Blood Money полностью

“Yeah, the Family’s behind me. I already admitted that. But they’re going to sit on this till I say go. You got my word. I can save your damn ass. You maybe aren’t going to get a pension out of the deal, and a penthouse overlooking Lake Michigan, but you’ll be alive.”

“Maybe I can get that job selling tires,” Tillis said, with a rueful grin. “God. I got about as much chance to get outa this as a turd in a toilet.”

“Mine’s the only hand can stop the guy from flushing it.”

“I know, man.”

“Listen to me, Tillis. Charlie’s fucking nuts. He’s out of his mind. He wants to hurt me and I got to stop him. He’s got my money, Tillis. Worse than that, he’s got this kid. I like this kid, Tillis.”

“You don’t like anybody.”

“Hell, I like you. I must be capable of liking any damn body.”

“What do you mean, a kid?”

“Well, he’s about twenty. He was in on that last job of mine.”

“That bank number?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re talking about a man, not a kid.”

“Compared to you and me, he’s a kid, Tillis. And compared to Charlie.” Nolan sipped his coffee; it was weak. “Maybe he’s dead.”

“Charlie?”

“The kid. Jon’s his name. If Charlie killed that kid, I’m nailing the bastard to the wall. That bastard is a cancer that’s got to be cut out of the human race.”

Tillis shook his head, said, “I can’t imagine him messing around with a young kid, especially somebody you’re fond of, Nolan. Too much like his own son, you know? Charlie wouldn’t want anybody hurting his kid, and that’s what you might do to get back at him, so I can’t...”

“Charlie’s capable of anything, as long as it’s insane. As far as his own precious kid is concerned, Charlie’s got his pride ’n’ joy at his side, the kid’s been in it with him from word go.”

“What? Momma, that man has flipped out.”

The phone rang in the bedroom. Tillis said, “Phyllis, honey, go get that!”

Tillis said, “You’ll want to get to Harry, right? That’s the next step.”

“Right. I figure he knows what’s happening.”

“You probably figure right, man. Maybe I’m a cog, but ol’ Harry’s a wheel.”

Phyllis trudged through the room, all but pouting, plodding along toward the trilling phone.

Tillis said, “I think maybe I know the best way to handle it.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Let me go pump him.”

“Oh, sure.”

“Now listen, you go down there, try to see Harry downtown, you’re gonna have to break some people in half. Maybe you get busted in half yourself, and that kid, and that money, ain’t never gonna be found. You be better off trust me in this.”

“Come on.”

“Tillie!” Phyllis yelled.

“Hey, I’m not stupid, man. I know how close those Chicago dudes are, I can feel ’em on my neck, breathing hot and hard, man. Shit. Remember, I used to work with those boys in the windy town, and I know how tough some of them mothers are. This town is nothin’. We’re a suburb of Chicago that got outa hand and that’s all. Those guys, they think it’s 1927 or something.”

“Tillie!” the girl called again. “Guy says it’s urgent!”

Nolan followed him into the bedroom. Tillis took the phone and said, “Yeah?... What?... What?... Jesus fuck... How long ago?... Where do we go from here, man?... No, I’ll come to you... Downtown I guess, be cops at the house... Yeah.” Tillis hung the phone up, said, “Somebody shot Harry.”

Nolan sat on the bed. “Say again.”

“Somebody killed him. He was coming out of his house. He was in his goddamn pajamas, gettin’ the paper off the porch. Some guy came by, in a car it must’ve been, and shot him. You know what with?”

“No.”

“A grease gun, they think. A fuckin’ grease gun. I don’t believe it.”

“Harry lives in a kind of nice neighborhood, doesn’t he? Didn’t that cause a scene? Didn’t everybody see the guy that did it, his car at least?”

“That fuckin’ grease gun must’ve been silenced. He laid there ten minutes before his wife found him. Can you put a silencer on a fuckin’ grease gun, a submachine gun like that?”

“Sure could. It wouldn’t make any more noise than somebody shuffling cards.”

“Who? The Family? They do it, Nolan? You been shittin’ me all along? Settin’ me up?”

“No. But it could be the Family. It could be that bastard Felix using me. Or it could be Charlie, killing everybody who helped him, anybody who could lead somebody to him.”

“Jesus. I got to get downtown. Jesus.”

“Is there anybody else who could tell you something?”

“Huh?”

“About Charlie. Anybody else in Harry’s regime here you can pump? Who’s second in command? Vito?”

Tillis nodded.

“Isn’t Vito Harry’s cousin, makes him some kind of half-ass relative of Charlie’s, then, too, right?”

“Yeah. Well. Nolan, Jesus. Okay, I guess my head’s straight. Yeah. You want, you can stay here, I’ll call the information to you if I can get it. If I can’t get nothin’, I’ll call you and you can try some of the other people on that list. But I suggest you move on to the Chicago names, man, because this town’s gonna be a fuckin’ funny farm for a while.”

“If I stay here, and wait for you to call, am I an asshole?”

“I’m not going to screw you, Nolan. I helped you before.”

“Yeah. I’ll show you the scars.”