Bone in the Throat - Anthony Bourdain [97]
"What, are you thinking about adopting the little tyke or something?"
"He's a nice kid," said Al. "I like him."
"I guess so. Takin' him out to the Metro. Wining and dining him. You're sure he's not a flight risk? He's not going to bug out on us all of a sudden?"
"Where's he gonna go?" repeated Al. "I talked to Ricard, the chef. I called the State Department. Tommy's never been outta this country . . . I doubt he's even been outta state. Mighta been to the Jersey shore once or twice as a kid. No, he's not goin' anywhere. In a couple a days he's gonna be right downstairs, cryin his little eyes out and tellin' us all about his mean Uncle Sally and his evil friends who led him astray. He's gonna cooperate. I mean we need him to testify, right? We want a nice cooperative witness pointing his finger at Sally and them. We bring out the rubber hoses now, who knows which way he'll go . . . I don't want him whistling the Italian national anthem on me all of a sudden. Not when we're this close. Why rush into rape? The seduction is going so well . . . I'm telling you . . . the kid is gonna flip. He'll make a good witness."
"I hope so," said a worried Sullivan. "When this meeting is over, I want you to go back to your office and put down on paper the substance of what you just told me. I want a memo for the record."
Al groaned, "So it's like that . . ."
"Damn right it's like that! I'm not going to see this whole investigation go down the tubes 'cause you've fallen in love with a source. I'm holding this whole thing up on your assurances . . ."
"Hey, if I remember correctly, you were the one wanted to make this into a big RICO case. We coulda had a nice, tidy little extortion case, if you'd wanted it . . . You didn't want it."
"Alright, alright. . . Calm down, nobody's blaming anybody. I just wanted a little reassurance. I've been taking it from all sides here today. So once Tommy comes in, what happens next, the way you see it?"
"I guess we make some arrests, send a forensic team down the restaurant to swab the drains, collect physical evidence. Hey, it's not all bad news. We've been getting some tapes outta the Dreadnaught office . . . some interesting stuff. Some new additions to the cast. Sally's got this guy Victor LoFaro babysitting Harvey. It sounds like Sally's making a move on the restaurant. And another name—you remember Sonny Roman? The Count?"
Sullivan's expression brightened a little. "The guy who was on that TV show?"
"He owns . . . he runs the Villa Nova next door to the Dread naught. Mobbed up for years and years but we never really came across anything. The state tried to reject his liquor license a few years back, because of his unseemly associations."
"So what's he done?"
"Well it looks like he's gonna be Harvey's new partner."
"Oh, I see . . . Okay . . . okay . . ."
"He'll make a nice picture in the paper if that makes you feel any better. Lovable TV character arrested for racketeering. The state'll love you for it. They got real embarrassed he got himself a license. They say he had somebody up in Albany. His place has been a must visit on the Wise Guy Tour for ages. There's a lot of people who'd like to see him closed down."
Sullivan nodded, a smile beginning to creep across his face. "That would be fun . . . That was the show with the cute kid, right? The vampire adopts him or something?"
"Heart-warming comedy ensued . . ."
"Okay . . . I like it. See? You managed to make me feel better."
"I just need a couple more days to land Tommy."
"Alright, alright . . . How about the other one, the chef, this Ricard character?"
"We can use his affidavits for the grand jury. I'm not crazy about the idea of using his testimony in a trial."
"Why not? Tommy confessed to him I thought..."
"Sure, but it's hearsay, . . And there's other things to