Strega

things like when she was a little girl and I used to let her drink some of my espresso when she came into the club with her father-stuff like that. And then I notice that she won't let this kid of hers out of her sight. The little girl, she wants to go out in the yard and play and Gina says no. And it's a beautiful day out, you understand? They got a fence around the house, she can watch the kid from the kitchen-but she's not letting her out of her sight. So then I ask her, Is it something about the kid?

'And then she starts to cry, right in front of me and the kid too. She shows me this brown envelope that came in the mail for her. It's got all newspaper stories of kids that got killed by drunk drivers, kids that got snatched, missing kids…all that kind of shit.'

'So what?' I ask her. What's this got to do with your kid? And she tells me that this stuff comes in the mail for weeks, okay? And then this animale calls her on the phone. He tells her that he did a couple of these kids himself, you understand what I'm saying?-he snatches the kids himself and all. And her kid is going to be next if she don't do what he wants.

'So she figures he wants money, right? She knows that could be taken care of. But he don't want money, Burke. He wants her to take off her clothes for him while she's on the phone, the freak. He tells her to take the clothes off and say what she's doing into the phone.'

The old man's eyes were someplace else. His voice was a harsh prison whisper, but reedy and weak. There was nothing for me to say-I don't do social work.

'She tells me she goes along with it, but she don't really take nothing off, okay?- and the freak screams at her that he knows she's not really doing it and hangs up on her. And that's when she hit the fucking panic button-she believes this guy's really watching her. All the time watching her, and getting ready to move on her kid.'

'Why come to me?' I asked him.

'You know these people, Burke. Even when we were in the joint, you were always watching the fucking skinners and the baby-rapers and all. Remember? Remember when I asked you why you talk to them-remember what you said?'

I remembered. I told the old man that I was going to get out of that joint someday and I'd be going back to the streets-if you walk around in the jungle, you have to know the animals.

'Yeah,' I told the old man, 'I remember.'

'So what am I gonna fucking do, ask one of them psychiatrists? You know about freaks-you tell me what to do.'

'I don't tell people what to do.'

'Then tell me what's going on-tell me what's in his head.'

'He isn't watching her, Julio,' I told him. 'He just figured she wasn't going along, that's all. He's a freak, like you said-you don't ever know why they do something.'

'But you know what they're going to do.'

'Yeah,' I told him, 'I know what they're going to do.' And it was the truth.

We smoked together in silence for a bit. I knew Julio, and I knew there was more coming. Finally, he snubbed out his skinny, twisted black cigar on the Plymouth 's faded flank and stuck it in his pocket. His old, cold eyes grabbed mine.

'He called her again'

'And…?' I asked him.

'He told her to come to the park, you know, that Forest Park, near her house in Kew Gardens? And he says she has to go jogging in the park Friday morning, okay? And not to wear no underwear, so's he can watch her bounce around. He says if she does that, they'll be even and he'll let her kid off the hook.'

'No,' I said.

'No fucking what?' shouted the old man. 'No, she don't go to the park-no, he don't let the kid off the hook…what?'

'The kid's not on the hook, Julio; this freak is. He's a degenerate, okay? And they never stop what they do. Some of them step it up, you understand? They get into more freakish shit. But they don't stop. If she goes into that park, he'll call again. And the next time he'll want more.'

'He's gonna rape her?'

'No, this kind doesn't do that. He's a watcher-but he wants to hurt women just the same. He wants to make them dance to his tune. And the ones that dance, he speeds up the music.'

The old man slumped against the fender. All of a sudden he looked ancient. But an old alligator can still bite.

'She's good people, Burke. I never had a daughter, but if I did I wish it would be her. She's got a heart like steel. But this kid of hers, Mia, she turns her to water. She ain't scared for herself.'

'I know,' I told him.

'And she can't tell her husband. He'd wanna file a fucking lawsuit on the guy or something.'

'Yeah,' I agreed, sharing the old man's profound respect for citizens.

'So what do we do?' the old man asked me.'Where did this 'we' come from, Julio?'

'You do bodywork, right? I heard around for years-you do this kind of work, like private-eye shit and all.'

'So? This is different.'

'What's so different? Just nose around and find out this guy's name for me-where he lives and all.'

'Not a chance,' I told him.

The old man looked into my eyes, slipping into a new game quicker than a striking snake.

'Burke, this is family.'

'Yeah,' I said, 'your family.'

'In the joint, we was like family,' he told me, his voice quiet.

'You been reading too many books, old man. I was never in your fucking family.'

'Hey, come on, Burke. Just 'cause you ain't Italian don't mean nothing to me,' he said, with all the sincerity of a real-estate broker.

'I went to prison because I wasn't going to spend my life kissing ass,' I said, 'and kissing some old man's pinky ring don't race my motor either. A boss is a boss-I don't have much but at least I don't have a fucking boss, you hear me?'

The old man kept his face flat against this sacrilege, but his lizard eyes blinked. He said nothing, waiting for me to finish.

'I showed you respect then-and I show you respect now,' I said, letting him save face. 'But don't disrespect me with this bullshit about 'family,' okay?'

The old man thought he got it. 'You want money?' he asked.

'For what-for doing what?'

'I want to make this freak stop hurting Gina.'

'Will she do what you tell her?' I asked him.

The old man made a clenched fist, pounded his chest where his heart would be if he had one. It was all the answer I needed.

'I'll take a shot,' I told him. 'Tell her to go to the park on Friday, just like the freak told her to. I'll be around, okay?'

'Burke-you'll do it right?'

'There is no 'right' about this, Julio. I'll get it done or no charge, how's that?'

'How much?'

'Ten large,' I told him.