pieces left. I took one.
”Take at least two,“ Sylvia said. ”You can’t work up a bubble with one. Stuffs lousy.“
I took another piece, peeled off the paper and chewed it. Sylvia was right. It was lousy.
”Remember when Double Bubble used to put out the nice lump of pink bubble gum and it was all you needed to get a good bubble?“
”Times change,“ Sylvia said. ”Withholding information of a felony is illegal.“
I blew a small purple bubble. ”Yeah, I know. You want to talk about trade?“
”How about we slap you in a cell for a while as an accessory to a felony?“
I worked on the bubble gum. It wasn’t elastic enough. I could only produce a small bubble, maybe as big as a Ping-Pong ball, before it broke with a sharp little snap.
”How about while you’re in the cell we interrogate you a while. We got some guys down here can interrogate the shit out of a person. You know?“
”This stuff sticks to your teeth,“ I said.
”Not if you don’t have any,“ Sylvia said.
”Why the hell would someone make gum that sticks to your teeth,“ I said. ”Christ, you can’t trust anyone.“
”You don’t like it, spit it out. I don’t make you chew it.“
”It’s better than nothing,“ I said.
”You gonna talk to me about the Bristol Security job?“
”I’m gonna talk to you about a trade.“
”Goddamnit, Spenser, you can’t come waltzing in here and tell me what kind of deal you’ll make with me. I don’t know what kind of crap you get away with up in Boston, but down here I tell you what kind of deal there is.“
”Very good,“ I said. ”One look at my license and you remembered my name. I didn’t even see your lips move when you looked at it either.“
”Don’t smart-ass with me, Johnny, or you’ll be looking very close at the floor. Understand what I’m saying to you?“
”Aw come on, Sylvia, stop terrifying me. When I get panicky I tend to violence and there’s only two of you in the room.“ The scraggly haired cop with the tattoo had hung up the phone and drifted over to listen.
”Want me to open the window, Jackie,“ he said. ”Then if he gets mean we can scream for help?“
”Or jump,“ Sylvia said. ”It’s two floors but it would be better than trying to deal with an anirnal like this.“
I said, ”You guys want to talk trade yet, or are you working up a nightclub act?“
”How do I know you can deliver,“ Sylvia said.
”If I don’t what have you lost. You’re no worse off than you are now.“
”No entrapment,“ scraggly hair said. ”At least nothing that looks like entrapment in court. We been burned on that a couple of times.“
”No sweat,“ I said.
”How bad are the people you want left out?“
”They are no harm to anybody but themselves,“ I said. ”They ran after the wrong promise and got into things they couldn’t control.“
”The bank guard that got killed,“ Sylvia said, ”I knew him. Used to be in the department here, you know.“
”I know,“ I said. ”My people didn’t want it to happen.“
”Homicide during the commission of a felony is murder one.“
”I know that too,“ I said. ”And I know that these people are a good swap for what I can give you. Somebody’s got to go down for the bank guard.“
Sylvia interrupted. ”Fitzgerald, his name was. Everybody called him Fitzy.“
”Like I say, somebody has to go down for that. And somebody will. I just want to save a couple of goddamned fools.“
Scraggly hair looked at Sylvia. ”So far we got zip on the thing, Jackie. Air.“
”You got a plan,“ Sylvia said. I nodded.
”There’s no guarantee. Whatever you got, I’m going to have to check you out first.“
”I know that.“
”Okay, tell me.“
”I thought you’d never ask,“ I said.
Chapter 20
