Росс Томас - The Fools in Town Are on Our Side

“He’s right. Or at least he was.”

“He really sounded disturbed, poor man. He said Lynch had told him the entire story.”

“It probably was the last thing Lynch did before he left town.”

“Mouton was almost hysterical.”

“Did he threaten you?”

Orcutt shook his head. “No. He said that God would take care of me.

“Well, Mouton is a deacon in his church.”

“That’s right,” Orcutt said. “I’d almost forgotten. The First Methodist.”

At three minutes to ten Homer Necessary came by Orcutt’s room for me and we rode the elevator down to the sixth floor of the hotel. We stopped in front of 622 and Necessary tugged at his new uniform. “This is gonna be interesting,” he said.

“Let’s hope that’s all it is,” I said and knocked on the door.

It was once again opened by Shorty and the baldheaded man who knew about bumblebees. “Come on in,” the baldheaded man said. We went in and once again they steered from the rear.

Luccarella had a suite, not quite as large as Orcutt’s, and his two human sheepdogs nudged us into the living room where Luccarella and Samuels, the lawyer, sat side by side on a couch. Two large closed briefcases rested on a low coffee table that was within handy reach of both.

Luccarella looked at his watch when we came in. “You’re right on time,” he said. “That’s a good sign. I like doing business with people who’re on time.”

“This is Chief Necessary,” I said. “Mr. Luccarella and Mr. Samuels who is his attorney.” Necessary shook hands with both of them.

“Sit down, sit down,” Luccarella said, making vague gestures toward a couple of chairs that were drawn up to the coffee table. We sat down. “You want some coffee?” he said.

“You wanta drink?”

“I’ll take a drink,” I said and drew a disapproving glance from Samuels, who apparently didn’t think much of those who drink in the morning. I didn’t feel that I could stand to care what he thought.

“How about you, Chief?” Luccarella said.

“Scotch and water,” Necessary said.

“Dye?”

“That’s fine.”

Luccarella jerked his head at Shorty. “Fix them,” he said.

After Shorty mixed and served the drinks, he moved over to help the baldheaded man lean against a wall. “Go on, beat it,” Luccarella snapped at them. “And close the door behind you.”

When they had gone, Luccarella leaned back on the couch and smiled with his gray teeth. “Heard a lot about you, Chief Necessary.”

“That right?”

“You got a good reputation up North. Reputation of a man you can do business with.”

“I like a quiet town,” Necessary said, “where everything fits in place.”

“You’ve sort of quieted this town down,” Luccarella said.

“It could get even quieter.”

“I think I sort of understand you,” Luccarella said.

Necessary smiled. “I hope so.”

Samuels cleared his throat. “Shall we go over the books?”

“We ain’t got no deal yet. What do you mean go over the books? We go over the books when we got a deal.” Luccarella was growing excited again,

“I just thought—”

“Don’t think,” Luccarella said sourly.

“Let’s talk deal, Luccarella,” Necessary said.

“There,” Luccarella said to Samuels. “You see what I mean. We make a deal and then we look at the books.” He waved a hand at Necessary. “Go ahead, Chief. I hear you like to talk for yourself.”

Necessary lit one of his Camels and blew some smoke at the fourth gold button on his uniform. “Before we do, I thought I’d mention something and if it offends you, I’m sorry.”

“Go ahead,” Luccarella said with another wave of his hand. He was all magnanimity that morning.

“I like my privacy just like you do. So I told one of my men to watch the door to the hall. He’s my driver, Sergeant Krone.”

“So we won’t be interrupted, huh? I don’t mind, but Shorty and Jassy’ll take care of the door.”

“I’m not worried about anyone coming in; it’s about their going out. So if you got a bug in this room and you’re thinking of taping any of this, I suggest you forget it.”

“What the hell kind of creep do you think I am?” Luccarella said, not quite yelling.

“The kind who might bug a conversation like we’re about to have.”

Luccarella smiled suddenly. “Yeah, maybe I am at that. But there’s no bug. I swear to God.”

“We’ll make sure later,” Necessary said.

“Okay, you made a point, now make an offer.”

“It’s no offer,” Necessary said. “It’s take it or leave it. I get a third. You and Dye can fight over the rest.”

An incredulous look appeared on Luccarella’s squeezed-up face. “A third of what?”

“The net. On everything.”

“A third! Christ, what do you mean a third? Lynch only got ten percent.”

“I may as well give you the bad news now,” I said. “I get a third, too.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind,” Luccarella yelled. “You get a third, he gets a third — you know what that leaves me? You know how much?”

“A third,” I said.

“Like shit it does. It leaves me just what Lynch got — ten percent. The rest goes back east.”

“That’s too bad,” Necessary said and drained his Scotch and water. “I don’t want to argue. I’ll take thirty percent. Dye can talk for himself.”

“Thirty’s okay,” I said. “That leaves you forty.”

“I can’t operate on forty.”

“You won’t operate at all unless I say so,” Necessary said.

“Fifty-five, forty-five,” Luccarella said.

Necessary shook his head. “It’s too complicated. I can figure the easy ones like thirty percent and a third and a half and the round numbers. Figuring forty-five and fifty-five percent’s too hard.”

“I’ll have to check back east,” Luccarella said. “I’ll have to explain to them what I’m up against.”

“I tell you something, Luccarella,” Necessary said. “Either you’re in or you’re out for forty percent. You can explain things later. Right now it’s yes or no time.”

Luccarella looked at Samuels, who refused to return his gaze. “Well, don’t just sit there, dummy! Say something, for Christ’s sake. That’s what I pay you for.”

Samuels sighed. “Under the new circumstances, perhaps Chief Necessary’s proposal does have merit, particularly if the net increases over what it formerly was.”

“It’ll increase,” Necessary said, shaking the ice in his glass. “Dye and I’ll see to that, won’t we?”

“Sure,” I said.

“How much?” Luccarella said, a measure of greed creeping into his voice.

“Well, Dye and I’ve been talking about that and we thought we just might turn Swankerton wide open now that I got the department all reorganized the way I like it. From what me and Dye can figure, Lynch and that doodlebug who was his chief of police kept things running about half speed. We thought we just might edge her up a notch or two.”

“What the hell’s he talking about?” Luccarella said to me.

“Just what he said. We’re going to exploit the town’s full potential.”

“Why don’t you translate that into dollars and cents?”

Necessary looked at me. “Go ahead,” he said.

“It means the net should go up by one hundred percent at least.”

“Ah,” Samuels said. “I think I see.”

“In one-syllable words, just for me,” Luccarella said. He was almost pleading.

“I believe what Mr. Dye is saying is that the fixed costs will remain fairly constant despite a marked increase in the volume of business.” Samuels looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.

“You mean the nut’s going to stay the same because the payoffs will stay the same and any new business will be just that much gravy? That’s what you mean, ain’t it?”