Page 28 of Powerful Deception

Fifteen minutes later, the train is arriving at my stop and I’m dragging the duffle off the car and heading to the laundromat that’s across the street.

Convenient, I guess.

I make my way over to the storefront and when I step foot into the building, I find nothing special about it. It’s just a regular self-serve laundry facility. Nothing screams out that a crime boss making a name for himself owns the place. Not even the old lady that is behind the service window.

Maybe I’m at the wrong place.

I pull out my phone from my back pocket and quickly google Gallo’s name. I wait and a few seconds later, this laundromat pops up.

Huh, I guess I am in the right place.

Also, shouldn’t Gallo be more vigilant about people knowing he owns the place? At least Rosetti had security guarding the doors.

Walking deeper into the place, I start putting my stuff into the first available washer.

Once my quarters are in and the machine is running, I make my way over to the window. Maybe the old lady knows where I can find Gallo.

“Excuse me.” I say as I knock against the window to grab the woman’s attention.

She turns to face me and looks at me like I’m the first person that has approached her all day.

“Can I help you?” She asks, her eyes a bit wide with curiosity.

“Um,” What do I say? That I’m looking for the guy that also wants Dante Rosetti dead? “I was wondering if Roberto Gallo was around?”

Instantly the curiosity in her eyes disappears and it’s replaced with wariness.

“Why are you looking for him?” Her old eyes narrow, looking at me through the window as if she can burn me for even mentioning Gallo’s name.

I square my shoulders and step closer to the window so that the other individuals in the place don’t hear my next words.

“I need to talk to him about someone named Dante Rosetti.”

Did I have to name drop? No. I’m sure that I would have been able to come up with something that would have gotten me in with Gallo.

But the way her eyes open up a bit, tells me that I did the right thing by mentioning Rosetti.

The woman looks at me for a few seconds longer before she gives me a curt nod and leaves her place at the window and heads somewhere in the back.

My eyes follow her retrieving figure until I can no longer see her, and I can’t help but ask myself if I should continue standing here or find a way to go after her.

I don’t have to contemplate for long because within two minutes the lady is coming back with her head held high and a look of indifference on her face.

“Go to the door by the soda machine and knock three times.” She tells me before looking away and down to whatever she was doing before I approached her.

It takes me a second to register what she said. When the words finally sink in, I have to contain myself before giving the woman a nod and doing exactly as ordered.

At first glance someone that isn’t paying a whole lot of attention will never see the door next to the soda machine. It’s somewhat hidden in plain sight, blends in with its surroundings.

I stand in front of the door, and I hesitate to bring up my hand and knock against the wood.

Do I really want to go this route? I can back away now, finish my laundry and never look back.

But if I do that, Rosetti will never pay for what he did. He will never go through the same pain that my dad went through when he was tied to that chair.

With a silent fuck it, I raise a closed fist and give the door three knocks.

Knock.