“You’ve never been to a hospital before?”
“Just military field hospitals, but they’re quite different.”
“How?”
“Most of the people there are dead.”
The waitress came with their dinner, and they ate, engaging in small talk—tiptoeing around what they were both thinking about.
Over coffee, Linda decided to be more direct.
“Have you thought of giving this all up and leaving?”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“That’s not my question.”
“What is?”
“You know what the question is. You’re just avoiding the answer.”
“No. You’re avoiding the answer, because it’s not the one you want to hear.”
She paused as the waitress came over with their coffee.
“You’re very frustrating.”
“I know.”
“If you did leave…”
“What?”
“If you did leave…I’d be willing to go with you…if you asked.”
Decker didn’t reply.
“Not that I’m hinting, mind you,” she said, “but I just thought you might—” She stopped and looked at the ceiling. “I swore I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.”
“You haven’t.”
“Yes, I have.”
“No,” Decker said. “You mentioned something I’ve been thinking a lot about.”
“Only you haven’t made up your mind yet?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well, that’s all right,” she said. “When you do, though, you’ll let me know, won’t you?”
“You’ll be the first.”
Rosewood was waiting when Decker and Linda returned from dinner.
“There’s your sidekick,” she said, waving to Rosewood. He waved back. “He likes you a lot, you know.”
“Really?”
“In fact, he might even idolize you.”
“I’ll break him of that.”
“And what about me?” she asked. “Will you break me of…of you?”
“I hope not,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. She moved her head so that he kissed her lips instead. He didn’t complain.
“Come and see me,” she said.
“Here at the hospital?”
“Where it’s safe.”
“For you,” he said, and she smiled and went in.
Decker walked over to where Rosewood was waiting.
“She’s a nice lady,” Rosewood said.
“Yes, she is.”
“And pretty.”
“Very pretty.”
“When you leave New York, are you going to ask her to go with you?”
“I haven’t decided yet, Billy,” Decker said, “but when I do, you’ll be the second to know.”
“Who’ll be the first?”
Decker looked at Rosewood, who blushed.
“Oh, of course,” he said. “That makes sense.”
Chapter Thirty-two
Largo was impressed with Decker. He didn’t want to be, but he was.
He had been sitting in the back of the room when Decker entered the Bucket of Blood. He knew there’d be no danger of Decker seeing him. He just sat back and watched Decker go to work.
After Decker left the place, Largo sat back, shaking his head. He’d never seen anyone talk to Mosca like that. Mosca was small time—a large fish in a small pond—but the Bucket of Blood was his place, filled with his people, and he had allowed Decker to walk out. That was a tribute to Decker’s ability to intimidate.
Largo left the Bucket of Blood shortly after Decker. Armand Coles was not there, but word would get back to the Frenchman that Decker had called him a coward. Coles would feel that he had to retaliate because of this insult to his pride.
Largo was different from Coles. He had pride, but he tempered it with a cool head. Decker, he knew, was trying to force Armand Coles into going after him before he was ready.
And he would succeed, too.
The question was, would Decker survive?
The two men sat across from each other in a small café, drinking coffee.
“Why did we meet here?” Coles asked.
“I like it here,” Oakley Ready said.
Coles eyed the firm calves of the waitress who had just served them.
“Uh-huh, I see.”
“Now you tell me why we had to meet at all,” Ready asked.
“It’s about your friend Decker.”
“He’s not my friend,” Ready said. “I’ve never even met him. What about Decker?”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Well, hell, that’s what I’m paying you for.”
“I need an edge.”
“I thought you were good.”
“I’m alive,” Coles said. “In my business, that means I’m good. It also means I sometimes keep an edge.”
“What makes you need an edge this time?”
“Decker challenged me.”
“You spoke to him?”
“Uh, no. He sent me a message.”
“Where?”
“At a saloon where I drink.”
“He knew your name.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you want to do now?” Ready said.
“I’m going to accept his challenge.”
“But you need an edge.”
Coles nodded.
“All right,” Ready said, “I think I have an idea…”
“Where are we going tomorrow?” Rosewood asked.
“I haven’t the faintest idea.”
They were in Decker’s room at the hotel.
“You just gonna wait for Coles to come after you?”
“I don’t think I have long to wait, do you?” Decker said. “I just have to make myself visible.”
“So you want to ride around tomorrow?”
“Maybe walk around.”
“That wouldn’t be smart, would it?” Rosewood asked. “I mean, he could pick you off from a rooftop with a rifle, couldn’t he?”
“He could,” Decker said, “but he won’t.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I challenged him, in the Bucket of Blood,” Decker said. “I called him a coward. He’s going to have to come right at me, Billy. Right straight at me, just to prove he’s better than I am.”
“And is he?”
“Well, we don’t know that, do we?”
“What if he is?”
“If he is better,” Decker said, “then I’ll have to hope I’m luckier.”
“That’s a helluva attitude.”
A knock on the door stopped Decker’s reply. He rose and opened the door and Lieutenant Tally walked in.
“Get lost, Billy,” Tally said.
“Nice to see you, too, Lieutenant,” Billy said, getting up and walking toward the door. “Tomorrow morning, Decker?”
“See you then, Billy.”
Rosewood left and closed the door behind him.
“You lost my men today.”
“Did I? I’ll help you find them.”
“You know what I mean!”
“Tally, I can’t be responsible if your men weren’t able to keep up with me.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” Tally said, waving a hand. “We managed to pick you up again later.”
“You did?”
“What were you doing at the Bucket of Blood?”
“Having a drink with some friends?”
“Sure,” Tally said. “Those are the kind of friends you make when you’ve only been in New York for a few days, right?”
“How did you know I was there?”
“I have a couple of men watching the place. They saw you.”
“Why did you have someone watching the place?” Decker asked. He wondered how Tally had found out about Armand Coles.
“I always have a couple of men watching that place, Decker.”
From everything Rosewood had told Decker about the Bucket of Blood, that made sense.