Despite having no leads, Jade did have a place to begin. She was privy to a virtual network of thieves, creeps, killers and other lowlifes. And their constant interference with her life, they were probably guilty for bringing some kind of heat on her and her sister. When you're a daughter of the mob, you and your sibling being attacked all within two days is far from coincidental.
She still had a card from Carl with his address on it. He gave it to her pretty much right after she turned seventeen. Sick bastard.
Jade knocked on the door with her foot and the steel rectangle flew off its hinges. She surprised him while he was making coffee. His quick movements away from the commotion caused the nearly full pot to shatter on the floor. Jade briefly thought what a pointless waste of perfectly good coffee it was.
She pulled his arms behind his back and slammed him against the wall. His face was mushed against it enough that he felt like he was going through it.
"Talk." Jade growled.
"Jade, what a surprise" he squeezed through his lips. "Please come in."
"Alright, Mr. Comedian, we'll do it the hard way." With that Jade twisted his left wrist with an audible crack. Carl howled at the pain. "Now that I have your full attention: something tries to kill me the night before and then I return home this evening and my sister's dead."
She whips him around quickly and slams him against the wall, this time facing eye to eye with her. Jade's arm presses against Carl's throat.
"Explain," her eyes made that last meeting on the bus seem loving.
Carl shakes his head while choking on his words, "She's fucking dead?"
Jade picks him up almost two feet from the floor. "Yeah, fancy that! You give me a warning about being careful and surprise, bad shit happened."
"I swear, I know nothing about it!"
"BULLSHIT!"
"I've done a lot of things. But ask anybody. I don't do women or kids. I'm a murdering bastard but I'm no mons…"
Jade squeezed his neck even harder. She didn't want him to finish that word. Sore spot for her considering the circumstances. After about eight seconds, she lets go and the large Mafioso gasps for air.
"Mir…Mira…was…aahhh…I would never…"
"Then tell me what did."
Carl coughs heavily. "I told you, I don't know."
"The Syndicate? The Russians? Somebody?"
"Hey, look, our business it could be anybody. Maybe a spook discover…"
Jade flips him onto his coffee table, breaking it into kindling. "That was no fucking fed!. They destroyed her!"
Carl winces to the point of tears at the provoking of his herniated disc. She stares at his pain-ridden grimace.
"You may be a pig and a creep," Jade paused for effect. "But you're not stupid. If you knew anything you would have told me."
Carl glances at the chaos in his apartment. "Glad you saw my side before you overreacted."
Still a goddamn jester to the last.
Jade pulls him in closer by his shirt, agitating the bad back even more. "Listen well, Carl. If you hear anything, find me. You don't…"
She drops him and picks up the heavy couch, hurling it like a Frisbee. Carl watches as the piece of furniture becomes pieces.
"And for whoever tried to kill me, let them know that they should have done a better job. Because now I'm something much…worse."
Jade vanishes from sight.
"Hey, Mills!" A blonde chubby man came jogging up to the Captain.
"Mac, what's going on?"
"I got that DNA match for you from the subway. We actually pulled up a juvee record. A Miss Jadelyn West."
"Okay."
"Did I mention that her father happen to be Bernardo Grimaldi's most notorious cleaner, Gregory West?"
"Well, that certainly made things even more interesting."
"So what now?"
Mills takes out his phone. "Sounds to me like cause for a search"
Mac hands him a piece of paper. "Last known address."
"I'll call the D.A."
Carl waited on the broken table for twenty minutes before being convinced that the coast was clear. He dug out his phone from his front pocket and dialed.
The other line rung about 6 times before somebody answered.
"What do want, Carl?" the man with the Sicilian accent asked.
"Boss…we've got a problem here,"
"What, I'm not in the mood."
"West…youngest daughter is dead."
"And what of Jade?"
"She…"
"Out with it!"
Carl swallows hard. "It's happened. Somehow she got exposed…"
"Are you being serious right now?"
"Trust me, I've seen it. Definitely has the signs and there was that story from the subway."
"Jesus Christ, Carl! You were supposed to watch them!"
"I know but…"
"NO! NO! You have any idea of what kind of shit storm this is going to create?"
"I'm sorry, boss."
"Fuck you and your sorrys. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to break some news to someone I hope doesn't break me."
"Wait, wait, wait!"
"What is it now?"
"Could you, um, send a couple of guys to get me. I can't move."
That's where Bernardo decides to end the conversation.
Police staggered out of the apartment of Jade West.
"It was like a battlefield in there," one described.
The sight of the badly mutilated younger sister Mira West turned many seasoned veterans white. One guy threw up in the hallway.
Captain Mills furrows his brow at the mayhem. He has seen carnage in his years on the force but a scene like this always managed to upset him. Especially when the victim is rather young. He picks up his radio.
"All patrol units listen up. We are searching for one Jadelyn West. She's 5'7'' with dark hair and blue-green eyes." Mills takes a second to check his notes. "About 24 years old. Please consider her extremely dangerous. We advise that all units should enquire at the nearest hospitals and morgues, in case someone already has found our perp."
Robert Shapiro grabbed the radio from the dashboard. Det. Cook, who was driving, looked at Shapiro with contempt. He always hated that squawk box.
"This is G-26. We are on Jasper Street right now. I see Schneider Memorial up ahead. Going to inquirer."
"Very good, G-26. Let us know of anything significant to forward to Mills."
"Roger."
"Rob," Cook flicked his tongue. "You really think we might find this West person?"
"Can't hurt to ask."
"You think she's dead?"
"Not sure."
Cook smirks. "Well, I think so."