Jaci_Rain walked quietly along the sidewalk deep in thought, her silky black skirt swaying in the breeze. Little Tommy held tightly to her hand, hurrying to keep up with her, her trusted employee Robert walked to her right, and a few of her body guards walked in front and behind them. She had beefed up security a bit more since the recent Hit had been put on her head, it had lasted for just a short time, but thoughts of it still lingered in her mind.

She took a sip of her flask of Naughty and Nice she kept in her purse to calm her nerves, something she had learned from her mother. There wasn't anything that a little bit of Naughty and Nice couldn't cure.

“Miss, are you still thinking of the Hit?” Robert asked, concerned. “It's gone now, your mind can rest.”

Not wanting to alert or worry Tommy, Jaci_Rain spoke in a low voice. “Yes, I know, but whoever put the Hit out on me is not gone. That is what concerns me.”

“What's a hit?” Tommy questioned. Obviously his ears were working quite well.

“It's when someone offers money to have someone whacked,” Robert responded, immediately.

“Robert!” Jaci_Rain gave him a shove and a dirty look.

He righted himself, looking all innocent. “Well, he asked.”

Tommy came to a sudden stop, halting the group. “Somebody wants you dead?”

She leaned down to look in to his eyes, and smiled at the sweet innocent child. “Sweetheart, everything is OK. It's over now, don't worry about it.”

“How much money did they offer?” His little face looking concerned.

“One dollar,” Robert answered, earning him another dirty look.

“Oh.”

The group started making their way down the street again. Jaci_Rain hoped that the conversation was over, not wanting Tommy to be worried. Since her mother's passing, she has brought the child to live with her as her son, knowing the special bond her mother had shared with the child.

Tommy pulled her to a stop again, almost making her trip. “Maybe whoever it was likes you.”

“What are you talking about, Sweetie?” She was a bit concerned that Tommy was getting sick, he seemed to be getting delirious.

“Well, when I like a girl, I pull her hair or put a bug on her dress, but maybe big boys are different,” He smiled great big, then giggled. “Maybe somebody's got a crush on ya.”

Jaci_Rain looked at the child for a few moments, before giving him a gentle pull on the hand to keep them moving down the street. Oh great, now she had even more thoughts floating around in her mind! She refused to even look Robert's way, who was snickering beside her.

“You know, maybe Tommy is close to being right. I mean, it was a dollar bounty. It doesn't sound like whoever it is wanted you in real danger, maybe it's just someone trying to get your attention?”

She thought over his words and Tommy's, confused by how the male brain seemed to work...much different than hers. These ideas sounded a bit off the wall and crazy to her, but she guessed anything was possible. Finally, she nodded, not really agreeing but at least she had come to a decision. “Robert, ask around the street. Put the word out, I want to know who put up the hit. I have no desire for harm to come to this person, but I do want to offer him or maybe even her a bottle of whiskey. After all, like my mother always told me...there isn't anything that can't be worked out with a little Naughty and Nice....”

As Jaci_Rain walked the streets of Manhattan with her entourage, Scarfo sat with his own brigade of men at a coffee shop nearby. He picked up a coffee mug and took a sip of the black coffee sweetened and made bearable to drink with three teaspoons of sugar. The warm liquid lit up his insides and the caffeine hit started on his nervous system. The fresh aroma of coffee beans filled the small local coffee house which was mostly quiet besides the group Scarfo had with him. Still keeping his nose out of trouble, Scarfo found a quiet place to catch a straight drink whilst attending to some business in New York.

The main door opened and set off the ringing bell above it, jolting Scarfo's already lively nerves into attention on the elderly coffee beans delivery man. Two bodyguards seated in nearby tables also focused in on the man as he slowly placed the bag of ground beans on the counter then awkwardly smiled in the groups general direction before quickly leaving. Word had made it to Scarfo the daughter of one of his late business associates had a hit placed on her. The heat from the government's Federal Bureau of Narcotics agents due to his Dope Row activities already had him more attentive than usual.

Scarfo shot down the last of the double strength short black then tipped the cup upside down on the saucer. He let it rest there whilst he gazed at Albino, who was seated in front of him. He'd asked the newly appointed Left Hand man of the Family to accompany him on business. As Albino spoke about something or other Scarfo picked up and held the small glass in his hands as he slouched forward in his chair, gazing into the inner black coffee markings and letting his company's ramblings become a blur, losing himself in the cups inner etchings.

The reading of black coffee was something his grandmother use to do when he was a young boy growing up and he had his own fun with it from time to time. She would stare into the recently drunk cup of black coffee and after being turned upside down it left markings on the inside of the mug or glass, that could be read by someone with the gift to do so. With word of the recent hit on a Family friend, Scarfo took the spontaneous opportunity to seek answers from this age old tradition.

Another ring of the door's bell bought Scarfo back to the present moment. An old lady walked in and stopped to the collective focus of the group of six, before she excused herself and made her way back out, not comfortable enough with the her first impression of the environment to stay any longer. Scarfo placed the cup back down and looked at Albino whilst taking a mental note of a rabbit and a wonky looking cross that he felt appeared to him in the cup. Maybe this could bring answers to the question of who placed the hit on Jaci_Rain, as his own connections didn't seem to offer anything better.