47
IT WAS LATE, and the crowd in my office had cleared.
The stiffs in the alley had been taken away. The survivor had been
hauled off, too, and only Quirk remained. We were having a
drink.
"Sorry it took so
long," Quirk said.
"Always does," I
said.
"Coulda taken
longer," Quirk said.
"I know that, too,"
I said.
Quirk nodded and
rattled the ice around in his glass and sipped some
scotch.
"Slug you didn't
shoot is Warren Carmichael," he said. "We've known him for years.
Says he was hired by one of the shooters, now deceased. Guy with a
shotgun: Squirrel Rezendes. Warren says he doesn't know why they
were gonna hit you, or who hired Rezendes."
"And Rezendes, being
dead, can't tell us more," I said.
"Yeah," Quirk said.
"Nice going."
"Sorry," I said. "I
was just trying to keep him from killing me."
"Sure," Quirk said.
"It's always about you, isn't it."
"Who hired me in the
first place?" I said.
"Price was right,"
Quirk said, and looked at Z.
"How about you," he
said. "What do you get out of this?"
Z sipped his
scotch.
"Squaw, two ponies,"
Z said.
Quirk looked at
me.
"Who knew he was
funny," Quirk said.
"Surprise to me," I
said.
"Indians are always
amusing," Z said.
"Sure," Quirk said.
"What do you figure Jumbo's owners will do now that they've fanned
twice."
"If at first you
don't succeed," I said.
"Think they'll hire
local talent again?" Quirk said.
"That hasn't worked
out well for them," I said.
"They haven't hired
wisely," Quirk said. "The business with the traffic barrels. Talk
about overthinking something . . ."
"They'll send
Stephano," Z said.
Quirk and I both
looked at him. He sipped his scotch.
"Stephano DeLauria,"
I said.
"Alice's husband," Z
said. "Nicky Fellscroft's enforcer."
"You know him?" I
said.
"I've seen him," Z
said. "And I've heard about him."
"I'm told he's
good," I said.
"Hall of fame," Z
said. "Like a man playing with boys."
"Like us," I
said.
"Maybe better," Z
said.
"I'll see what I can
learn about Stephano," Quirk said.
"I'll make a call,
too," I said.
Quirk nodded. He
looked at Z again.
"Why are you so
sure?" Quirk said.
"Been with Jumbo for
a while. Pay attention. Everybody got a lot of faith in Stephano,
and everybody scared of him."
"But you're willing
to go up against him," Quirk said.
"Oh, sure," Z said.
"Indians are always optimistic."
"And with so little
reason," Quirk said.
"If you're right," I
said to Z, "he may bring others."
"So did Custer," Z
said.