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Well, this time around I didn't need to call Bubba to get the low down on the players. it wasn't Harry the Hook, it was Harry the Horse. I figgered a old time noir detective would twig on the name, but I guessed wrong. I had to get him out of the office before he realized his role was that of a goat at a tiger stakeout...
After he left, I called the one person I knew with the right connections and the wrong people wouldn't be asking why the questions were being asked.
One ring-a-dingy...Two ring-a-dingy..."Who are you and why are you calling?"
"Hi, BadGoodDeb. This here's Red. Can I pay you for a little conversation?"
"Oooh! Money! Got somebody for me to convince?"
"Not this time. I need for you to inquire among the wiseguys in town why Harry the Horse is gettin' busy in retirement."
"Isn't he an old Brooklyn guy?"
"Yep, and he's stickin' his nose around my office. I'd like to know if the Chicago boys are having any trouble with him up there. As you know, Chi-town and New York have swapped "workers" back and forth since Big Al's day."
"Usual rates?"
"Sure. If your contacts need any details, tell 'em it's a snatch deal."
"O.K. Boss. Get back to you soonest."
I hung up. Now for the less pleasant work.
I let myself into Rock's office. Little Juan was still tied up like a Christmas turkey.
The art of interrogation isn't pain, it's fear. It's hard to calibrate fear when you don't know your interrogatee. Rock would be a liability for this discussion, so I didn't mention it to him before he left. The most important asset an interrogator has it that the interrogatee thinks that the interrogator will do anything that strikes his fancy.
"Howdy, Juan. Learn the ropes yet?"
Juan glared at me. "You'll never get away with this."
"You may be right. A more pertinent question is, will you get away ever?" I gave him my best smile.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Now, Juan, you know I'm a polite fellow. You ought to know how the code goes. You put one of mine in the hospital, I put two of yours in the morgue. You seem to be one of the two. My decision is whether I should give you a quiet ticket or let Sue spend the night with you. I kinda feel sorry for Sue..."
I had guessed right. Juan turned pale and green at the same time. "You wouldn't!"
I shrugged, "Why not? I’ll feed you to the 'gators down at Choke Canyon afterwards, who'll know you were even here? Rock? He won't care." Now for the delicate part. "After all, you don't know anything about the dognapping details anyway. You're just a soldier who's lucks run out."
"I know a lot more that you think!"
'I doubt it. You're just lying to try to save your skin." I got up to go, while using my body to shield my flipping on the hidden recorder.
"Please listen!." and he spilled his guts about the caper.
When he wound down, I said, "This is undoubtedly a pack of lies, but I'll give you 4 hours while I check some of it out. If it is a pack of lies, Sue can have a lost weekend here. See ya later, Juan."
I went back to my office and had a belt from the Guest Bottle. I hate interrogations. But I had to get information on their plans for VR. I looked at my watch. The FBI should be getting here in about half an hour. They could pick up Juan without me.
I wrote out a note and called Rock on the cell phone I had handed him.
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