Mob Princess - Tess DiRosa's Story
Copyright© 2025 by Argon
Chapter 3: For Giggles
Lisa arrived 15 minutes later, basically a minute after Tess was done in the bathroom. She smiled mischievously when she saw Tess in a light blue terry cloth robe.
“I like your thinking,” she quipped.
Tess grinned back. “Bathroom’s free for you.”
“God, yes! Lemme wash off the smell. Oh, hi, Eileen!”
Eileen stood near the stairs wearing much-too-big sweat shorts and a loose hanging muscle shirt. Lisa covered the distance and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lisa. I’m a bartender at the Tulips. I saw the whole thing. You’re done with the bitch?”
Eileen nodded shyly, taking in Lisa’s trim figure and butch haircut.
“Y-yes. She’s mean. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, but Tess said she’ll help me.”
“Good for you, Kiddo. Say, you’re a real cutie. You can do so much better than that fat cow.”
“Yeah, like learning to stand on her own feet,” Tess budged in. “We’ll help her, but I’ll not be her sugar-mommy.”
Lisa nodded sagely. “Good point. So, will she be part of our little self-defense session tonight?”
Tess shook her head. “I haven’t asked her.”
Eileen looked her question, so Tess elaborated. “Lisa came here so I’d show her some self-defense moves. I’m sure she just wants to rub her sweaty body against me.”
“I’m hurt! I’m not sweaty.” Lisa proclaimed with a mock pout. Then she giggled. “But the rest of your idea has potential.”
Poor Eileen’s eyes ping-ponged between the two young women. “Umh, I don’t know. I’m still a bit sore where Mona spanked me tonight.”
“Hey, I wasn’t hitting on you, Kiddo. You must get over that cow first. Do you dig girls at all?”
Eileen fired up her cheeks again and nodded, looking down at her feet.
“I guess I’m a lesbian,” she almost whispered.
“Hey, I’m not judging,” Lisa giggled. “Say, Tess, can I have my shower now? I really want to get started on those exercises.”
A showered Lisa emerged from the bathroom not ten minutes later, her short hair still wet and slicked against her head. She was wearing a pair of bicycle shorts and a wife beater shirt from a gym bag she’d had in her trunk. Tess had to admire her sinewy slimness. Surprisingly, in spite of her butch appearance, there were no tattoos in evidence, let alone piercings. Tess commented on that and Lisa grinned.
“I’m not going to sling hootch in a dyke bar for the rest of my life. I have a slot at FLETC in the fall.”
Tess understood the acronym though Eileen did not.
“Federal law enforcement training center,” Lisa explained. “I want to join the Secret Service.”
“That’s cool,” Tess opined. “I get it. Tattoos can be a career block.”
“You bet. I doubt that I’ll ever get picked for the presidential security detail...”
“Maybe they’d let you play nanny for the kids,” Tess needled her.
“Yeah, but even for that they’d frown on ink.”
“What? They won’t let you have a tear drop tattoo for every assassin you send to the cooler?”
Lisa giggled. “No. Plus, I’m not into that stuff. I don’t dig pain, and I don’t find ink sexy.”
Tess nodded. “I can see where you come from. Not my thing either. So Secret Service? How did you get that idea?”
“I’m a business major. We had a talk by one of their agents, telling us about their real work. You know, catching counterfeiters and such. It sounded much more exciting than being a bean counter, so I applied.”
“Good for you. Not to piss you off, but don’t they have a minimum size?”
“Not for the agency, but probably for the security details. I’m not that eager to jog alongside the presidential limo anyway.”
“You know, maybe I’ll look into it too. Do you have to have a bean counter background?”
“Naw, they’re pretty open. What’s your education?”
“Just finished my criminal law degree at Penn. Criminal law focus.”
“Jeez! And you’re some sort of black belt too. They’ll be drooling after you.”
“Yeah, well, there are issues that may cool their interest.”
“Such as?”
“Doesn’t the name ‘DiRosa’ ring a bell?”
“You mean ... for real?”
Tess nodded. “For real. My great-uncle is Vincent DiRosa, and Felix DiRosa is my cousin.”
“Shi-it! How come you were so chummy with the cop lady and that top-notch lawyer?”
Tess grinned. “Maureen is my brother’s mother-in-law and Numi is her partner. I’m also interning with Maureen at her firm. She’s the litigating partner.”
“And your brother? Is he like a hitman or such?”
Tess shook her head. “Joey’s doing his PhD at Johns Hopkins, in Molecular Genetics. He’s some sort of genius that way. He’s had two papers in Science already, and he’s not even written his dissertation yet.”
“That’s good?” Lisa asked.
“It’s what 99.98% of his fellow students would give their left nuts for ... or their left ovaries, whatever,” Tess giggled.
“Well, it’s going to be interesting to see how they’re going to react if you apply,” Lisa grinned.
“What made you decide to apply with us, Miss DiRosa?” Special Agent Mancuso, the elderly lady conducting the interview, asked.
Tess had sent in her application to the Secret Service field office, mostly for giggles, but now, three weeks later was being interviewed already.
“Well, since the Fibbies wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole, I figured I needed to look into the rest of the alphabet soup,” Tess replied recklessly.
“I see. Your family, right?”
“Parts of my family more precisely,” Tess conceded. She remembered Maureen’s quip. “Still, Special Agent DiRosa of the anti-racketeering task force would be too much, wouldn’t it?”
To her surprise, the interviewing agent grinned at her. “Yeah, that would sound odd. I meant, why law enforcement?”
“You mean with my criminal genes?” Tess shot back.
The agent was not easily fazed. “No, I mean with over 4 million in assets from your trust fund, having interned with Philadelphia’s third-oldest law firm, and having the money and the grades to get accepted at Cornell. Why law enforcement?”
Tess nodded. “Fair enough. I have a cousin who’s a lieutenant in the Philadelphia Police Department. We’re not averse to serving the public. You also know about my martial arts background?”
“Tell me.”
“I’m a 1st Dan in Aikido. I’m also a Wing-Tsun adept. That’s a style of Wushu...”
“I used to practice the White Crane style myself,” the agent replied calmly. “So, you want action and excitement?”
“That, and a purpose other than making obscene amounts of money from crooked clients. I wasn’t raised by my great-uncle. I was raised by my mother. She taught us what’s right and what’s wrong. Even my great-uncle has a strong moral compass.”
Agent Mancuso nodded. “The DiRosa have Sicilian roots?”
“Yes, the family hails from Castelverano.”
Mancuso grinned. “You know, a good Secret Service agent on a protective detail and an old style Qualified Man have a lot in common.”
“I can see that. They’re both Samurais.”
“Precisely, and right now you feel like a Ronin, like a Samurai without a master to serve, right?”
Tess did not flinch. “Pretty much.”
“I see. Thank you for coming, Miss DiRosa, and for your candor. We’ll give you an answer in the next four weeks. Any questions on your part?”
Tess shook her head. “I’ve read up on the Service, and what you and your colleagues told me computes.”
“Excellent. I hope to see you again, Miss DiRosa!”
“Likewise, Special Agent Mancuso!” Tess answered, holding out her hand.
The lady agent shook it firmly and gave her a smile. Once outside the office, Tess chuckled. ‘Yeah, right!’ she thought. ‘They’re gonna accept a Mob Princess into their lily-white Secret Service! As if!’
She found her car in the visitor parking and drove back to the offices of Stansfield, Lipton & Croft. There was still work to do, and Maureen counted on her. This whole Secret Service thing was a pipe dream anyway.
At her desk, she focussed on the case law research again, looking up previous rulings on the admissibility of searches performed with consent of the suspect’s spouse, and how the cases and rulings differed. It was boring work, and the client for whom she performed that task was a Grade-A slime ball. Still, she reasoned that she worked for Maureen, and Maureen deserved her best effort.
It was uncanny how Maureen picked that moment to call Tess’s extension.
“Hey, Tess! Can you come in for a moment?”
“Sure! Be there in a sec,” Tess answered, already standing up.
In Maureen’s office, a huge corner room with wood paneling and real carpets, she plopped down unceremoniously in the visitor’s chair.
“Wassup?” she asked.
“We could finally track down Eileen’s brother. He received an honorable discharge from the Corps two years ago and applied to the Feds. He made it, and he’s currently serving as an arms instructor at Quantico.”
“For real? He’s with the FBI, has been for over two years, and he never called and asked for his kid sister?”
“I don’t know. He may have called and just got bullshitted by their parents. How you want to handle this?”
“Have you got his phone number?”
“Only his work phone. You want to call him?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll call him. Did Eileen’s story check out?”
“Numi says she’s listed as missing in that shit hole where she grew up. There’s another angle coming up. That reverend, Hellstrøm, wasn’t quite content with Eileen. He’s also been doing his own daughters. One of them skipped town right after her graduation and went to L.A. to become a porn actress. Even helped her sister escape three years later and stashed her away at Eureka, of all places. Then she had bad luck and died during a boob job, but her friends and her sister teamed up to shoot a documentary about her life and death, and her father didn’t like it at all being featured as a rapist and child molester. He’s suing the producers, and I’m thinking that if Eileen gives an affidavit recounting how he abused her, it might help to sink the bastard in court. It’ll be public record.”
“What’s in it for you?” Tess asked.
“I guess I can’t shake my background as a prosecutor,” Maureen smiled. “I just love to nail guys like that.”
Tess nodded. “I’ll talk to Eileen and bring her in tomorrow. You plan for a written affidavit or a video deposition?”
“Written. It’s a civil case. He’s suing the producers for damages. An affidavit will serve them best to refute his suit.”
“You’re the boss,” Tess grinned. “Okay, let’s call the not-so-special Agent O’Leary now!”
The number Numi had found connected them to the main office at Quantico. It took a little re-routing, then some waiting, until Special Agent O’Leary picked up the phone.
“O’Leary!” he fairly barked into the phone.
“Good afternoon, Special Agent. My name is Teresa DiRosa, with Stansfield, Lipton & Croft, Attorneys at Law,” Tess provided glibly. “Do you happen to have a sister by the name of Eileen?”
“What do you know of her?” came the sharp answer.
“I’m sorry, is she your sister?” Tess insisted.
“Yes, damn it! What happened to her?”
“I am not at liberty to divulge information about her on the telephone, Special Agent. Miss O’Leary asked us to find you and to establish a contact with you. Are you willing to have contact with her?”
“Of course! She’s my sister. What the Hell...”
“Mr. O’Leary, I believe it best to connect you to Ms Darling. She is a partner at Stansfield, Lipton & Croft, and she is your sister’s attorney of record,” Tess interrupted. “Your turn,” she mouthed to Maureen and handed her the receiver.
“Hello, Mr. O’Leary. I am Maureen Darling. Ms. O’Leary is my client. My associate informed me that you are willing to contact your sister?”
“Yes, of course! Is she well?”
“I can tell you this much on the telephone that she is not in any danger. She is living with a friend at the moment and her needs are taken care of. She has identified you as the sole relative with whom she wishes to establish contact.”
“What did the old bastard do to her?” came a grumble of barely suppressed fury.
“Again, this is for Ms. O’Leary to relay if she so wishes. Our job is to establish contact and if possible, to arrange a first meeting.”
“When? Where?”
Maureen looked at Tess who shrugged. “Anytime,” she whispered. “Maybe at my place?”
“You sure?” Maureen whispered back.
“I can handle him.”
Maureen nodded. “Well, Mr. O’Leary, we can arrange for a meeting tomorrow, perhaps at 6 p.m., in Philadelphia. Are you able to do that?”
“I can hop on my bike right away and be in Philly in under four hours,” O’Leary shot back.
“That would be around eightish?” Maureen asked.
“Yeah. I may pick up a ticket or two, but she’s my kid sister.”
“All right, my associate agrees. Your sister is living with her. Can you write down the address?”
“Sure. Shoot!”
Maureen gave Tess’s address then, and O’Leary promised to be there by eight. He ended the call and Maureen gave Tess a smirk.
“He’s not fond of his father, that much is a given.”
Tess nodded. “It would be neat to get the Feds interested in those assholes.”
Eileen was at once apprehensive and excited over her brother’s visit. Without Tess’s bidding, she started on a rampage over the ground floor, mopping the hardwood floors, clearing away Tess’s accumulated crap from the sofas and tables, and generally bringing kitchen and living room into shipshape. Meanwhile, Tess arranged for surveillance. Felix DiRosa dropped by for a briefing and made certain that the recording devices were working properly. With a Fed, you just never knew. He barely made his getaway before, at seven-forty, the rumble of a motorbike announced Craig O’Leary’s arrival. A quick peek using the front surveillance camera told Tess that the man was riding in style. It was a shiny, red Ducati Multistrada which he placed on the kick stand. Not shabby at all. As he approached the front door, Tess could see that he was tall, but slender, with short dark hair and blue or grey eyes. Then the doorbell rang and Tess opened the door.
“SA O’Leary? May I see some ID?” she asked, giving him a smile. He produced his FBI credentials and held it so that she could read it. “Welcome to the Casa DiRosa! Come in and let me call Eileen. I’m Tess DiRosa. We talked on the phone. Eileen is bunking with me for the moment.”
“Thanks, Madam. I sure appreciate your kindness.”
“No problem. She’s a good kid. She’s had some rough time though, so please be gentle.” She saw him clench his jaw and nodded. “Easy. Hear her out, and then I’ll give you some more background. Have a seat while I get ... no need, there she is.”
Eileen was entering the entrance hall. Her bruises had all faded away and she had filled out a bit in the four weeks since Tess had kicked Mona’s ass. She looked like your proverbial Irish girl next door, smiling shyly.
“Hey, Craig,” she almost whispered.
“Ellie, you look great!” O’Leary smiled, and Tess felt a little rush herself. The man was a serious hunk.
“I’m doing much better now. How have you been?”
“I made it through my enlistment. When I returned home, the old man said you had run away, that you were doing drugs and shit. He was lying, wasn’t he?”
Eileen nodded while her eyes began to brim. “I ran away, yes, but not for drugs. I ran away from him, and from Hellstrøm. They started right after you left for the Marines. Mom said it was like it was, and I should keep my mouth shut, but I ran away after my seventeenth birthday. Rode the Greyhound all the way to Philadelphia to find Aunt Meredith. Well, she had died, and things went to hell.”
“They did what?” O’Leary snarled.
Eileen just dropped her head, hunching her shoulders and looking at her feet. Tess interjected.
“They raped her. Eileen is a lesbian, and they pretended to do it to drive the demons out or some shit like that. That Hellstrøm character is some major piece of shit. Maureen, Eileen’s lawyer, says he did his own daughters too. They exposed him in a documentary about his older daughter’s death. He’s suing the producers, but they have documentation.”
Eileen raised her tear-streaked face. “Will he win?”
“Maureen didn’t say, but she kinda suggested that you give a sworn affidavit about what he and your dad did to you. You know, give those TV people some more ammunition to sink the bastards in court.”
Eileen nodded bravely. “I’ll do it. Somebody’s gotta stop them.”
“I’ve a mind to go and do just that,” Craig said through gritted teeth.
“Tut-tut, don’t even think like that. However this plays out, you’d be facing jail time, and you’ve got a sister to care for,” Tess told him. “Let things play out in court and give Eileen a chance to free herself from her past.”
Craig looked at her. “If Eileen is gay, are you and she...?”
Tess shook her head emphatically. “This is not my thing, having a pet I mean. I’m just giving her a leg-up.”
“Oh, I’m sorry...”
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