Part 39 (2/2)
”He's got my boy fanged,” Nesbitt said.
”What's fanged?”
”Bit right through his thigh and impaled his own lip. He can't let go, that ugly one can't.”
The referee cautiously approached the fighting animals and took a stick and started prying the old warrior's jaws loose. I'd seen enough.
”Look, can we go outside and talk? This definitely is not my thing.”
”Weak stomach?”
”Yeah, right.”
”They take a little time out here, when the ref has to use the breaking stick like that.”
”So what'd O'Brian say when you called him?” I asked.
”Nothin'. n.o.body was around. Some shrimpers, a guy trying to make city marina in a sailboat. That was it.”
”What time was that?”
”You left at ten-oh-five.”
”You'd be up s.h.i.+t creek if I turned the time around a little, wouldn't you?”
”Where you think I am right now? Up s.h.i.+t creek without the proverbial, no less, is where I'm at. Everybody's on my a.s.s, okay? The locals, the Fed, the Tagliani family, what's left of them. I mean, I got everybody on my a.s.s but the f.u.c.kin' marines . . . ”
”Somebody threaten you?”
”I don't have to hear from the pope, pal. I was...o...b..ian's chief b.u.t.ton. My job was keepin' him alive. I f.u.c.ked up. You think I'm gonna get a second chance? O'Brian was family, he was son-in-law to old man Franco.”
”Maybe that's what they wanted.”
”What the h.e.l.l's that mean?”
”I'm talking about supposing somebody wanted Jigs out of the way, somebody big in the family. Supposing they put it to somebody to ice Jigs. And this somebody rigs the whole thing to provide himself with a perfect alibi-like me, for instance. s.h.i.+t, Harry, what do you take me for-”
”Hey, you think I done O'Brian in? You think I done that thing? C'mon. And the family put my nose to it? Come on. s.h.i.+t, you need help, dreamin' up a story like that. The whole f.u.c.kin' family's getting aced one on top of the other, you think it's one of them behind it?”
”Why not? This is quite a plum, Doomstown. Be a nice place to control.”
”s.h.i.+t, you think this is an inside job, you're on the wrong trolley.”
”How about Chevos? Or Nance?”
”That's family!”
”Not really.”
”There ain't any bad blood there. Everybody was happy until the Tagliani knockover. Everybody had their thing.”
”It's happened before, y'know. Somebody gets greedy. Like that.”
”Not this time, pal. I mean, that Nance, he's a bada.s.s and all that, but I don't see him and Chevos doin' that. Look, I'm tellin' you, except for that local n.i.g.g.e.r there wasn't any problems.”
”I still don't trust you, Harry,” I said. ”You could've dragged me all the way out to this pasture to try to get me to fix yourself up an alibi.”
He was sweating. The dogs were at it again but he had lost interest. He was mine for now. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and leaned closer to me, whispering over the bellowing crowd.
”What d'ya want to know? Uh, the guys with you, one was the size of a semi, the other one was missing an ear . . . uh, you had a feast would choke a f.u.c.kin' hippopotamus. Then you went over and talked to two other birds . . . ”
He rambled on, filling in details as they came to him, things n.o.body would have thought to tell him. He was a very observant man.
”Okay,” I said, cutting him off, ”so maybe for now I choose to believe you. You got something to trade? This is your party, so I a.s.sume you want something, and since Christmas is long gone, I figure you got something to throw in the pot. Otherwise we wouldn't be out here in this s.h.i.+thouse.”
”Look, I know I'm probably on the s.h.i.+t list. I can't take a chance on leaving town if I'm gonna get busted. The Triad has got people all over the state on the payroll, man. I get busted, the boys'll hear about it, y'know, like yesterday. I won't make it to the South Carolina border, fer Chrissakes.”
”That's what you want, a guarantee the law'll let you out of town without a ha.s.sle?” I asked with surprise.
”Once I'm loose, I'm okay,” he said. ”I got some friends in Phoenix. I'll take a moniker. But I can't take a chance, see, some dumb flatfoot, pardon the French, turns me up down here.”
”Why don't you drive?”
”It's their car, their credit cards. I left the car in a downtown parking lot with the cards locked in the dash, sent them the keys. I'm breaking as clean as I can. h.e.l.l, I was even afraid to tap my bank account, y'know? It's all set up by the company.”
”So you're tapped out, too?”
”I got a small stash, get me where I'm goin'. Look, I'm not askin' for anything except a ride and some company to Jacksonville. They can put me on the plane, that's it. Am I on the suspect list, Kilmer?”
”h.e.l.l, I think I'm even on the suspect list.”
”I need some cover, man, to break out. Whad'ya say?”
The crowd noise surged and I was compelled to look down in the pit. The little dog, the hog dog, had the old warrior by one ear and was dragging it across the pit.
”See what I mean,” Harry cried, forgetting his troubles for the moment.
”What's to trade?” I asked.
”You sure got a one-track mind.”
”Yeah, and right now I'd like to get on that track and get the h.e.l.l out of here.”
”Like I said, what d'ya wanna know?” he asked.
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