"Lucas and I would go down to the park and shoot hoops or play catch. He was horrible but it was just about fun so we didn't care. Mostly we just wanted to get out of the house, unwind.
"Sometimes Michael and Sonny and The Boys would be at the park. They'd come over, we'd team up, play 3 on 3. Michael was a fantastic ball player. He could have gone all the way if he wanted to, but work ain't a word the Tanglewood Boys know personally if you get my meaning."
Mac nodded.
"Me and Lucas didn't think anything about them. Yeah, we knew they were Gio Sassone's boys, but we were kids. Wasn't like anyone had given us a clue. So we did our thing. Went to school, went to church, played ball in the park."
They looked up at the sound of a throat clearing. Lucy the Waitress nodded the clock on the wall.
"I got this." Danny pulled some cash out of his wallet, added a generous tip and tossed it on the table.
Mac pulled on his jacket.
"Good night, Detectives." Lucy called from behind the counter.
"Night, Luce." Danny waved at her as he followed Mac out the door.
"When did they come after you?"
"We were sixteen. We'd both gotten jobs at this little bodega. Unloading stock, bagging groceries, running deliveries to little old ladies that couldn't get out of the house. Pay was lousy but it was money that was ours. We'd do a couple of hours after school, half a day on Saturday, sometimes an extra half on Sundays. Still managed to put in a couple of hours of hoops at the park.
"Michael and his guys were long gone, doing work for their fathers. But Sonny was still hanging around the park with his own little crew. Most of the time they'd just sit on the picnic tables blasting their music and drinking stolen beers. But sometimes they'd still shoot hoops.
"One night, me and Lucas were walking back from the park when this car cut us off. Sonny and his gang had thrown down on some of the guys from Pelham Bay and they were looking for revenge. They saw us playing with Sonny and figured we were part of the gang. They would have beaten the hell out of us if this traffic cop hadn't driven up. They ran and the cop drove us home."
"What did your father say?"
"Not much. Thank you to the officer. Are you okay to me. I spent the next hour in the kitchen while my mother cleaned up all the scraps on my face and arms. You got any Italian in your family?"
"Not that I know of, mostly English, bit of Irish."
"Consider yourself lucky. My mother was first generation Italian-American and let me tell you, Italian mothers can make you feel guilty without saying a word. I would have rather had my father yell at me.
"The next afternoon, after church, my father takes me for a drive. Pulls into this parking lot and points across the street. We're looking at the local morgue. A bus pulls up and I can see them unloading this body. My father watches them wheel the body inside and the door closed. Then he looks at me and tells me that if I hang with the Sonny and his type, I might be the next body that goes through that door and it would break my mother's heart and his."
"Rather heavy words."
"Yeah. Couple of days later, Sonny and his guys come into the bodega looking to score some munchies. I asked them to take their trouble somewhere else. Like I said, the pay was lousy but I actually liked my job and I didn't want to get fired over crap like that. Amazingly, Sonny said okay. They were waiting when Lucas and I got off work, said that they liked us. We had spirit and all that. They wanted us to hang with them."
"You said no, but Lucas didn't."
"At first he did, but Sonny could smell it on him. That need to belong to something, to feel protected. And he wore Lucas down. After a while, Lucas wouldn't even talk to me. Figured if I thought I was too good to hang with the Tanglewoods, I thought I was too good for him. I finally had to admit defeat, give up.
"Christmas Eve my senior found a kid's body in the park."
"Lucas?"
"Yeah. He'd overdosed. Booze, smack."
"Danny, I'm sorry."
"What hurt the most was that everyone knew where the drugs came from, how he got them, but no one did a damm thing. Like Old Man Parsons beating his kid for ten years. Wasn't happening to them so they didn't give a shit.
"Ironically, the Tanglewood Boys are why I became a cop."
"You wanted to give a shit for those that were overlooked." Mac smiled. "Not a bad reason."
"At least now they will get some payback."
"Not according to Sonny. He says he'll walk."
"Never happen."
"I hope not."
"I know not. See, Mac, if this was just about finding a witness, getting someone to flip on Sonny, forget it. But unlike Sonny and the Gang, their fathers aren't stupid. With solid evidence against the Boys, their Daddies will cut them loose rather than go down with them."
"Sad comment on the world when the Business is more important than family."
"Yeah, really sucks to be them."