Family Tradition

by Troy Soos

About the Author: Troy Soos is the best-selling author of eleven mystery novels including the Mickey Rawlings baseball series and the Marshall Webb series.

Excerpt

The moment the front door of King’s Pointe Social Club creaked open, Sal D’Amico glanced up at the harsh sliver of daylight. Half a dozen other pairs of eyes automatically did the same, issuing a silent challenge to anyone who might enter. The newcomer would probably turn out to be one of their own and he would be acknowledged with a cursory nod. But occasionally a stranger wandered in—a lost tourist looking for directions or a thirsty passerby mistaking the narrow brick structure for the neighborhood bar it had once been—and would receive a less hospitable greeting.

What came in this time, along with the rumble of city traffic and the smell of carnitas simmering on a nearby food cart, was an elfin man of about seventy-five. He wore gold-frame eyeglasses the size of scuba goggles, brown beltless slacks, and a short-sleeved white shirt with the top button fastened. The man’s homely features were highlighted by loving cup ears and a spectacular beak of a nose. His head drooped at the neck, requiring him to tilt his face upward in order to see straight. Overall, he looked like a cross between an Italian tailor and a Himalayan vulture.

Sal was sitting alone at the far end of the room, where he’d been sipping coffee and agonizing over the Daily Racing Form. Now his full attention was directed at the visitor. Moving stiffly, the diminutive man closed the door behind him. He then drew his stooped figure a little taller and stood proudly, as if expecting a hero’s welcome.

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