True Detective

'What do you think? Are you down here strictly to court Jim Farley's favor? Or are you here partly at least to duck Frank Nitti's disfavor?'

'Keep your voice down.'

'I wasn't speaking loud. Those words just seem loud. Your Honor.'

'You were sent here to protect me? I have bodyguards.'

'I know. I said 'boo' to two of'em in the toilet at Hialeah and they peed their pants.'

'They're good men. What makes you especially qualified to be my protector?'

'I can recognize the man Nitti is sending.'

'I see.'

'I know? what he looks like. I've seen him before.'

'When? Where?'

'After he shot a man. That's all I care to say about it.'

Cermak looked at me for a long time.

Then he said. 'What attorney are you working for?'

I thought about whether to answer him or not. Maybe he thought this was a shakedown, or a scam of some kind, growing out of hard feelings I harbored over the lies I'd agreed to tell for him; maybe I needed to make one more point, before he could buy it, before he could believe the truth.

'Louis Piquett,' I said.

His face turned whiter than the chowder.

The waiter in blue served the lobsters. He put one in front of the mayor and another in front of me; they were enormous: like the flamingos at the racetrack, they were beautiful, ugly things. I began to crack mine open with the pliers we'd each been provided. The cracks were like gunshots, but Cermak didn't seem to hear them, or see the dead scarlet crustacean on the plate in front of him; he was staring, and not at me, and not out at the darkening bay. He was looking off, somewhere. Nowhere.

Then, suddenly, he dug into the lobster, cracking it apart like the enemy. He sat, determinedly, eating, dunking the lobster's flesh into the pot of melted butter, using his fingers as often as his fork, till they were dripping with butter and juice from the lobster. His table manners were lousy. He ate fast; he ate as if ravenous but I don't think he tasted anything. He was obviously a man who enjoyed eating, who

regarded eating a carnal pleasure- but he wasn't enjoying this meal. He barely noticed it.

He finished way ahead of me. It was the first lobster I'd ever eaten, and I was learning as I went. I liked the way it tasted, though it was nerve-racking, eating the last third of the thing with Cermak staring at me with large eyes behind the round frames of his glasses, looking out at me like the fish behind glass in the aquarium I'd walked through a few minutes ago.

'It surprises me,' he said, 'that Mr. Piquett's client would still have my best interests at heart, after all these years.'

'Quite frankly,' I said, through a mouthful of lobster and butter. 'I don't think Mr. Piquett's client gives a goddamn whether you live or die. I just think he's somebody who learned the kind of damage bad publicity can do. After all. Saint Valentine's Day is just a few days away, if you get my drift.'

He said, 'It's a power play, then. To remind 'em who's boss. An attempt to one-up Nitti from inside.'

I shrugged 'You know how it is. Politics.'

He nodded. Then he looked out at the pleasure craft on the bay. Twilight had turned into night and the lights on the boats winked at the mayor. The skyline of Miami shimmered on the water.

A waiter came and took our desert order: we both requested vanilla ice cream, but before it came. Cermak grimaced, apparently hit by a sharp pain. He stood, excused himself, and Miller trailed after his boss, who walked with one hand on his ample belly.

My ice cream came and I ate it. By the time Cermak returned, his ice cream had begun to melt; he ate it slowly, nibbling at it. with uncharacteristic lack of interest.

When he'd finished, he said. 'You mean to shadow me. then? And wait for the assassin. And stop him.'

I nodded. 'I hoped to stop it before it got that far. but, realistically, yes.'

'But Miller and Lang saw you at the track and you decided not to try to bluff your way out.'

I shrugged. 'I could've bluffed my way out if I was prepared to drop the matter. But I've got to stay on it, as long as you don't take steps to stop me.'

He let out a short laugh. 'Why the hell should I? You're here to keep me alive.'

'It means a pretty penny to me to do so, Your Honor.'

We had coffee.

'I'd like you to describe this man to me, and to my people,' Cermak said.

'Sure.'

'And you can maintain your surveillance on me with nothing but cooperation from Lang and Miller and the rest. You can report to me from time to time, if you like. Check with me daily regarding any of my plans.' plans.

'Good. What plans do you have?'

'I've done everything where Jim Farley's concerned that I can. He's made a few promises, but precious few.