'And a kid.'
'Yeah. Daryl. I remember the kid. Emmy brought her when she took off with me.'
We were quiet.
'What are you guys fucking around with this thing for now?' Leon said.
'Maybe so we can put you in the jug, Leon,' Samuelson said. 'And hammer in the cork.'
'Me. You fucking can't touch me. I got a deal with the fucking federal government. Ask him, the FBI fuck.' Leon pointed at Clark. 'He'll tell you.'
'You got no deal with me, Leon,' Clark said.
'Fuck you. Ask Malone. You people can't touch me. We got a deal.'
Nobody said anything.
'Okay. Arrest me or get the fuck out,' Leon said. 'I ain't talking no more without my lawyer.' Samuelson stood. 'We'll get back to you,' he said. And the three of us left. On the ride back down the hill, with Samuelson driving, Clark said, 'You know they weren't just worried about keeping Leon in place.'
'I know,' I said.
'They didn't want it known that one of their paid informants was the wheel man for a bank job,' Clark said.
'I know,' I said.
'I'll talk with Epstein, see if we got a chance. Maybe we can open this thing up and let a little air in.'
'Maybe we can bust Leon, too,' Samuelson said.
'I'll talk with Epstein about that, too,' Clark said. 'You know what it's like fighting the system you're in.'
'I do,' Samuelson said.
'It's why I'm not in one,' I said.
'Really?' Samuelson said. 'I talked about you with some people in Boston. They said you got canned for being an obstreperous hard-on.'
'That's the other reason,' I said.
54
I was home. More or less. It was evening, and I was in Quirk's office with Epstein and Quirk, entertaining them with tales of California. 'You think Leon would have blabbed like he did, if Clark wasn't there?' Quirk said.
'No. Leon sort of thought Clark would protect him. In twenty-eight years, he must have gotten pretty used to assuming the Feds would protect him,' I said.
'So we know why the Bureau sat on this thing,' Epstein said. 'What we don't know is who killed Emily Gold.'
'We could bring Bunny Karnofsky in and ask her,'
I said.
'On Leon's say-so?' Epstein asked. 'Twenty-eight years later?'
'Capital crime,' I said.
'Sure,' he said. 'And Sonny Karnofsky's daughter. They will have her lawyered up so tight we may not even be able to see her.'
'And then she's on notice,' Quirk said. 'And, my guess, she and her husband will take a long trip someplace and no one will be able to remember where.'
'You know the husband?' I said to Quirk.
'Ziggy Czernak. He used to be one of Sonny's bodyguards.'
'Now he's Bunny's bodyguard.'
'Maybe it's true love,' Quirk said.
'Maybe.'
Quirk looked at his watch. 'Late,' he said. 'My wife will be annoyed.'
'You scared of your wife?' I said.
'Yeah. You going to tell the kid?'
'Daryl?'
'Yeah.'
'That her parents aren't who she thinks they are?'
'Yeah.'
'I don't know. I still need to find out who killed. the woman she thinks is her mother.'
'Day at a time,' Epstein said.
