Кен Бруен - Tower

“You didn’t bring me a cup of coffee?”

I looked at him. He was wearing a black suit, to match the car I guess, and his soul. I said

“You have a rule about that stuff.”

He checked his mirror, then

“Little bit of hospitality goes a long way. Didn’t your parents teach you anything?”

I figured we could do this all day, so I asked

“You had something in mind, besides busting my balls?”

He reached in the dash, took out a Walther, handed it to me, said

“Take that.”

Like a fool, I did.

Then he said,

“Lemme check the slide.”

I handed it back. The fuck was he at?

I should have clocked his thin black leather gloves. He put the gun back in the dash, said

“Excellent.”

I asked

“What’s going on?”

He reached in his jacket, pulled out a.38, leveled it at me and I shouted

“You’re here to show me your fucking gun collection? It’s lovely, now what the hell is going on?”

The gun still steady on my chest, he said

“Jeff Delaney. Got his own fool self shot to death this morning, early hours I believe and guess what the caliber of weapon is?”

The Walther.

He smiled, said

“With your fine set of pristine prints. Now get out of the car.”

I didn’t move, asked

“You’re setting me up to take the fall for his murder?”

He sighed as if to ask, how dumb are you? Said

“Only if you don’t do what we ask.”

“Do the fuck what?”

“Kill the cop.”

My mind was on fire. Jeff was dead, my fingerprints on the pistol, and my ass in the frame if I didn’t off Todd. I did some coke, tried to get my head straight or at least functioning. I was going to run, that was for damn sure. I had some cash, well, plenty of cash, and if I headed to some obscure burg, laid low, maybe Todd and his blue buddies would take down Boyle and Griffin.

But Shannon, if I took off, Griffin would use her for leverage to get me back. I shouted

“Ah, fuck.”

Didn’t help.

Try this: I waste Todd.

Wouldn’t fly, not even for a nano second. He was my buddy, my brother. I called him said

“I’m in deep shit, I need help.”

He was quiet then said

“You’ve always been in deep shit but needing help, that’s new.”

I needed a lecture now?

I snapped

“You gonna help or not?”

He was.

We met at a diner on 6th and 33rd. I love diners but that day, I wanted a bar, and lots of drinks. Todd was calling the shots, no pun intended, so the goddamn diner it was. He was wearing the battered leather and yeah, Red Sox cap. I asked

“You have to shove it in my face every time?”

He gave me a hurt look, unusual for him, then picked up the menu, said

“Eggs over easy, you think?”

I had a flask, lethal with Beam, used it to jolt my coffee. Todd said

“That will help, keep you clear headed.”

Before I could reply, he said

“Your girl’s husband was shot to death last night. I’m guessing it wasn’t you. Tell me I’m right. You did that, even I can’t help you.”

I shook my head and he said

“Lemme guess. Griffin. And they’ve got you framed. And to get out, you have to waste me?”

Impressed the hell out of me. He smiled, said

“I’m very good at being a cop, Nicky.”

I gave it up, tired all of a sudden, asked

“What am I going to do?”

He reached in his pocket, took out a sheaf of papers, said

“There’s a small town in Kentucky, I’ve got a buddy there. He’ll give you a job. Lie real low and we’ll take care of things this end. There’s a ticket in there for Penn Station. You leave tomorrow morning.”

It was too fast. I had a hundred questions, but went for one

“What about Shannon?”

“I’ll talk to her. You just get the hell out. Things are going down. You’re only a nuisance now. We’ll bring you back for the indictments.”

I went

“You want me to testify?”

He signalled the waitress, said

“You’ve got a choice?”

He was ordering the eggs. My mind was in a tailspin. “Leave the city?”

He nodded, said

“It’ll be okay. Messy but I’ll sort it out.”

I wish I could have believed him, asked

“What about my parents?”

“Go see them tonight, tell them you’re going for a fresh start. They’ll be glad you’re shaping up.”

Bollocks.

His eggs came and he dug in. My coffee was cold and not even the Beam could liven it. I asked

“That’s it, I just split and what, wait?”

His mouth full, he said

“You got it. You’re out of it.”

I stood up, threw a mess of bucks on the table, said

“I’ll be moving then. Any last words of advice, any wisdom to speed me on my way?”

I let the sarcasm leak all over the words. He said

“Sure, you should have had the eggs. They’re real fine.”

That evening I called Shannon and her opening words were

“You murdering bastard.”

I tried to explain but she was shouting, calling me all sorts of names. I managed to say

“I have to leave town but Todd will be by. You’ll see, I’m not the one who killed Jeff.”

She was quiet and I thought maybe I’d reached her, then she said

“Run, it’s what I’d expect of you.”

And hung up.

I had one item of business to take care of. Todd might have his plans but I had to do something. I called Griffin, told him I’d decided to do as he asked but I needed him to help me dispose of the body. He said

“Atta boy.”

“The pier, you know which one.”

Deserted at night, used to be one busy mother but not no more. Only the vermin run it now, human and rodent. I was parked by the water when Griffin drove up. His smirk in place, he got out of the car, slid in beside me, asked

“So, when are you doing the dirty deed?”

I said

“It’s done.”

He was surprised, took a moment then,

“The bold policeman, where’s he at?”

“In the trunk.”

Before he could digest this I shot him in the gut, twice. His eyes were wide and I said

“They say that hurts like a son of a bitch. Are they right?”

I thought about putting the third one between his eyes, but that was too easy, not enough suffering.

Dropping him over the pier, I said

“May you rot in hell.”

The next morning, I still had the Buick and drove by the North Tower, parked for a moment. I still had time to go up there, reconcile with my old man. I gave it serious consideration then let out a long breath, said

“Fuck him.”

Turned the car, headed for Penn Station. I was thinking of Shannon and hoped someone would still teach Sean how to catch. That kid had an arm on him.

My eyes were watering, probably the coke.

I hoped I could hook up in Kentucky. I mean, they have some good ole boys there.

You think?

“When two people fall in love and begin to feel that they’re made for one another, then it’s time for them to break off, for by going on they have everything to lose and nothing to gain.”

Men aren’t supposed to say shit like this, but the fact is that I loved Nicky. Yeah, here’s the part where I’m supposed to say, I wasn’t in love with Nicky. Sorry to disappoint you. I was in love with him, not like lustfully in love with him. Didn’t want to have his babies or anything, not that I could differentiate in third grade. We don’t talk about it much in our culture, but there’s very little can hold a candle to the infatuation a young boy has for his first hero. For some boys, it’s their dads. My dad... yeah, right!

Nick, he hated his father for the way he’d smack him around. I was jealous. At least his dad gave a shit, if not for Nick, for something, anyway. And the rough treatment produced in Nick another quality I admired: rage. We all have anger. I have more than most, but Nick was different. He was a rage cheetah, zero to seventy in the beat of a heart. It wasn’t blind rage either, though he was sometimes blinded by it. He could focus it like a laser sight on the forehead of his next target.