Wait! Before you read this have you read ‘We’ve Got Some Catching Up To Do’?
Dani was woken up out of her sleep around one in the afternoon. It was her day off and she had been out all night clubbing with the girls and Brock and Evan; she wasn’t planning on getting out of bed at all that day, but the loud banging on her door ruined those plans.
“Dani it’s me! Open the door.” Said Clark as he pounded on the door.
Dani groaned as she made her way to the door, cursing herself for getting a studio apartment rather than the much bigger one her father suggested.
Swinging the door open Dani was all set and ready to rip Clark a new one for waking her up when a photo was thrust in her face.
“What am I looking at?” She asked, squinting at the photo.
“Vinny LaVine.” Clark said.
Taking the photo from Clark Dani turned around, leaving the door open.
“Marty dropped it off this morning.” Clark said as he followed Dani to the kitchen.
Dani stopped walking causing Clark to run into her.
“Marty took this?!” Dani asked holding the photo up.
“Yep. And at first, I thought it was pure bullshit, so I did some digging, and Vinny was booked for possession back in the nineties, and…” Rummaging through the papers he held in his hand, Clark found Vinny’s mug shot from the arrest and handed it to Dani.
Dani held the photos up side by side and sure enough, it was the same man about twenty-something years apart.
“Holy shit! It’s fucking Vinny fucking LaVine.” Dani said.
“Mason.” Clark said causing Dani to look at him.
“What?” She asked frowning.
“Vinny’s middle name, it’s Mason.” Clark explained.
Dani rolled her eyes as she slapped Clark’s chest before looking back at the photos.
“Do we know when these were taken?” She asked.
The photo looked to be rather recent. The younger LaVine brother was photographed on a dock with another man whose back was to the camera.
“If what Marty said is true then this was taken a couple of days ago.” Clark said.
Dani looked at her partner skeptically.
“Bullshit.” She said.
Clark shook his head.
“Dani the photo’s real. About a hundred highly trained people have looked it over.” He said.
Dani shook her head.
“I’m not doubting the authenticity of this photo. I’m just saying there’s no way it’s as recent as Marty says it is. Everyone knows the LaVine brothers are at war and Vinny would have to be the dumbest fucker alive to set foot in New York State.” Dani pointed out.
The LaVine brothers’ feud dated back to the early two thousands. No one knew the story behind what started the feud but The LaVine brothers operated much like the Bloods and the Crips. Pauly kept to the east coast, mainly New York City, and sometimes Canada when it got real bad, and Vinny stayed in LA and kept a hideout in Mexico.
“Well, they must have fixed it or something because that’s Paul and Vinny fucking LaVine.” Clark said poking the photo.
“Has dad seen this?” Dani asked.
Clark shook his head.
Handing the photo back to Clark, she rushed back to her bedroom.
“Wait! Where are you going?” He asked.
“We gotta take this to dad. He needs to see this now.” Dani said as she threw her closet door open.
After getting dressed, Dani and Clark hopped into his car and made their way to Jackson’s place.
“Vinny fucking LaVine.” Jackson said looking down at the photo.
Of the entire NYPD, Jackson was the only officer who’d ever met Vinny; all the others were either dead, retired, or in jail.
The LaVine family had a knack for turning officers. Undercover cops would penetrate the LaVine family circle and through a series of ‘loyalty tests’ the LaVine’s would fuck with the officers’ heads until they were too screwed up to know which way was up and which way was down. Many officers got caught up in the lifestyle and either joined the family or ended up overdosing and dying in some dirty old hotel room.
“You think he and Pauly have made up?” Dani asked.
“For our sake, I hope not.” Jackson said staring down at the photo.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of the Dani/ Paula series. If you are enjoying this story tell me know by hitting that star. Thank you- Ceph.