“Once I?m loose, I?m okay,” he said “I got some friends in Phoenix. I?ll take a moniker. But I can?t
take a chance, see, some dumb flatfoot, pardon the French, turns me up down here.”
“Why don?t you drive?”
“It?s their car, their credit cards. I left the car in a downtown parking lot with the cards locked in the
dash, sent them the keys. I?m breaking as clean as I can. Hell, I was even afraid to tap my bank
account, y?know? It?s all set up by the company.”
“So you?re tapped out, too?”
“1 got a small stash, get me where I?m goin?. Look, I?m not askin? for anything except a ride and
some company to Jacksonville. They can put me on the plane, that?s it. Am I on the suspect list,
Kilmer?”
“Hell, I think I?m even on the suspect list.”
“I need some cover, man, to break out. Whad?ya say?” The crowd noise surged and I was compelled
to look down in
the pit. The little dog, the hog dog, had the old warrior by one ear and was dragging it across the pit.
“See what I mean,” Harry cried, forgetting his troubles for the moment.
“What?s to trade?” 1 asked.
“You sure got a one-track mind.”
“Yeah, and right now I?d like to get on that track and get the hell out of here.”
“Like I said, what d?ya wanna know?” he asked.
“Everything you know.”
“It ain?t that much.”
“How about narcotics?”
“I don?t have nothin? to do with dope”
“How about Chevos?”
“Look, what do you want? All I?m askin? is a fuckin? ride out of town. This ain?t the Inquisition. I
can?t turn anybody up. That ain?t what this is about.”
“Did I ask you to turn anybody up, Harry? You?re making me play twenty questions here, that?s all.
We?ve never done business before. What?s the game?”
“Look, I don?t know what you want to know. One thing I don?t know is who iced these people.”
“Start from the beginning. The first time you came down here from Cincy,”
He thought about it while I watched the activity in the ring. Finally he said, “1 come down here four
years ago. It was Tagliani, Costello, Cohen, that?s all. I was one of the old man?s soldiers at the time.”
“What happened?”
