"Clear, is it?"
"As if you were in the next room."
"Well, I should fucking well hope so," he said, "as I'm at Grogan's.
Rosenstein got everything cleared up for me. My flight was delayed or I'd have been in hours ago."
"I'm glad you're back."
"No more than I. She's a grand old country, but you wouldn't want to live there. But how are you keeping? Burke says you haven't been around the saloon much."
"No, not much at all."
"So why don't you get yourself down here now?"
"Why not?"
"Good man," he said. "I'll put up a pot of coffee for you and crack the seal on a bottle of Jameson. I've a great store of tales to tell."
"I have a few of my own."
"Ah, we'll make a night of it, won't we now? And go to the butchers' mass in the morning."
"We might do that," I said. "It wouldn't surprise me."
The End
Acknowledgments
I am pleased to acknowledge the substantial contributions of the Writers Room, where much of the preliminary work on this book was done, and of the Ragdale Foundation, where it was written. Thanks, too, to George Cabanas and Eddie Lama, and also to Jack Hitt and Paul Tough, who introduced me to the Kongs. And, finally, to Sarah Elizabeth Miles, who swears she'll do anything— anything!— to get her name in a book.
About the Author
The prolific author of more than fifty books and numerous short stories, Lawrence Block is a Mystery Writers of American Grand Master, a four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe and Shamus Awards, and the recipient of literary prizes from France, Germany, and Japan.
Block is a devout New Yorker who spends much of his time traveling.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24