‘There’ll be no problem about getting in.’
‘That’s provided you get me those maps.’
‘I already have the maps,’ the Deaf Man said. Believe me, it’s all very simple.’
‘Everything’s simple to you,’ Gopher said, and smiled.
‘Yes,’ the Deaf Man said. ‘If you choose the right people, everything’s simple.’
‘For the right people,’ Gopher said, ‘you’ve got to pay the right money.’
‘How much do you want?’ the Deaf Man asked.
‘Dennis, I’ll level with you,’ Gopher said. ‘The first job is risky as hell because there’s nine of them and because of the proximity. It’s not like I’ll be working in some empty lot someplace. I’m gonna be right behind the fuckin’ police station!’
‘Authorized to work there.’
‘Sure, if these papers of yours pass muster.’
‘They will.’
‘Who’s doing these papers for you?’
‘You don’t need to know that.’
‘It’s my ass, not yours. They smell fish on those papers, the jig’s up right that minute.’
‘All right, I’ll grant you that. Someone who once worked for the CIA is preparing the papers for me.’
‘What kind of work for the CIA?’
‘He was in their Documents Section.’
‘Phony passports and such?’
‘Phony everything.’
‘So, okay, I’ll take your word for the papers.’
‘Which should calm any fears you have about the risk factor.’
‘It’s still risky, papers or not. I can’t do nine fuckin’ cars in a single day.’
‘Why not?’
‘‘Cause it’s not that simple. I’m not talking about the wiring. If I do what I’m figuring on doing, it’ll take me two minutes to wire each car. But the charge itself, there’ll be nine five-pound charges, and I can’t go in with a load like that without somebody noticing. Well, wait a minute, if I do what I’m figuring on doing, I’ll have to do them all the same day. Yeah. I’ll have to plan on making a few trips back to the truck. Yeah. So, okay, it’s a day’s work is all. But still, there’ll be cops comin’ and goin’ all the time. All it takes is for one of them to ask me what the fuck I’m doin’.’
‘In which case you show the papers again.’
‘And pray he don’t smell a rat.’
The Deaf Man sighed.
‘Listen, Den, I’m sorry all to hell, believe me. But like I said, this is my ass we’re talkin’ about.’
‘I asked you how much you wanted. I still haven’t got an answer.’
‘For the first job, the nine cars. I want seventy-five hundred.’
‘And the second job?’
‘That’s the toughest one, whatever you think. I want ten grand for that one.’
‘So you’re asking for seventeen-five total.’
‘Seventeen-five, right.’
‘I came here prepared to pay you ten.’
‘What can I tell you, Den? You were thinkin’ too low.’
‘You’ve almost doubled the price.’
‘You can always look somewhere else. No harm done, we drink our wine, we shake hands and say good-bye.’
‘I’ll give you a flat fifteen, take it or leave it.’
‘Make it sixteen, and we’ve got a deal.’
‘No. Fifteen is all I can afford.’
‘You’re getting me cheap.’
‘Is it a deal?’
‘It’s a deal. Five up front, five when I’m done on the inside, another five when the cars are wired.’
‘You’re robbing me blind,’ the Deaf Man said, but he was smiling. He had come here with an offer of ten, but had not expected to get off for less than thirty.
The man reached across the table and shook hands.
‘When can you start?’ the Deaf Man asked.
‘As soon as you get me the maps and the papers and all the other shit. Also I want to look it over first, make sure I ain’t steppin’ into a lion’s den. One question.’
‘Yes?’
‘Why do you want this thing done? I mean...’
‘Let’s say it’s personal,’ the Deaf Man said.
* * * *
The Carella house in Riverhead was a huge white elephant they’d picked up for a song shortly after Teddy Carella gave birth to the twins. At about the same time, Teddy’s father presented them with a registered nurse as a month-long gift while Teddy was getting her act together, and Fanny Knowles had elected to stay on with them at a salary they could afford, telling them she was tired of carrying bedpans for sick old men.
A lot of cops ribbed Carella about Fanny. They told him they didn’t know any other cop on the force who was rich enough to have a housekeeper, even one who had blue hair and wore a pince-nez. They said he had to be on the take. Carella admitted that being able to afford live-in help was decidedly difficult these days; the numbers boys in Riverhead were always so late paying off. Actually Fanny was worth her weight—a hundred and fifty pounds—in pure gold. She ran the house with all the tenderness of a Marine Corps drill sergeant, and she was fond of saying, ‘I take no shit from man nor beast,’ an expression the ten-year-old twins had picked up when they were learning to talk and which Mark now used with more frequency than April. In fact, the twins’ speech patterns—much to Carella’s consternation—were more closely modeled after Fanny’s than anyone else’s; Teddy Carella was a deaf mute, and it was Fanny’s voice the twins heard around the house whenever Carella wasn’t home.
When the phone rang at three o’clock that Thanksgiving Day, Fanny was washing dishes in the kitchen. Her hands were soapy but she answered the phone anyway. Whenever she and Teddy were alone in the house, she had to answer the phone, of course. But even when Carella was home, she normally picked up because she wanted to make sure it wasn’t some idiot detective calling about something that could easily wait till morning.
‘Carella residence,’ she said.
‘Yes, hello?’ a woman’s voice said.
‘Hello?’ Fanny said.
‘Yes, I’m trying to get in touch with Detective Steve Carella. Have I got the right number?’
‘This is the Carella residence, yes,’ Fanny said.
‘Is there a Detective Steve Carella there?’
‘Who’s this, please?’ Fanny said.