snake eyes, and snarled, “Harry Nesbitt.”
“Just why are you so attracted to me, Harry?”
“I came to talk. Lemme loose.”
“You talk with your arm?”
“You got the gun, hotshot.”
“Yeah, and I?m kind of jumpy, homicide being the hottest game in town right now. Talk first.”
“Look, all I?m doin? is a Western Union. You wanna listen or not.”
“I?m listening, Harry.”
“Johnny O?Brian wants a meet.”
“Is that a fact. And what?s that to you?”
“I work for him.”
“What do you do, carry his gun?”
“Very funny,” he said, beginning to put an edge back into his voice. I let him go, slipped his gun into
my belt, and backed away from the potted plants, out to the edge of the lobby.
“Do you mind,” he said, his eyes beginning to dance around the room again. “O?Brian ain?t anxious
the whole fuckin? world should know we?re talking.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
He moved farther back among the plants.
“This joint is crawling with people,,” he said, although all I could see was one sleepy bellhop and
desk clerk who was busy sorting bills.
“Just speak your piece and shag,” I said.
“O?Brian says he?ll meet you anywhere you say, any time. One on one. Nobody knows but him and
you.”
“What about you? You going to get amnesia?”
“Cute.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I already got it.”
“And how do I contact O?Brian?”
“You don?t. I do the go-between, okay? You tell me, I give it to the boss.”
“And why should I trust you? Because I like your taste in ties?”
“Lookee here,” said Nesbitt. “He wants to make a deal with you, okay? He ain?t got nothing to do
with this hit parade goin? down.”
“Now how would I know that?”
“Look, it comes to O?Brian that you heated up Cincy real good. It comes to O?Brian that you burned
Skeet Tagliani and gave Uncle Franco and the rest of them a hotfoot there. It also comes to him that
