empty.
'I assume you're Mr. Kazorowski. '
'That's right.' Kaz closed the curtains. 'Where'd you get the new duds?'
'Lucinda bought them for me.'
'You don't get it, do you? Her brother is trying to kill you. Why should she help you? Sicilians teach family loyalty from birth. . Nobody is ever allowed in between. But because you've got great teeth and sun-bleached hair you think this Mafia princess is gonna throw her family away so she can play house!' He started to collect his few belongings and jam them into his duffel bag.
'What'm I doing hanging with you? Good luck, but I'm outta here.'
Ryan changed the subject.
'What happened to Brenton?'
'Brenton looks like a science fiction experiment. Got enough tubes comin' out of his head to plumb a duplex. We're probably not going to get anything outta him, but right now, he's all I've got.'
'I had another idea. Cole Harris.'
'Who's Cole Harris?'
'Cole Harris is a guy I knew in L. A. a while back. He used to be a reporter for UBC. Vidal Brown told me he was canned because UBC wouldn't run a series of stories he did on the underworld. Apparently, he accused Steve Israel of collusion with the mob and he was out on his ass before the end of the day.'
Kaz stood looking at Ryan for a long time, not sure how to grade it. 'That doesn't mean he knows anything about Brenton's connection to the mob or Haze Richards.'
'Cole is one of those humorless bastards who thinks he's always right. If he thinks they fucked him, he'll be digging through their trash looking for evidence until he proves it.'
'Where is he?' Kaz said, getting a little more interested.
'I don't know, but I'm gonna find out.'
'Gonna take her with you?'
'Yes. I need help. I still can't walk.'
'But you still can fuck, I bet,' Kaz said, wishing immediately he hadn't.
'You're really something of an asshole, aren't you?' Lucinda said.
'You got that right. It's why I'm still alive. Assholes are hard to kill,' Kaz fired back.
They glared at each other as a hooker screamed an insult through the wall.
'How do I reach you?' Kaz asked, relenting.
'I have my mother's cell phone,' Lucinda said. 'I'll loan it to you.'
'And I have credit cards,' Ryan said. 'I'll buy another cell phone.'
Kaz looked at the phone in Lucinda's hand, then took it from her. 'I'm going back to the hospital,' he said and walked out of the room, leaving Ryan and Lucinda alone. 'He's pleasant.'
Ryan stood up, using the chair for balance. 'Let's get outta here.'
Lucinda bought a pair of crutches for Ryan at a hospital supply store. Ryan took the last of the antibiotics that Dr. Jazz had given him, hoping he had passed the danger point for infection. They picked up a cell phone at a Radio Shack with Ryan's credit card and gave the clerk an extra twenty to get it programmed immediately. Then they went to a fast-food restaurant and Ryan hobbled on his crutches to the pay phone. He dialed Steve Israel's assistant on the Rim in New York.
'How's Spencer doing?'
'Not good. He's still unconscious,' she said.
'Listen, . I know this is a bad time, but I'm trying to reach Cole Harris. You got a number on him? We were friends in L. A. I'd like to look him up.'
'He's an asshole. Steve fired him 'cause he was accusing everybody in the 'morning meeting' of killing stories for the wrong reasons.'
'Did you ever see the stories?'
'No, but Steve said he didn't have corroborating sources. We'd've been sued if we'd run it.'
'So, you don't know where he is?'
'Haven't heard from him. Wait a minute. I think he had a brother in Rye. Carson. Carson Harris. He's probably in the book.'
'Thanks. See ya around.' And he hung up.
Steve Israel met his assistant at the elevator and they got in together.
'Remember Cole Harris?' she asked.
'Do I ever,' Steve responded.
'I was just on the phone with Ryan Bolt. He's trying to get in touch with him.'
C. Wallace Litman had spoken to Steve the day before about Ryan Bolt. Wallace said that Ryan had left Haze's
campaign and that nobody at UBC should cooperate with him. 'Did you give him Cole's number?'
'I didn't have it, but I remembered he had a brother named Carson. I told him maybe he knows where Cole is.'
The elevator stopped in the lobby. Then Steve snapped his finger. 'Damn,' he said. 'I forgot something. Go ahead, I'll see you later.'
Steve went back up to his office on the Rim and called C. Wallace Litman and told him what he had just found out.
Chapter 36
Charlie 'Six Fingers' Romano had made Thirteen Weeks see Mickey personally to explain how he'd fucked up the job on Ryan Bolt.
He met with Mickey at the gangster's home in New Jersey, just a few days before Joseph Alo died. Thirteen Weeks sat on a carved wood chair in the entry hall, his nose still taped together, hoping that Mickey wouldn't go apeshit and do something crazy. He was facing an oil portrait of a beautiful girl who looked a lot like the one who had hit him on the head with the ashtray. He walked over and looked at the painting more closely.
'That's my sister Lucinda,' Mickey said, coming out of the den behind him. 'You're Johnny Furie?'
Thirteen Weeks bowed his head as if he were standing before the Blessed Father.
'Don Alo, I apologize for making a mess of this. . '
'Did Ryan do that to your face?' Mickey said, amazed that Bolt could inflict such damage on a professional hitter.
'Uh. . well, he's real quick.' Thirteen Weeks cursed himself for blowing the first assignment Mickey Alo had ever given him. 'Don Alo, I pray that you would allo w m e a second chance. I wish to make amends for this terrible mistake I have made,' he said, sounding like a courtier in front of a feudal lord, but he wanted desperately to convey his respect for the Alos and his shame at his own failing.
'Don Alo, if you would give me the honor of a second chance, sir, I will finish the job and put Bolt away. I ask no payment, only that I be allowed to redeem this loss.'
Mickey remembered the few times he and Ryan had fought as kids. He'd been surprised at Ryan's quickness. He also remembered watching a televised game in college. Ryan had caught four passes right in front of an all- American D-back from Ohio State, had burned him all afternoon with his speed and quick moves. It was this thought that allowed him to go easy on the bone-breaker standing humbly in front of him. Finally, Mickey nodded his head.
'Maybe I'll give you another chance. Leave your number and stick around close.'
When Thirteen Weeks left the house, his knees were shaking. He stood on the Alos' huge porch, waiting for his car to be brought up by the stocky Sicilian greaseball who parked it. He made the sign of the cross. 'Bella
