'Except he won't win,' I said.
'No,' Vinnie said. 'He won't. He ain't that kind of man.'
'More than one kind,' I said.
'Maybe, but Joe don't know that.'
'Neither does Gerry,' I said.
'No, he don't, and it fucks him up worse than you'd think anything could.'
'You think he'll try?' I said.
'Yeah.'
Vinnie broke off another small bit of donut and fed Pearl.
'Joe want you to help him?' I said.
'No.' Vinnie stared out the window down the nearly empty street at the car wash standing idle, looking better in the rain, like everything seemed to.
'No. It's family. You saw him send me out when he come to talk with you.
Him and Gerry.'
'I always kind of figured you were family, Vin. ю me.
Vinnie shrugged. 'Well, I ain't. I been with Joe since I was seventeen. I was a jerk kid, but I was willing, you know? Nobody too tough. No alley too dark. Nobody too special for me to kill. I was always willing. I was never scared.'
'Always for Joe,' I said.
'I never had nobody else.'
'So Gerry will come after me without backup?' I said.
Vinnie shook his head. 'Joe'll send him out alone,' Vinnie said. 'I know
Joe. Because he thinks that's the only way the kid can ever be anything but a sleazy little punk. But he knows he's no good, and he don't want something to happen to him. So he'll come too. He'll trail along behind to protect the kid.'
'So if he's right, he'll undercut the kid even if I don't kill him.'
'Yeah. Joe loves the kid.'
'So he'll either get him killed or he'll take away his victory by not letting him do it alone.'
'Yeah.'
'Kid would be better off if Joe didn't love him.'
'Yeah.'
We were quiet. The rain sliding down the front windshield made the traffic lights fluid and impressionistic at the intersection.
'The thing is,' Vinnie said, 'Joe ain't that good anymore.
I nodded and drank some coffee and took another piece of donut and shared it with Pearl.
'He gets involved,' Vinnie said, 'and you'll clip him -too.'
'If I have to,' I said.
'I thought about taking you out for him,' Vinnie said.
'Which is why you've been following me.'
'Yeah.'
'But if you do that,' I said, 'Joe will never forgive you. Because you ruined it for his kid.'
'Yeah.'
'Easier, wasn't it,' I said, 'when some guy gave Joe trouble all you had to do was go round and drill him.'
Vinnie drank a little more coffee, staring at the rain. He took another donut, and automatically gave Pearl a piece, and ate the rest.
'I'm getting out,' Vinnie said. 'I'm quitting Joe.'
I stared at `iim. I couldn't think of anything to say.
'You do what you gotta do,' Vinnie said. 'You have to kill them, you have to kill them. I won't come around asking you about it. I'm out of it.'
He drank the last of his coffee. He took the final donut out of the bag and looked at it for a moment, then put the whole donut back for Pearl to take.
Which she did. Vinnie opened the door and put one foot out onto the ground.
I put out my hand. Vinnie took it. We shook hands. Then he got out and closed the door. He turned the collar up on his raincoat and walked back to his car and got in. I saw the wipers start. The headlights went on. And he drove away. From the backseat Pearl nosed at my ear. Her breath smelled of donuts.
