Strega

'In the car, Mia,' Strega told her. She took Scotty's hand and went off. Immaculata stayed in the Lincoln, looking straight ahead.

'What happened?' the redhead asked.

'It went well,' I told her, picking my words carefully. 'We got a lot of information. But the more he gets comfortable with these people, the more we find out, understand? He needs to come back, like once a week for the next few weeks at least.'

'Not for therapy?' she asked, a warning note in her voice.

'For information,' I told her, lying as smoothly as the rug on that pedophile's floor. 'If you want the picture…?'

'You got it,' she snapped. 'I want to talk to her'-pointing to the car.

I waved Immaculata over-no point in Strega seeing Max.

They didn't greet each other this time. 'Is Scotty going to be all right?' Strega asked.

'In time, yes. He had an ugly experience. It's a process. You are going to bring him back?'

'Once a week, right?'

'Yes.' Immaculata watched Strega's face, making up her mind about something. 'You should not attempt to debrief this child,' she said, her voice clear as crystal and just as hard.

'Debrief?'

'Ask him what he said, what we talked about. He will not want to do this now. In his own time, it will come. If you put pressure on the child now, you will set back his progress, yes?'

'If you say so,' said Strega.

'I do say so. It is very important. Scotty is a strong child, but this whole thing was a severe trauma. You, as his mother…'

'I'm not his mother,' Strega snapped.

'This is his aunt,' I said to Immaculata. 'Zia.'

Immaculata smiled. 'You must be very close with this little boy for him to have told you what he did. He loves you and he trusts you. When the time comes, we will need you to help us with the last stages of the healing. Will you do that?'

'I'll do whatever Scotty needs done,' Strega said, a faint smile touching her lips. Responding to praise just like a kid.

I took Immaculata's arm to go back to our car. Strega plucked at Mac's sleeve.

'Is Burke your boyfriend?' she asked.

Immaculata smiled-a beautiful thing to see. 'Good God, no,' she said, and bowed to Strega.

We watched as the redhead climbed in her Mercedes and drove sedately off.

78

I LET Immaculata and Max off at the warehouse and drove back uptown looking for Michelle. She wasn't working any of her usual stands. The Prof was off the streets too. Like a hard wind was coming down and they had enough sense to get out of the way.

I thought about catching some of the later races up in Yonkers, but the thought slid by. The digital clock on the Lincoln 's dash said it was ten-fifteen-a couple of hours gone. I thought about Flood-like biting into your own lip to make sure your teeth are working. When I started to think about calling Strega, I realized I had to talk to someone.

Dr. Pablo Cintrone's clinic would be open until at least midnight. Pablo is a Harvard-educated psychiatrist, a Puerto Rican who battled his way through the stone walls of prejudice circling the miserable slum that liberals love to call el barrio. He is a man without illusions-the pieces of paper he got from Harvard would fly him out of the neighborhood, but he'd have to make the trip alone. The people in his community call him 'el doctor' in reverent tones. And if they know he runs an organization called Una Gente Libre they don't discuss it with the law.

Una Gente Libre-A Free People-a very low-profile group as terrorists go. They didn't pull armored-car robberies, no bank jobs, no bullshit 'communiques' to the newspapers. UGL wasn't interested in symbolic bombings or ego politics either. What they did best was take people out-simple, direct homicides-no 'trademark' assassinations, no revolutionary slogans left at the scene. Somehow, people always knew when it was a UGL hit, though the federales were never sure. They knew the group existed, but they could never get inside. Without informants, they couldn't catch Jesse James if he was still doing trains on horseback.

A few years ago a suspected UGL triggerman was busted for blowing away a dope dealer who took his business too near an elementary school. The federales offered him pure immunity-a walkaway if he'd testify about the organization. No sale.

The gunman's trial was no revolutionary showcase-very straightforward. He pleaded 'not guilty,' claimed the dealer had a gun too and was beaten to the draw. Pablo was just one of a dozen character witnesses, all neatly dressed, solid citizens. No revolutionary slogans, no picketing, no clenched fists in the air.

The defense attorney was good-a hard piece of work. A heavy-set, bearded guy from midtown, he pounded away at what a slimeball the dead dealer had been, never compromising, fighting the prosecutor and the judge every step of the way. The gunman was tried for murder- the jury was out three days and finally came back with manslaughter. The judge gave the gunman five to fifteen.

Everybody walked over to congratulate the defense attorney. He'd done a hell of a job to pull this one out-if the gunman fell for murder, he was looking at twenty-five to life. The lawyer sat at the counsel table, tears in his eyes, bitter that he hadn't won the whole thing. Not too many lawyers like that left, and they're worth whatever they cost.

The gunman went upstate and did some good time-a man of respect. He never had a blank visiting day, his commissary account was always full to the brim. And his wife hit bolita-the Spanish numbers game-for a big piece of change. Just lucky, I guess, but it took good care of his family while he was down.

When he hit the bricks, they threw a block party for him that lasted four days. He's still on parole, a driver for the ambulance service that works out of Pablo's clinic. To the cops, he's another ex-con. To his people, he's a POW returned to his home country.

If it was business, I would have called first. From a safe phone. But I just wanted to talk. I pulled the Lincoln into the empty space that's always in front of the clinic. Before I could even turn off the ignition there was a tap on the window. The glass whispered down into the door with a push of the little button. The guy tapping on the window wasn't too tall, but his width matched his height. A head the size of a basketball grew out of massive shoulders without benefit of a neck. Half his face was covered with old razor scars surrounding a glass eye-and that was his good side. The guy was ugly enough to need an exorcist.

'No parking here, hombre,' he snarled.

'I'm here to see Pabloel doctor?'

'Who you?'

'Burke,' I said.

The monster held out his hand, palm up. I pulled the keys from the ignition and handed them over. He growled something and left.

He was back in a couple of minutes, his lips twisted in what he probably thought was a smile-his teeth were broken stumps. He jerked a thumb in a hitchhiker's gesture. I climbed out of the Lincoln.