Michael Collins - Act of Fear

‘I don’t beat ninety per cent, Danny.’

I pushed once more. ‘Whose tail is getting burned, Andy? Who’s been stepped on?’

It was the push of the absurd. Even Andy knew that I did not expect any kind of answer. He stood up, smiling.

‘Remember, Danny, Olsen has my protection.’

When Pappas stands up it is a signal. The way when a king stands up it is a signal for everyone to rise. I heard the motor start in the big car up the block. Max Bagnio crossed the street towards us. Jake Roth stepped up to the table beside his boss. I found myself looking at Roth. His eyes were even shaped like the eyes of a snake. The snake eyes were fixed at me.

‘He must be in real trouble, Andy,’ I said to Pappas, but it was Jake Roth I was looking at.

It was Roth who answered me. The tall, skinny killer leaned half down and across that small table like a long-necked vulture. He stank of sweat in the heat. Roth never takes his coat off in public.

‘Slow, peeper,’ Roth said. ‘Real slow. Mr Pappas said lay off. Mr Pappas said forget it. You never heard about no Olsen. You don’t know the name. Mr Pappas said cool it. You cool it.’

Roth’s black, luminous, snake-shaped eyes seemed to float in dark water. His breath was thick. He breathed fast as he bent his face close to me. Andy Pappas touched him lightly on the shoulder. Roth jerked upright like a dog on a leash.

‘I told him, Jake,’ Andy Pappas said. ‘You can tell Olsen that Fortune got the word. Tell Swede it’s okay.’

The black car purred up to the kerb. Pappas touched his dark blue homburg to Marty and climbed into the back of the car. Roth got in with Andy, and Little Max Bagnio went around and joined the driver in the front seat. The car eased away and turned into the Sixth Avenue traffic. I watched it go. I ordered a double Irish for both of us.

‘I know that you know him,’ Marty said, ‘but I’m surprised every time. Just seeing him makes me shiver.’

‘Join the club,’ I said.

The drinks came.

‘You know what is so terrible?’ Marty said, her eyes still looking towards where the car had vanished. ‘That a man like that, an animal like that, can actually affect people trying to live good, normal lives. I mean, he could help or harm me, my acting. An animal, a parasite like that.’

‘Believe it,’ I said.

‘How can you talk to him like that?’ Marty said, shivering.

‘I can’t talk to him any other way,’ I said. ‘What I never really understood is why he lets me. I guess even Andy needs to think he is human. I’m his human feeling, his charity.’

Marty shivered again. ‘I wonder what trouble Olsen is in that he’d have to have Pappas’ protection?’

‘Who knows? Maybe it was Jo-Jo who killed Tani Jones. Maybe he knows who did.’

‘Tani Jones?’ Marty said, stared. ‘My God, Dan, Pappas wouldn’t protect anyone involved in her murder.’

She stared at me, I guess I stared back. I waited for her to drop the bomb I had guessed from her face.

‘She was his girl friend, Dan. At the club, the girl who talked about her said she was Pappas’ girl. I remember. This girl at the club said it was scary, the way Tani had loved jewels, and it was jewels that got her killed.’

I took a breath. ‘Andy’s married. A family man. He’s real proud of being a family man.’

Marty laughed a female laugh. ‘When did marriage or a family have much to do with a girl friend? Except to make it hard on the girl. I mean, I suppose that’s why they kept it so quiet. He had to maintain his image — the devoted family man. This girl who knew her said they never met in public. He always came to her place. A hidden toy, you know?’

‘Could she have been dangerous to him?’

‘I don’t know, Dan. The girl who knew her said she was pretty dumb. A real bird who loved the men. I don’t think she really knew much about him, just that he was important. The girl who told us about her said that Tani seemed to think it was exciting to have a secret lover.’

But I had stopped listening. I was thinking about the killer of Andy Pappas’ woman. I could imagine the fear of anyone who had killed Tani Jones, even in panic. I could imagine the problem of anyone who knew who had killed her.

I could imagine something else: men had killed their own mistresses for centuries.

It was past quitting time, and outside in the evening streets of the city the people were hurrying home in the last bright summer sunlight as it faded into deep purple across the river above Jersey City. But Gazzo was in his office. Somehow he almost always is in his office, morning or evening. Perhaps because, as the captain himself says, it may be evening or morning out in the streets, but in his dim and silent office it is always midnight.

‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me Jones was Andy’s girl?’

‘You didn’t ask, and it was none of your business,’ the captain said. He looked very tired. Too tired to amuse himself with me. ‘It still isn’t your business, Dan.’

‘It’s even money he’s after Jo-Jo Olsen,’ I said. ‘It’s better than even he beat up my client.’

‘No,’ Gazzo said.

‘Yes!’ I said. ‘It’s a thousand-to-one Andy killed her, and Andy never liked a witness! Christ, Gazzo, who would dare kill Andy Pappas’ girl friend?’

‘No,’ Gazzo said.

I swore. ‘No, what?’

‘No to everything,’ the captain said. ‘Pappas didn’t kill her.’

‘Alibi?’ I said. ‘Of course Andy would have an alibi. Andy would have the best alibi money could buy. Foolproof, airtight, beyond reproach.’

I was at that moment feeling bitter. Who else could kill Tani Jones? And Jo-Jo had seen enough to make him run very far. I would have run if I could place Andy Pappas on that street at the right time.

Gazzo slammed his hand flat on his desk. ‘Knock it off!’

The captain glared at me. ‘You think maybe I haven’t been a cop long enough to know a real airtight alibi when I see one? Or maybe you think Pappas can buy me?’

Nobody can buy Gazzo. I know that more cops than I like to think about have their hands out for a fast buck every chance they can get, and I know they have found whole burglary rings actually run by policemen, but Gazzo cannot be bought. There are a lot of honest cops. Maybe it is only that Gazzo never needed extra money. Behind every five-dollar bill a patrolman takes there is a need, real or imagined. But that is another story.

‘I’ll listen,’ I said.

Gazzo spelled it out for me. ‘At the exact time of the burglary and killing Andy Pappas was in Washington in front of that congressional committee investigating waterfront crime. If you had a brain, you’d have remembered that. If you think hard, you’ll remember that the committee had been sweating Andy for three days solid. On the day of the killing he’d been on the stand all day; the session didn’t end until eight o’clock that night. Even Andy can’t turn time back.’

‘He had it done,’ I said. ‘Sure, it’s just the time he would pick. Were all his boys with him?’

‘No, but they all have alibis.’

‘Sure, probably each other.’

‘No,’ Gazzo said as if he were reading a very easy book to a dumb four-year-old. ‘Jake Roth was at Pappas’ place down on the Jersey shore. Pappas admits he had Jake out of sight and under wraps because Jake would make a lousy witness down in Washington. Pappas had a sort of gentleman’s agreement with the committee that he would show voluntarily if they wouldn’t subpoena any of his boys. But Andy wasn’t taking chances.’

‘How about Max Bagnio?’

‘Little Max was in Philadelphia on business. I didn’t ask what business, but Pappas says he can trot out the witnesses if needed. They’ll be hoods, but there’ll be a lot of them. Most of the others were in Washington with Pappas or have alibis.’