I walked through the theatre doors threw off my coat on the rack and marched to the stage.
One of my men informed me that the cast was having difficulty returning to the stage after the murder. I opened the doors to be met with the cast in an argument with our Stage Manager; Jessica.
"As I have said you must wait for our new director. She will be here shortly," she shouted onto the stage of voices.
"Why should we stay? What if one of us gets murdered next? You saw what the papers said. That killer is still out there" a girl cried out as everyone agreed
I started to step onto the stage as Jessica noticed me and I could see her nervous expression.
Quickly everyone followed her eyes and saw me walk in. I walked up next to Jessica and looked at them with narrowed eyes.
"Irene I thought you'd be out of the show with the amount of rehearsals you've missed" Ruby remarks. I could hear her little group of girls giggling
"I'm sorry but whose father just got murdered?" I say glaring at her
A few people looked back as she turned red.
"That's what I thought, now, what am I hearing? Why do you guys want to leave this production we have been working so hard for?" I asked as they looked at one another but Charles stepped forward
"We are worried about our safety. How can we feel safe when someone comes in and murders our director? What if we are next?" He asks as everyone turns to look at me
"Simple, I have been working hard and have gotten some extra protection for our show. Now I came here to tell you all some news." I start
"I will, unfortunately, no longer be able to be in the production," I state as their chatter grows louder. I held up my hand as they slowly went quiet
"I will now be the director. I don't want to change anything about the show as a way to honor my father's last production. We are going to make this the best show the city has ever seen! Who's with me?" I ask as they all cheered
I looked at Jessica and nodded my head
"Now if you'll excuse me I have to go work on some paperwork, Jessica will run the rehearsals for now until I can step away from helping my family. Break a leg!" I said as I walked off stage to my office.
With the production back up and running, I could finally get to another issue. Recruitment.
It was the tradition that I would induct a select few into the gang.
I already had Carlos, Red, Alice, and a few others in the company who I was going to have moved up the chain.
'But who should be the newbies? I need some more eyes and ears around the city' I thought and then it hit me!
The Marino Brothers. Teddy, Steve and Terry.
They were our neighbors for a long time before their family got a better piece of real estate for the Italian restaurant we had frequented. The brothers were triplets and had a small gang on the west side dealing mainly with small trade deals.
'The last I saw them was for a brief moment at the burial.' I thought back.
Although they are an odd bunch they had quite the reputation and I knew they had been looking to expand their business. The more I thought about it about half the people they had working for them I knew from school or the neighborhood.
"Hey, Enzo!" I called out. He was guarding in the stairwell and I heard his rapid footsteps come up the floor.
"Yes Ma'am?" he asked, I could tell he was cringing at saying such words to me.
"Can you let my family know we are going to Marino's tonight, and let the Marino brothers know I need to meet with them too?" I say as I start working on the contract.
Enzo nodded his head and bolted back downstairs.
By the time the contract I had was almost finished my brother had waltzed into the room
"Irene, what's this about meeting the Marino brothers tonight?" He asks as I hand him the contract.
"It's nothing too bad. I think it would be good to expand our business and get some eyes and ears on the west side, and who better than the brothers who run that side of town," I say as I watch Gian read the contract
"This is a pretty good deal. They agree we are allies but they keep their name, and assets, and still run their territory. All they have to do is whenever things get out of hand they come to us and we run deals on their side of town." Gian summed up as I nodded
"I made some room for negotiation but you need to be there with me." I say as he nodded
"Mom will be excited, her mood flips when she sees Sophie" Gian says as I nod
Sophie was my mother's long-time friend. The two still talk but with everything going on they haven't had a proper meal together in weeks.
"Yeah, and Isabella will be begging for Cannoli" I laugh thinking about my sister's birthday when they had made her at least a dozen cannolis for her birthday last year. She was ecstatic when she saw them.
Sophie and her husband Julius had a soft spot for my sister and me as they never had any daughters. I looked at the time and saw it was almost 6:30 pm
"With that we gotta head out. Mom probably already beat us there" I said as we jumped into the car and headed out to the Marinos.