Precinct 11 - 01 - The Brotherhood (31 page)

“Tapes?” Boone said.

“Microchips, whatever. I’ll always call them tapes. But now, if he’s sure he can get them all together in one place at the same time, what stops us from just taking them all in at once?”

Galloway was slowly shaking his head. “The potential for a bloodbath, that’s what. Any meeting like that would have a security force from every faction. And as soon as we make ourselves known, they start shooting, and not just at us. Everybody will suspect everybody else, and they’ll target each other. Candelario gets killed in the process and then where are we? None of those guys will rat the others out.”

“You’re right,” Pete Wade said.

Jack said, “Yeah, let’s just carry this out the way we planned. I’m not wild about his getting everybody together at the same place at the same time, but it ought to make for a mountain of evidence. We keep our distance, make sure Candelario survives it and gets out of there, and then we prep him for grand jury testimony based on everything we get.”

“It’s not like the old days,” Fletcher Galloway said. “Back in the day, we would call the shots, tell him how it was going to go down. I don’t like his putting it off, setting the date, telling you when he’s going to get back to you. I’ve got to share this stuff with the FBI, the Crime Commission, and the U.S. Attorney, and I can just imagine how it’s all going to go over with them.”

“I don’t see that we have a choice,” Boone said. “But I’m willing to be corrected. You want me to push Candelario for another rendezvous, or . . . ?”

“No,” Galloway said. “Let’s play the cards we’re dealt for now. If he stalls you too long, maybe you make a contact. But let’s not look too eager. I wouldn’t waste so much time on his coming-to-Jesus story, though, Drake. We don’t care how he came to this point, as long as he’s here.”

“I respectfully disagree, Chief. I understand him on this, and it helps me get to know him better. Plus it assures me he’s not playing. I’m pretty confident he’s for real here, but I’ll know for sure when I hear the rest of the story.”

“You buying his line about keeping Villalobos out of this?”

“I am. I don’t see how he could make it work otherwise.”

“Well, suit yourself, but keep the endgame in mind.”

Boone and Haeley enjoyed a quiet dinner early Saturday night at a small bistro on the Near North Side that had gotten a glowing review in the previous weekend’s paper.

“If it wasn’t the dead of winter, I’d suggest walking the beach,” Boone said.

“If it wasn’t the dead of winter, I’d accept,” she said. “Michigan Avenue might be a fun stroll for as long as we can stand the wind.”

Boone hesitated, and Haeley said, “What? You don’t like the Magnificent Mile?”

“I used to,” he said. “Painful memories. Sorry.”

“I understand. Anywhere else you’d like to walk?”

“Chicago Avenue?”

She smiled. “Sounds exciting. McDonald’s and the Y are favorite landmarks of mine.”

“You’re mean,” he said.

She laughed. “It’s just that I’ve never heard of anyone walking Chicago Avenue for any reason other than to just get somewhere. Have you?”

“I just want to be with you,” he said.

“That’s sweet. Let’s do it. And you know what we should talk about?”

“I’ll bite,” he said.

“Painful memories. I have some too, you know. Maybe it would be therapeutic or cathartic or whatever they call it to just get ’em on the table?”

“You think?”

“You look dubious.”

“I am,” Boone said. “Doesn’t sound that appealing.”

“It was just a thought. I figure our pasts are always going to be something between us and that they’ll have to come out sometime. But it’s your call.”

“You
want
to talk about this guy who broke your heart?”

She cocked her head. “I’ve been so mad at him for so long that I don’t think I put it in those terms anymore. I disappointed myself for not seeing through him from day one. Everything about the relationship was wrong, and I kept justifying it. I was stupid and made a horrible mistake.”

“And you want to
talk
about that?”

“Look what came of it, Boone. I don’t deserve Max, and of course neither does his father—which is good, because if I have anything to say about it, he’ll never see him. But Max is like living balm to me. Proof that God forgave me and made something beautiful out of the mess I had created.”

“You said his dad doesn’t want to see him anyway.”

“True. But I’m a big girl. I know how things go, how they can change. What if, for no understandable reason, he decides he wants to be part of Max’s life? I’d spend everything I own to keep that from happening.”

Boone paid and they bundled up, heading out toward Chicago Avenue. He enjoyed listening to her talk, and if she really wanted to talk about a part of her life she regretted so much, he guessed that was all right. She was going to expect him to do the same, though, and he wasn’t sure he was ready. When he thought about Nikki, he knew he idealized her and might dwell on how much he loved her. Would that be fair to Haeley? Would she really want to hear that?

Haeley tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow, and they walked close to stay warm. They had just crossed Rush Street heading west when his phone came alive. “Don’t answer it,” she said. “You’re off duty.”

“I’m never off duty; you know that. Just a sec. Promise.”

They stopped and he stepped away.

“Boone?”

“Yeah.”

“PC.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I was going to wait awhile, man, but I want to talk to you tonight.”

“Oh, man, does it have to be tonight?”

“What, you got a date?”

“What if I do?”

“You decide what’s most important,
gringo
. I’m gettin’ spooked by the Wolf, so I may be running out of time. Your call.”

“Well, of course, PC.”

“I’ll pick you up. Just tell me where.”

19

The Plan

Haeley could apparently
TELL
from Boone’s look that the evening was over. “I told you not to take it,” she said.

“You know there are only about four people in the world I would have taken a call from tonight,” he said as they hurried back to the parking lot.

“You didn’t want to talk to me tonight anyway,” she said, not unkindly. “Lucky you.” He could tell she was teasing.

“We can finish this tomorrow after church,” he said.

“I’d like that, at least until Max gets too squirrelly. You sure you’re ready to talk?”

“That isn’t the point,” he said. “I’ll talk all you want if it gives me more time with you. Question is, are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Why wouldn’t I? If we’re going to be friends, I want to know you. Need to know you. Your wife and son had to be the most important things in the world to you. If you can’t talk to me about them, then what—?”

“It’s not easy.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to be. You worried about becoming emotional in front of me?”

“A little.”

“Heaven forbid you should show a little humanity. What, you think I think you’re a one-dimensional, macho cop?”

“Is that a bad image?”

She shrugged. “It wouldn’t hold my interest for long.”

“Well, then I’ll come prepared to start the waterworks. Whatever it takes to hold your interest.”

Boone walked her to her door and they embraced. “Leave me a message that you got home safe, ’kay?” she said.

Boone nodded and waited until she was inside, then greeted the sitter and made sure the girl was in her car before he left. He had arranged with Pascual Candelario to be picked up on the street about seven blocks north of Boone’s apartment.

Boone called Jack Keller at home.

“I don’t like it,” Jack said. “Did he give you any idea where you’re going?”

“North is all he said.”

“Within the city?”

“No idea.”

“Not good. We like to be where we have jurisdiction and at least some control. We should be able to hear you wherever you are, but we have to know where that is as soon as you can determine it. What’s spooked him, anyway? Didn’t expect to hear from him for a while. Didn’t he say something about having plenty of time before January 6?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. He just sounded bored to me, like he wanted to get out and do something.”

“Great. So now you’re his current distraction from DiLoKi leadership?”

“Something like that.”

“I don’t even know where Wade is this weekend. If he’s away, I’m going to have to see who I can rustle up. I don’t like you hanging out there by yourself with this guy.”

“We have to take what we can get, don’t we, Jack? PC is putting his whole life on the line for us. We don’t want to scare him off or offend him.”

“Make sure you don’t wind up in some basement where we lose the signal.”

Boone didn’t take the time to change clothes, and Candelario noticed as he slid into the front seat of Pascual’s late-model Benz coupe. “So I did interrupt a date, didn’t I, bro?” he said.

“Matter of fact, you did.”

“Sorry. At least I gave you the chance to show her who’s boss, huh?”

“There’s no question who’s in charge with this girl, PC. I’m way out of my league.”

Pascual showed a meaty palm and Boone smacked it. “You go, boy!” the big Mexican said. “Good for you.”

“Where we going?” Boone said.

“Who’s asking?”

Pascual was smiling, but Boone was not in the mood. “You know who’s asking. I can’t go far without my people knowing exactly where I am.”

“Evanston. There’s a lighthouse on the shore—”

“Made of stone. There’ll be no signal in there.”

“I’m talking about the little frame building next to it, so no problem.”

“Yeah, but my guys will have to connect with the Evanston PD and—”

“You want me to make it easy on ’em? This is not easy for me, man. It’s not like I can have any of my people looking out for me, you know.”

“Don’t worry. They’re on it already.”

“You bring your popgun again, Boone?”

“You know cops are armed 24-7. You?”

“It’s in the trunk.”

“So why Evanston? Why does this deal have to be so complicated?”

“It’s where I want to have the meeting next month, so I thought you’d want to check it out. You look surprised.”

“You really expect gangbangers in their tricked-out Benzes and Bimmers and the Outfit in their big Town Cars to somehow sneak into Evanston?”

“Wait till you see this place, man. Once we get off the Edens, we hardly go through any neighborhoods. Everything is tree-lined and dark until it feeds into the little lane that leads to the lighthouse. Give me some credit for planning, dude. I’m the one who’s got the most to lose here.”

“We’ll see. What’s got you nervous about Jazzy?”

PC shrugged. “Just a feeling, you know? This place, he wouldn’t even dream of it. It’s a place I know about, but he doesn’t.”

“Then why worry?”

“It’s my job, man.”

“Well, meanwhile, finish your story, will ya?”

“Yeah,” Candelario said, “where was I?”

“It was starting to get to you that your mother didn’t give up on you.”

It impressed Boone that Pascual seemed to have learned how to drive a fancy car without drawing attention to himself. Not too fast, not too slow, just moving with the traffic without excessive lane changing.

“You got to remember what kinda person I was, Boone. Gangbangers, lifers, never learned to think about our feelings, and we sure never talked about ’em. Everything was instinct. Now when I watch those nature shows on TV—and I have to hide that too, of course—I see the birds that strut and show their feathers, the snakes that puff up and look bigger, the wolves and wild dogs that bare their teeth—that was us; that was me.

“I didn’t talk about stuff. I didn’t think or feel. I just reacted. Every day when I woke up, I had stuff to do. First I had to make sure everybody knew I was still the boss, you know? I had to look mad and bad. Everybody, friends and enemies, had to fear me. And finally I wanted to make money every day. The more we brought in, the more I wanted. That was success. If we made half a million dollars one day, I wanted to make more the next. I stayed off dope myself because I never saw a gangster worth anything who was high.

“And if I woke up next to a beautiful woman—hopefully a different one every day—I figured my life was full. That was it. If there was any thinking, it was business. How can we make more, get bigger, intimidate more people? That’s what it was all about.

“When I got in the joint, there were sacrifices. No women. Money, but not the same amount. I was still running things, inside and out, and I was still boiling with rage, so nobody ever dared try a thing with me. But see, all it was was just the same kind of life in a different place.”

Boone’s mind was reeling. “You never even had normal conversations then, not even with Villalobos?”

“Exactly. There was no talking about the news or asking about somebody’s family. We didn’t care, and so we didn’t even know how to talk that way. I was suspicious of anybody who asked me anything. I tried to give the vibe that I didn’t want to be talked to, and believe me, everybody got the message.