‘She found she was missing one and came back for it.’
‘Eve would be thorough if she planned a heist like this.’
‘She’s Hot a hit man, Paul. She could have missed a casing in a panic. Or she was coming back for another reason.’ Bucks put
the casing on the desk.
‘Her coming back was a huge risk.’ Doubt in his voice.
‘I’m telling you what I saw. Even a lady sharp as Eve isn’t going to think straight all the time.’
‘I don’t like not knowing who the man was with Doyle.’ Paul sat down. ‘I want you to find out. The cops are going to be looking
closely at a banker getting killed down at the Port. They’ll come after us if they make the connection between my dad and
Alvarez Insurance.’
‘First they have to make the connection,’ Bucks said.
Paul shook his head. ‘This is like finding out your favorite aunt is a two-dollar whore. It’s depressing.’
‘People often disappoint.’
‘You better not,’ Paul said. ‘I’m trusting you, man. Find her. Find the money. See if we can push back the deal with Kiko
until Saturday night. But he can’t know we don’t have the green. He knows that, we’re dead in the water. No one will supply
us. That money’s the starting point for us.’
‘Starting point,’ Bucks said.
‘The reason I wanted you working with me,’ Paul said, ‘is that I’m going to be bigger than my dad ever was. I need your expertise
a lot more than I need muscle with guns. We’re gonna run Houston, Bucks. And when we’ve got that base to work from, I’m going
after the men that humiliated my father, that drove him out of Detroit. Barici. Vasco. Antonelli. They’re dried-up old men
now. The racketeering laws have broken most of them. They worry so much about the Feds, they won’t see me coming, but I’m
going to annihilate them and they won’t be able to touch me.’ He jabbed a finger at Bucks, his face reddening. ‘But I need
this deal to jump-start us. To build a stronger power base with an ally like Kiko.’
‘You’re not mob anymore,’ Bucks said quietly. ‘With all due respect, Paul, leave it alone. They’re old men.They don’t have nearly the power they once did. What’s to be gained from it?’
‘Eve knows those guys. She could run to them with the money, if she wanted. They’d give her sanctuary, shelter. She’s old
school. She and them, they’d understand each other. She knows how I work. So you got to find her and the money. I’m not gonna
let my family be humiliated again.’
‘If I can’t find her—’ Bucks started.
‘Hey, Bucks,’ Paul said. ‘If you don’t find her, nobody’s ever gonna find you.’
10
Whit passed under the eagle eye of the bouncer, who looked carved from a redwood, paid the twenty-dollar cover, walked into
the thump of the music, the strobe lights blinking against his skin.
Club Topaz was dark as a dimly lit closet, a happy-hour crowd thinning out and a well-heeled, post-dinner crowd settling in.
The only fully lit areas were the stages, awash with white glows from both ceiling and floor. The crowd was mostly men, with
the exception of a few women who wore uncomfortable smiles, as if here under mild protest. The decor was heavy on gold and
chrome, a strange mix of Roman antiquity (perhaps to suggest an impending orgy) and contemporary sleekness. The club had retro-guido
written all over it, probably part of the cheese-factor appeal, but it was spotlessly clean, the waitresses moving among the
tables with precise energy, the cogs of the club all warming up to produce a night of longing and money.
A woman was dancing solo on the stage, and her moves were not of the simple shake-the-tits variety. She was tall, redheaded,
and she moved with easy grace and wry suggestion, performing to David Byrne’s cover of Cole Porter’s ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ as
opposed to a generic dance-club beat. She was dressed as a skimpily clad cowgirl, a Stetson perfectly angled on
‘Eve would be thorough if she planned a heist like this.’
‘She’s Hot a hit man, Paul. She could have missed a casing in a panic. Or she was coming back for another reason.’ Bucks put
the casing on the desk.
‘Her coming back was a huge risk.’ Doubt in his voice.
‘I’m telling you what I saw. Even a lady sharp as Eve isn’t going to think straight all the time.’
‘I don’t like not knowing who the man was with Doyle.’ Paul sat down. ‘I want you to find out. The cops are going to be looking
closely at a banker getting killed down at the Port. They’ll come after us if they make the connection between my dad and
Alvarez Insurance.’
‘First they have to make the connection,’ Bucks said.
Paul shook his head. ‘This is like finding out your favorite aunt is a two-dollar whore. It’s depressing.’
‘People often disappoint.’
‘You better not,’ Paul said. ‘I’m trusting you, man. Find her. Find the money. See if we can push back the deal with Kiko
until Saturday night. But he can’t know we don’t have the green. He knows that, we’re dead in the water. No one will supply
us. That money’s the starting point for us.’
‘Starting point,’ Bucks said.
‘The reason I wanted you working with me,’ Paul said, ‘is that I’m going to be bigger than my dad ever was. I need your expertise
a lot more than I need muscle with guns. We’re gonna run Houston, Bucks. And when we’ve got that base to work from, I’m going
after the men that humiliated my father, that drove him out of Detroit. Barici. Vasco. Antonelli. They’re dried-up old men
now. The racketeering laws have broken most of them. They worry so much about the Feds, they won’t see me coming, but I’m
going to annihilate them and they won’t be able to touch me.’ He jabbed a finger at Bucks, his face reddening. ‘But I need
this deal to jump-start us. To build a stronger power base with an ally like Kiko.’
‘You’re not mob anymore,’ Bucks said quietly. ‘With all due respect, Paul, leave it alone. They’re old men.They don’t have nearly the power they once did. What’s to be gained from it?’
‘Eve knows those guys. She could run to them with the money, if she wanted. They’d give her sanctuary, shelter. She’s old
school. She and them, they’d understand each other. She knows how I work. So you got to find her and the money. I’m not gonna
let my family be humiliated again.’
‘If I can’t find her—’ Bucks started.
‘Hey, Bucks,’ Paul said. ‘If you don’t find her, nobody’s ever gonna find you.’
10
Whit passed under the eagle eye of the bouncer, who looked carved from a redwood, paid the twenty-dollar cover, walked into
the thump of the music, the strobe lights blinking against his skin.
Club Topaz was dark as a dimly lit closet, a happy-hour crowd thinning out and a well-heeled, post-dinner crowd settling in.
The only fully lit areas were the stages, awash with white glows from both ceiling and floor. The crowd was mostly men, with
the exception of a few women who wore uncomfortable smiles, as if here under mild protest. The decor was heavy on gold and
chrome, a strange mix of Roman antiquity (perhaps to suggest an impending orgy) and contemporary sleekness. The club had retro-guido
written all over it, probably part of the cheese-factor appeal, but it was spotlessly clean, the waitresses moving among the
tables with precise energy, the cogs of the club all warming up to produce a night of longing and money.
A woman was dancing solo on the stage, and her moves were not of the simple shake-the-tits variety. She was tall, redheaded,
and she moved with easy grace and wry suggestion, performing to David Byrne’s cover of Cole Porter’s ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ as
opposed to a generic dance-club beat. She was dressed as a skimpily clad cowgirl, a Stetson perfectly angled on
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