“Someone in the neighborhood jacked the marble for the club. Just stacked it in a dumpster and rolled it off. I’m gonna need some help rolling it back when I find it.”

“Alright. Tell me where to meet you.”

Done with that, I shot off a text to Serano, then started looking.

The neighborhood was big, and there were many places to hide a dumpster. But there were also a lot of eyes around. While most people liked to mind their own business, sometimes kids or the unhoused would be willing to provide some information for some cash.

It was about an hour and a half before we finally found someone who’d both accept the money to talk and had actually seen something.

“Should have guessed it was the Gallagher boys,” Bass said.

“What do you know about the Gallagher boys?”

“Haven’t been sitting on my ass since I got out of prison, you know—”

“To be fair, I figured you would be fucking your way through all the boroughs.”

“Well, there’s been some of that,” he admitted, eyes warm. “But I’ve been working hard to figure out all the crews operating not only in Brooklyn but some of the other boroughs. So many have changed since I went away. When Renzo finally lets me have my own crew, I want to be a solid leader.”

“Etiquette lessons aside, I think you’ll run a solid crew.”

“Yeah? Means a lot coming from you.”

“Sure,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Hey,” he said, stopping mid-stride to look at me. “For the record, I’m not on your ass because I don’t think you know what you’re doing. I really need this job to reflect well on me. Lost years of my life inside. My career should be on par with Rico’s, but I’m doing jobs like an associate instead.”

“I get that. It took a long time to get where I am. I treated every job like my future depended on it. This one is going to work out.”

“Your hair is blue,” he observed.

“I know. I wasn’t planning on being by the club today.”

“We’ll grab you a hat before we head back.”

“Yeah, good idea. So, what do you know about the Gallagher boys?”

“Dad was Irish mob. But he’s too much of a drunk to be of use to them, so the whole family got ousted. So the kids do petty crime. And, likely, will form their own crew once they get enough money going for them.”

“That about covers it.”

“What I don’t know is why Renzo is allowing them to wild out right under his nose, unchecked.”

“Renzo appreciates their entrepreneurial spirit,” I told him. “I think it reminds him of himself at their age. And maybe he’s aligning himself as an ally to a future superpower in the area. Which would only make our family stronger.”