Night and Day (26 page)

“That rough,” I said. “What did you tell him?”

Gabriel laughed. “I told him I didn’t think he knew what the fuck he was talking about,
so he could eat his fucking bill. Then I left.”

He put his hands behind his head. “So,” he said. “Charlie Welles. Been a long, long
time.”

“Six, maybe seven years,” I said. “Not so long.”

“Lot of water under the bridge, my friend,” Gabriel said. “Big changes. Nothing’s the
same. Last time I saw you, I was just a two-bit hood with a five-man crew, boosting cars,
passing bad paper, moving dime bags of junk on the street.”

He grinned broadly and held his arms out. “Look at me now. I got a hundred guys on the
street.” He nodded. “That’s right, a hundred guys, and I own every bit of action south of
Liberty. Gambling, protection, whores, you name it, it’s mine.”

“You’ve certainly moved up in the world, Eddie.”

“You’re goddamn right I have,” he said, lowering his arms. “Anybody, I mean anybody,
wants something south of Liberty, they have to talk to Eddie Gee.” He paused and smiled.
“So what do you want, Charlie?”

“Want? Oh, I don’t want anything. I just have a few questions.”

Gabriel laughed. “Funny how we both ended up here. After the war, I saw an
opportunity downtown, chance to get a bigger piece of pie. East side of town was small time,
downtown was where the action was. So I took it. How about you? I hear you left the cops,
and started working as a private detective.”

“That’s right,” I said. “It was time for a change.”

“Hear you’re partnered with a bloodsucker.”

“I was.”

“Oh, that’s right,” he said. “I heard your partner got chickened.”

“Chickened?

“You know,” Gabriel said. He tapped his neck with the side of his hand. “Chop chop
chop. Then they put a bullet in his heart to make sure his body didn’t run around after his
head came off.”

“Right again,” I said. “My partner was murdered the other night.”

“That’s a terrible thing,” he said. “I had a partner once, over on the east side. Fast Solly
Greenberg. You know him?”

“Probably before my time.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Gabriel said. “Solly was a snatch and run guy. Purses, briefcases,
packages. Fast little kike sonofabitch, I tell ya. Then one day, he grabbed the wrong
briefcase. Belonged to a guy connected with the Donaggio mob. Guy was moving some cash
for Big Pete, personal cash.”

He shook his head. “Solly thought he’d hit the fuckin’ lottery. Must have been eighty, a
hundred thousand in the briefcase. I didn’t take a cut. That kind of money, it wasn’t some
guy just cashed his paycheck, ya know?”

He laughed. “So three days later, the Donaggios caught up to Solly. Worked him over
real good with a baseball bat. Closed casket at the funeral. I heard they pounded his head flat,
like a pancake, ya know?”

Gabriel was a smart guy, and a damn good actor. He’d played the part of Eddie Gabriel,
street-smart hood, so long and so well, that there probably wasn’t much Edouard Gabrielle left
inside him. He’d become the part. And like any good actor, he didn’t waste words. Gabriel
didn’t tell me about Solly Greenberg because he’d just been reminded of the story. He told
me to make a point.

It was something to think about later. I had more pressing concerns.

“Tough way to go.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking up at the ceiling.. “Almost as tough as getting chickened, eh?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “By the way, I was talking to another old friend of yours last
night.”

“Oh, yeah? Who?”

“Ray Holstein,” I said.

Gabriel sat for a moment, staring at the ceiling, then lowered his head to face me and
smiled. “Now there’s a name from the old days,” he said. “I hear he’s a bloodsucker now.
And still a cop. So how’s old Ray doing?”

“He was okay when I saw him. Said he’d gotten together with you a few nights ago.
Same night my partner was murdered.”

He frowned. “Really?” he said. “That’s funny. I ain’t got no recollection of that. Maybe
he had me confused with somebody else.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “He was very specific. Even mentioned that he’d met you
down here, by the docks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been in this very office.”

“I think you got it wrong, Charlie,” Gabriel said. “Maybe you ought to go back and ask
Ray again.”

“Can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“Can’t go back and ask Ray,” I said. “Unfortunately old Ray got himself . . . chickened.”

Gabriel froze for a split-second, then recovered nicely and put his hands back behind his
head. “That’s a real shame,” he said. “They have any idea who did the chopping?”

I stared at him silently, then smiled, a small smile. “Well, it’s complicated, and I don’t want to bore you with details. I didn’t
hold the sword, of course, but I guess you’d have to say that it was me who cut off Ray’s
head.”

“You always were a white glove guy, weren’t you, Charlie,” he said. “Charlie Welles,
straight arrow cop.” He laughed. “Let somebody else get their hands dirty, never you.”

“That was the old me, Eddie.”

“Old you, new you.” He lowered his hands. “Sorry, but I got no more time
to spend with either of ya. I got things to do.”

“I have a couple more questions.”

Gabriel laughed. “Ya know, back on the east side, when I was a two-bit operator and you
were a cop, I had to listen to your questions. You could corner me on the street, you could
drag me into the station, and you could make me jump through your fuckin’ hoops.”

He paused. “But I got news for you, old pal of mine. That was then. And guess what?
You ain’t a cop, I ain’t a two-bit operator, and I don’t have to listen to any more of your
bullshit.”

I smiled. “That’s not exactly true, Eddie.”

“What, you gonna pull a badge and scare me. What’s it say, private dick? Or maybe you
got one of your cop buddies to pull some strings and get ya back on the force. You a real
detective now, Charlie?”

Before I could answer, he laughed. “Let me tell you something. Whatever your badge
says, I can make a call and in five minutes, somebody will be down here with a bigger badge.
So don’t fuck with me. I own downtown, pal. Daytime. Nighttime. All the time.”

I sighed, pulled out my ID, and tossed it across the desk to him. He picked it up and
flipped open the case. “Special Agent Charles Welles, Area Governor’s Office,” he read.
“Nice. How much you want for it?”

“What?”

“This is a nice piece of merchandise, Charlie. I could get you ten large for it easy, maybe
fifteen. AG is some serious push. Hell, you just wanna loan it to me for a day or so, I can get
a couple of copies made, you clear five large.”

“Did you read the top part, Eddie?”

“I’m getting there,” he said. “The ID card is the tough part to get right. Rest is just
printing.”

“Read it, Eddie,” I said.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. He studied the card in the top of the holder, then glanced at me.
“This legit?” he asked.

“Why don’t you ask Ray Holstein.”

Gabriel closed the case and tossed it back to me. “Hey, Johnny.”

“Yeah, boss?”

“Why don’t you go tell Angelo that everything’s fine in here, and that I’ll be out in a little
while.”

“Sure, boss,” Johnny said, rising from the edge of the desk.

“And stay out there till I call for you,” Gabriel said.

Johnny turned. “Maybe that ain’t a good idea, boss,” he said, his eyes on me.

“I’ll be fine,” Gabriel said. “Me and Charlie are old friends. Now do what I say. And
close the door behind you.”

“Yeah, boss,” Johnny said. “Whatever you want.” He left, closing the door behind him.

Gabriel slowly lifted his legs off the table and let them drop to the floor. “So,” he said.
“What do you want to know?”

Chapter Twenty-three

For all his bluster, Eddie Gabriel was a smart guy. He had been playing as if he had a
winning hand. Then he caught a peek at my cards. And that was that. No bluff, no anger or
disappointment. He folded and moved on.

“Let’s start with Ray Holstein,” I said.

Gabriel smiled. “Ray Holstein,” he repeated. “Lemme tell you something about Ray.
He’d bob for apples in a sewer if he thought there was a dime hidden in one of them.”

“He liked a little side action?”

“Side action?” he said with a laugh. “He was a complete fuckin’ whore. Wrap a ten
dollar bill around your dick and whip it out, Ray would be on his knees in a flash, ya know
what I mean?”

“He worked for you?”

“I had a hook in him. So did Little Pete Donaggio over on the east side, John-Boy Krause
in midtown, and a couple of the uptown bloodsucker mobs. Holstein liked to keep busy and
he wasn’t particular about who he worked for.”

“Holstein got a call from somebody, gave him the tip about my partner’s murder,” I said.
“But he said it wasn’t you, that he’d recognize your voice. You must have talked a lot for
him to know your voice. He a friend of yours?”

“Ray didn’t have friends,” Gabriel said. “Just people who could put money in his pocket
or help him get ahead in the cops. Myself, I didn’t like him much. He talked a lot, but never
said anything. I did like doing business with him, though. Everybody liked doing business
with Ray. He always smiled and he always said yes.”

“Wednesday night,” I said.

“Got a call around suppertime. Fella said that Holstein would be
dropping off some stuff for me, and to be available. I told him to have Ray meet me here.”

“What fella?”

He was silent for a moment, and I thought he was going to balk. But after a few seconds of silence, he said, “Teddy Tescadoro. I ran with him for a while over on the east side, before the war.
He got turned into a bloodsucker, runs with an uptown mob now.”

“Which mob?”

Gabriel hesitated again, then said, “Arnie Kaiser’s outfit.”

Lou Carpenter’s silent partner. “Did Tescadoro know that you’d done business with
Holstein?”

He laughed. “Wasn’t a secret that Holstein had done some work for me. Like I said, Ray
would work for anybody who’d pay the tab. Shit, every time I saw him, he’d spend the first
ten minutes boring me with stories about what he was doing for everybody else. I didn’t have
nothin’ to say about Ray that Teddy didn’t already know.”

“What do you know about my partner’s murder?”

“Nothing,” Gabriel said. “Didn’t come up till Holstein got here, and he was doing all the
talking.” He paused. “Ray sure had a hard-on for you.”

I nodded. “Yeah, when Tescadoro or whoever called Ray, he used the chance to nail me
for the murder as a baited hook for Holstein, little added incentive to get involved.”

“Ray told you that?”

When I nodded again, he laughed, and said, “And you believed him? That’s bullshit.
Sure, Holstein didn’t like you one bit. I’m sure he was more than happy to fuck you over. But
he wasn’t the kind of guy to do a job just cause it made him feel good. There was money
involved. A nice chunk of cash. Getting you made Ray happy. Getting paid to do it made
him squirt in his pants.”

“How about you?” I asked. “Why’d you get involved?”

Gabriel laughed. “What the hell, your brain gone soft. Why the fuck do you think?
Money. I got nothin’ against you, Charlie. Shit, I didn’t even know it had anything to do with
you till Holstein showed up and started runnin’ his mouth.” He paused. “But even if Teddy
had told me beforehand that you were getting set up, wouldn’t have made any difference to
me. Business is business, my friend.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. My business is finding out who killed my partner. And I’ll
do whatever I have to.” I paused. “Because business is business.” I smiled.

“Hey, I’m answering your questions.”

“Make sure you don’t stop,” I said. “What time did you get the call to meet Holstein?”

“I told ya, around suppertime. Maybe a couple of minutes before eight.”

“Kind of late for supper.”

“I been eating supper at eight since I was a kid,” he said. “Papa worked in a fish factory,
cleaning halibut fourteen fuckin’ hours a day. Mama held dinner till he got home at night and
got washed up.” He straightened up in the chair. “Suppertime is eight o’clock. Always has
been. Always will be.”

“What time did you get here?”

“Ate my supper, had Vic drive me down. Put Johnny out and told him to
get lost, and waited almost a fucking hour for Holstein.”

“He told me he got lost trying to find the place.”

“Told me the same thing,” Gabriel said. “I figure he was parked under a streetlight
somewhere, reading what was in them files.” He shook his head. “Nosy bastard.”

“You read them?”

He shook his head again. “Wasn’t interested. I was paid to take ‘em from Holstein and
have ‘em delivered. Nobody said nothin’ about reading ‘em, so I didn’t. In my business,
there’s things you don’t need to know about. You don’t know, people don’t shut the book on
ya, like they did your partner.”