Chapter 3

New characters introduced in this chapter:

Patrick (Paddy) O’Farrell

Electrician, Grandfather of Maureen, 5’-9’’ tall, 175 pounds, 68 years old, gray hair, watery blue eyes

Maureen O’Farrell

Patrick’s Granddaughter, 3’-0’’ tall plus, 55 pounds, not quite 7 years old, light red hair, light green eyes, very cute and a large Talent

With January of 2021 came better weather. By Sunday, the 3rd, temperatures here were back in the sixty degree range during the day and the high thirties at night. The weather in the northeast had also improved with temperatures in the high forties in the Boston area, which helped with melting much of the accumulated snow.

During those days in December when we weren’t helping with repairs or preparing for the holidays, Jill and I had spent time on the public computers of various libraries doing research on the gangs and organized crime in Boston. Our research led us to several conclusions. The first of these was that those in crime in Boston were not as wise, smart, or organized as their counterparts in New York and New Jersey were. The Patriarcas had factions set up in Providence, Rhode Island and in Boston, but fighting and distrust between the factions plus aggressive pursuit by law enforcement over the years eventually led to their being reduced to a shadow of their former strength.

The Irish gangs were no better. Constant fighting among the gangs for control of the various activities led to their eventual forming partnerships with people they couldn’t trust. Even under James “Whitey” Bulger, the Winter Hill Gang couldn’t stay solvent and had to borrow money from their enemies the Patriarcas. They too were eventually reduced to a shadow of their former power by aggressive law enforcement. It appeared, as I had read in one article, that now it was “Disorganized Crime” that remained in Boston.

Jill and I had hoped to get help from some of the Irish gangs to track down those in the Patriarca Family who had convinced Don Palladino to help the Magic Haters. Now we were unsure how we would be able to locate Frank “the Fish” Mastrototaro.

“We’ll just have to go up there and see what we can find,” I told her since we didn’t have a definite plan.

“It’s a long way to Boston, and will be a longer way back if we don’t find anything,” she warned me.

“Yes, I know, but I have to try,” I told her before pulling her closer to me. I had come too far to turn back now. There was too much at stake.

“SO when will we leave?” she asked.

“The warmer weather began there around the 5th of January. It will take some time to reduce the amount of snow piled up there. Additionally, it will require several days to drive up there. If we leave on Thursday the 14th, we should be there by Sunday the 17th, I should think,” I told her.

“Why so long?” she asked. “It’s only something just over a thousand miles, or about sixteen hours if we take I-40 and I-95 according to the computer,” she finished.

“First off, I have no intention of driving straight through. Secondly, there is the weather to consider this time of year, in addition to stopping for eating, gas and other things,” I told her.

“What other things?” she asked.

“I want to acquire additional license plates. Finally, there is sleeping during the drive. Even in your SUV, you can’t get more than a nap at best. We will need to stop to get a decent night’s sleep, if we are going to work at our best when we arrive,” I told her. She smiled on hearing this.

“Yes, and something more than sleep. We also need more than just fast food on a trip that long. So a stop for a good dinner and breakfast will be necessary,” she agreed.

We had nearly everything that we would be taking with us packed by the evening of the 13th and loaded in the SUV. We were late arising on Thursday morning having spent considerable time the night before pleasuring each other. We had packed our remaining items, eaten, and were prepared to leave by 1000 that morning.

“You two be careful up there and don’t be strangers,” Thad told us on the porch before we left. The others had said goodbye to us inside with kisses and hugging. It was a warm sunny day at the O’Donnell farm and had been fairly warm overnight also with a low in the mid-forties.

It was past 1700 that afternoon when we pulled into the motel parking lot outside of Raleigh. While we had traveled only something over three hundred miles, we had garnered several additional used license plates on short side trips to various junk yards. We were careful to only get one North Carolina license plate. Jill’s SUV had her South Carolina plate on it currently.

We set out again on Friday morning just after 0900 following a very good night’s sleep and a large breakfast. We pulled into a hotel parking lot in Wilmington, Delaware at about 1900 that evening having come something over four hundred miles. The traffic around the major cities of Richmond, Washington, DC, and Baltimore had reduced our speed considerably. We had also made a couple of side trips in the Baltimore area to acquire more license plates.

We could have gone on, but had decided to wait until the morning to go through New Jersey and the New York City area, as we didn’t know if the police there were still looking for us. Of course, they would hopefully still be looking for a pickup with North Carolina tags. To be safe, we had changed to Maryland tags when we had stopped for gas and food that afternoon.

It being a Friday night, the hotels / motels were crowded, and it took us several stops to find a decent room. We had an excellent dinner that evening, and retired early for a night of love and sex, since we weren’t sure if we would have time for either once we reached Boston.

Saturday, we were ready to leave by 0930 following a fine breakfast. We had New Jersey and a part of New York to get through. It was definitely cooler this far north than it had been at the O’Donnell farm. The roads had been clear so far, and we had seen little snow on the countryside off of the roads.

I-95 took a route through Pennsylvania and Philadelphia before eventually joining the New Jersey Turnpike. We had decided that we didn’t need the traffic going through another major city, and opted to take the way we had come in November taking the Delaware Turnpike to the New Jersey Turnpike and traveling it through New Jersey to where it ended and became I-95 again before crossing over the Hudson River and into New York City.

The last part of this turned out to be a tortuous route, but we persevered by carefully watching the signs and the other information posted along the way. I-95 went across the Bronx before turning north and going up the east side of the Bronx then becoming the New England Thruway, a toll road, for a short distance, just as the New Jersey Turnpike had been a toll road for most of its length. We eventually crossed into Connecticut where we continued on to and through New Haven before stopping early for the day; worn out though we had only traveled some two hundred and forty miles or so. There were just too many roads and too much traffic up here to suit me.

We left the hotel outside New Haven at around 1100 on Sunday morning having slept in after a night of love and sex. Additionally, we had no idea where a church was here, or if they even had one that we usually attended. Interstate 95 continued through Connecticut and Rhode Island before entering Massachusetts. As we neared Boston, we came to an intersection where I-93 split off. It went up the east side of the city while I-95 went north up the west side of the city.

The first impression one gets of Boston is that it is huge ... gigantic. According to articles that we had read on the internet, the city itself covered 89 square miles (S.M.) of which 48 S.M. was land and had a population of 678,000. The Boston Urban Area covered some 1,770 S.M., and the Metro Area covered 4,500 S.M. with a population of some 4.8 million people.

We followed I-93 east across the south end of the Metro Area, and then north through a part of the Metro Area to exit it at Columbia Road. We turned left under the Interstate and followed Columbia Road to Boston Street where the hotel we had reservations for was located. It had been advertised on the internet as a low key facility near shopping and dining areas. They had a snow free parking lot, and we found a parking space near the entrance of the hotel, as it was early yet. We had only driven something like 150 miles today. We found a place to have lunch nearby before checking into the hotel. The people at the front desk were very pleasant when we checked in, and the room was more than adequate with a queen size bed that was nearly long enough for me. The bathroom seemed a little small to me, but then I’m a big guy. Jill found it to be all right for her.

Following unloading what we would need for the night, I cast my strongest wards around the SUV, just as I had done every night on this trip. Back in the room, we took out the map of Boston which we had previously purchased and spread it out on the bed. It was a large map and covered much of the bed. We had Southie outlined on it from maps we had seen on the Internet.

There had still been signs of snow visible from I-93 in some areas. We had seen pictures of Southie on the Internet which showed some of the streets there were more like alleys - being very narrow like those in many old cities in Europe and Great Britain. We had wondered how they had dealt with all of the snow that Boston had received last month.

“We can go right up Boston Street and into Southie in the morning,” Jill pointed out as we looked at the map. This was one of the reasons that we had chosen this hotel. Also it was less expensive than other hotels in the city; however it wasn’t inexpensive, just less expensive.

Later that evening, we had dinner in a very nice restaurant before retiring. We had quickly learned that what we had read about the hotel was true, as there was a lot of noise from traffic and from planes going over to and from the airport. I cast a sound deadening spell, that I had learned from Angus, around the room to remove the noise. I had cast my wards in the floor, walls, and the ceiling soon after we had entered the room initially.

Arising early on Monday morning, we felt quite refreshed following a good night’s sleep. We had only slept close together. I had needed to sleep at a bit of an angle because the bed was a bit short for someone my size. Following a reasonably satisfying breakfast at the hotel, we left to see what we could find in Southie to help us in our quest for Frank ‘The Fish’. Going north up Boston Street, we passed under I-93, and the street shortly changed its name to Dorchester Street.

Three quarters of a mile or so later we came to the intersection of East and West Broadway, where we turned onto East Broadway, as we had seen a truck pulling away from the curb into traffic. Jill slid us into the vacated parking space that it had been occupying. Even this early, it being just before 0800, we had noticed the lack of parking spaces on the way here.

On exiting the SUV, I cast my strongest wards around it to protect it from both vandals and the traffic which was heavy already.

“Which way?” Jill asked, as I finished.

“Let’s cross the street and walk east going toward the bay and see what we can find,” I told her before we set out at a leisurely pace. There were many wooden and brick buildings of three and four stories and occasionally more along East Broadway in addition to a number of new office towers. Many of the buildings had stores at street level with housing above them, and most appeared to be fairly narrow but deep. We soon passed the Medal of Honor Park and then a school as we proceeded to the end of East Broadway before crossing the street again and starting back to our vehicle. The sidewalks were more crowded by now, and I received a number of strange looks from passersby.

Jill with her short stature and red hair easily passed for a local, but I am much taller and larger than most of the local men, and I could sense a bit of fear or apprehension in many of those who we passed, as quite a few of the Irish have just a touch of the Talent, but not enough for them to do any serious Magic.

We were maybe half way back to our vehicle when a young girl, certainly not more than six or seven years old, came racing out of a store front and skidded to a halt just in front of us. She appeared to be a bit confused at first, but then smiled showing several missing teeth.

“Please help Athair mo’r (AH her MORE) (Grandfather)” she pleaded in a small voice.

“Where is he?” Jill asked in a soothing voice, as she stooped down to the girl’s height.

“In the store. The bad men are in there,” she said nearly crying. “Please!” she begged again.

“You stay here with the child,” I told Jill. “I’ll deal with them,” I added turning toward the entrance of the shop which had a sign on its front windows in gold letters reading ‘Paddy O’Farrell Electrical’. The door was still open, and I moved inside after casting my strongest wards around me.

Inside I found a couple of young toughs threatening and beating on an older man who they had backed up against a counter. He had been hit several times, and there was blood on his shirt.

“Leave him alone,” I told them in a command voice. Both jumped in shock on hearing my voice and whirled around to face me.

“Who the hell are you?” one demanded. He was the taller and thinner of the two with dark hair. The other one was shorter and heavier with brown hair. Neither one could have been more than twenty-one or so.

“I’m the one who is going to take out both of you if necessary,” I told them, as I cast the ammunition spell.

“We ain’t afraid of a big bastard like you,” the shorter one said, as they both pulled out pistols.