“Yeah, yeah. Two.”
“That?s the Mann Act,” I said.
“Look, could we maybe meet somewhere else if we?re going to keep this up?” Mortimer pleaded. “I
could take a boxcar ride just talking to you guys.”
“How many pimps does O?Brian have working down here?” I asked.
Mortimer looks at Salvatore wild-eyed and says, “Swear to God, I don?t know. 1 got the hotel, that?s
all I know.”
“This is your territory exclusively?” Charlie One Ear asked, and Mortimer nodded vigorously.
“Okay,” I said. “Finish your breakfast. We wanted information; we?re not going to tell anybody about
our chat. Don?t screw up and leave town.”
He shakes his head. Salvatore pockets the cue, and we split.
“Can we use this?? Charlie One Ear asks on the way out.
“No,” I said, “but it?s nice to know.
“Coercion, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Now I know why Salvatore carries a pool cue. He calls it his sweet nutcracker.
See what I mean about due process, Cisco?
22
DRIVE-IN
Stick drove intelligently on the way back. Neither one of us had much to say. About halfway to town
he wheeled into a drive-in and got us each a hamburger and a beer. Re pulled around behind the place
and parked under some palm trees in the parking lot and we opened the doors to let the breeze blow
through.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Sure, why?”
“I figure maybe you got the blues.”
“How come?”
“You got that look in your eye.”
“I?m doing fine.”
“1 know the blues when I see them.” He looked at me with that crazy sideways smile. “I just thought
I?d let you know I?m a good listener and I got an awful memory”
“It?s nothing you haven?t heard before,” I said.
