. Murphy and Connor were distracted by a drug dealing in the alley and made to set things right. Sarah hissed at them to come back. Vincenzo had arrived, hauling his greasy fat self inside. Instantly they went into action. They walked inside and through the hallways, coming to a large door with the phrase "abandon hope ye who enter here" painted on it. The MacManus's pulled on their masks and Rocco pulled on one of his own. Homemade from a beanie. The other three bust up laughing at him.
"What?" Rocco asked. "You guys got masks!"
"You look like Mush Mouth from Fat Albert," Murphy laughed.
They pulled out their guns, still laughing at Rocco's homemade mask.
"Fine. Fuck it!" Rocco tore it off. "When we're done, she can I.D. me. I don't care. Just trying to be professional, but no!"
"Put it back on, idiot," Sarah slapped him hard. "You need it after all."
"Yeah!" Connor hit him on the head. "You look fucking scary man!"
Rocco put it back on and the four of them readied their guns.
"Now Roc," Connor said, "are you sure that you're 'O-B-kay-B'?"
Laughing, Connor and Murphy opened the door and they rushed in.
I left out the part where Smecker explains his first theory because the speech would be the same regardless of Sarah.