Flood - Andrew H. Vachss [72]
“Where?”
“Honey, I don’t know. I already said too much, even to you. This is the man you have to see if you want a snuff film, okay?” Michelle released her grip. “I love you, Burke,” and she leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. She swung off the stool and disappeared back into the club without another word.
I asked Ricardo for a roast beef sandwich and got some three-decker nonsense on toast with the crusts neatly trimmed off. I was eating and checking the paper when the Prof appeared in a floor-length raincoat and carrying an umbrella. The city was in for a long dry spell.
“It’s going to rain?” I asked the Prophet.
“It will rain,” he promised.
“What happened to seven-twenty-seven?”
“It was the wrong plane, my son. The number came seven-forty-seven. When you work with me, you have to think big.”
“So it was my fault?”
“God gives the word—mortals interpret the word of God. There is more than a single version of the Bible, and for good reason.”
“Do you think you might be persuaded to give the word to an individual here on earth?”
“This is always possible,” he said. “Are you going to finish that sandwich?”
“No,” I said, and shoved it across, signaling to Ricardo to give him whatever he wanted to drink. Ricardo appeared, looked questioningly at the Prophet, who asked, “Buttermilk?” smiling his sweet smile.
Ricardo served it up like he had a call for buttermilk every day. Maybe he did.
I turned to the Prof. “You know a halfass pimp named Dandy?”
The Prof handled the segue back to the prison yard without breaking stride. “I got the slant on the whole plant, Burke. He’s a new boy, green to the scene—talks a tough game but he hasn’t been with us long.”
“The word is he won’t be with us much longer if he doesn’t change his ways.”
“Talk to me,” said the Prof.
“Let me put it this way,” I said. “Sometimes you have to play the same hand you deal to other people.”
“What goes around, comes around—true enough. Who’s down on his case?”
“Among others, Max the Silent.”
“Max? Max the life-taking, widow-making, silent wind of death?”
“The same.”
“I got the message, Burke. The Prof will not be around when the shit comes down.”
“No, that’s not it, Prof. I want this fool to understand what he’s playing with, okay? I want to send him a message.”
“Which is . . . ?”
“Clean up his act or take it on the road . . . alone.”
The Prof thought for a minute. “Leave his string behind, is that it?”
“As far as I know, he’s got no string—just one lady, and he’s working her too hard.”
“I got it. And I’ll give him the word. Can I tell him in public?”
“Why?”
“Look, Burke, I got to survive on these streets too. If I lay the message on him and he doesn’t listen, then Max moves on him, right?”
“Right.”
“So people connect me with Max—that’s a better insurance policy than Prudential.”
“Good enough. But he’s supposed to be a nasty bastard, Prof—he may not take the message too well.”
“If he wants to play, he’s got to pay,” said the Prof, and I put a pair of tens into his hand. He slid off the barstool, turned, and said: “What’s the word?”
“If there’s a reason, there’s a season?” I ventured.
“Yes, and if it’s truth, it can’t be treason,” he replied, and vanished into the daylight outside.
I left a ten on the bar for Ricardo and followed in the Prophet’s footsteps. At the rate this case was going I could end up on welfare—or veteran’s assistance, or disability, workman’s compensation, unemployment, or any of the other government paths to a regular income. I hoped not—it was a drag keeping track of all that paperwork.
27
I WALKED A few blocks through the sunlight, found a pay phone, and called Flood. Someone else answered. “Ms. Flood is instructing.” I hung up while she was saying