'You were unarmed.'
'The men behind me weren't. The men behind me could've invaded a small country.'
'I don't find that very reassuring.'
'Eva, Evie, it's my job. It goes with my job. We've been through this a hundred times.'
'You're the safety director of the city of Cleveland. You don't have to go kicking down the doors of gambling places. You don't have to get in fights and play with guns.'
'I'd hardly call it playing with guns.'
'I don't really think of it that way myself. Eliot, I've loved you for a long time. And for a long time, I've had to put up with what you do.'
'What I do for a living, you mean.'
'With what you do. I think it's more than making a living. I think you need the excitement. You're like somebody who has to drink. But with you it's not drinking. It's kicking doors down and so on.'
'That's just silly, Eva. I just do my job, that's all.'
'And you're good at what you do, Eliot. I'm very proud of you. Sometimes, when I see you with all those important people, I feel I'm holding you back.'
'Now that is silly.'
'I know you're smarter than me. I know…'
'Who says I'm smarter than you?'
'You've been to college. You're a brilliant person, Eliot. That's one of the things that made me fall in love with you.'
He touched her arm. 'I thought maybe some of that 'excitement' in my life, that you've been complaining about, might have been a factor, too.'
She nodded. 'I was caught up in that, I admit. I was thrilled by your… exploits. But I was younger then. So were you.'
'We're not old, Evie, not by a long shot.'
'I want children, Eliot, before I am old.'
He smiled just a little. 'We've been trying. We'll keep trying. It's not such rough work, now, is it?'
'Eliot, please don't make light of it. I know you want a son. I know this is serious with you.'
'Look, we'll keep trying. We'll adopt if necessary.'
'I don't want to talk about that now. It's too late for that.'
'Too late?'
'I don't want to hurt your career.'
'My career?'
'This is a bad time for a divorce.'
'Divorce?'
'I think we should just live apart for a while.'
'Evie, please, let's not…'
'I've made up my mind on this, Eliot. I'm moving back to the house in Bay Village. If you like, I'll attend some of the public functions, the social things. No one has to know. I don't want to hurt you.'
'You are hurting me.'
'I don't mean to. I don't think you've meant to hurt me either. Have you?'
'Of course not,' he said forcefully, squeezing her arm.
'Of course not,' she said sadly, warmly, gently moving his hand off her arm.
She got up and went to the bedroom and got her coat and handbag and the suitcase she'd packed that morning.
She walked toward the door with the suitcase and he quickly followed.
His hands were open in a pleading gesture, as he said, 'But you'll be all alone out there.'
For the first time tears came to her eyes. She felt the moisture quivering there.
'Oh, Eliot,' she said, and went out.
CHAPTER 13
The Euclid Avenue Arcade provided a shortcut between Euclid and Prospect, the facing tiers of shops and offices separated by a four-hundred-foot esplanade covered by a massive glass-domed roof. Sunlight filtered through the Old Arcade, transforming it into a greenhouse for people. The ornate brass railings and balconies were tarnished and some of the streetlight-style lamps had gone dark, and every now and then a shop was shuttered. But Depression or no, the Arcade was an impressive, well-walked place.
Sam Wild sat at a small round table along a balcony on the third level. He was near the Stouffer's Buttermilk stand, an ice cream parlor, one of many such indoor 'open-air' cafes in the Arcade. He was eating an obscenely large and gooey hot-fudge sundae with whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. People strolling by, particularly fat ones, would occasionally frown at the skinny Wild, who would just smile at them, flashing the smear of hot fudge on his mouth like a badge. He wasn't vicious, but he did have a little mean streak.
It was the last Thursday in January, mid-afternoon, and Wild was waiting for Eliot Ness. Ness was unusually late, five minutes, and Wild kept looking for a sign of him. And there he was, standing at the nearby ice cream counter in his topcoat and fedora, ordering something.
A cup of coffee.
Wouldn't you just know it.
Ness walked over with the steaming cup of coffee and sat across from Wild, who smirked in the midst of a hot-fudge bite and said, 'Pretty adventurous of you.'
Ness removed his hat and unbuttoned his tan topcoat. He looked a little haggard, his eyes red and faintly circled. He'd aged since December. 'I'll leave the hot fudge sundaes to the younger generation.'
'I think we're about the same age.'
'Chronologically. What's this about? Why can't we meet in my office?'
Wild pushed the nearly empty dish to one side, used a paper napkin to remove the chocolate badge.
'Sometimes,' he said, arching an eyebrow, 'a public place is more private than a private office.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'It means I don't trust anybody at City Hall except you.'
'I appreciate the vote of confidence.' There was no sarcasm in Ness' voice. 'But,' he added, 'I do trust my staff.'
'I don't know if you should.'
'Oh?'
'Your second-in-command Flynt's a political hack. An appointee to appease Rees, his personal pal.' Rees was the chairman of the Republican Executive Committee. 'Flynt campaigned for Burton, and he worked for Rees' law firm as a claims attorney for insurance companies.'
'That doesn't make him a crook.'
'Maybe not, but it has a familiar ring. Flynt's doing favors down party lines. Last week he gave out half a dozen jobs in the police garage to political pals, thumbing his nose at civil service.'
Ness winced in thought. Then he said, 'The tip's appreciated. I'll look into it.'
'I realize you're stuck with Flynt, for the time being anyway. But watch your back.'
Ness nodded. Smiled faintly. 'Didn't know you were so concerned about honesty in government.'
'Who, me? I expect a little honest graft to be going on. Especially when a wholesome, clean-cut administrator like you would rather play G-man than run his department.'
Ness seemed to take no offense at that. Still smiling his barely perceptible smile, he said, 'I told you right at the start, Wild, that fact-finding was my first mission. I've barely been in office a month, remember.'
'And barely been in your office. What facts you been finding lately?'
He shrugged. 'Just what you'd expect. That we've got an undermanned, inadequate, and demoralized police force.'
