“Good God!” he said. “Is this fix tied up in some way with the homicides in town?”
It was obvious that he had bought the soft-pedal from the press just as everyone else in town had. Just
as obviously, he was totally in the dark about who Tagliani really was and the ramifications of the
assassinations.
“Not exactly,” Callahan answered, still trying to be cautious.
I decided it was time to let the skeleton out of the closet. I told him the whole Tagliani story, starting
in Ohio and ending in the Dunetown morgue. I told him about Chevos, the friendly dope runner, his
assassin, Nance, and their front man, Bronicata. I told him about the Cherry McGee—Longnose
Graves war, a harbinger of what was to come. The more I talked, the more surprised Callahan looked.
Surprised was hardly the word to describe Raines. He was appalled.
I was like a crap shooter on a roll. The more aghast they got, the more I unloaded. I watched Raines?
every muscle, trying to decide whether he had truly been misled by Titan and the others, or whether
he was one of the greatest actors of all time. I decided he had been duped. Whatever had been
weighing on his mind earlier in the day probably seemed insignificant compared to what I was telling
him. I saved my best shot until last.
“I?m surprised Titan, Seaborn, Donleavy, or the fellow who owns the newspaper and TV station—
what?s his name.. . ?“
“Sutter,” he said hoarsely.
“Yeah. He?s handling the cover-up. I?m surprised one of your associates didn?t tell you before this,” I
said.
Pause.
“They?ve known about it for several weeks.”
Callahan looked like he had swallowed his tongue.
Raines got another five years older in ten seconds.
I?m not sure to this day whether I was venting my anger toward the Committee, Chief, and the rest of
the Dunetown crowd, or telling the man something he should know, whether it was a petty move on
my part because I wanted his wife, or a keen piece of strategy. That?s what I wrote it off as, even
though it was still a reckless thing to do. Whatever my motives were, I knew one thing for sure: A lot
of hell was going to be raised. Some rocks would certainly be overturned. I was anxious to see who
came running out.
By the time I was finished, he knew I knew who was on the Committee and the extent of its power,
and I did it all by innuendo, a casual mention of Titan here, of Seaborn there, none of it incriminating.
I stopped short of that.
