I nodded.
'Said if I hadn't run off like I did she'd be alive today.'
I nodded.
'Hey, it's too bad somebody killed her, but I ain't going to pretend she was like, you know, Meg Ryan or somebody. I had to get away from her. I had to get a new start.'
'You could have killed her,' I said.
'I was right here with Bibi, you asked her yourself.'
I patted Bibi's knee again.
'She might lie to protect you.'
'I was gonna kill her, would I wait till I got out here?'
'You thought you were free and clear,' I said.
'You were winning, your system was working, and then she showed up. You could have done it.'
'For cris sake I thought you and him was gonna protect me.'
'Julius threaten you?' I said.
'Yes. He said I was as good as dead.'
'Was he alone?' I said.
'I dunno, I just talked to him on the fucking phone,' Anthony said.
He drank more scotch.
'Probably he wasn't alone,' I said.
'Probably not,' Hawk murmured.
'So,' I said.
'How you want to handle this?'
'Me?'
'Yeah. It is, if you'll pardon the expression, your ass. I figure you might want some input in how to save it.'
'How much to eliminate them?'
'Them?'
'Both of them, Julius and Marty.'
'How about Gino Fish?' I said.
'Don't you have some of his money?'
'I don't know. That was Marty's part.'
'Part of what?'
'Of our deal. I'll tell you about it later. Right now we got to get rid of the immediate threat.'
'By shooting it,' I said.
'Yeah. You guys are good. I've heard about you. Ten thousand each. Cash on the barrel head.'
I looked at Hawk.
'On the barrel head,' he said.
'It's a nice idea,' I said.
'But it might turn into a career, we have to kill everybody you annoy.'
'No, no. Just these two guys. You want more than ten each.
Okay. I can do that. You name it, I'll do what it takes.'
'We'll hold that option in reserve,' I said, 'until we talk with the other principals.'
'Talk?'
'Yeah. Hawk and I will go talk with Julius, see what he has in mind. Then maybe we'll find Marty, see what he's thinking, then we'll report back to you.'
Anthony drank some scotch as if it were an antidote to madness.
'Talk?' he said.
'Fucking talk? You can't talk to them, for God's sake. You try talking to them and they'll kill you, for cris sake and where the fuck does that leave me?'
'Nice to be needed,' I said.
Bibi was sitting as she had been, motionless, her eyes seeming to grow larger and more empty as we talked.
