the end by his father was Bill Madigan, deputy chief of police and, some said, the man closest to Commissioner O'Meara.
Sitting beside Madigan--a man Danny had never met before named Charles Steedman, tall and quiet and the only man to sport a three- dollar haircut in a room full of fi fty-centers. Steedman wore a white suit and white tie and two-toned spats. He told Danny's mother, when she asked, that he was, among other things, vice president of the New England Association of Hotels and Restaurants and president of the Suffolk County Fiduciary Security Union.
Danny could tell by his mother's wide eyes and hesitant smile that she had no idea what the hell Steedman had just said but she nodded anyway.
"Is that a union like the IWW?" Danny asked.
"The IWW are criminals," his father said. "Subversives."
Charles Steedman held up a hand and smiled at Danny, his eyes as clear as glass. "A tad different than the IWW, Danny. I'm a banker."
"Oh, a banker!" Danny's mother said. "How wonderful."
The last man to sit at the table, taking a place between Danny's brothers, Connor and Joe, was Uncle Eddie McKenna, not an uncle by blood, but family all the same, his father's best friend since they were teenage boys running the streets of their newfound country. He and Danny's father certainly made a formidable pair within the BPD. Where Thomas Coughlin was the picture of trim--trim hair, trim body, trim speech--Eddie McKenna was large of appetite and flesh and fondness for tall tales. He oversaw Special Squads, a unit that managed all parades, visits from dignitaries, labor strikes, riots, and civil unrest of any kind. Under Eddie's stewardship the unit had grown both more nebulous and more powerful, a shadow department within the department that kept crime low, it was said, "by going to the source before the source got going." Eddie's ever-revolving unit of cowboy-cops-- the kind of cops Commissioner O'Meara had sworn to purge from the force--hit street crews on their way to heists, rousted ex- cons five steps out of the Charlestown Penitentiary, and had a network of stoolies, grifters, and street spies so immense that it would have been a boon to every cop in the city if McKenna hadn't kept all names and all history of interactions with said names solely in his head.
He looked across the table at Danny and pointed his fork at his chest. "Hear what happened yesterday while you were out in the harbor doing the Lord's work?"
Danny shook his head carefully. He'd spent the morning sleeping off the drunk he'd earned elbow to elbow with Steve Coyle the night before. Nora brought out the last of the dishes, green beans with garlic that steamed as she placed it on the table.
"They struck," Eddie McKenna said.
Danny was confused. "Who?"
"The Sox and the Cubs," Connor said. "We were there, me and Joe."
"Send them all to fight the Kaiser, I say," Eddie McKenna said. "A bunch of slackers and Bolsheviks."
Connor chuckled. "You believe it, Dan? People went bughouse."
Danny smiled, trying to picture it. "You're not having me on?"
"Oh, it happened," Joe said, all excited now. "They were mad at the own ers and they wouldn't come out to play and people started throwing stuff and screaming."
"So then," Connor said, "they had to send Honey Fitz out there to calm the crowd. Now the mayor's at the game, okay? The governor, too."
"Calvin Coolidge." His father shook his head, as he did every time the governor's name came up. "A Republican from Vermont running the Democratic Commonwealth of Massachusetts." He sighed. "Lord save us."
"So, they're at the game," Connor said, "but Peters, he might be mayor, but no one cares. They've got Curley in the stands and Honey Fitz, two ex-mayors who are a hell of a lot more popular, so they send Honey out with a megaphone and he stops the riot before it can really get going. Still, people throwing things, tearing up the bleachers, you name it. Then the players come out to play, but, boy, no one was
Sitting beside Madigan--a man Danny had never met before named Charles Steedman, tall and quiet and the only man to sport a three- dollar haircut in a room full of fi fty-centers. Steedman wore a white suit and white tie and two-toned spats. He told Danny's mother, when she asked, that he was, among other things, vice president of the New England Association of Hotels and Restaurants and president of the Suffolk County Fiduciary Security Union.
Danny could tell by his mother's wide eyes and hesitant smile that she had no idea what the hell Steedman had just said but she nodded anyway.
"Is that a union like the IWW?" Danny asked.
"The IWW are criminals," his father said. "Subversives."
Charles Steedman held up a hand and smiled at Danny, his eyes as clear as glass. "A tad different than the IWW, Danny. I'm a banker."
"Oh, a banker!" Danny's mother said. "How wonderful."
The last man to sit at the table, taking a place between Danny's brothers, Connor and Joe, was Uncle Eddie McKenna, not an uncle by blood, but family all the same, his father's best friend since they were teenage boys running the streets of their newfound country. He and Danny's father certainly made a formidable pair within the BPD. Where Thomas Coughlin was the picture of trim--trim hair, trim body, trim speech--Eddie McKenna was large of appetite and flesh and fondness for tall tales. He oversaw Special Squads, a unit that managed all parades, visits from dignitaries, labor strikes, riots, and civil unrest of any kind. Under Eddie's stewardship the unit had grown both more nebulous and more powerful, a shadow department within the department that kept crime low, it was said, "by going to the source before the source got going." Eddie's ever-revolving unit of cowboy-cops-- the kind of cops Commissioner O'Meara had sworn to purge from the force--hit street crews on their way to heists, rousted ex- cons five steps out of the Charlestown Penitentiary, and had a network of stoolies, grifters, and street spies so immense that it would have been a boon to every cop in the city if McKenna hadn't kept all names and all history of interactions with said names solely in his head.
He looked across the table at Danny and pointed his fork at his chest. "Hear what happened yesterday while you were out in the harbor doing the Lord's work?"
Danny shook his head carefully. He'd spent the morning sleeping off the drunk he'd earned elbow to elbow with Steve Coyle the night before. Nora brought out the last of the dishes, green beans with garlic that steamed as she placed it on the table.
"They struck," Eddie McKenna said.
Danny was confused. "Who?"
"The Sox and the Cubs," Connor said. "We were there, me and Joe."
"Send them all to fight the Kaiser, I say," Eddie McKenna said. "A bunch of slackers and Bolsheviks."
Connor chuckled. "You believe it, Dan? People went bughouse."
Danny smiled, trying to picture it. "You're not having me on?"
"Oh, it happened," Joe said, all excited now. "They were mad at the own ers and they wouldn't come out to play and people started throwing stuff and screaming."
"So then," Connor said, "they had to send Honey Fitz out there to calm the crowd. Now the mayor's at the game, okay? The governor, too."
"Calvin Coolidge." His father shook his head, as he did every time the governor's name came up. "A Republican from Vermont running the Democratic Commonwealth of Massachusetts." He sighed. "Lord save us."
"So, they're at the game," Connor said, "but Peters, he might be mayor, but no one cares. They've got Curley in the stands and Honey Fitz, two ex-mayors who are a hell of a lot more popular, so they send Honey out with a megaphone and he stops the riot before it can really get going. Still, people throwing things, tearing up the bleachers, you name it. Then the players come out to play, but, boy, no one was
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