Abel isn′t a friend of mine, personally, and neither is your friend Heuisink Junior. Balance of power stuff.″
″Jack doesn′t like you either, no. His father worked with your father, though.″
″Yup. Holding his nose while he did. Trouble was, they weren′t the real bossmen back then. The guys right at the top were sitting around wringing their hands, or putting Band-Aids on gut-stabs, shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic—″
He paused at Ingolf′s look of incomprehension and shrugged, amending the phrase:
″Fiddling while things burned, when we didn′t have any time to waste. They couldn′t get their heads around what had happened. Not fast enough.″
″So Tom Heasleroad and old Abel Heuisink and your dad took over,″ Ingolf said. ″And of course, Tom and your late father just had to keep running things because the Emergency never quite stopped.″
Denson laughed. ″Pretty much. Though that bastard Heuisink really would turn everything over to the vakis″—which was Iowa slang for evacuee , the ex-townsmen and their descendants who were the Farmers′ labor force—″which I admit just between me and you wouldn′t mean everyone starving to death, not anymore, since these days they know something about working the land, but that′s politics.″
″But you′ve put all your money on the Heasleroads, and if they go down, you do too,″ Ingolf said. ″Why haven′t you just taken the Bossman′s Chair yourself?″
Denson shrugged again. ″I′m the boogeyman for Tony, like Dad was for his father. The Bad Cop ,″ he added, chuckling. ″Though with Tom Heasleroad and my father it was more like Bad and Worse. A lot of these Sheriffs and County Commissioners and Guard colonels hate me too much to take my orders directly, but the Heasleroad name still has a lot of chops—we didn′t all starve, after all, which everyone likes, and the Farmers and Sheriffs are on top of the heap, which they like plenty. And they like the way the State Police keep order without their having to do the dirty work themselves.″
″And the point of this little history lesson is?″
″That I have to manage the Heasleroads. Which means I have to keep the wrong people away from Tony; his father was a lot more sensible, but what can you do?″
″Not give him everything he wants just because he wants it?″ Ingolf suggested. ″That′d turn a saint into a monster, and I′ll bet Tony Heasleroad was never a saint.″
″Well, maybe. Tom was a lot better Bossman than he was a father, if you ask me; Dad never spoiled us . Water under the bridge, though.″
″Nice to know I′ve got a good grasp on the situation, you betcha,″ Ingolf said. ″But why the little confessional? I′m Catholic″— more or less. Mary isn′t, and . . . well, one of us has to convert in the interests of a happy marriage, so —″but you were Lutheran, I thought.″
″That′s where getting rid of the Cutters comes in. Or you come in to get rid of them; I always believed in giving men a full briefing before I sent them to do something. You′re more likely to get results if your people understand what′s going on. That way they can improvise, not just be robots . . . be windup toys, I mean.″
Ingolf bit back I′m no man of yours, Denson , and the policeman′s grin replied: For this you are, like it or not.
Aloud Denson went on: ″They′re staying here because you are here, and because that Rudi guy is coming back for you. If he is.″
″Ah,″ Ingolf said, and smiled wolfishly. ″I bleed for you. I won′t say from where. And Rudi will flap his arms and fly like a duck before he abandons friends. Or anyone he promised to rescue.″
″Oh, one of those, is he? That type gets more throats cut than evil bastards like me.″
″I′ll take Rudi′s word for it on who needs fighting,″ Ingolf said.
Then he blinked to himself. You know, I really believe that , he thought. Life′s not dull around Rudi Mackenzie , or safe,
″Jack doesn′t like you either, no. His father worked with your father, though.″
″Yup. Holding his nose while he did. Trouble was, they weren′t the real bossmen back then. The guys right at the top were sitting around wringing their hands, or putting Band-Aids on gut-stabs, shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic—″
He paused at Ingolf′s look of incomprehension and shrugged, amending the phrase:
″Fiddling while things burned, when we didn′t have any time to waste. They couldn′t get their heads around what had happened. Not fast enough.″
″So Tom Heasleroad and old Abel Heuisink and your dad took over,″ Ingolf said. ″And of course, Tom and your late father just had to keep running things because the Emergency never quite stopped.″
Denson laughed. ″Pretty much. Though that bastard Heuisink really would turn everything over to the vakis″—which was Iowa slang for evacuee , the ex-townsmen and their descendants who were the Farmers′ labor force—″which I admit just between me and you wouldn′t mean everyone starving to death, not anymore, since these days they know something about working the land, but that′s politics.″
″But you′ve put all your money on the Heasleroads, and if they go down, you do too,″ Ingolf said. ″Why haven′t you just taken the Bossman′s Chair yourself?″
Denson shrugged again. ″I′m the boogeyman for Tony, like Dad was for his father. The Bad Cop ,″ he added, chuckling. ″Though with Tom Heasleroad and my father it was more like Bad and Worse. A lot of these Sheriffs and County Commissioners and Guard colonels hate me too much to take my orders directly, but the Heasleroad name still has a lot of chops—we didn′t all starve, after all, which everyone likes, and the Farmers and Sheriffs are on top of the heap, which they like plenty. And they like the way the State Police keep order without their having to do the dirty work themselves.″
″And the point of this little history lesson is?″
″That I have to manage the Heasleroads. Which means I have to keep the wrong people away from Tony; his father was a lot more sensible, but what can you do?″
″Not give him everything he wants just because he wants it?″ Ingolf suggested. ″That′d turn a saint into a monster, and I′ll bet Tony Heasleroad was never a saint.″
″Well, maybe. Tom was a lot better Bossman than he was a father, if you ask me; Dad never spoiled us . Water under the bridge, though.″
″Nice to know I′ve got a good grasp on the situation, you betcha,″ Ingolf said. ″But why the little confessional? I′m Catholic″— more or less. Mary isn′t, and . . . well, one of us has to convert in the interests of a happy marriage, so —″but you were Lutheran, I thought.″
″That′s where getting rid of the Cutters comes in. Or you come in to get rid of them; I always believed in giving men a full briefing before I sent them to do something. You′re more likely to get results if your people understand what′s going on. That way they can improvise, not just be robots . . . be windup toys, I mean.″
Ingolf bit back I′m no man of yours, Denson , and the policeman′s grin replied: For this you are, like it or not.
Aloud Denson went on: ″They′re staying here because you are here, and because that Rudi guy is coming back for you. If he is.″
″Ah,″ Ingolf said, and smiled wolfishly. ″I bleed for you. I won′t say from where. And Rudi will flap his arms and fly like a duck before he abandons friends. Or anyone he promised to rescue.″
″Oh, one of those, is he? That type gets more throats cut than evil bastards like me.″
″I′ll take Rudi′s word for it on who needs fighting,″ Ingolf said.
Then he blinked to himself. You know, I really believe that , he thought. Life′s not dull around Rudi Mackenzie , or safe,
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