Page 129 of Hard to Kill
Jimmy’s quiet now, watching the light traffic pass by in front of them. Maybe he should have gone for an egg cream. He used to love them as a kid, sitting in places like this on the Grand Concourse.
“Maybe you’re right,” Jimmy says. “Maybe Salvatore and Licata got stupid at the end the way Champi did and pissed off the wrong people.”
Harrington takes out the straw and licks the end of it. “You know what they say, detective. The jails aren’t full of smart people.”
“Maybe I should have looked harder at Blum before this,” Jimmy says. “His name did keep popping up.”
“Maybe so. We always suspected Sonny had to own cops to stay clear of the cops, even if he was out in Long Island. Maybe he owned some of ours, too.”
“You mentioned the Chin before,” Jimmy says, as he wavesoff Harrington’s attempt to grab the check. “He only got by with faking he was crazy until they finally nailed his ass on racketeering and conspiracy once and for all.”
“Died in prison.”
“Maybe I can arrange for Sonny to do the same,” Jimmy says.
They’re quiet again. Two old cops, a long way from the big city, both of them still not ready to let go. Both of them still wanting to get the bad guys.
“You’re really going after him?” Harrington asks.
“Hard.”
“Even if it gets you killed?”
“Maybe I’m the crazy one,” Jimmy says.
“Whatever you need from me,” Harrington says. “You remember that. If Blum was buying cops, I want a piece of that old man, too.”
ONE HUNDRED THREE
I FINALLY GIVE IN and call Jimmy, trying to act as if nothing has gone sideways with us. Avoidance isn’t one of my greatest skills. But I can do it with the best of them when I’m avoiding a major conflict with my best friend.
I just innocently ask what he’s doing.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Wouldn’t I be the best judge of what I want to know?”
“Not today, counselor.”
He ends the call. I want to call right back and press him. But I know better. And know enough to give him room, whether I like it or not. Know I have to wait for him to make the next move, or the next call, whether I likethator not.
What is this, high school?
From the time I hired him, I’ve known he’s never been much for chain of command. But it doesn’t matter with our partnership, and our friendship. We’re equal partners in this, always have been. Whatever he has going on right now, whatever is going on between us, requires patience on my part. Something else not high up in my skill set.
I’m trying to get Brigid to move in with me, just for the time being. She says she’s fine where she is and will continueto be fine as long as I do what Nick Morelli told me to do, and back the hell off from him, and Eric Jacobson, and Edmund McKenzie.
“We have a deal on that, right?” she asks.
“Everybody seems to want to be making deals with me these days. Why should my sister be any different?”
“Just do your job,” she says, “and focus on defending Rob.”
“You know I can multitask with the best of them.”
“What I know,” my sister says, “is that you have a gift, a genius even, for pissing people off. But now I’ve seen with my own eyes that these are people you don’t want to piss off. And I’m asking you to please not.”
“Duly noted.”