Howard Engel - Getting Away With Murder

“They hate one another?”

“Amounts to that. Abe can’t see where he went wrong with the kid and hates him for not being easier to raise. I think Paulette divorced Abe because he wouldn’t let Hart take a few falls for himself just to see what it feels like. She moved away to the States for a few years, somewhere in the Catskills, just so she didn’t have to see those two killing one another. She’s back now and still clucking and cooing over that rotten kid like she never left town.”

“And Hart?”

“Oh, he’s still in town. He’s got an apartment on Lake Street, near the Armouries.”

“What does he do for a living?”

“Are you joking or something? Nothing! That’s what he does. Oh, I guess you could say he bought and sold antique cars, but that was never a living.”

“You said there was a second marriage?”

“Yeah. Lilian Garnofsky. She was a teacher. Abe went from a pretty face to a pretty mind. Lily saw herself as an intellectual force in Grantham. She was a joiner, a fund-raiser, a convenor of conferences. She did all the Jewish organizations first, then moved on into politics and settled down at last with the arts.” Dave’s description of Lily lacked the admiration he had lavished on Paulette. I wondered why.

“I can tell you like her a whole lot.”

“Actually, Lily and I got along just fine. She used to kid me about my cigars and my rough edges, if you know what I mean. I used to kid her about forgetting who made the money she was spending like there was no tomorrow and how it was made. Lily hated that. I’d found her weak spot and she didn’t like that one bit!”

I tried some plum sauce on a piece of egg roll and swallowed it. Very tasty. I let my silence cue Dave Rogers for more talk about Lily. “She was always trying to improve Abe too, you know. Oh, yeah! She got him to give money to get the opera off the ground in Toronto. Abe didn’t mind launching a show or two, just so long as he didn’t have to sit through Swan Lake or Tannhauser . He hated dressing up like a waiter in a black tie.”

“When did they part company?”

“Lily and Abe parted more or less by agreement. Must have been eight-ten years ago now. She let her lawyers get rough with him. When he complained, she used to coo to him over the phone, then tell the lawyers to put on more heat. I was in her house and heard her do it more than once. She was good at it”

“What about the child?”

For a moment, Dave looked lost, then: “Oh, you mean Julie! I couldn’t think of who you meant at first. Julie must have been a child once, but I don’t remember. She was one of those little girls that becomes a woman at about five or six. I don’t think I ever saw her wearing clothes bought off the hook. Everything had to have Paris or New York labels. All Julie’s money went on her back. There are no two ways about that. Wait a minute! I’m a liar! She liked fast cars too. Like her brother. Julie had her mother’s instincts about spending money and both her parents’ indifference about where the money’d come from. She’s no tramp, Julie, at least not a cut-rate one. Let’s see, what else can I tell you? I knew her very well at one time. Oh, yeah! She has always had terrible luck with men. She marries ’em and throws ’em away. Abe pays all the bills. I don’t think she knows that she’s sharing this planet with a couple of billion other people. She only sees the people in the fashion magazines. That’s as real as she gets. I remember seeing her walk into a funeral-it was her grandmother’s, Abe’s mother’s- wearing thigh-high boots with mini-skirt, fur hat and a Colorado suntan, and coming up the aisle half an hour late on crutches from a skiing accident in Aspen.”

“Do you know why Abe asked you to talk to me?”

Dave thought a minute then tried out an answer. “When I get a call from Abe Wise to be nice to a friend of his, I start gushing rose-water, Benny. I can’t afford to act any different. He tells me to open up to you. Do I tell him he’s crazy like I should? No, I tell him I’ll look after you. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do. If you think I’ve been shitting you, just tell me where I’ve been holding back. Go ahead.”

“Don’t get your socks in a tangle! I’m just asking.”

“Abe and I go back a long way. But we’ve been bending away from each other right from the start. I don’t live the way he does. I couldn’t. I only hear from him when he needs a favour, or one of his kids has hurt him some way. Do I ever call him? Don’t hold your breath. He’s got a fine-mesh screen around his phone. You can’t get near him without going through all those damned people working for him.”

“I’m just about through. Just a couple more questions.”

“Sure. There’s always a couple more.”

“How well do you know his inner circle?”

“Some I don’t know at all. Others, like Mickey Armstrong, have been with Abe for years. Not only is he a good man in the office, Mickey’s like secret service. He’d step in front of any bullet aimed at Abe if he could. Maybe some of the others have different ambitions. I don’t know, so I can’t say. Mickey has a few hustles going for himself on the side. Abe encourages him.”

“Would you say that he’s surrounded by enemies?”

“Hell, Benny, the man’s a smart organizer of criminal activities and he’s lived that way for the last thirty years. How’s he going to get Time’ s Man of the Year Award? It isn’t going to happen. He may have a lot of people on the payroll, but there aren’t any who would break step if Abe got hit by a truck. Abe’s in the business of making enemies. What can I tell you?”

“Can you get me phone numbers and addresses of the people we’ve been talking about?”

“Let me have your office number.” I wrote it out while I was trying to think of those important questions I hadn’t formed yet. Dave was rubbing his face with a skimpy paper napkin. I got rid of the egg-roll evidence on my face too.

“I want to thank you for-”

“Forget it. It was Abe I was doing the favour for. But he didn’t say I had to buy the lunch, Mr. Cooperman. I guess you’re getting expenses, eh?”

Dave got up and stretched. His coat swept the check off the table, blowing it in a gentle arc to the floor. He made no move to pick it up. I did. At his weight, he had to conserve his energy and save his heart. I watched him fight with his zipper just for old-time’s sake and followed him out into the fresh air. It was a degree warmer outside, but there was no hint of the coming spring in the grey, sunless afternoon. It was all pretty depressing.

“What the fuck’s going on?” It was Mickey Armstrong. He had come around behind me as I watched Dave Rogers add his weight to the springs under the front seat of his Cadillac.

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn well what I mean! What kind of deal did you cut with Wise? I don’t want some hick snoop walking on my grass, Cooperman! Stay clear! You understand?”

“I hear what you’re saying. You don’t have to shout. I didn’t apply for this job, Mickey; you pulled me out of bed. If you can get me off the hook, I’ll owe you. But in the meantime, Wise is giving the orders. He didn’t present me with alternatives. It’s march or die. And I know he’s not bluffing. Hell, you know him better than I do. Can we talk?” He took the car keys from my hand and opened the door on the driver’s side.

“Get in!” he said loudly, but softened it by handing me back my keys.

“I don’t like this, Cooperman,” he said.

Once inside, I leaned over to unlock the door on the passenger’s side. Through the window I could see Dave Rogers driving away, without so much as a backward glance. Mickey climbed in and glared at me: “Well?” he said.