covered, people have some time off when they need it. You go short-stoppin‟ me and it‟s goin‟ to get
to be a big mess.”
I don‟t like to be put on the defensive, nor do I like apologies and excuses. “That‟s fair enough,” I said
“Can we work out a compromise?”
“Such as what?”
“Such as you and me sitting down and drawing up a list of priorities.”
“I got a list of priorities.”
“It would help if you explained them to me.”
“When it comes up, I will.”
“See here, Dutch, I didn‟t come here to screw up your operation. You‟ve got a good bunch of people
here. A little rough around the edges, but that may be good in the long run. All I‟m trying to do is give
them a little direction.”
“There‟s channels,” he said brusquely.
“What channels? You? You‟re the channel, Dutch. I‟m sorry if I stepped on your toes—”
“It ain‟t that,” he said, cutting me off.
“Then what is it? Look here, if you want to keep boosting dips and hassling street pushers and
hookers, that‟s your business. I didn‟t come here to kick ass, 1 came here to do a job, which is to
dump the Tagliani outfit. I thought w saw eye to eye on that.”
“Don‟t screw up my schedule!” he bellowed, slamming his fist on the desk.
I jumped to my feet.
“Fuck your schedule,” I said quietly. “Maybe I better get some help in here from the field and go it
alone. And don‟t raise your voice to me. This isn‟t high school.”
It was a bluff but I decided to call his hand before the pot got too big to cover. Sometimes the best
way to defuse a situation is to light the fuse. He didn‟t like it one hit. It caught him off guard. His eyes
glittered dangerously and beads of sweat popped out in his moustache. I started for the door.
“You shoulda told me about you and Doe Raines,” he said, before I could get to it.
So that was it. Titan had let the tiger loose.
“Why? It‟s personal business. Titan knows that.”
“Titan didn‟t tell me.”
“Nobody else knows about it,” I said. “That was twenty years ago, damn it.”
He leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “Babs Thomas” is all he said.
I felt like a fool. The last thing I needed to show Dutch at this point was misjudgement. We stared at
each other for what seemed like an hour. Finally his shoulders loosened and he wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand.
“Sheiss,” he growled, half under his breath, then waved at the chair. “Sit down. Let‟s start over.”
I sat down. There was no point in pushing it any further. We both had made our points.
“Suppose you tell me how you want to run the show,” I said. The storm was over. “It ain‟t that,” he
said quietly. “I just got
hot under the collar, see. I didn‟t like hearin‟ things about a man I‟m workin‟ sock and shoe with from
the local gossip.”
“She‟s guessing,” I said.
“Is she guessing right? Did you have an affair with Doe Raines?” “Shit, Dutch, I had a college
romance with Doe Findley. That was over and done with a long time ago. Besides, what‟s that got to
do with the price of eggs?”
“Right now a scandal could really upset the apple cart.” I felt like getting righteously indignant except
that he was cutting close to the bone. I wasn‟t sure how to deal with the situation without straight-out
lying to the man.
“There‟s not going to be any scandal,” I said finally.
“Is that a fact?” he asked seriously.
“That‟s a fact.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said. “I‟m sorry I brought it up but I‟m lust as glad we got it out of the
way. Anyway, I got run through the wringer this morning. Titan and Donleavy both shoved it up and
broke it off.”
“Does Donleavy know about Doe and me?”
“I doubt it. It didn‟t come up.”
“So what‟s their beef?”
“No more‟n you could expect,” he moaned. “My job was to keep people like Tagliani outta here. Now
they want the whole mess cleaned up. Titan‟s idea is to just run them out of town.”
“That stuff went out with Buffalo Bill.”
“Tell them that. So far, Raines hasn‟t figured it all out. The name of the game is sweep it under the
rug.”
“It‟s gone too far for that.”
“You know it and I know it.”
“But they don‟t, is that it?”
“Livin‟ in the past,” he mused. “Donleavy doesn‟t know anything about the rackets. He‟s seen too
many James Cagney movies.”
“Unless I‟m mistaken,” I said, “Donleavy had a hand in all this. He was supposed to screen these
people.”
“I think it goes something like this: the buck stops here,” he said, pointing to himself. “It doesn‟t go
any higher.”
“How did you get yourself in this fix?“ I asked. “You‟re not the kind of man that kisses the ass of
people like Donleavy.”
I was thinking of what Charlie One Ear had told me, about the way Dutch hired him and Salvatore. I
was sure Dutch had used the same kind of judgment in hiring all the hooligans.
“The rules changed on me,” he said sadly. “Leadbetter was supposed to be the in-between man. When
he went down, it fell to me. Up until now, I didn‟t have any bitch.”
“Up to now it didn‟t mailer,” I said -
He looked over at me for a long time. I was putting the squeeze on him and he knew it. What he
wanted was for me to let him off the hook, but I couldn‟t do that. 1 needed Dutch right where he was,
standing between me and the damned Committee. And that meant he had to stand up to them, like it
or not.
“You don‟t give a man much, do you, son?”
“I‟m not telling you how to run your business, Dutch. I could ask you to trust me but you don‟t know
me that well. What I will tell you is that this thing is going to blow and soon. The powder keg‟s in the
fire.”
“So what‟s the answer?” he said, holding his hands out like a man going down for the third time.
“Try to beat the explosion,” I said. “1 need to find the key that will put the Triad against the wall.”
“What key?”
“I need to build a RICO case against these bastards.”
“That could take years!” he cried.
“Except we have one edge,” I said. “I already know the players and how they operate. It‟s not like we
were starting from scratch. What I need is the local buy-out.”
“Who do you suspect?” he asked.
“Hell, there‟s so many termites in this woodpile it‟s hard to say. Just give me free rein with your
SOB‟s for a few days. We can work together. But if something pops I don‟t want to have
-to run you down and explain it. Trust me that far. I may work your boys to death, but it‟ll be worth it
in the long pull.”
“I‟ll give you this—you already made believers outta Charlie One Ear, Salvatore, and Cowboy Lewis.
Zapata‟s still on the fence but he‟s about to come around. „That leaves only Kite Lange, the Mufalatta
Kid, and Pancho Callahan to convince. I don‟t know how you did it, but you sure moved fast.”
“I‟m just a charming fellow,” I said with a smile, trying to ease the pressure.
“You don‟t have any ideas?” he asked, pressing the question.
“It could be Raines. Maybe that‟s the reason he‟s so coy. He‟s keeping arm‟s length from the action.
And Donleavy could be his front.”
“That don‟t even make good sense, Jake. They got more to lose than anybody, particularly Harry.”
“Harry Raines didn‟t get where he is by running on empty,” I said. “He‟s ambitious and he‟s got more