Killing Them Softly (Cogan's Trade Movie Tie-in Edition) by George V. Higgins

the gash went into that place, looking to get laid, they ended up inna rack with Markie. And he gives them what they’re looking for, too. They all, you know something? They don’t even know who he is.”
    â€œHow come?” Barry said.
    â€œOnna one-night stand,” Steve said, “he don’t give his right name.”
    â€œWho’s he say he is?” Barry said.
    â€œWell,” Steve said, “he knows us, right? And he knows Dillon and he knows a lot of guys. And then there’s some guys he doesn’t know, some guys that, he just makes up their names. Depends on how he feels. So the thing is, there’s probably four, five broads, come in here or some place else one night all pissed off at their husbands, and they think they fucked us.”
    â€œThat cocksucker,” Barry said.
    â€œHey,” Steve said, “you got to give the guy credit.”
    â€œSure,” Barry said, “and suppose one of them broads that he fucked and he said he was me, and Ginny finds out, huh? Then I’m deep in the shit and I didn’t even do it.”
    â€œHell, Barry,” Steve said, “I mean, nobody could recognize you. What’s the matter, I thought Ginny trusted you.”
    â€œShe does,” Barry said, “because she knows I don’t do that.”
    â€œWell,” Steve said, “look, he probably didn’t say he was you very much anyway. And the girls he meets, they probably don’t even hear the name. They’re just out to get laid. It’s always, he’s the head of the fuckin’ Mafia. He’s got this whole routine he goes through. ‘Just in town for a couple days. I’m in and out of town a lot.’ He is, too. Except the nights he runs the game, he’s here, he’s in Danvers, he’s in Lawrence, he’s all over the place. Then he pulls out this big roll. He’s got himself about eighty fifties there, and it’s nothing
but
fifties, either. And he’s got the rings. And then pretty soon: I’m staying with a guy. Can’t take no chances onna hotel, you got to sign everything. Can we, can we maybe use your place?’ And of course the broad, she hasn’t got a place. Well, she’s got one, but the old man and the kids’re there, and besides, she don’t want nobody to know she’s from around here. So the next thing you know they’re in a hotel and the broad’s paying for it. ‘He can’t take them to his place,’ Dillon told me. ‘There’s no bugs in there, for Christ sake. Bug’d be ashamed to live in that place.’ But he’s got the Cad and the gold rings and he goes around telling broads all kinds of things and they all believe him and he fucks them all. He’s done more for the world’n Christmas, you add it all up.”
    â€œWhy’d you say that about Danvers?” Barry said.
    â€œBecause he goes there,” Steve said. “There’s this club he goes to some times, up in Danvers. He goes over the Beach, too. The guy gets around.”
    â€œGinny’s ma lives in Danvers,” Barry said.
    â€œI doubt he fucked Ginny’s ma, Barry,” Steve said. “You wanna know, though, I’ll call her up and ask her for you.”
    â€œSome day I’m gonna break your fuckin’ long nose for you, Steve,” Barry said.
    Trattman, wearing a mouse-colored, double-breasted overcoat, emerged from the Lobster Tail with a dark-haired woman in her forties. He raised his right arm, using his left hand to guide her toward the curb. An attendant in a snorkel coat pulled up in a tan Coupe de Ville. Trattman opened the passenger door for the woman as the attendant got out on the driver’s side. Trattman closed the passenger door and walked around the front of the car. He handed a folded bill to the attendant. The attendant said: “Thanks,” with no sign of recognition. Trattman got into the