'And what are these two shit birds doing here?' he said.
'I knew you were looking for them,' I said.
'I brought them so you'd come.'
'My God,' Bibi said, 'you used us for bait.'
Marty looked at her for the first time.
'Hard world, ain't it, baby.'
Bibi didn't answer. I could feel the weight of the sun on my back.
'So what's your deal?' Marty said to me.
'I'll get to the deal in a minute,' I said.
'But I need a couple answers.'
'You need a lot of things, asshole.'
'It started,' I said, 'with Anthony here, skimming a little off the accounts he serviced for Gino. And you caught him, because Anthony's dumber than a rake handle, but instead of closing him down, you turned him, had him skimming from Gino and Julius and splitting the dough with you.'
Marty nodded slightly. The small dry wind drifted across the lot and made a feeble attempt at ruffling Marty's hair.
'And while you had him in pocket, you had him spy on Julius.'
'Not just him,' Marty said.
'Julius's daughter. She was a dumb quiff but she was smarter than Anthony.'
'And when Anthony took off on you both, you became allies.
Which is how you knew we were looking for him out here.'
Marty shook his head in disbelief.
'She wanted him back, for cris sake 'And you wanted him dead, and she knew it. So she came out here to make sure you didn't hurt him.'
Marty laughed. There was no pleasure in the laugh, only scorn.
Scorn might be the only thing Marty had ever really felt.
'And you killed her,' I said.
'You beat her up and raped her and strangled her and dumped her body with no ID right over there.'
Marty shrugged.
'You got some kind a question you're asking or do you just like to flap your face?'
'Did you beat her up and rape her just to throw the cops off, or was it recreational?' I said.
'That your question?'
'One of them,' I said.
Marty grinned. It was an expression as scornful as the laugh had sounded.
'Both,' he said.
'What I figured,' I said.
'Got any other questions?'
'How come you set the Russians on me?'
'What makes you think it was me.'
'Joe Broz told me.'
For a moment Marty was startled. It was a brief slip and then he got the scorn back in place.
'So?'
'So, why?'
'Why do you think? You're all over my business. You're looking into Asshole Anthony, and you're looking for Bibi, and you're talking to the niggers, Gino and Julius and Fast Eddie. You're in the way. And you don't even fucking know what you're in the way of. A cheap fucking nickel-and-dime goddamned gumshoe poking around into something he couldn't understand if he found it, for cris sake 'Something really big, huh?'
'Bigger than you could handle, cheapie.'
'Taking over the town, huh?'
'For starters, cheapie, just for starters.'
'Today, Boston,' I said.
'Tomorrow the world.'
'You think it's funny?'
