Lucy dropped coins into the phone booth and dialed up a number her contacts had given her - the phone number for a woman who had done the opposite of what she had done in these tragic days - she'd risen to the top.  Lucy wanted to be happy for Nikki_Swango but a part of her was horribly jealous.  The woman was talented, beautiful, had the perfect husband, and now she was the leader of her own crew in city of her birth - Chicago. It was a bitter thing to see one's friends rise so far and so fast, when you were falling into the lowest gutters and alive only by the gracious hands of others.  

When the phone was picked up, she spoke in calm & quiet tone, "Hello.  I'm trying to reach Nikki Dicaprio.  Could you please let her know that her friend Lucy Fazzone is on the phone and needs to speak with her?"

It had been a long time since Nikki had spoken to Lucy. A few frantic phones calls during a period when CLs were dropping like flies in their HQs and members had been scrambling for cover. While it looked rosy on the outside, Nikki had lost things as well...New York, Frank, and recently, her own boss had fallen by a strike from God. She'd spent the last few days on coffee and fumes, struggling to piece back together something resembling normalcy.

It had been, to say the least, a bumpy road. So when one of the new guys yelled for a Mrs. DiCaprio, she looked around, confused, fully expecting to find Frank's mother bearing down on her with a hatchet.

Standing from her desk, she walked down the hall and accepted the receiver.

"No Dicaprios here anymore, may I help you? This is Nikki_Swango."

Lucy was stunned.  No Dicaprios here?  But... surly nothing had happened to Frank!  No, she'd be in mourning and not so happy sounding.  That meant, divorce.  In all of this hell, there had to be unexpected casualties, a relationship falling apart would not be an unheard of thing.  Suddenly Lucy felt a touch ashamed that she'd been jealous of Nikki at all.  The woman had lost something too.  Something dear.

"If he left you from some other Moll, I swear I'll gut him for the no good crumb he is."  Lucy seethed.  Then she allowed Nikki to say whatever she had to say on the matter before continuing to the purpose of her call.

"I heard you got yourself set up in Chi-town, I can only imagine what a sight that is.  Congrats on that."  She didn't want to go overboard, but not recognizing Nikki's new authority would be insulting, especially when calling for a favor.

"I hate to bother you, hell I know that you got a lot on your plate ... but, well, I suppose it's just... this thing came up.  It's kinda... well, it's throwing a real monkey wrench in my current situation here."  She sighs, she hated bringing this up at all.  It meant saying his name again and worst of all in association with that arrogant grifter.

"There's a guy here.  He claims he's from Chicago, that someone from out there could verify his capabilities and ... whatever but... well, the rat is insisting on calling himself Husky Radhe.  Please tell me that you have heard of this guy and he's not a plant meant to ace me the second I turn my back on him?"

Nikki froze, the smile on her face melting away. Damn him, for putting her in this situation! 

"W-Well. Yes. We have a fellow by that name," she stuttered. Even if she told Lucy the truth, would she believe her? More likely, she'd send the guys in white with the butterfly nets. She refused to lie to this woman, though. If asked, Nikki would tell her. Until then...

"You can rely on him, Lucky Girl. He won't double cross you. An asset, and damn smart," she said, the muscles in her jaw tensing. He wouldn't, no way would he con her, but if he broke her already fragile heart, Nikki vowed silently to strangle him to death with her own hands.

"Well, at least someone I trust has heard of him and knows he's just hot air."  She scoffed.  "I should have guessed, a con-man would be running some sort of game - probably to get a larger cut of the take.  It's just when a man rolls into town, claiming to have dug up the remains of someone I..."  She stops herself short of saying that she cared for him.  No, she couldn't own that - not even to Nikki.  "Someone I know, well, it sets you off a bit.  He'd better hope that Husky never finds out.  I know he's not one for violence, but for a guy having swiped his belongings and using his name to ME of all people... he might make an exception."

"You'll let me know if you need anything I can help with, won't ya Nikki?  I know I'm with Arya's people out here in Philly, but we go back.  I can't forget all we've seen together.  You know I'd do whatever I could to help you in a pinch, right?"

"I do. Of course I do. You've got good men and women there with you, Lucy. You're ever in a bind and don't know where to go, tell that stinker le_clochard that we go back, he'll do right by you every time," she said, pushing away the sorrow at hearing Lucy envelope herself in a cloud of denial over Husky's death. Survival was paramount, and she understood why her brain had thrown the shields up, but damn, all she could do was pray they didn't crush her if and when those walls fell. 

"...And let me congratulate you on your Made status. Your boss is a wise woman, indeed," she finished. Affairs of the heart aside, Lucy was going to the top, no doubt about it.

"Thanks Nikki.  You're all aces in my book.  Stay safe, okay?"  With that Lucy hung up the phone and went on her way, confident she could trust her con-man to do the job... but little else about him was anything she wanted anything at all to do with.  Thank Heaven for Nikki.