Hooligans

“It means we?re still alive,” I said, “for which we?ll be eternally grateful.”

“Just part of our twenty-four-hour service,” he said gleefully. “Keeps us on our toes.”

I helped DeeDee off the platform and she sighed and fell up against me. I could feel her heart

thumping against my chest.

“C?mon, we?ll follow you pal,” Stick said, pulling roe up the alley by the arm. “Dutch is right. You?re

dangerous when you?re out alone.”

52

DEEDEE

At DeeDee?s suggestion, she and I went back to her place. It was ten minutes away, in the restored

section of town not far from where Della Norman and Tony Logeto had died a few days ago.

On the way she asked, “Shouldn?t we report this to somebody?”

“I?m one of the somebody?s you report it to,” 1 said. “Besides, the car?s probably registered to some

nonentity. By now they?ve either dumped it in the river or dropped it at some body shop. We?ll never

see it again.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about these things.”

“It?s what I do.”

“I thought you just did investigative work.”

“Sometimes it upsets people.”

“Upsets people” she cried. “Is that what you call it?”

The house was tucked among shaggy oaks, a two-hundred-year-old Revolutionary house that had

been meticulously restored, as had the others on the street. It was like stepping into the eighteenth

century. The inside was just as authentic. It was a museum piece, filled with bric-a-brac, old etchings

and maps, and antique furniture that was as authentic as it was uncomfortable. There wasn?t a cushion

iii the living room.

“This was my inheritance,” she said. “Dad didn?t have much, but he bought this house for a song

when it was a falling-down wreck. He and Tony did most of the restoration work themselves. It took

them years.”

“Does Tony live here with you?”

“Sometimes,” she said vaguely. We made small talk for ten or fifteen minutes, trying to talk past the

awkwardness of the situation. Finally I got Lark?s phone number and she went off to make coffee.

Lark answered the phone after eight or nine rings. Her voice was still sultry, but not quite as pleasant

as earlier in the evening.

“Hello?” she said tentatively.