After rounding up a group and working out a plan, Charlie had instructed everyone to meet up just outside of the Bees Knees where she had arranged for a couple of cars with some low-level Mafioso hired to be their getaway drivers. 

Smoothing out the front of her dress she looked at herself in the mirror and frowned.  She hated anytime she had to get all dressed up, but sometimes it was necessary.  “Well, Charlie, if it keeps you from swimming with the fishes you can bare it for one evening.”

It had been Finnigan’s idea that they seduce this dick and Charlie had to admit it was a good idea.  She pulled the dress down again at the sides and fidgeted some more before finally giving up with a sigh.  “Come on.  Let’s do this,” she told herself.

Turning around she walked out of the back room of the speakeasy into an empty bar.  She had closed the place for a so-called private party to give them a place to retreat to after the play if things got to hot.  For her sake she hoped that they did not.

Picking up the edges of her dress she raised the front high enough that her feet did not catch on the hem as she climbed the steps, but in doing so she lost her balance for a moment and wobbled a bit.

“Just don’t fall down in front of these guys ok?  They will never let you forget it if you do.” 

Drawing a deep breath at the top of the stair she steadied her nerves and pushed the door open sounding the doorbell hanging above.

Finnigan observed the beautiful Charlie leave out of the Bees Knees speakeasy joint. She appeared slightly nervous about something and it was written all over her like the cover of a book. He wondered if she was up to the task at hand or if she was a little outside of her element. He decided then and there to embolden her a little before her big performance.

The Irishman approached from the side of her just out of her vision and then snuck up behind her like a panther stalking its prey. He could smell the perfume upon her and it enthralled him more than he would have cared to admit to the young woman.

After creeping up behind her and almost touching her, he placed his mouth to her ear and whispered, “My my my...are we not just a vision tonight Miss Charlie. When you wear a dress, you really wear a dress! It's a shame such a beautiful woman is going to be entertainment for such a sad little man. The things I would do to you...oh my.”

Finnigan walked in front of Charlie and winked at her. She may have arranged for his recent employment but there was no harm in a little bit of flirting. There was a carefree attitude about him this evening but also a sudden seriousness of the task at hand. The Irishman stared at the fixer of so many problems and wondered briefly what really drove her...what made her tick?

Finnigan said, “So what now boss?”

Had he not been a member of the family, Charlie’s growing number of bodyguards would never had allowed Finnigan to sneak up on her like that.  As it was she had nearly jumped out of her skin when he whispered into her ear, and she prayed desperately that he had not noticed.  Normally her tomboyish facade was used to keep people, men especially, at arm’s length.  However, in this damn dress she felt so vulnerable.  It also did not help that she found his words exhilarating.  She found herself wishing that he would have said more instead of stopping and moving in front of her, but that feeling quickly was replaced with a burst of anger when she saw him wink at her.  He had been toying with her.  Quickly she used that anger to erect a defensive wall in which to hide behind.

Sounding more like the Charlie of old she said, “Well for starters you can knock off the games.  We have work to do.”  She looked around to see if Wrench had arrived yet.

Wrench had received a note from Charlie's messenger as he entered his apartment building. It indicated that she wanted him for another job and to meet outside the Bees Knees. Wrench rested and prepared himself at home before head back out to the gathering point.

However looking in the mirror he took the time to inspect the almost healed stitched cut on his forehead, from the last job he took from Charlie. She could of warned him about the crazy ninja like woman with the necklace, nevertheless a job is a job and Charlie had plenty. Even better was finding out the Charlie in fact was also working under The_Kid in the Blue Note Label -small world.  Wrench packed his duffel bag full of his favourite criminal tools and headed to the Bees Knees.

Upon arriving Wrench saw Finnigan -another crew mate- had already arrived, and by judging the cheeky smirk on his face he was most likely trying to charm Charlie. Whom by the way looked so seductive he couldn't blame Finnigan for trying. Wrench approached the pair and gave a simple nod, grin, and a tap of his bag as to suggest his ready. 

Finnigan flashed Wrench a grin that the suggested they were about to rob the devil himself. The Irishmen was starting to like the silent man as of late. Too many people nowadays were arrogant and loud for no reason. There was an underlying strength about Wrench that suggested he was not a man to be trifled with. Finnigan spied the bag tucked beneath Wrench’s arms and surmised that that it was a set of well kept safecracking tools but there could have also been some more barbaric uses for them as well. The Irishman was still a little hazy on the whole layout of the plan.

He turned his attention back to Charlie and there she was still wearing that babydoll dress. Finnigan originally was attempting to look Charlie in the eyes to ask her a question but found himself covertly trying to admire the beauty that lay before him. As he was following the outline of her body and then down her legs, he sensed Charlie start to realize what he was doing and he quickly focused back on looking her in the eye.

Shit! She caught you...but damn that woman has some nice legs. It should be a crime that they are covered up all the time. Oh well…she’s got that tomboy role she plays down pat but what I wouldn’t give to know what she is like when not surrounded by every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

The Irishman flipped a coin in the air like nothing had just happened and caught it. He then proceeded to look at it, tsked at the outcome of the coin and then said aloud to no one in particular, “Well that’s a damn shame. Luck isn’t on our side tonight. Oh well.”

He then Flashed Charlie and Wrench both a wicked grin in turn and said, “Well to hell with the Gods and luck, what’s the plan? Charlie are you going to be the turtledove distraction while Wrench picks the safe and I provide cover? Then I come in for the bonus round with my camera? Lay out the details darlin’”

Wrench continuously nodded while Charlie laid out the plan and gave an 'ok' sign with his hand. He did indeed bring some safe-cracking tools but that wasn't his forte, he preferred picking locks and had his fair share of running into bad safes, or put into better terms 'good safes'. But he unwillingly chose to not mention this as the group dispersed to the cars preparing to head out. 

Wrench got into the same car with Finnigan that was heading to position outside the PI's office. Finnigan continued with his Irish wit for most the ride. Wrench quite enjoyed the cheeky extrovert demeanour that was Finnigan. Usually those type of people rubbed Wrench the wrong way, always rambling on without actually saying anything. But not Finnigan, although he could speak enough for the both of them he's usual tongue-in-cheek was easy to lip read and brought some joy to Wrench's otherwise silent miserable life. If only he could learn sign? Wrench thought to himself. 

As the two men rode in the back sea together, Finn reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a marijuana cigarette and a book of matches. He tore a match out, ignited it, and lit the tip of his cigarette. He took a long drag of the cigarette before exhaling through his nose, chucked the spent match out the window and said to his silent partner, “I’m really amped up right now, need to mellow out a little. Do you want a hit?”

He handed to cigarette to Wrench and spoke to the man directly so he could be understood ,“You never would have known it with the way she normally dresses but that woman has some legs on her. Brains and the looks, I could be in trouble my boy!  Too bad she’s out of my league but don't tell her that!”

The Irishman chuckled and then cracked that wiseass grin of his at Wrench before asking him, “Are you going to take a hit of that or what?”

Wrench took the lit marijuana cigarette and glared at it for a few moments while Finnigan was passionately mentioning something about Charlie. It had been a heck of a long time since Wrench had smoked as he preferred the bottle poison instead. However, if it wasn't for the fact that he was responsible for cracking a safe tonight -his adversary- wrench wouldn't of been so nervous. So perhaps this could actually help calm him? He thought. 

It was Finnigan's second time of asking that the peer pressure overwhelmed Wrench, and he took a long hard pull of the roll up and made sure to keep it inhaled for a few seconds before slowly exhaling the thick white smoke followed by a coughing fit that brought a tear to his eye. But this didn't stop him taking another smaller puff before handing Finnigan back he's marijuana cigarette. 

Wrench's senses started to tingle, his vision somewhat amplified and his nerves dampened - still no sound thou.   

Riding with Nails, the "girls" talked quietly about staging, angles, and the finer points of how Charlie planned to manipulate the man into those various positions. She had done her share of cons before, but seduction was a new one for her.

When there came a lull in the conversation, Charlie looked out the side of her window. In doing so, her mind wandered a bit and surprising it wandered to Finnigan. He was no doubt charismatic and charming -- dangerous traits for unsuspecting women.

I, however, am not unsuspecting. I know his game and I will NOT fall for it.

"We are here," Nails stated bringing her back into reality. She gathered her things and checked that her pistol was concealed and secured. She might have to go in there wearing a dress, but she refused to go in there unarmed. "Here we go," she said as she got out of the car noticing that her bodyguards were already taking their places around the perimeter. Once out of the car she smoothed out her dress and glanced back to see the car that held Finnigan and Wrench.  Drawing a breath she headed into the building.

As the car pulled to a stop outside the building, Finnigan noticed Charlie head into the building. The Irishman looked at his crew mate and said, “Well there she goes, hopefully she can pull it off. I heard there was a big payoff if we could compromise that jerk. I was kind of hoping to be the phographer but I guess Charlie prefers the feminine touch. You want me to follow you in and watch your back while you crack that safe?”

Finn knew that Wrench could handle himself but a man needed backup if things got slippery from time to time. Plus, the Irishman hated waiting while others were at work. He was to be the “muscle” in this operation but that could be interpreted a number of ways. He certainly didn’t intend upon staying on the sidelines for most of the night while the other’s got to have fun. Especially if Charlie might be in danger…

Just the muscle? Wasn’t it my idea to blackmail the schlub in the first place? I’ll show her I can be more than just muscle. She has enough goons in tow for muscle. A brain is worth 1000 muscle bound goons.

Finn realized he had zoned out for a minute and that Wrench hadn’t responded to him yet…or had he?

Wrench's eye lids were ever so slightly getting smaller and smaller as he turned to Finnigan who looked like he was arguing with himself. That weed must of gone right through pair of them, seconds slowly turned to minutes, as they both eagerly waited 5 mins before entering the building that Charlie ever so slightly left open. 

Wrench taps Finnigan and points at his watch then the building -indicated its time to go- before opening the car door, as a dense cloud of smoke evaporates out along with them. Finnigan takes lead and sneakily creeks open the building door, while Wrench followed suit with the heavy bag. 
Finnigan then silently lead the way down the hallway to where he could hear Charlie on the other side of a door already going to town on the unsuspecting mark. They both waited outside for Charlies signal, while Finnigan eavesdropped. 

“So, what’s the problem Miss?”  Doraes sat down in his leather back chair behind the desk and put his feet up.  He watched her moving through the room, the fabric of her dress moving with the slightly exaggerated sashay of her hips.

“It’s my husband Mr. Doraes.  I think he’s hiring someone to kill me.”

“Why do you say that?” He asked, skeptical of her assumption.

She slid around his desk, leaving her painted lips open before and after she speaks, “Because he told me so.  Said if he could kill me and take my family money – he’d do it.  And I think he meant it Mr. Doraes,” She leaned on the corner of the desk, coming in close to him.  “I really do.” She said the last in a nearly whisper level breathy voice – husky and full of unspoken suggestion.

“Diego.”  He offered his given name.

“Alright… Diego.  Can you protect me?  Can you help me prove what a two-timing money grubbing rat he really is?”  She batted her eye lashes and touched his leg with her finger tips.  Diego swallowed.

“Doll, you ain’t got nothin’ to worry about with Diego Doraes on the case.”

“I knew hiring a private dick was the right way to go.  I’m sure you can give me all the,” She stroked her finger tips up and down his leg repeatedly as she put emphasis on the words, “satisfaction that I need.”

Diego sat up, putting his feet on the floor.  “I’ll take real good care of you.”  He said, seeming to not only catch the vibes she was sending out, but replying with some real losers of his own.  Charlie wondered how any man could fall for something this foolish – likely all those dime store novels.  Pure trash!

The man leaned in for a kiss.  Charlie braced herself.  She could smell the onion on his breath still from his dinner.  If she was smart she’d take a bigger cut of the cash for having to put up with that alone – to say nothing of having his hands all over her like some over-eager dance partner.

She prayed that Nails was getting good shots of this as the man took liberties with her body and each kiss became something more sexual than the last.  If she’d had any issues wanting to take this guy down a few pegs before – they were gone utterly now.  She was supposed to be a married woman and this guy didn’t even hesitate to jump at her suggestions.  Yeesh!

Once she was sure all the photos were taken she felt around on the desk with her free hand, even as he lifted the hem of her dress.  Charlie was getting nervous, if she didn’t act fast this was going to turn into something much more than she bargained for.  Especially if he lifted the hem much further and discovered the gun!

THERE!

Her hand closed around the cold steel of his handcuffs.  She opened them deftly and slapped one onto his wrist.  He laughed!  He actually laughed!  He thought it was some sort of sexy game… What a maroon!

She slapped the other end to the radiator in the room.

“What the hell?”  he exclaimed. 

“Come on in boys!”  She called out and wiped her mouth trying to get the onion & stale cigarette taste off of her lips.  God that was disgusting!  Whatever they did to this pig, he surly deserved.

Finnigan was perched up against the office door eavesdropping to the entire conversation transpiring between Charlie and the mark. He could feel his buzz wearing off and that was good because he had come to the conclusion that he was going to have to scare the shit out of this “Diego” character in order to get anywhere with the man.

This is it brother. You need to get plum mad dog killer rage angry. You need to be so out of control and filled with rage that nothing can be denied to you. You need to own this moment and lose yourself in the chaos. Make that man fear you.

Finnigan focused in on the door knob and started drawing upon all the hate and discontent he could muster. He could feel it coursing through his veins and flowing throughout his body. He started breathing faster and focusing himself to bring him to the edge. He bit his tongue to feel the physical pain to drive himself onwards and when it wasn't enough he slapped himself hard in the face. He could feel Wrench's eyes on the back of his neck but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. All that mattered was the signal and the sweet release of his built up rage upon the object of his current aggression.

And then he heard Charlie say “Come on in boys!” from inside and the fire within him was let loose. He didn't even turn around to acknowledge Wrench and instead opened the door in one swing and marched into the room with a slow deliberate stride that oozed with a single mindful purpose with each passing step. In the briefest of moments Finn noticed how close Charlie was to the mark and while not normally a jealous man, his current crazed state caused his Irish blood to boil even further past the brink.

Charlie backed away slightly as Diego looked up at the unknown stranger who had just broken into his office and he started to say, “Who the fuck are...”

WHAM!

His sentence was never finished as Finnigan cleared the distance between them and headbutted the handcuffed man with the force of a raging bull. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes and slummed up against the radiator's piping.

Damn that hurt! Why did you just headbutt him? Play it off, play it off....

Finnigan cackled like a maniac in compensation of the pain he just felt and replied, “Who the fuck am I? Who the fuck do you think you are having the balls to investigate city councilmen in this town. You've bitten off more than you can chew brother and my associate and I are the remedy to filth like you.”

With that remark Finn allowed Diego a clear view of Wrench who had started to move in on the safe like a true professional.

Finnigan slammed the man's head into the radiator with the force of a train as he began to get to curious with what Wrench's job was. The Irishman reached into his coat pocket, flicked out a switchblade and knelt down in front of the investigator. He grabbed the back of Diego's neck with his left hand and held up the blade to the man's neck with his right hand.

The Irishman got right up to the man and spoke to him in a voice devoid of warmth, “Do you want to know about my buddy back there? His name is Felix and he's quite the mute. The man simply never speaks. He's become an accomplished safecracker in his own right, has the patience for it you know? He doesn't have the social graces you and I have so he focuses on his trade. You're going to give us the numbers to your safe so Felix doesn't have to work so hard. You know why? Because I know the old Felix. Where he used to talk all the time and would never shut the fuck up. Do you know what happened to him? He went to work with me and saw my talents first hand. You don't want that kind of darkness in you. Shit like that will really FUCK A MAN UP. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN???”

Diego spit in Finnigan's face. The Irishman took his hand off the back of the man's neck, stood up, used his empty hand to wipe the spit from his face, and then licked the spit from his hand while he stared the investigator dead in the eye.

Finnigan broke into another shriek of hysterical laughter like it was the funniest thing to ever happen. The Irishman could feel the madness coursing through him like a junkie on a high. In that moment he spied a picture on top of the man's desk and he grabbed it. It had to be the man's wife. The Irishman turned the picture around and there was “Vivienne” written on the back. Finn smelled the frame and then licked the picture to the horror of the man in front of him.

Use the wife. Its the only way your going to break him. If he has any love for her it will destroy him.

Finnigan looked at the now mortified man slumped in front of him and said, “Oh my....what do we have here. The wife? Quite the looker. Quite the looker, indeed. You did good for yourself Diego. I tell you what. I'm going to do you a solid because I'm feeling generous. You tell Felix the combo to your safe and I'm just going to rob you. If Felix has to put in the work, I'm going to cut your balls off, slit your throat, leave you to bleed to death in the back alleyway and then I'm going to find where your lovely wife VIVIENNE lives. I'm going to have my way with her, Felix is going to get his compensation on her for having to open that pesky safe of yours, and then she's never going to leave that house alive.”

Finn dropped the picture with a crash as the glass broken into pieces and knelt back down again in front of the now sobbing man and heard him say, “09....23.....48....22....you fucking bastard.”

The Irishman smacked the man four times on the cheek lightly as if he were consoling a friend and said, “Good....good boy. Now I'm going to be waiting out in the hallway and the lady here is going to ask you a couple questions and if she isn't satisfied....I'm not satisfied. Then we are going to continue our chat.”

With that the Irishman stood up and walked out of the room without looking at a single one of his associates. He could feel his hands shaking from the event that just took place. He slumped down up against the wall outside the office into a sitting potion and got a joint from his jacket pocket with shaking hands and ignited it. He took a long, slow drag from it and exhaled. He forced the wild rage inside of him deep down into the back recesses of his mind and felt himself slowly calm down.

That's how you break a man. You were just the "muscle" after all. Maybe Charlie won't write you off so easily now. You really lost your shit in there though. Too much? Hopefully Charlie gets what she wants. Hopefully she knows that was just an act and not the real me. But it didn't feel like an act...

The Irishman said, “Fuck” aloud to no one in particular.

After entering the room and witnessing the imprisoned PI officer, Wrench knew Charlie worked that sucker smoothly. Finnigan's headbutt greeting sure did send a message and even surprised Wrench for a minute as he paused with an eye brow raised. Scoping the office he saw the shiny black safe in a corner under the desk and headed straight to it while easily ignoring the beat down that was occurring behind him. 

You see, being deaf had its advantages Wrench could easily concentrate on a safe or lock while gunfire could be going off just behind his head. Being dexterous with his hands -maybe not with darts- also helped give him an extra sense of feel when manipulating a safes combination lock, almost as if his fingers had ears of their own. He inspects the safe first; roughly 60 by 45cm, dial combination, slightly worn condition, possibly by J. Baum safe & lock co, he usually had troubles with those ones.  Wrench proceed to caress the front of the safe giving it occasional taps in various spots, looking for a weak-point drill spot. Glancing into his bag at the drill he shook his head - he wouldn't risk jamming the lock with a drill just yet. 

Looks like he will have to do it the old fashion way, by tickling the dial until it giggled out the combination. Wrench sprayed some WD-40 around the dial, closed his eyes and tried his best to feel the locking mechanism behind the inch thick steel casing as he rotated the dial. Few moments past and he became one with the safe, silent darkness with a low heart rate. It was blissful as he felt he had the first three combinations only to be disturbed by what seemed like a picture frame getting smashed on the floor, sending a vibration throughout the room forcing Wrench to lose track and start over at a slightly faster pace. 

Finding the last number to the combination, Wrench now slowed almost to a halt.... there... was that it?... He felt something but wasn't 100% sure if it was the lock or just Finnigan losing his marbles on the poor guy again. Wrench dared not to check Finnigan but instead went for the safes handle and deliberated a moment before twisting the lock open. To his relief he swung the safe door open with a grin and checked the contents inside; some cash stacks probably some ten's of thousands of dollars, a pristine white .38 snubnosed revolver, and a brown envelop. After chucking the cash into his bag and pocketing the revolver, he opened the envelop and stood up showing Charlie the photos and negatives of the alderman from North Side, Chicago. Where did Finnigan go? Wrench thought, as Charlie nodded and gave him a thumbs up in response.  

Wrench took his bag and envelop and proceeded out of the office, only to see Finnigan in the hall way crouched down smoking. Puzzled Wrench gave Finnigan a thumbs up with a question mark look on his face, while he waited for Charlie.  

Charlie’s eyes grew wide as she watched Finn.  She knew he had to have heard most of the conversation and… other noises they had been making.  A part of her knew it would probably drive him crazy and she had wanted it too – a bit of pay back for what he had done outside of Bees Knees to her.  However, this.  She had never seen a man so enrage-filled.  He was out of control and deep inside her she knew it scared her like nothing had done before.

She had watched Don Kid wack a guy, and even she had killed before while protecting the family.  Sometimes shit had to happen, but this.  This was beyond your simple beat down.  Charlie began to wonder if she was going to have to pull him off the guy.  Lucy had made it clear that a kill was only authorized as a last resort and they were far far from that point.  There is no way I can stop him!

Finally, the physical beating stopped and instead Finn switched to an emotional play with the wife.  It was Finn’s eyes that told her more than anything.  They were so cold.  Cold to match his icy voice.  He was not just playing it up for the affect. 

Unable to look anymore at those eyes she turned away and in doing so looked out the window.  Nails was across the street and when she saw Charlie looking out at her she gave a thumb up sign.  Charlie blinked and somehow managed to register in the back of her mind what that meant.  Slowly her mind shook off the shock and surrealness enough so that as Finn walked out she was able to turn back around to see it. 

For a long moment she let the heaviness in the room sit there.  Doras was moaning in pain and Wrench was cleaning out the safe.  After making sure he got both the pictures and the negatives, she found herself squatting next to the man.  She had not intended to ask him any questions, but the words just seemed to come out with no emotion.  Not cold, just matter-of-fact like.

“Who hired you to take these pictures.”

Apparently in that moment of quietness the guy grew a bit of spine.  “Go to hell,” he spat.

Probably.

Standing up Charlie began to sort through the items on the desk.  Seeing a picture frame that had been knocked faced down during their sexual encounter she slowly picked it up.  It was a newspaper clipping of an obituary that had a picture of a small boy.  “Benny Doras,” she read softly.

“Put that down you fucking bitch!  You have no right.  The mob did that.  It was you’re family that put him in that grave.”  In his anger he lost all his restraint and spewed it all out.  “You want to know who the fuck hired me?  It was me you whore.  I hired myself!”

Charlie look at the photo a long moment and then quietly said.  “If you don’t want an early grave for your wife and a swim in Lake Michigan with a concrete necktie for yourself, then you best leave town and never come back.

She laid the picture back down, picked up the key, and tossed it close enough he could reach it with a bit of a struggle.  Without another word she walked out of the office.  Motioning to Wrench to follow, she said so softly she could barely be heard, “Come on.  We got what we came here to get.”

With that she walked out into the street.  Instructing one of her men to call Lucy, she then climbed into the car with Nails and drove off without another word to anyone.

Once the group got back to the bar, Charlie invited everyone inside for drinks and to wait for Lucy.  Lifting up some Vodka and Orange Juice in gesture-like fashion to Wrench he nodded and she made his drink.  Handing it to Wrench, she then turned and grabbed the whiskey bottle.

“Can I get you anything Finnigan?” she asked without looking at him while she poured herself a glass of whiskey neat.

"I will have one of those," he stated simply.

She nodded and poured him one as well.  Quietly she slide his glass to him and then picked up her own.  Knocking her head back she downed the whole drink in one shot and then sat the glass down a bit on the heavy side and began to pour herself another.  "Hey Jimmy.  Go get the box and bring it up here.  Lucy should be here soon."

Lucky Lucy, also known as Mrs. Lucia Teresa Fazzone-Dicaprio, entered the bar fiddling with an over 5-caret tear drop shaped diamond wedding ring.  As usual, she was flanked by her well-known bodyguards Giuseppe Malone and her husband’s most trusted hitman Tony Dicaprio.

Giuseppe was a large Italian mook, the very image of strength and power, muscle on muscle with terrible scar on his crocked nose.  He would surly never win any beauty contests!  Tony, on the other hand, was the opposite.  Slender and handsome, seemingly oozing with Sicilian charm and grace all rolled up into one made-man who was as good with guns as Giuseppe was with his bare hands.

Lucy was still pushing the border of male/female fashion, but today her look was a touch softer and involved an actual skirt.  She gave her boys a nod to hang back as she approached the three mobsters at the bar; all the while she held tight to her rather large messenger bag.

“Well,” She exclaimed as she made note of one very dear and familiar face with Charlie and the other a face she remembered from a brief but enjoyable encounter a short time ago.  “You do keep fine company Miss Charlie.”  She touches the brim of her hat and smiles at Finn.  “Good to see you again, friend.”

She looks to Wrench and took her dominate left hand, made it flat, brought her finger tips to her chin and lowered it downward at a ninety-degree angle towards Wrench to sign, “Good.”

Then her non-dominate arm made a false horizon, her dominate left hand cupped and curved, coming down to her ‘horizon’ to sign, “Evening.”

Finally, her non-dominate hand pointed her index finger at Wrench and her dominate left hand opened her index and middle fingers in a scissor fashion and slid around her pointed finger in a wrenching motion to sign, “Wrench.”

She spoke as she signed her greeting to her good friend, “Good Evening, Wrench.”  Her tutor had traveled with them to Ireland and she’d not let up in persistently trying to learn American Sign Language, she thought she was doing well until Katy had expressed a desire to learn ‘hand talk’ too and then… Lucy had never felt so foolish.  Katy was nearly conversational with their tutor in just a short period of time where she was proud to have a few key phrases such as this one memorized.

Looking then to Charlie, “Thank you for your hard work.  Looks like you have availed yourself to some of Chicago’s best.” She nodded and smiled at the men.  “A wise decision to keep these guys close at hand I think.  I’ll have to remember to send your Don my respects.  He’s keeping a solid family these days – I’m sure he’s quite proud of his people.”

Lucy waits until she is presented the photos and negatives.  She will flip through them as if searching for something – an odd thing to do as the photos seem to be of the same incident with a lady of the night – and one is as incriminating as the next; unless the problem in question wasn’t the Alderman’s affair but something else in the photos.  Finally, she smiles.

“Fantastic.”  She waves a hand to summon one of her boys.  Giuseppe comes forward.  She holds up the photos and negatives for him to take.  “Take care of it.”  She says without looking at her mook.  Giuseppe nods and will make for the door with the items in hand as Lucy opens her messenger bag.

“To the matter of payment…”  She brings out another yellow envelope.  “I’m glad you were able to handle this delicate matter for us – and as promised, I’ll have another job for you in a few days – assuming you have no objections?”  She offers the second half of the payment to Charlie and awaits her reply.

Lucy opens her mouth to say yes, seeming enthusiastic for half a heartbeat and then she says, "Actually I have a long night ahead of me yet.  How about just a small glass of wine?  Do you happen to have any?  If not, I'll have whatever you're drinking."  

She glances briefly to Tony before asking, "There wasn't any unexpected issues with Mr. Doraes was there?  Do you feel he'll be entering his early retirement after your chat with him?"