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"Stolen. "
"Shit. Well, we figured that. "
"Sure. "
He drank some of his drink. "Keegan," he said, "has to drink. For myself, I could stop anytime. I dont, because I happen to like what the stuff does for me. But I could stop anytime, and I figure youre the same. "
"Oh, I would think so. "
"Of course you are. Now Keegan, I dont know. I dont like to call the man an alcoholic-"
"Thats a hell of a thing to call a man. "
"I agree with you. Im not saying thats what he is, and God knows I like the man, but I think hes got a problem. " He straightened up. "The hell with it. He could be a fucking Bowery bum, I still wish the car hadnt been stolen. Cmon back, well spread out and relax a little. "
In the office, with the two whiskey bottles on the desk between us, he leaned back in his chair and put his feet up. "You checked the license number," he said. "So I guess youre already working on it. "
I nodded. "I went out to Brooklyn, too. "
"Where? Not where we were last night?"
"The church. "
"What did you think you stood to learn there? You figure one of them left his wallet on the floor?"
"You never know what youll find, Skip. You have to look around. "
"I suppose. I wouldnt know where to start. "
"You start anyplace. And do anything you think of. "
"You learn anything?"
"A few things. "
"Like what? Never mind, I dont want to be sitting on your shoulder while you do all this. You find out anything useful?"
"Maybe. You dont always know until later on whats useful and what isnt. You can look at it that everything you learn is useful. For instance, just knowing that the car was stolen tells me something, even if it doesnt tell me who was driving it. "
"At least you can rule out the owner. Now you know one person out of eight million couldnt have done it. Who was the owner? Some old lady, only drives it to bingo?"
"I dont know, but it was lifted from Ocean Parkway, not far from the clam bar they sent us to first. "
"Means they live out in Brooklyn?"
"Or they drove their own car out there, parked it and stole the one we saw. Or they went out on the subway or took a cab. Or-"
"So we dont know a whole lot. "
"Not yet. "
He leaned back with his hands behind his head. "Bobby got another call-back on that commercial," he said. "The basketball referee in the fight against prejudice? Hes got to go in again tomorrow. Its now down to him and four other guys so they want to look at everybody again. "
"Thats good, I guess. "
"How can you tell? You believe a profession like that, running your ass off and fighting the competition so you can be on the tube for twenty seconds. You know how many actors it takes to change a lightbulb? Nine. One to climb up and replace it and eight others to stand around the ladder and say, That should be me up there! "
"Thats not bad. "
"Well, credit where its due, it was the actor told me the joke. " He touched up his drink, sat back in his chair. "Matt, that was strange last night. That was fucking strange last night. "
"In the church basement. "
A nod. "Those disguises of theirs. What they needed was Groucho noses and moustaches and glasses, you know the kind the kids wear. Because it was like that, the wigs and beards, they didnt even come close to looking real, but they werent funny. The gun kept it from being funny. "
"Whyd they wear disguises?"
"So we wouldnt recognize them. Why does anybody wear a disguise?"
"Would you have recognized them?"
"I dont know, I didnt get to see them without the disguises. What are we here, Abbott and Costello?"
"I dont think they recognized us," I said. "When I went into the basement, one of them called out your name. It was dark, but theyd had time for their eyes to get used to it. You and I dont look alike. "
"Im the pretty one. " He drew on his cigarette, blew out a great cloud of smoke. "What are you getting at?"
"I dont know. Im just wondering why they would bother with disguises if we didnt know them in the first place. "
"To make it harder to find them later, I suppose. "
"I guess. But why should they think wed bother to look for them? Theres not a hell of a lot we can do to them. We made a deal, traded money for your books. What did you wind up doing with the books, incidentally?"
"Burned them, like I said. And what do you mean, theres nothing we could do to them? We could murder them in their beds. "
"Sure. "
"Find the right church, take a shit on the altar, and tell Dominic Tutto they did it. That has a certain charm, now that I think of it. Fix em up, get em a date with the Butcher. Maybe they wore disguises for the same reason they stole the car. Because theyre pros. "
"They look familiar to you, Skip?"
"You mean looking past the wigs and beards and shit? I dont know that I could see past it. I didnt recognize the voices. "
"No. "
"There was something familiar about them, but I dont know what it was. The way they moved, maybe. Thats it. "
"I think I know what you mean. "
"An economy of motion. You could almost say they were light on their feet. " He laughed. "Call em up, see if they want to go dancing. "
My glass was empty. I poured a little bourbon into it, sat back, and sipped it slowly. Skip drowned his cigarette in a coffee cup and told me, inevitably, that he never wanted to see me do the same. I assured him he wasnt likely to. He lit another cigarette and we sat there in a comfortable silence.
After a while he said, "You want to explain something to me, forget about disguises. Tell me why they shot the lights out. "
"To cover their exit. Give them a step or two on us. "
"You think they thought we were gonna come stampeding after them? Chase armed men through backyards and driveways?"
"Maybe they wanted it dark, thought they stood a better chance that way. " I frowned. "All he had to do was take a step and flick the switch. You know the worst thing about the gunshots?"
"Yeah, they scared the shit out of me. "
"They drew heat. One thing a pro knows is you dont do anything that brings the cops. Not if you can help it. "
"Maybe they figured it was worth it. It was a warning: Dont try to get even. "
"Maybe. "
"A little touch of the dramatic. "
"Maybe. "
"And God knows it was dramatic enough. When the gun was aimed at me I thought I was gonna get shot. I really did. Then when he shot up the ceiling instead I didnt know whether to shit or go blind. Whats the matter?"
"Oh, for Christs sake," I said.
"What?"
"He pointed the gun at you and then he fired two shots into the ceiling. "
"Is that something were supposed to have overlooked? What do you think weve been talking about?"
I held up a hand. "Think a minute," I said. "Id been thinking of him shooting out the lights, thats why I missed it. "
"Missed what? Matt, I dont-"
"Where have you been lately that somebody pointed a gun at someone but didnt shoot him? And fired two bullets into the ceiling?"
"Jesus Christ. "
"Well?"
"Jesus Christ on stilts. Frank and Jesse. "
"What do you think?"
"I dont know what I think. Its such a crazy thought. They didnt sound Irish. "
"How do we know they were Irish at Morrisseys?"
"We dont. I guess I assumed it. Those handkerchief masks, and taking the money for Northern Relief, and the whole sense that it was political. They had that same economy of movement, you know? The way they were so precise, they didnt take extra steps, they moved through that whole robbery like somebody choreographed it. "
"Maybe theyre dancers. "
"Right," he said. "Ballet Desperadoes of 75. Im still trying to wrap my min
d around all of this. Two clowns in red hankies take off the Morrissey brothers for fifty grand, and then they jack off me and Kasabian for- hey, its the same amount. A subtle pattern begins to emerge. "
"We dont know what the Morrisseys lost. "
"No, and they didnt know what was gonna be in the safe, but a patterns a pattern. Ill take it. What about their ears? You got pictures of their ears from last night. Are those the ears of Frank and Jesse?" He started to laugh. "I cant believe the lines Im speaking. Are those the ears of Frank and Jesse? Sentence sounds like it was translated from another language. Are they?"
"Skip, I never noticed their ears. "
"I thought you detectives are working all the time. "
"I was trying to figure out how to get out of the line of fire. If I was thinking of anything. They were fair-skinned, Frank and Jesse. And they were fair last night. "
"Fair and warmer. You see their eyes?"
"I didnt see the color. "
"I was close enough to see the eyes of the one who made the trade with me. But if I saw them I wasnt paying attention. Not that it makes any difference. Did either of them speak a word at Morrisseys?"
"I dont think so. "
He closed his eyes. "Im trying to remember. I think the whole thing was pantomime. Two gunshots and then silence until they were out the door and down the stairs. "
"Thats how I remember it. "
He stood up, paced around the room. "Its crazy," he said. "Hey, maybe we can stop looking for the viper in my bosom. Were not looking at an inside job. Were dealing with a daring gang of two whore specializing in taking off bars in Hells Kitchen. You dont suppose that local Irish gang, what do they call them-"
"The Westies. No, wed have heard. Or Morrissey would have heard. That reward of his would have smoked it out in a day if any of them had anything to do with it. " I picked up my glass and drank what was in it. God, it tasted good right now. We had them, I knew we did. I didnt know a single goddamned thing about them I hadnt known an hour ago but now I knew that I was going to bag them.
"Thats why they wore disguises," I said. "Oh, they might have worn them anyway, but thats why they didnt want us to get a look at them. They made a mistake. Were going to get them. "
"Jesus, look at you, Matt. Like an old firehouse dog when the alarm goes off. How the hell are you going to get them? You still dont know who they are. "
"I know theyre Frank and Jesse. "
"So? Morrisseys been trying to find Frank and Jesse for a long time. Fact he tried to get you to go looking for them. What gives you the edge now?"
I poured myself just one more little slug of the Wild Turkey. I said, "When you plant a bug on a car and then you want to pick it up, you need two cars. One wont do it, but with two you can triangulate on the signal and home in on it. "
"Im missing something. "
"Its not quite the same thing, but its close. Weve got them at Morrisseys, and weve got them in that church basement in Bensonhurst. Thats two points of reference. Now we can home in on them, we can triangulate on their signal. Two bullets in the ceiling- its their fucking trademark. Youd think they wanted to get caught, giving the job a signature like that. "