Lewis? fat lip.
The entire gala had lasted maybe a full minute, no more.
Dutch stood in front of the room, gun in hand, dust drizzling down on his shoulders from two holes in
the ceiling.
“What?s the matter with everybody? You all comin? unwired? Book these punks here for resisting
arrest.”
The door opened cautiously and three uniformed cops peered in nervously before entering the room.
There were a lot of clinking handcuffs and groans as they cleared out the Tagliani goons.
Lewis and the others helped Callahan clean up his ball bearings.
“Brand-new sneakers,” he complained, surveying the split toe of his Nikes.
All clubs and other weapons had magically vanished back to their nesting places.
The Stick returned to my solitary corner. He was smiling. “I feel much better,” he said.
“I thought maybe one of them stole your hat,” I said.
43
DOG WITH A BAD COLD
With things back under control, we left the war room and went back to the front of the Warehouse.
Costello remained in his corner, still tense, like a big cat waiting to spring. He looked back at me and
stared for a few seconds, as though not quite sure who I was, and then recognition swept over his
features. I could feel the hatred across the room. I smiled at him and stared back. My turn was
coming.
Our group had narrowed down to the Stick, Dutch, and me. Most of the aggravated tension moved
into the other room with us.
“Excuse me,” Costello said in a voice that was flat, harsh, and no less venomous than the bite of an
asp. “Do you mind reading us our rights and telling us what we?re charged with?”
Dutch said, “The rest of them I?m gonna charge with, let?s see, how about assaulting an officer,
resisting arrest, creating a riot, destroying city property—”
“All right, let?s make it simple,” Costello interrupted. “What the hell are we doing here?”
“Things were a little too quiet, we only had one murder so far today,” Dutch said. “So I thought we?d
have us all a little picnic.”
“Look,” Costello said to Dutch, “I realize you?re a well-respected police officer, Morehouse, but
you?re pushing—”
Now it was Dutch?s turn to do the interrupting.
