'Rutyou got the real perps, Max. And the creeps we put away? They hurt kids too. So what's the fucken' problem?
Two for the price of one. And you're talkin' to me about justice? I say what we're doin' here is justice justice at its purest. Those fuckers all deserved to go down. Octavio Grossfeld sliced girls up, Max. Young girls, with families too. He was a scumbag. He got what was comin' and good fucken' riddance!'
We weren't even gonna arrest him for that,' Max said bitterly but weakly, feeling the protest drain out of him.
Eldon was right: he wasn't in any kind of position to protest, and there was even a warped truth in what he was saying.
'Look, Max,' Eldon put his hand on his shoulder, all fatherly and concerned, 'you're upset 'cause I didn't keep you in the loop. Is that it? It was a last-minute call. You and Liston'll get the credit, don't worry. It's still your baby.'
Fuck that, Max thought, looking away, over to the sea.
'What about Marisela Cruz?'
Who?'
'The mule who was gonna testify against Grossfeld?'
'What about her? Things have changed, so the deal's off.
She'll be charged and go to prison.'
'But I promised her . . .'
'Not in writing you didn't. Verbal promises ain't worth shit. Who was with you when you talked to her? Pete?'
Max nodded yes.
'He'll deny the whole thing.'
'What about her baby?' Max almost whispered. He felt sick and dizzy. He dropped his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out.
'Her kid'll be born here and fostered or adopted. Best
thing for it. Would you wanna grow up in Colombia? I wouldn't.'
'That's fucked up,' Max said, disgusted. 'Can't you at least deport her?'
'Not my call.'
'Bullsbitr Eldon was taken aback by Max's fury, but only for a second.
'We send that girl home, know what'll happen? She'll be back on the next plane over, and the one after that too.
And then maybe she'll bring her baby along for the ride.
You know they use babies to get coke in here, right?' Eldon said.
'Forget it then,' Max said. 'I want off this case.'
' What did you just say?' Eldon's face tightened.
'You heard me.' Max looked him straight in the eye.
'Ain't gonna happen.' Eldon shook his head.
'No? Then I'll quit.'
'The fuck you will!' Eldon snarled.
'Watch me,' Max said coldly and turned to go.
Eldon grabbed him by both shoulders and spun him around so fast he lost his balance and stumbled, and his cigarettes and Zippo fell out of his breast pocket.
'Now you listen Eldon seethed, face flushed, eyes small and fierce, wart turquoise going on purple, index finger jabbing at Max's face. ' run this division. You work for me. I decide who stays and who goes. Not you. The only place you go is where I tell you.
'You wanna walk outta here, Max? Fine, fuck off. But you'll be taking Liston with you. And I'll make sure he knows that his arrogant little prick of a partner was willing to wreck his life over some spic mule.
'That girl? She's surplus to our requirements. She broke our laws. She goes to our prisons. End of fucken' story.
You got that?'
Max didn't reply. The thick veins in Eldon's muscular neck had sprung up like a nest of snakes and his face was beet-red. Max hadn't seen him so mad at him since his boxing days.
'I didn't fucken' hear you,' Eldon said, getting right up in his face, so close their heads were practically touching.
'I got it, Eldon.' Max backed off a step, feeling pathetic and whipped and all kinds of small. Back when he was training him, Eldon had used one of two approaches to get results. Patient, friendly encouragement when he'd lost confidence in his abilities, or full-scale public verbal bombardments when he'd lost sight of his ambition. Eldon had known him so long he knew exactly which buttons to press and how hard.
'You what?
'I said I got it. I understand,' Max said more loudly, keeping a firm hand on his wounded pride so it wouldn't turn to anger.
'Good.' He stood glowering at Max, soaking up his protege's capitulation. And when he'd had his fill, he packed the anger away, smiled, and put a firm but friendly arm around Max's shoulder and walked him over towards the edge of the roof.
'A littie disagreement's always healthy, huh?' he said.
'Clears the bad air.'
Max replied with a noncommittal, 'Hmmm.'
The and Abe, God, we used to fucken' disagree all the time. You know why? Abe was extra efficient when it come to dealin' with his own people. He was rougher and nastier iincl more intolerant than any o' those Klan-affiliated Patrol :ops ever were. Whenever we was interrogatin' nigras, he lad this bat he used to take out, intimidate 'em with. Thing ivas filled with lead shot. One tap'd turn bone to powder.
Know what he used to call it? His nigger knocker. Can you imagine that? Abe was a great cop, one of the best ever
had a badge, and the finest I ever worked with. But, you know, sometimes he went way too far trying to prove he was bluer than black, one of us. Boy did we argue! Things he used to say. Close your eyes and you woulda sworn that was some redneck talkin' to you.'
Max had heard all the stories about Abe, although never direcdy from him. Abe didn't talk about the past much. Joe despised Abe, called him a self-loathing sellout - and that was when he was being polite.
Eldon took a deep breath of the dense dead air and sighed.
'I love this fucken' city, don't you?' Eldon swept his free hand across the view of the flat landscape, his tone now warm and friendly.
'It's all right, I guess.' Max shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to get Eldon's paw off him.
'It's all right, you guess?' Eldon laughed. 'You're Miami born and bred, Max. You don't know no better. Me? I love this city more'n I love most people. That's the honest truth.
Always been that way, always be that way.
'First time I came here, I was ten years old. Came here with my daddy, Eldon Burns the First. He was a sheriff in Mississippi. Caught himself a fugitive wanted by Miami PD.
So we drove him down. Guy was in the back seat. I was up front with Daddy. We handed him over and went down to Miami Beach. The first sight o' that was so fucken' beautiful.
The beach, the sea, them rows of art deco hotels. Those places were really somethin' back then, you know? Not like the dumps they are now. To me they were little palaces and everyone stayin' in 'em was royalty. I made myself a promise that when I grew up I'd be sheriff of Miami. Look at me now, huh?'
Yeah, look at you now, Max thought bitterly. Your daddy woulda been real proud of you, Eldon Burns the Second.