"I know who he was."
"Okay, so she started tricking with him regular. He kept her, you know, and she met lots of people in the Life, and she helped him with these socalled 'real' pension-fund books that he was working on."
Pete cracked his wrists. "Keep going."
Bruvick rubbed his knee. "Her old man got killed in '52. He screwed Jimmy H. on a management deal, so Jimmy had him clipped. Arden didn't care. She hated the old man for his goddamn hypocrisy and the shitty way he raised her."
The boat pitched. Pete grabbed the desk.
"Arden and Schiffrin. Spill on that."
"Spill _what?_ She learned what she could from him and broke it off."
"And?"
"And she started hooking freelance, and got a thing going with Carlos. I met her in '55. We had mutual friends in those whores who went to school with me. I was working the K.C. local. We got married and cooked up some plans."
"Like 'Let's embezzle Jimmy.'"
Bruvick lit a cigarette. "I admit it wasn't the smartest-"
"You got caught. Jimmy put a contract out."
"Right. Some guys cornered me and shot me. I got away, but I almost lost my leg, and the fucking contract's still out."
Pete lit a cigarette. "Jimmy had the K.C. cops run Arden in. Carlos bailed her out and hid you. He didn't fuck with Jimmy's contract, because he wanted a wedge on you."
Bruvick nodded. Bruvick scoped the booze shelf.
"You're a hump. You wasted my liquor."
Pete smiled. Pete aimed. Pete cocked his piece. Pete shot Bruvick's chair.
The legs sheared. The chair crashed. Wood shattered. Bruvick tumbled. Bruvick yelped. Bruvick rosaried.
Pete blew smoke rings. "Carlos set up your charter business. What happened to Arden then?"
The boat pitched. Bruvick dropped his beads.
"She didn't trust Carlos. She didn't want to owe him, so she split to Europe. We worked out a pay-phone thing and kept in touch that way."
Pete coughed. "She came back to the States. She couldn't give up the Life."
"Right. She landed in Dallas. She got in trouble there, like late in '63. She wouldn't say what happened."
Pete flicked his cigarette. Pete nailed Bruvick flush.
"Come on, Danny. Don't make me get ugly."
Bruvick stood up. His knee went. He stumbled. He braced the wall. He slid back and sat.
He rubbed his knee. He snuffed Pete's cigarette.
"That's straight. She wouldn't tell me what happened. All I know is she hooked up with Littell, then around that time Carlos found her. He said we'd both be safe if she watchdogged Littell, but he still refused to square us with Jimmy."
Solid. Confirmed. Two-front blackmail. Jimmy's contract/the safehouse snafu. Arden-that first name unique.
Carlos _knows_ Arden. Carlos makes her _name_. Carlos distrusts Littell. Carlos finds Arden. Carlos plants Arden. Arden spies on Littell.
It vibed solid-90%-it vibed incomplete.
Pete said, "I don't want Littell to get hurt."
Bruvick stood up. His bad knee held.
"I don't think Arden does, either. She's playing out some weird thing with him."
o o o
He called Carlos. He got Frau M. He left a message:
I braced D.B.-Danny the boat man-tell Carlos that. Tell him I'll be by. Say I'd love to chat.
He drove to New Orleans. He stopped in libraries. He studied books en route.
_Boats_:
Galleys/bridges/radar/trawl decks/scuppers/masts.
He studied the nomenclature. He studied engine stats. He studied maps. Pine Island/Cape Sabel/Key West. Pit stops-Cuba due south.
He detoured. He cruised by Port Sulphur. He saw Tiger Kamp South. He saw the troops. He saw Flash and Laurent. He met Fuentes and Arredondo. They talked night raids. They talked scalp runs. They talked insurgency.
Wayne was in Saigon-one fast rotation-one scheduled run back. Wayne loves to WATCH. Wayne wants to GO. Wayne wants to SEE Cuba up close.
Flash had a plan. I'll do a speedboat run. I'll drop Fuentes and Arredondo. Fast-off the north shore-Varcadero Beach.
They reinfiltrate. They build drop zones. They recruit internal. They speedboat back. They funnel arms. They bounce off the Keys. They pull a boat hitch. They lug guns. They fly fast and low. They shuttle. They duck radar-six runs a week.
Pete said no. Pete said why: It's high mileage/it wastes two men/it's low capacity.
Flash said, "_Que?_"
Laurent said, "_Quoi?_"
Fuentes said, "_Que pasa?_"
Pete talked hold nets. Pete talked gunwales. Pete talked fuel efficiency.
Pete talked _boats_.
o o o
Carlos said, "Sure, she's my watchdog. Tell me Ward don't play angles, then tell me I don't need one."
Galatoire's was dead. They hogged a prime table. Carlos dipped his cigar. Mecundo meets anisette.
"Ward's fund-book thing is a fucking extravaganza, and Arden is a brilliant fucking bookkeeper. I'm protecting my franchise, and Ward gets some good cooze in the process."
Pete lit a cigarette. "He's in love with her. I don't want him to get hurt."
Carlos winked. "I don't want you to get hurt. We go back like Ward and me go back. Some guys would have been miffed at what you did to Danny B., but I am not one of them."
Pete smiled. "I copped to it, didn't I? I called you."
"That is correct. You did the wrong thing and covered your bets."
"I just don't want-"
"He won't be. They're good for each other. I know Arden, and Arden knows she can't shit me. Arden tells me Ward's not scheming against me, so I believe her. I've always had this feeling that Ward was skimming Howard Hughes, but Arden says it's not so, so I believe her."
Pete burped. Pete undid his belt-rich Creole food.
"Give me the warning. Let's get it over with."
Carlos burped. Carlos undid his belt-rich Creole food.
"Don't tell Ward about this. Don't make me peeved at you."
"_This_"-still solid-still incomplete.
A waiter cruised by. Pete nixed a comped brandy.
Carlos belched. "What's this about 'ideas'?"
Pete cleared some plates. Pete laid his map out. Pete swamped the table.
"Speedboat runs waste man-hours. You can't move ordnance in bulk. I want to refit and camouflage Bruvick's boat and run it out of Bon Secour. I want to move guns in quantity and pull terror missions."
Carlos checked the map. Carlos lit his cigar. Carlos burned a big hole in Cuba.
81
(Las Vegas, 8/7/65)
Lyle Holly: Dwight Holly built small. BLUE to WHITE RABBIT A Hoosier/a loudmouth/a fraud.
They met at the DI. They sat in the lounge. Lyle was blunt. Lyle was coarse. Lyle was buzzed at noon.
Lyle said, "I think I'm schizophrenic. I work for the SCLC, I work for Mr. Hoover. I'm on Black Rabbit one minute, voting-rights drives the next. Dwight says I'm psychically unhinged."
Littell sipped coffee. Littell smelled Lyle's scotch.
"Did Mr. Hoover send you in to spy on me?"
Lyle slapped his knees. "Dwight suggested it. He knew I was coming to Vegas, so what the hell."
"Is there anything you'd like me to reveal?"
"Shit, no. I'll tell Dwight that the Ward I saw is the same Ward I allegedly knew back in Chicago, except now he's just as schizo as I am, and for all the same reasons."
Littell laughed. Sammy Davis Jr. walked by. Lyle stared at him.
"Look at that. He's ugly, he's got one eye, and he's colored _and_ Jewish. I heard he gets lots of white pussy."