'You know the attorney?' I said.
'Not anymore,' Gino said.
'But the one you knew was a New York guy?' I said.
'Yes.'
'And you don't know who replaced him?'
'No.'
'No reason to think it wouldn't be a New York guy,' I said.
'No reason,' Gino said.
'Thanks,' I said.
'You're entirely welcome,' Gino said. 'Where would you like us to drop you off?'
The sublet had run out, I had my office back. 'My office is fine, corner of Berkeley and Boylston.'
'I know where your office is,' Gino said.
He leaned forward slightly.
'Did you hear that, Sammy?'
'Yes, sir,' Sammy said. 'Berkeley and Boylston.'
'While we drive you there, may I offer another thought? I'm a thoughtful man, and what I think is often valuable.'
'And your diction is tres elegant,' I said.
'Thank you. My dealings with Rugar remain my business. I have spent a long and successful life among very deadly people. If I were a fearful sort, I would fear Rugar more than anyone I've ever known. I advise you to stay away from him.'
'How's he compare with Vinnie?' I said.
'I would not ask Vinnie to go against him alone.'
Vinnie sat in the front seat looking at the coeds from Emerson College as we turned off Storrow Drive and onto Beacon Street. He didn't seem interested in our conversation. In fact, Vinnie wasn't interested in many things. What he could do was shoot. I had never met anyone I wouldn't send Vinnie up against-except maybe Hawk. Or me.
We went up Beacon to Clarendon, turned up to Boylston, and drove back down to Berkeley. Sammy pulled up and double parked outside my building.
I said, 'Thanks for the information, Mr. Fish.'
'And the advice,' Gino said. 'You would be wise to heed the advice.'
'And spend the rest of my life waiting for him to come back?'
'Perhaps he'll never learn that you survived,' Gino said.
Several drivers behind us blared their horns. Sammy ignored them.
'He will if I do what I signed on to do.'
'Get that schwartza out of jail?'
'Yes.'
'The world is a better place,' Gino said, 'with him in jail.'
'He didn't do what he's there for. I said I'd get him out.'
'And you keep your word,' Gino said.
'Yes.'
Gino nodded slowly, looking past me at the corner of the Public Garden that showed on the left at the end of the block. Then he looked at me. His eyes were pale blue and as flat as a couple of one-inch washers. Again he made the motion with his face that might have been a smile.
'I don't think the beard becomes you,' he said.
I got out of the car and watched as it pulled away and headed down Boylston. I watched it until it turned left on Charles Street and disappeared. Then I turned and went up to my office.
Chapter 43
'CAN'T YOU SIMPLY turn over what you have to Rita and her big law firm,' Susan said. 'And let them get Ellis Alves out of jail?'
'I have knowledge. I have no evidence.'
'You know that the witnesses against Alves are cousins of Clint Stapleton,' she said. 'You know that Clint Stapleton was the victim's boyfriend. You know that that State Police Detective…'
'Tommy Miller.'
'Tommy Miller was involved in some kind of cover-up and then was shot when you were threatening to find out what it was. You know that a man shot you, to prevent you from looking further.'
