Clinic.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Jim’s bitter. I passed my lie detector test, you know. Completely exonerated.”
“Yeah, and I heard about the questions. ‘Did you shoot Jim Ragen?’ Like anybody could seriously picture you a triggerman. ‘When did you last see Al Capone?’ Brother.”
“Well, it’s true. I haven’t seen Al in years.”
“So what? He hasn’t run the Outfit since liquor was illegal.”
He straightened his tie and tried to look indignant; it didn’t wash. “Well,
“He told the State’s Attorney’s office that the Capone Outfit was out to get him. There’s a difference between Al Capone and the Outfit he left behind, as you damn well know.”
“That’s true, I suppose. But Jim did mention Capone…”
“Jim was just telling the State’s Attorney enough to send a warning signal to Guzik, but not enough to cause any real fireworks. You know that. You also know what’s in those affidavits Jim’s got socked away. He read ’em to you.”
Serritella nodded, his owl eyes blinking, double chin jiggling. “They’re dynamite. Jim should burn those. He really should.”
“I think Jim may be ready to negotiate.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t particularly like dealing with Jake Guzik personally. These meetings with mob chieftains look bad in my FBI file; I’ve been logged in surveillance records God knows how many times. They’ve tried to pull me in before Grand Juries because of it. Anyway, you’re a go-between, Dan. Everybody knows that. Do what you do so well. Take the message.”
“Which is?”
“Like I said. Jim might be ready to talk. But he needs something.”
“What’s that?”
“Assurance that Guzik wasn’t responsible for Monday.”
“Well, it was Siegel. Everybody knows that.”
“Even you, Dan? Who goes to so much trouble not to know too much? Just in case you have to take a lie detector test or something? You deal with these people daily, but you’re like a wife whose husband cheats but she doesn’t care, she doesn’t want to hear about it, what she don’t know won’t hurt her. Just as long as he’s bringing in a fat pay check, he can screw around all he wants.”
Serritella pursed his lips and reassuringly patted the arm of his blonde, who was taking this all in with wide eyes, like Shirley Temple watching Bill Robinson dance.
“You’re a very unpleasant man, Heller,” he said.
“I know what you mean-I can hardly stand my own company. What do you know about David Finkel and Joseph Leonard?”
He shrugged, shifting in his seat. “They’re bookies, aren’t they? West Side?”
“Yeah. Are they tied in with Guzik, do you suppose?”
“Geez, how should I know?”
“They’re the ones who shotgunned your friend Jim Ragen. Doesn’t that make you mad, Dan?”
He nodded, squinted his owlish eyes, tried to summon outrage, came nowhere near, saying, “Furious. The police should arrest them.”
“That’s a terrific idea, Dan. I’ll pass that along to Bill Drury; he’ll wish he’d thought of it. Now, from what I hear, Finkel and Leonard have dropped out of sight. It would be nice if they could turn up. Alive.”
Serritella nodded more slowly. “You mean, if they showed up alive, and held up under questioning…without mentioning Guzik…maybe mentioning somebody else…that might convince Jim of the sincerity of a certain business offer.”
“For a guy who don’t know what’s goin’ on,” I said, patting him on the back, “you got a lot of savvy, Dan.”
Serritella stood, pulled out the chair for his protegee, put her on his arm, and said to me, “I’ll see what I can do.” Then he smiled and nodded at the others at the table, including Peggy, who smiled at him pleasantly, though her violet eyes were icy. They were no longer icy when turned my way, however.
“Nice piece of work, Daddy-o,” Pete said, smiling one-sidedly, leaning back in his chair, arms folded over his massive chest. “You played that little fixer like a penny harmonica.”
“I may have come on a little strong,” I said. “He’s a weasel, but he’s a powerful weasel. On the other hand, he’s used to being looked down upon by his patron saints-a guy like Serritella is tolerated by Outfit guys, never liked, let alone respected. I thought I better treat him like I figure his bosses treat him.”
“Well you sure done a good job of it.”
“Thanks.” I looked about the room. “I don’t think your witness is going to show.”
“He’ll show,” Pete said. “Tad Jones is not gonna pass up a couple free rounds of drinks at the Club DeLisa. It ain’t even midnight yet. He’ll show.”
“Well,” I said, standing, easing Peggy’s chair out, giving her my arm, “I think I’ll leave him to you. Let me know if he i.d.’s Finkel and Leonard. Which he probably will. This is looking pretty cut and dried to me, now.”
“You think Guzik will sell out those two torpedoes?”
“Yeah-although they may just turn up dead in a ditch, especially if Guzik was who hired ’em. Will twelve cover my end?”
Pete said sure and I handed him a ten and two ones. For the food and drinks Peggy and me put away, it was a steal. And the babe who made a pretty pretzel out of herself hadn’t cost us a dime.
“Nate,” Peg said, later, in bed, “I want to thank you.”
“Well, I think I oughta thank
Her smile was crinkly and wry. “Not about that, you goof. About what you’re trying to do for Uncle Jim.”
“What am I trying to do for your uncle?”
“Despite what all you’ve said, you really are trying to find out who tried to have him killed.”
I shrugged, as best I could, leaning on my elbow in bed. “I’m curious-it’s my nature. And your uncle is right, to a degree-doing business with Guzik would feel better if we knew that it was somebody else…Siegel, specifically…who paid for that hit.”
“So what’s your next move?”
“Nothing. There is no next move.”
“I find that hard to believe…”
“Well, strain yourself a little, kiddo, ’cause it’s true. Drury’s going to nab those would-be killers and, with a little luck, and more evidence than even the State’s Attorney’s office can ignore, he’ll get an indictment and a conviction.”
“Will whoever hired them be convicted, too?”
“Sure, if it’s a cold day in hell. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Guzik or Siegel responsible, you’re just not going to see that happen.”
“Why not?”
“That’s not the way the game works. The big boys are too well-insulated; the big boys can do too much damage to the families and friends of the small fry taking the rap. No, even if they get the chair, those two won’t implicate anybody, not anybody big.”
She almost looked like she was going to cry. “What happened to justice, anyway?”
“When was it, exactly, that justice was around? I must’ve missed it.”
She sat up in bed, looking very pale, very small, just a child, holding the sheet to her breasts, looking straight ahead. “If I knew who it was, I’d kill him myself.”
“That’s silly.”
She gave me a withering look. “It’s not silly. They tried to kill Uncle Jim!”
“Hey, they tried to kill me, too. You always seem to forget that little detail.”
She said nothing for a while; me, either.
Then, without looking at me, she said, very quietly, “I talked to Ginny again. Just before she left town, this week.”
