Chapter 6: A Dance With the Devil

Jess Angell had never met Sonny Sassone. But people around the precinct still talked about him. About how he was a lecherous, smart-assed hood who had his sticky hands in a lot of pies. So naturally, when Flack asked if she wanted to ride along to Sing Sing… she jumped at the chance. On the way, Flack filled her in about Sassone's sordid past…and Louie and Danny Messer.

"Danny used to roll with Tanglewood?" Jess asked, turning the heat down in the car.

"He never really 'rolled' with Tanglewood," Flack clarified. "He was with them the night Sonny killed that kid at Giants Stadium. Even then he wasn't really hanging with them. He just happened to be in the wrong place." He realized how ridiculous he'd just sounded. He was but he wasn't...well, he sorta was...

He caught Jess grinning at him. "You sounded like a sixth grader."

He shook his head with a smile. "He was with the wrong people," he clarified, feeling his ears turn red. Hey, it wasn't his fault that his partner made him so tongue-tied.

"At the very wrong time," Jess replied, and Flack nodded as he signaled to turn into the prison gate. "Considerin' he wasn't even at the stadium when Sonny offed that kid, he almost got nailed for his murder. But his brother-Louie-he saved his ass."

Jess ignored the cat calls as she walked with Flack to one of the interrogation rooms. "Hey baby…" a tattooed, bald male whistled from his cell. The guard slammed on the cell bars with his nightstick. "Shut up, Morton," he bit. "She's an NYPD detective."

Morton grinned, a sight that made Jess want to go home and shower. "I was talkin' to him," Morton replied, jerking his chin at Flack.

Flack turned around. He shook his head. "Nah, you're not my type, asshole. But the guy across the hall…I think he's right up your alley." They turned a corner into another cellblock before Morton could make another smart-assed comment, though Flack heard the convict in the cell across from Morton plainly tell him to fuck off. Careful buddy, Morton might take that as an invitation.

"We'll bring in Sassone in a sec," the guard told the two detectives. "Have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable." He closed the door behind them.

Jess snorted. "Comfortable, my ass," she muttered. Flack grinned.

Ten minutes later, the door buzzed open and in shuffled Sonny Sassone. His hair was a little longer, a little greasier, and he was a little more round, but it was definitely the man Flack remembered from five years ago. "Donnie Flack!" Sonny greeted him. "As I live and breathe, a real celebrity."

"Looks like you're gettin' the royal treatment there, Sassone," Flack acknowledged, feeling greasy just looking at the former mobster.

Sassone sized up Jess and whistled. "Who's your partner, Flack? You gettin' a little action in the back of your squad car?"

"Tryin' to get your jollies off on our sordid sex life?" Jess Angell said. "Hate to burst your bubble there, Sonny, but you ain't getting to hear jack."

"She's a spitfire, Donnie!" Sassone said with a chuckle. "I hope you're hittin' that."

"Speakin' of hits," Flack cut in, noting that Jess was getting a little hot under the collar. The fact that Sassone had mentioned a semblance of a personal relationship between the two had him wondering. It could just have been Sassone being a wise ass, but if he had someone on the outside… "Let's talk about Sal Cuccione."

The instant he spoke the name, he saw recognition in Sassone's eyes. "Cucci?" he said. "Hell, I ain't seen or heard from Cucci in twenty-five years."

"Someone put a bullet in his forehead last night," Jess told him, and Sassone nodded.

"Did humanity a favor then, didn't they. What's this gotta do with you two gracin' my presence today?" The greasy convict folded his hands on his belly and leaned back in his chair.

"Dead men do tell tales, Sonny," Flack replied. "Sal had a note in his pocket for one of our detectives. You remember Danny Messer, don't you?"

"How is little Danny doin'?" Sonny asked. "His brother still a veggie?"

Flack bristled, but kept his composure. "What's 'see ya soon' mean, Sonny?" he asked him. "Cause from what I know, you ain't getting out of here any other way than a body bag."

Sonny shrugged. "I dunno what you're talkin' about there, Donnie." The use of his first name was riling Flack, and Sonny knew it.

"I think you made a call, told someone to put a bullet in Sal," Jess said smoothly, taking over. "I hear you're pretty good at that. You've got a long reach, even from behind a cell door."

"You know, as tempting as it would be to plug that sonofabitch," Sonny agreed, "I didn't do nothin' of the sort."

"What are we gonna find when we pull the prison phone records?" Jess asked. "Or the visitor's log?"

Sonny pondered that. "Got a call from my lawyer day before last," he said. "And my mama came to visit a week ago."

"Your mama's dead, Sassone," Flack said, rolling his eyes.

Sonny didn't miss a beat. "Well, hell I wonder who that was then." He grinned at Flack. "Maybe that was your mama instead?"

"I think we're done here," Jess said before Flack could come up with a retort. She stood up, caught Sassone checking out her ass in the two way glass. "You're right Flack," she said as they left the room, loud enough for Sassone to hear, "he really is a lecherous smart ass."

"Be still my heart!" she heard Sonny call.

She shivered as they got out to the car. "I need a bath in rubbing alcohol," Jess said as they got into the car.

"Me too," Flack agreed. He maneuvered the car out to the highway and headed back towards the city. Then he glanced sideways out of the corner of his eye. "You're off the clock pretty soon, right?" he asked with a grin. "So about that bath…"

"Now who's the lecherous smart ass?" Jess teased.

The skyline came into view a while later. He and Jess had sat in silence the entire time, except for a phone call to Mac Taylor to let him know what had gone down. Mac asked him a question, and Flack honestly didn't know how to answer him. When he finally hung up, Flack asked Jess the same question, "Did we get anywhere with him?" He stared out onto the highway, trying to put it all together in his head.

Jess shook her head. "No. Like the rest of Sonny's life…that was a dead end."