saw what the Waiter was gonna do; you were part of what he was gonna do. You go public, or you go looking, you’d be giving the Belliances a death sentence, and probably the boy, too. You want that on your conscience, Nate? You go ahead. You go look for ’em. I won’t be able to protect them, then. Or you.”
I thought about that. Finally I said, “What about you and Ricca?”
His smile was faint but it was there. “Now I
“Ricca could go looking for the Belliances and the boy…”
“Not without crossing me. Paul’s not ready to openly defy me just yet. And by the time he ever does, this will be ancient history.”
I shook my head, smiled mirthlessly. “You would never have let this come back on the Outfit, would you, Frank?”
“Never,” he admitted.
Hauptmann wasn’t the only patsy in this case.
Now I was worried. “Maybe you’re right that Ricca won’t go after the Belliances and their ‘son.’ But he sent those fuckers to kill me, too, Frank. What’s going to keep him from doing that again?”
He patted my arm. “Me, Nate. And you. Our respective reputations. I told Paul you were took care of. You been paid off. He’s heard about you, about the Lingle case; he knows you’re…discreet.”
I laughed harshly; it made my side hurt. “He figures I’m for sale. Maybe I am, at that. So what’s this worth to you, Frank? How much am I gonna get for keeping quiet about the ‘crime of the century’? It ought to be worth a lot.”
“Oh, it is. And I think you’re gonna like what you get.”
“What do you mean?”
“You get to wake up tomorrow, Nate.”
“Oh.” I tasted my tongue again. “Well. That is fair.”
“I’m even throwin’ in picking up your hospital bill.”
I was shaking my head. “Frank, there are people who are going to want explanations from me. Governor Hoffman, for one….”
He gestured with an open palm. “You came to Chicago to follow up a lead. You got shot up by some nasty fellows who didn’t like you. You wound up in the hospital. But the lead didn’t pan out. End of story.”
“I got no choice in this at all, do I, Frank?”
“Nate, every man has free will. Every man can choose his destiny. This is America. In America, a man can do whatever he thinks is right.”
I might’ve cracked wise, but he believed that shit; he was an immigrant who made good.
“Well,” I said. “That family loves that little boy. And he loves them. And you’re telling me, they’re protected, they’re off somewhere raising that little boy, living a nice quiet life?”
“Yes.”
“Well. I guess I can live with that.”
“My point exactly,” Nitti said, and patted my arm and went out.
A few days later I was back in my office, trying to pick up the pieces of my life, my health and my business. I was calling a list of my regular credit-check customers on the phone when the damn thing rang under my hand and scared the hell out of me.
“A-1 Detective Agency,” I said. “Nathan Heller speaking.” “Nate,” a voice said. A familiar, throaty female voice, conveyed in that one word a world of disappointment. “Evalyn,” I said.
“What happened to you?”
“I was going to call tonight,” I lied. I did intend to call her, but I wasn’t near ready. Governor Hoffman I intended to write, refunding the balance of my retainer minus the days I’d worked and my somewhat padded expenses.
“What happened, Nate?”
“I just got out of the hospital. I was following up a lead, and stepped on the wrong toes. I got shot in the side, actually.”
“I see,” she said.
It was an odd reaction: I thought when she heard I’d been shot, I might buy myself some sympathy. For Evalyn Walsh McLean, her response was uncharacteristically cold.
“By the time I woke up,” I said, “it was too late. Hauptmann was already dead. The cause was already a lost one. I’m sorry, Evalyn.”
“You disappoint me, Nathan.”
Now I was feeling tired; just plain tired. “Why is that, Evalyn?”
“You’re not the only private detective in the world, you know.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, exactly, Evalyn?”
“I was worried about you.” Now I could hear emotion in her voice. “I hired someone to look for you, to see if
