True Detective

Finally, while she ate cheesecake with strawberries and I drank coffee, I said, 'I don't think you're going to like my new job.'

She kissed her bite of cheesecake and strawberries off her fork and shrugged a little and smiled. 'You can't expect your uncle Louis to start you out at the top. These things take time.'

'Janey, I didn't say anything about Uncle Louis getting me a job.'

That caught her with a forkful of desert in midair. She returned fork to plate and with folded hands looked across the table at me with wide brown eyes that I could've dived into, and said. 'I don't understand. You left the department. What else…?'

'You know what I've always talked about.'

'I do?'

'Well, think about it. dammit. We're supposed to be engaged. You're supposed to know me better than anyone.'

She thought, and played with the diamond ring, turning it slowly from side to side, just a bit. 'I know what you've always dreamed about doing. But it's so impractical.'

'Well that's what I'm doing.'

'You mean you're going to be a private eye. Like Ricardo Cortez in that movie we saw.'

'Yes. but I don't think I'm going to get a smoking jacket or a pretty secretary right away, like Cortez.'

'Neither do I.'

'And I'm not going to be a private eye. I am a private eye. Detective. Operative. Whatever.'

She nibbled at her cheesecake.

'I thought you'd be unhappy,' I said.

'Did I say I was unhappy?'

'No. I'm psychic.'

'Did you think about asking your uncle Louis for a job?'

'No.'

'Well, why did you quit the department, anyway?'

'Why do you think?'

'Because you were involved in that Nitti shooting? So what?'

I hadn't really told her that whole story yet; maybe it was time. Maybe I should tell her what really happened. If she was going to be my wife one of these days, I ought to trust her. She should've been told days ago.

I told her.

She shook her head, angrily, as I finished up. 'They just came in and grabbed you. didn't even tell you what they were up to? Louses. Bums.' She shook her head again. 'But why quit over it?'

'Don't you understand? Don't you understand why they picked on me?'

She shrugged. 'The Lingle case. I suppose.'

'That's right.'

'And they'll expect you to testify for them at the Nitti trial.'

'Well I will testify for them.'

'If you stayed with the department and testified, you could get something out of it. Why quit, and help them cover up, and get nothing out of it?'

'Because I am getting something. I'm getting my private op's license in return.'

'Oh.'

I told her about the Cermak meeting; that impressed her. She loved that part. And I told her about Nitti. which impressed her in a different way: it seemed to scare her a little. And then I told her about Dawes, and she really liked that.

'What's wrong with you. Nate? Why don't you take advantage of Dawes' offer?'

'Three grand for supervising some pickpocket operations at the fair would'be easy money; it'd make my first year in business a rousing success even if not a single other client walked in my door.'

'That's small potatoes. You can get something better out of Dawes and your uncle. You could get a real job. with a bank or a business or something.'

'No. You don't seem to get it. Janey. I am in business. I'm the president of A-l Detective Agency. How 'bout some support here? How about you back me a little?'

She looked blankly at the center of the table, where a candle in a silver deco centerpiece glowed. 'Where do I fit in? What about us? Our house?'

'I still have that money in the bank. I haven't had to dip into it yet. But I do think we should wait a year and see how I'm doing. If the money's coming in okay, and I haven't had to dip into the nest egg. we can start looking for that house. Does that make you happy?'