Chapter 11
To: Jack
From: Stella
You in Seattle?
...
To: SD (SF)
From: JT
Yeah. How'd you know?
...
To: Jack
From: Stella
Serious? Let me take my favorite otter to dinner.
...
To: SD (SF)
From: JT
Okay. Usual place & time?
Ray's Boathouse
Seattle, WA
Ray's was an old school kind of place, solid, upscale but not fancy. And the view was amazing. Jem lounged in a chair on the deck and watched the sun slowly sink into the Pacific on the far side of Puget Sound and waited. Hopefully this would just be dinner. It was too soon for anything else.
Hopefully.
Just as the waiter was leaving he was stopped by a woman coming in. She was dressed conservatively, but in a way that spoke of money, every inch the high-priced, extremely competent lawyer. She spoke to the waiter briefly and then came over to his table. "Please tell me you weren't screwing with my order." He said.
"Get between a sea otter and his big bowl of clams? Never." She had a slight accent that most would trace to New York, but they would be wrong. "Are you going to give me a hug or what?"
"Of course I am." He got up and enveloped her slight form, even briefly lifting her off the ground. "It's good to see you Stel."
"Good to see you Jackie. It's been too goddammed long. Oh." She grinned as he set her back on her feet and then sat across from him. "You are not a baby any more, are you? I think you got bigger."
"Since the last time I came out here? I know I got bigger. And look at you, you look fantastic. How are the kids?"
"They're doing great. Paul got MVP in his soccer league last week. Maria's learning to read already."
"Damn, they are growing fast."
"Yeah, too fast. That means I'm getting older." The waiter brought wine, likely an excellent chardonnay, but Jem turned it down. He would not drink on duty, or on this side of the country. Stella waited until the waiter left to settle back with her glass. "So, I heard about what happened to Tom Bonnano last night."
"What happened to Tom Bonnano last night?"
"Don't bullshit me Jackie. Unless you changed careers on me..." He put his badge on the table. Stella looked at it and sighed. "Didn't think so. Your people busted him last night. Word has it they found everything he was hiding, got so much evidence his lawyer is telling him to give up and come clean. And don't bullshit me and tell me you weren't right in the middle of it either."
The waiter came back and placed large bowls of steamed clams dripping in a spiced sauce and a small loaf of bread in front of each of them. It smelled heavenly. Jem's stomach grumbled. "What would it take to get the chef to part with the recipe for this?" He asked the waiter.
"A miracle." The waiter replied.
"Damn." When the waiter was gone he turned back to Stella. "I can't say anything about Bureau business, you know that. But I will say that if I was involved I wouldn't tell you."
"I know." She started picking through her clams.
Jem watched her a moment, the new warring with the old inside him. "Does Johnny know about Tom Bonnano?"
"Yeah, he does. He wants your ass Jackie, you know that."
"Yeah, well..."
"Is that why you're getting so big? You know all that muscle ain't gonna stop a bullet."
"Johnny doesn't want to shoot me. He's too much of a sadist to make it that clean."
"Yeah, I know. And you know too, and they let you out without babysitters."
Jem looked over at the bar where Stella's two bodyguards were waiting. "The Bureau doesn't need to be in my private business. Besides, I can take care of myself."
"You really think that? You know, when Johnny goes after you..."
"If Johnny comes after me. I'm a Fed now Stel, remember? Johnny is wrong in the head but he's not that wrong in the head."
"When Johnny goes after you you're not going to be able to handle it yourself. So the Bureau better pay you back in protection for all the work you've been doing for them. You know the only thing holding him back is the promise the old man made to Mama."
Yeah, Jem knew that. But Johnny wasn't that crazy, surely he wasn't that crazy anymore. "How is the old man?"
"Doing well for pushing 70. He's still sharp as a tack, still gets around, still has control. The doctor has him on one of those low salt, low fat heart diets."
"Oh I bet he loves that." Jem chuckled.
Stella grinned. "You know it. Man, he bitches about every meal, ain't got no flavor, doesn't taste right, why can't we do it like Mama did..."
"I can just imagine." Jem smiled and set some bread swimming in the too tasty sauce. "So, tell me about you these days."
"Nah, you first. You meet anyone yet?"
Jem looked into his bowl, and realized that he was going to have to make Spencer clams someday soon. Maybe some shrimp scampi to go with it, something in a lemon pastry for desert. That bringing him home and cooking for him was already inevitable. "Nope. Too busy with work. How's that new husband of yours?"
To: Jack
From: Stella
Never say I don't love you.
Attachment: Ray's clams recipe
To: Stella
From: Johnny
You tell him about the old man?
...
To: Johnny
From: Stella
No
...
To: Stella
From: Johnny
Good girl
.
Because she is important I'm casting Tea Leoni as Stella
I'm putting these out there because I just want to tell story.
Still no word, please keep your fingers crossed for us for just a little while more.