"Of course these things go in cycles, and Mr. Nitti is no longer in prison, though Mr. Capone is. and will be for some time. As you so rightly pointed out. Mr. Heller, the gangster element was with us long before Al Capone. and will go on being with us for time immemorial, human nature being what it is. But it should remain in its back-alley place, inconspicuous, within bounds. It should keep out of City Hall, for one thing."
I sipped my tea. "You've got a Republican to thank for that, sir."
Uncle Louis closed his eyes.
"True," Dawes said, "but I will not take credit nor blame for William Hale Thompson. The man was a public drunkard, his campaign tactics an embarrassment, his connection with the Capone crowd, the obvious graft, the embezzlement"- he glanced about Saint Hubert's sadly "all crowned by the absurdity of his anti-British stance, demanding 'pro-British' textbooks be burned, threatening to 'whack King George on the snoot.' As ambassador to Great Britain I was personally ashamed by such remarks coming from the mayor of my own great city. 'Big Bill,' as he is so quaintly referred to, bankrupted this city, humiliated and disgraced it, to a degree that, well… how should I put it?"
"Like Capone," I said, "he had to go."
"Precisely."
"And now in his place you have Cermak," I said.
Dawes sighed heavily, nodded. "Still, there are things to be said in Cermak's favor. When city employees under Mayor Thompson were having payless paydays. Commissioner Cermak's count)' employees were paid regularly. His fiscal skills were an encouraging sign. But I have always had misgivings about Mr. Cermak."
"I thought you bankers were all behind him." I said. "He's one of your own, after all."
Dawes smiled again, but barely concealed his contempt for the subject at hand. "A. J. Cermak sitting on the boards of a few minor banks does not make him 'one of our own.' But you are correct. Mr. Heller. There was Cermak support among financial and commercial leaders of Democratic leaning, certainly. And we Republicans could hardly be expected to rally around William Hale Thompson's bid for a fourth term."
"I seem to recall." I said, somewhat coyly. "Cermak nominating a friend of yours as favorite-son candidate for president at the national convention last month."
That was Melvin Traylor, president of the First National Bank and perhaps the only banker in Chicago of nearly equal stature to the General.
"Yes." Dawes nodded, "Melvin was a major Cermak supporter. And Frank Loesch. of the Chicago Crime Commission. There were any number of Cermak-for-mayor businessmen's committees. Many of us came to support Mr. Cermak, as the 'lesser evil.'"
"Well," I said, "he has been helping you bankers out on the tax front, hasn't he?"
Uncle Louis said, a bit testily, "Which is only fair, since he must come to the banks to obtain loans for the city."
The General dismissed all that with a wave of the hand. "That would be the case under any mayor, under current conditions. The major reason Mr. Cermak gained the support of business was his promise to 'redeem Chicago,' to restore her good name. To put an end to all gangster operations during the fair."
"Did you really believe that?"
"Yes, within reason. As we've both said, gangsters will always be with us. The people who come to our fair will occasionally seek that which is not offered there. So I would not expect, for example, a gentleman from Des Moines having a great deal of difficulty finding a glass of beer to drink while in Chicago this summer."
"Cermak's declared war on crime. Isn't that what you want?"
"Bloody headlines are not what any of us want. The fair is designed to paint a whole new picture of Chicago. And blood is not the sort of paint we have in mind."
"I can see that," I admitted.
"Now. You may be wondering where you fit into all this."
"Yes."
"I'm merely hoping you'll be civic-minded when Mr. Nitti's trial comes up, before too long."
"Civic-minded?"
"Yes. I would hope you would take the stand and tell the truth."
"Which truth is that?"
Dawes looked at me hard. "The truth, man! The truth. Whatever it is. Wherever the chips may fall."
"Okay." I said, unsurely.
"Like the city- council." he said, with humor. "I believe a sense of civic duty should be rewarded."
"That's nice. How?"
"I understand you've opened a private agency."
"That's correct."
"I understand further that you were a member of the pickpocket detail."
"Yes."
"We'll have our own security force, at the fair. I would like them instructed in the ways and means of the pickpocket. I would like you to do that. And I would like you to spend a day or two at the fair, each week, yourself, when your schedule allows, to supervise them, doing spot checks, perhaps nabbing an occasional pickpocket personally."
"Fine," I said.
■
"Would a retainer of three thousand dollars be sufficient?"
"Oh, yes."
"Good. Now this is all tentative, mind you. Contingent upon your performance at the trial."
"Oh."
"Come and see me afterward. And we'll draw up a contract." He stood. So did my uncle Louis. So did I.
He offered his hand for another shake, and I shook it, and said, "Well, thanks for the offer. It's very kind of you."
"Most of my troubles have come from attempted acts of kindness," he said. "But most of my happiness has come from the same endeavor. It will be illuminating to see into which category you fall."
Right." I said.
Out on the street I said to Uncle Louis, "What was that all about?"
"Isn't it self-evident? He wants you to tell the truth at the trial."
"We're talking about the truth, here? As in. what really happened?"
"Of course."
We walked with hands in topcoat pockets; the wind off the lake was finally kicking in. It was down in the mid-thirties now.
"He wants to expose Cermak?" I said. "I don't get it. That's just more bad Chicago publicity."
"Exposing Cermak would be the best thing in the world for the General and his high-hat friends. Nate. The bad publicity could force Cermak to resign, on account of 'health problems.' He has 'em, you know."
I had a sudden image of Cermak getting up and heading for the toilet.
"Yeah, I know," I said.
"And if he doesn't resign, it'll scare him into cleaning up his act. He won't send his hooligan squads around assassinating gangsters anymore. And he may keep his own associations with gangsters a bit closer to his vest."
"Maybe you're right." I said.
"Besides." Uncle Louis went on. "Cermak is a Democrat. This'll provide a nice cloud to hang over him when reelection comes around, and we'll get a real Republican back in. It's going to be a cold day in hell when a Democratic machine runs Chicago again, after Cermak gets dumped."
"Well, it's already getting colder, you know. Uncle Louis."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't sell Cermak out. At least I don't see how I can. He can yank my license. I won't be able to work. I won't be able to cam' a gun, either. And maybe Ted Newberry or Roger Touhy'll send some guys over to take me for a ride."
"Well." Uncle Louis said, "think it over. Cermak is powerful, but the General is power. When he said Hoover was the guy who got Capone. he was just being nice, you know. It's Dawes who did it. Well. Here's the Standard Club. Let's talk soon. Nate."
And my uncle patted me on the back and entered the gray old club. I walked around the corner, turned down a panhandler's request for a dime, and went up to my office, and called Eliot.
"That looks like a Murphy bed," Eliot said, coming in the door and pointing at the Murphy bed.
"There's a reason for that." I said, sitting behind my desk, feet up. like a big shot.
He took his topcoat off. walked to the straight-backed chair in front of my desk, and turned it around, and draped the coat over it, and sat backward in it and faced me: his face was deadpan, but he was smiling around the cool gray eyes, "You didn't say anything about living here, too."