GOODBYE HIT
An hour crept by. It seemed like four or five. At first the TV monitor discouraged conversation. I
figured the room had to be bugged. After I got my wits together I decided to give it a test. I looked
straight into the camera and said, “Would it be too much to ask for a glass of water?” Nothing 1ad
happened, so I kicked on the door. Sweetheart Pravano answered my summons. He was still wearing
the battle scars from the fight at the Warehouse: a mouse on his right eye and a four-inch gash in his
jaw. He glared at me when I made the request and shut the door in my face, but a minute or two later a
young kid who was wearing both suspenders and a belt, as well as an empty shoulder holster under his
arm, brought us each a glass of ice water. „Then they left us alone.
“What do you think they?re going -to do with us?” Doe asked.
“I don?t know,” I said, quite honestly.
During the remainder of that hour Doe and I talked quietly but steadily. I explained who Tagliani was,
although she seemed to have a vague notion already. I also told her Tony Lukatis had been slain
hijacking the cocaine shipment, which she didn?t know, although the information didn?t seem to upset
her too much.
“So you knew about Tony?” she said. “That was over such a long time ago. Poor Tony. He wanted so
desperately to make something of himself, to be more than...” She tried to explain Lukatis? obsession,
but it wouldn?t come out.
“I can understand that,” I said. “He just picked the wrong way to do it.”
“Was he involved with these people?”
I shook my head. „1 don?t think so,” I said, but didn?t take it any farther. I still didn?t know who he
was involved with.
“I guess I was the cause of all that, too,” she said, and started to cry. “1 caused it all.”
“No, that?s not true,” I said. “You were a pawn in the game, like a lot of us.”
“It was all over between us before he ever got in trouble,” Doe went on, purging the memory of
Lukatis. “He wouldn?t accept that. He kept calling, sending me cards, leaving little gifts. Then I saw
him one day and he told me things were going to be different. He called it his big score. I had no idea
he was going to She let the sentence drift off. She was having a lot of trouble finishing sentences.
That?s when I told her about Sam Donleavy. Her shoulders sagged as the story unfolded. Tears welled
in her eyes. The shock of disbelief pulled at her face, like the heavy hand of time. I took her in my
arms and held her as tightly as I could and let her sob it out.
Then I heard the throb of heavy engines outside. There was a lot of yelling and laughter, people
entering the other room. A few minutes later there was what sounded like an angry exchange,
