“Nevertheless, I kind of like Nose,” the Stick said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he?s not afraid of anybody. One spook against the lot.”
“I give him credit for still being alive,” Dutch said between mouthfuls.
“So where does that leave us?” I said.
“No-fuckin?-where,” said Stick.
“Tell you the truth,” Dutch added, “I think about it, we got about a hundred good suspects we could
hassle on this score so far.”
“I thought homicide was out of your league,” I said.
“Wel-l-l, you can?t stop a man from thinking. Besides, we?ll be in wheelchairs before Lundy and his
bunch come up with anything. He needs a road map to find his ass when it itches.”
“I got explicit orders,” I said. “Cisco says he?ll hang me higher than the Washington Monument ill
stick my nose in a homicide investigation.”
“Well, nobody can stop us from thinking.”
“You can blow a circuit trying to separate all the suspects,” I said. “You?ve got the whole Tagliani
outfit, what?s left of them. Stizano, Logeto, Bronicata, Chevos—”
“If he?s here,” Dutch interrupted.
“Yeah, if he?s here. Then there?s Leo Costello. He?s not only Tagliani?s son-in-law, he?s consigliere
for the whole outfit.”
“You may as well throw in Cohen,” Stick said.
“He?s afraid of his own shadow,” I said, and then after thinking it over, I tossed in: “On the other
hand, if he burned the books, they?d all end up doing the clock. They?ve all got a motive. „That?s
assuming it?s in the family.”
“Even if it isn?t, there?s got to be lots of nervous Taglianis out there tonight.”
“With Tagliani, Stinetto, and Draganata out of the way, that just about takes out all the old line.
Except for the Barber,” I said.
“They gotta figure it?s Nose,” said the Stick. “Some hothead Tagliani torpedo will take a pop at one of
Graves? boys and we?ll have a three-way war on our hands.”
“That?s if they don?t start shootin? each other,” said Dutch.
“Hell,” the Stick said. “It?s probably a coupla Philly shooters on their way home already.”
“Or a coupla China soldiers with nothing to do right now,” Dutch said.
“Shit, it could be anybody,” the Stick sighed.
“Which is why I?m finishing my meal and going home,” I said. “We can sit here all night speculating
