“Uh uh,” Cogan said. “Well, I mean, you wanna take the double, it’s all right with me, you think you can handle it. You need that?”
“I could use the dough,” Mitch said. “I’m gonna have to try this thing and it’s gonna cost me my left ball to do it. You know where the pricks indicted me? Maryland. Not in New York, Maryland. So I got to go down there and everything, and fart around in some motel, and it’s gonna mean two lawyers, my guy, that looks like he never got out the garment district in his life, Solly’s a great guy, but if a guy ever looked like a sharp New York Jew, it’s Solly. And then the other guy, some guy that probably wears overalls or something, so they don’t hook me just because I got Solly. Yeah, I need dough.”
“Well,” Cogan said, “you want the two of them, it’s fine with me.”
“I oughta take you up on it,” Mitch said. “But I think, I’m not supposed to be up here, you know? I’m restricted, New York and Maryland and that stuff, I’m supposed, I’m not supposed, go any place else unless I ask them. Well, I didn’t ask. So I probably shouldn’t hang around here any longer’n I absolutely have to. And, two’s risky, too. No, I better stick with the one.”
“Okay,” Cogan said. “Now, here’s the thing: that’s gonna be the guy that knows me. Well, he don’t know me, but he’s one of the few guys that probably knows who I am, all right? He knows me and he knows Dillon, and if he hears anything, he’s gonna figure, he’s gonna be waiting for Dillon or me. So, he’s the one.”
“He got friends?” Mitch said.
“One of the guys that we might do,” Cogan said. “He’s a kid, he could be around. He’s a fairly tough kid, too. The other kid, he’s the guy that’s apparently not around. So, there might be the one.”
“We gonna do anything about him?” Mitch said.
“Right now,” Cogan said, “it depends. I honestly don’t know. See, the other guy, I got him in mind for tonight. And a lot depends, what happens after that.”
“The fuck happened, anyway?” Mitch said.
“One of them fuckin’ things,” Cogan said. “There’s this guy, got a game, all right? And he got some guys, one time, knock it over for him, and then, well, he got away with it. So, and then everybody says: ‘Okay.’ Then this other guy comes along, and he gets these two kids, and they go in and they knock it over again, right? They think he’s gonna get blamed for it again. That’s the guy I’m doing. I’m gonna put his light out tonight, I figure, things go all right.”
“Dumb shit,” Mitch said. He finished the first stein.
“Right,” Cogan said. The waiter brought the check. Cogan paid it.
“On your way back,” Mitch said, “you think you’re gonna be in this neighborhood again this year, you can bring me two more.”
“No, you can’t,” Cogan said to the waiter. He took the second stein. “I’m gonna drink this, even if I don’t want it. He’s drinking coffee. Bring the man nice black coffee.”
“Hey,” Mitch said.
“Hey yourself,” Cogan said. “I’m gonna have to talk to you. I don’t wanna have to go down, see you inna fuckin’ tank. Too many guys around down there, listening to other people’s business. Coffee for you.”
“I won’t be able to sleep,” Mitch said.
“Watch television,” Cogan said.
“I probably won’t,” Mitch said. “You’re gonna line something up for me, instead.”
“You gotta have that?” Cogan said.
“Shit,” Mitch said. “I’m not working tonight, right?”
“Nope,” Cogan said.
“And I’m probably not working tomorrow night, either,” Mitch said. “We got to set this thing up, and all. Who’s gonna help me?”
“I got a kid,” Cogan said. “He’s not the sharpest thing I ever seen, but he’ll do what you tell him. You want him to drive, he’ll drive. Anything.”
“Is he gonna fuck up?” Mitch said. “Never mind what somebody tells him, does he fuck up?”
“Look,” Cogan said, “this kid’d tear a fuckin’ car in half with his bare hands, you asked him. He’s very dependable. But you got to tell him. You tell him, he’ll do it. He’ll go through a fuckin’ building, he’s got to.”
“I personally,” Mitch said, “I’d rather have a guy that’d see the building and go around it. I can’t afford, I don’t want no guy that’s gonna go on no fuckin’ rampage the minute I let him out of my sight. You sure you can’t come in on this?”
“Look,” Cogan said, “the guy’s name’s Johnny Amato. I know him. I did, he wanted Dillon to do something for him once, and Dillon couldn’t do it. So Dillon told him, if it was all right, he’d ask me, and the guy said: ‘Yeah.’ So I did it, and he paid me. He knows me.”
“How much does this kid know?” Mitch said.
“Kenny?” Cogan said. “Kenny knows nothing. I didn’t tell him nothing. He don’t know you’re in town. He knew it, it wouldn’t mean nothing to him.”
“I don’t want him,” Mitch said.
The waiter brought Cogan’s change and the coffee.
“I don’t want that, either,” Mitch said.
The waiter left.
“I didn’t say you wanted it,” Cogan said.
“I don’t want no fuckin’ nutcakes, either,” Mitch said.
“Well,” Cogan said, “look, I mean, you got to tell me what you want, then, right? Because I don’t know.”
“Where is this guy?” Mitch said.
“Quincy,” Cogan said. “Wollaston, actually.”
“I don’t know where the fuck that is,” Mitch said.
“I can show you,” Cogan said.
“But he knows you,” Mitch said. “Great. Look, this other guy, the one you’re doing?”
“Yeah,” Cogan said.
“Do him,” Mitch said, “and the way I get it, that’s gonna do something to the guy I’m supposed to hit.”
“Got to,” Cogan said.
“Gonna make him relax, or something,” Mitch said.
“I think,” Cogan said.
“Okay, then,” Mitch said. “So, we got to give him a chance to relax then, haven’t we? And you got to get me somebody that can drive a car without running into things, and also you got to get me something. You haven’t got anything yet, I assume.”
“I was gonna ask you what you wanted,” Cogan said.
“Good,” Mitch said, “forty-five Military Police. I never use nothing else.”
“Okay,” Cogan said.
“If you’re the guy that’s starting it,” Mitch said, “it’s a great thing. One of them. And a guy that can do things. How long’s that gonna take you?”
“Day or so,” Cogan said.
“And a car,” Mitch said.
“Still a day or so,” Cogan said.
“And where he’s gonna be,” Mitch said.
“Same thing,” Cogan said.
“You know something?” Mitch said. “I don’t think you can do it that fast.”
“I can,” Cogan said.
“Well,” Mitch said, “then I think you’re not gonna and I don’t care if you can or not. Now, this’s, we’re gonna do this, this is Thursday. We’re gonna do him Saturday night. That’s when we’re gonna do it. You guys’re all half-assed up here. You don’t take the time to think about things. I do.”
“Always glad to meet a guy, you can learn something from,” Cogan said.
“I been at this a long time,” Mitch said. “I messed up some things, but never one of these. Now, that leaves me tonight and tomorrow night. Who’s gonna see me tonight?”
“I can’t promise nothing special,” Cogan said.
“Don’t like fuckin’, is that it?” Mitch said.
“Never paid for it, anyway,” Cogan said.
“Well, company’s what I want,” Mitch said. “You get me some company for tonight. I’ll take it from there. Fourteen-o-nine. I’m in the tower, all right?”