Black Moon. 'He does know my family. He… my father borrowed money from him to open this restaurant. Mr. Woo has demanded nothing for this but prompt and reasonable payment of the very low-interest loan.'
'He never made any passes at you, nothing like that?'
'No,' Ms said with a smile. 'Mr. Woo is a very old man.'
'Old men are not dead men,' Hanrahan said, making headway on his rice.
'I have seen Mr. Woo maybe six, seven times,' she said. 'He has always been polite and distant. If Mr. Woo wanted women, he could have as many pretty young girls as he wants.'
'Don't underestimate yourself,' Hanrahan said, reaching over to take her hand.
It was smooth, delicate.
'Mr. Woo comes from a poor family in China,' Iris said, looking down at the white tablecloth. 'My father believes that he wants simply to be respected, acknowledged as the leader of the Chinese community. My father believes that Mr. Woo thrives on adulation and longs for respect. My father believes that Mr. Woo will never forget what he was as a child and fears to be as an adult. My father says Mr. Woo can be very dangerous.'
'When are you going to marry me, Iris?'
'When would you like?'
'End of the month,' he said.
Iris pulled her hand out of his and sat back.
'Because Mr. Woo has said you should stop seeing me, you suddenly want to marry?'
The kitchen door opened and Iris's frail father stood in the doorway in his apron.
'Not to spite Woo,' Hanrahan said, though he knew there was a bit of that in his decision too. 'I've had enough of being alone and I'm more at peace with myself when I'm with you than I've ever been in my life.'
Iris's father didn't move. Though Hanrahan had lowered his voice, he was sure the old man could hear him.
'I think my father agrees with Mr. Woo,' Iris said. 'I think my father asked Mr. Woo to talk to you.'
Hanrahan looked at the somber old man in the doorway.
'Don't be angry with my father,' she said, touching Hanrahan's hand.
'I'm not,' said Hanrahan. 'Td like to be angry at somebody, but I'm not. I'm clearly not Chinese. I'm a cop with a drinking problem and I keep strange hours, mope around, and disappear for days. He and Mr. Woo make a lot of sense. Will you marry me? I can quit and we can pack up and be out of Chicago in two weeks.'
Mr. Chen turned and went silently back into the Black Moon kitchen.
'And we escape,' she said, stroking the back of his hand.
'Something like that,' he agreed.
'I will think about it,' she said.
'I'd like to talk to your father,' he said.
'Not a good time, William,' she said, sliding out of the booth and glancing toward the kitchen.
He dropped a ten-dollar bill on the table but Iris reached over, picked it up, and handed it back to him.
'I'd rather pay,' he said.
'Not in my house,' she said, leaning over to kiss him.
The position was awkward as he sat but she did it gracefully.
'Can we go somewhere?' he said. 'Maybe back to my house? We've got a lot to talk about.'
'Not tonight,' she said, touching his cheek. 'I must be with my father.'
'I understand,' said Hanrahan. 'Or at least I accept that I don't understand.'
He was out of the booth now and reluctant to leave.
'Call me tomorrow, William,' Iris said gently.
And Hanrahan made his way to the door and out onto Sheridan Road.
He stood for a moment and looked toward his car. He should go back to the house, maybe watch some television, do some paperwork. Sit sober and alone. He couldn't, not yet, not this early. He could go to a movie but there was nothing he wanted to see and he was sure he would fall asleep and snore.
Hanrahan decided instead to pay a late-evening visit to Harvey Rozier.
'I say shit, we forget it, man,' said Albert Davis, slouching back in his chair at the rear of the McDonald's on South Shore Drive. 'Why we wanna go all the way back uptown so far from our own turf? Somethin' go two farts in the wind and where we gonna run? Up on an el platform and wait for the Englewood B train with the cops all over us?'
'We go in. Take what we want We tape him up, shove him in a closet, something, and we go out, maybe catch a cab,' lago Simms said, his left eye almost closed as he chewed on a double cheese.
It was a little after nine at night. The place was crowded, mostly with young people, all black, mostly making noise and laughing. Lonny, lago, and Dalbert hi a back booth had to talk above the noise. They didn't care who heard them.
'You out you fuckin' mind, man?' Dalbert said with irritation, looking at Lonny Wayne for support or direction. None came. Lonny looked cool, sat straight up, touched the brim of his White Sox cap, and went on eating the fish sandwich stuffed with trench fries. 'What cab driver gonna pick up us? No white or nigger driver, that's for sure. And what we gonna do? Walk the streets with all kindsa shit, drugs what all, looking for a Chink driver?'
'We get wheels,' Lonny said, looking over Dalbert's head at a girl who sat with two other girls and a boy. The girl was young, maybe fourteen, fifteen, chocolate skin, maybe Haitian, maybe Jamaican. He'd seen her around, thought maybe she was new in the neighborhood. She was sexy and wore a tight sweater she kept hitching up to be sure her big boobs showed.
'Shit,' said Dalbert.
'Garages back on thirty-seventh, you know?' asked Lonny, catching the girl's eyes. She met his look for an instant, then turned and went back to her conversation. Lonny Wayne needed money to get a pretty girl like that. Hell, Lonny needed money to get any girl except Railroad Monique, and she was just a crazy bitch with all lands of teeth missing.
'Sure,' said lago.
Dalbert shrugged.
'Bag Man Reno keeps his wheels in one of those little garages, big old Chrysler, couple years old maybe,' Lonny said. 'Bag Man's out of town. Heard it from my old man, heard him tell Jackson the barber.'
'You sayin' what I think you sayin'?' Dalbert asked incredulously. 'You wanna steal Bag Man Reno's car? Man, someone see us they tell for sure and we get our dicks cut off like that Bobbitt guy on TV.'
'We be borrowin' the car,' lago squealed, his half-sagging face pushed toward Dalbert. 'Jus' borrowin', and we bring it right back. Ain't that the way, Lonny?'
'That's the way,' Lonny said.
'When?' Dalbert said, resigned and reaching for a french fry as a sign that his rebellion was over.
'We take the wheels tonight,' said Lonny. 'Park 'em over in the hospital lot. Get it tomorrow, maybe three, four. Get the doc and wait till night to put Bag Man's car back.'
'Ain't easy,' said Dalbert, simply making conversation now.
'Ain't nothin' easy this world,' said lago.
Lonny caught the girl's eye again, unsure of whether she was interested. Maybe she was just fascinated by the lightning bolt scar through his right eyebrow. Like Juanita. Just wanted to touch it and put her tongue in the space between his teeth. Juanita one dead junkie now. She had been a crazy bitch.
'What the fuck?' Lonny said and stood up.
'Where we goin'?' asked lago.
'Watch my ass,' said Lonny, walking toward the three girls and the guy. He knew when he got close that he was right about them. They were talking funny, like French.
'Hi,' he said.
All four looked up at him. They were all young, but the boy was a little older and his eyes said, I'm on somethin' heavy, don't mess with me. Lonny smiled, space between his teeth, looking only at the pretty little girl. Lord, she had great big white teeth.
'I'm Lonny Wayne,' he said, taking off his hat The girls giggled. 'And who might you all be?'
'People who want they should be left alone,' the young man said angrily.
'Be polite,' one of the girls said. She wasn't as pretty or as big as the girl Lonny wanted, but she had a big
