50
IT WAS SUNDAY MORNING, in the full flower of early
June. Susan and I were having brunch at a Boston restaurant called
Mooo. The brunch was the stuff that dreams are made of, and so was
Susan. I was sipping a passionfruit Bellini and having a very nice
time when Tony Marcus slid into an empty chair next to
me.
"Morning, Dr.
Silverman," Tony said.
"Good morning, Mr.
Marcus," Susan said.
"Call me Tony," he
said.
"Call me Susan," she
said.
He smiled. I checked
the room. At a table for two a few tables removed was a young woman
who looked like Halle Berry. She smiled at us. Jittering at the bar
was a skinny little youth named Ty-Bop who always looked like he
was on something, and probably was. Whatever he was on didn't seem
to impede him. He could shoot nearly as good as Chollo, or Vinnie
Morris. Beside him was Junior, who was the approximate size of a
747 but organized differently. They were always in sight when Tony
was around. At the other end of the bar, Z was drinking orange
juice and eyeing Junior speculatively. Dueling
bodyguards.
Junior saw me
looking and nodded at me. Ty-Bop paid no attention. He never did,
unless there was someone to be shot. When there wasn't, he seemed
to spend his time contemplating the inside of his
eyeballs.
"Nice brunch," Tony
said.
"Elegant," I
said.
"You try them Kobe
beef dumplings?" Tony said.
"Soon," I
said.
Susan was having
assorted berries with champagne sabayon on the side, which had a
fair chance of being more than enough for her. I had larger
plans.
"We need a brief
conversation," Tony said. "I was going to give you a call, but here
we both are."
"Kismet," I
said.
"Whatever the fuck
that is," Tony said.
He looked at Susan,
then at me.
"May I talk freely?"
he said.
"When have you not?"
I said.
"Not everyone likes
to let the babe know everything," Tony said.
"I do," I
said.
"Babe?" Susan
said.
"You surely are a
babe, Dr. Susan," Tony said.
"You're too kind,"
Susan said.
"Got cause to do
some business in South Central L.A.," Tony said to me. "Some of the
people I do business with do business with a fella named Nicky
Fellscroft in L.A. You know who he is?"
"I do," I
said.
"Got some interest
in, ah . . ." He looked at Susan.
"In killing me," I
said.
"Bingo," Tony
said.
"Understand he
already hire some local help, and they didn't work," Tony
said.
"True," I
said.
"My people in South
Central ask me could I take care of that," Tony said.
"And you told them
no, because you were too fond of me," I said.
"Tole them I drop
you like a bad habit, you get in my way. But I don't do contract
killing."
"See," I said to
Susan.
"I make a lot of
money. I don't need to hire out, you know?" Tony said. "Don't need
the trouble. Don't need grief from the blue bellies."
"Thanks for the
tip," I said.
"Ain't give it to
you yet," Tony said. "Folks in South Central tell me he got his own
man, fella named Stephano something. Say he'll probably send him.
Say he badder than Hawk."
"They know Hawk?" I
said.
"No."
"That's why they can
say that," I said.
"I changed it a
little," Tony said. "What they tell me was he the baddest mofo in
the world. I sorta reworded it, cause of Dr. Susan. Course, they
actually didn't say 'mofo.' "
"Did they say
'motherfucker'?" Susan asked sweetly.
"Matter of fact,
they did," Tony said.
"Thought they
might," Susan said.
"Other thing," Tony
said, " ' fore I go back to my young lady and leave you folks in
peace. You want me, I'll send some people over to watch your back.
Can't give you Ty-Bop or Junior. They watch my back. But I got some
pretty good folks I could, ah, dispatch."
"Thank you, Tony," I
said. "But I need to take care of my own business, you
know."
"I know," Tony said.
"Knew it when I said it. But the offer is real."
He looked at
Susan.
"You, too, Dr.
Susan," he said. "Things don't go well, you need help, call
me."
Tony took a card
from his inside pocket and handed it to Susan.
"Thank you," Susan
said. "That's very nice."
"He done me a favor
once," Tony said. "I owe him."
"And," Susan said,
"maybe your bark is worse than your bite."
Tony grinned at
her.
"No," he said. "It
ain't."