“Charlie One Ear?s the man for that He knows all the tricks and you can?t beat that computer he uses
for a brain. I can help with the legwork.”
“Good enough,” I said.
“How about dinner tonight?” Stick asked. “Maybe hit a few hot spots afterward.”
“I?m tied up tonight,” I said. “Can we shoot for tomorrow night?”
Stick smiled. “I?ll check my dance card,” he said.
Charlie One Ear appeared from the back of the building with an expression that spelled trouble.
“You need to have a chat with Dutch, old man,” he said to
“Trouble?”
“I think his feelings are hurt.”
“Oh, splendid,” I replied.
“I?ll fill Charlie in,” Stick said as I headed back toward the big man?s office. Dutch operated out of a
room the size of a walk-in closet. A desk, two chairs, one of which he occupied, and a window. The
desk could have qualified for disaster aid. It was so littered with paper that he kept the phone, which
he was using when I knocked, on the windowsill.
“Talk to ya later,” he barked into the phone, and slammed it down. I decided to close the door.
“You don?t have t?do that,” he growled. “We ain?t got any secrets here.” He pointed to the other chair.
“Take a load off.”
I sat down. He cleared his throat and moved 1unk around on his desktop for a minute or so, then took
off his glasses and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
“I don?t wanna sound unappreciative,” he started, “but I got a way of doing things, okay? It may not
be SOP, and it may not be to the Fed?s liking, but that?s the way it is. No it seems to me that all of a
sudden you?re kind of running this operation, got my people running errands all over town, doing
little numbers on wayward pimps, like that, and I like to get things off my chest, so I?m speaking my
piece right up front.”
“Is that all that?s bothering you?” I asked. I sensed that there was something else behind his
annoyance but I wasn?t sure exactly what.
“So far.”
“Okay,” I said. “Since it?s your ballgame, maybe you better tell me the rules.”
He opened a drawer and took out a sheet of paper.
“This here?s my schedule sheet, I spend a lot of time workin? this out, make sure all the bases are
covered, people have some time off when they need it. You go short-stoppin? me and it?s goin? to get
to be a big mess.”
