Blossom - Andrew H. Vachss [76]
"How's he supposed to know, who's a Jew?"
"There's ways. We got our eye on them. On some of them. Send 'em a message one of these days."
Virgil watched, bored.
The Nazi's voice droned on.
White Noise.
I cut in at an angle, merging with his rap. Talked his talk. Guns and blood. Freedom for the Race. I let him bargain me into a half dozen Uzis, five grand for the package.
"You use these, the cops'll think it was some nigger dope dealers, right?"
"Yeah!"
"COD."
"Deal. I'll meet you right here on…"
"I look stupid to you, I'm gonna ride around with a truckful of a life sentence?"
"The cops won't bother this place."
"It's not the locals I'm worried about."
"So where, then?"
"Chicago. I got a warehouse in Uptown. You drive in, drive out."
His eyes went crafty with the chance to impress his punks. "No way, partner. Not across a state line."
I pretended to give it some thought. "Okay. It'll take me a few days to get the pieces together from my source. Give me a number, I'll call you. We'll make the exchange on the road. Wherever you say."
"I'll give you our Hot Line. When you call, you get our message. The Race Word. There ain't no beep, but it's an answering machine. When you hear a voice saying White Power! that's the sign–off. Just leave your message after that, I'll get back to you."
"Good enough."
The bouncer's eyes tracked me and Virgil out the door.
128
I HANDED BLOSSOM the pistol. "You better hang on to this, find a safe place for it." Thinking of Revis.
"Okay, boss."
"Be careful with it—it's loaded."
She popped the cylinder, pointed the barrel at the ceiling as the cartridges dropped into her palm. "I know about guns. From the Army. M–16, M–60, grenades…we even practiced with LAWs."
"You were in the Army?"
"Don't look so surprised, baby. They paid for medical school. It was a good deal. And Mama didn't leave us a fortune. Violet and I agreed, we'd save the money for Rose. Pay her way through school."
I held her against me until she stopped trembling.
129
LATER, THE PHONE RANG. Answering machine picked up.
Virgil's voice: "He went to the same place. Alone."
130
TWO HUNDRED NAMES. For the first time, I missed New York. If I was home, if I could tap into my machinery, call in some markers, work the angles, make some trades…I could narrow them down. Find out which of the kids had later died, gone to prison, been institutionalized, moved away. But out here…I was working in the dark.
I needed a match.
131
CALLED BOSTICK. "Can you check some real estate for me?"
"If it's local, sure. Take about an hour."
I gave him Matson's address.
132
IN VIRGIL'S back yard, night falling.
"She checked the place again?"
"Yep. Reba says he lives alone, looks like."
"The house is in his name. Nobody else on the mortgage. He could have a girlfriend living there. Or maybe one of his Nazi pals. We'll play whatever's there."
"He's got that dog, though."
"It's a long shot. We can't wait for him to be somewhere else. Have to go in while he's there, brace him, take a look. He's gonna guess who we are, tell his pal the cop."
Virgil shrugged. "Kids go to bed early. I'll be up, watching TV with Reba. Lloyd too."
"He's dirty anyway. Can't see him going to court. And I'll have a message for him, he does that. Let me do the talking, it comes to that."
"Okay."
"We'll leave Lloyd in the car, like last time."
Virgil nodded. I caught a look on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked him.
He dragged on his smoke. "I don't hold with killing dogs, brother."
"Matson, he's an amateur. Probably thinks the way to make a good watchdog is to starve him. I'll take care of it."
133
"I NEED TO knock out a dog."
Blossom didn't change expression. "What kind of dog? How fast?"
"A shepherd. Figure, eighty, ninety pounds. He needs to go down pretty quick, stay down for at least a half hour."
"Can you use a needle?"
"No. Unless you got a tranquilizer gun lying around."
"Let me look."
She came back with a black medical bag. Opened it on the countertop, starting stacking little