It's in the Book Read Free

air dismissively. “He was too shrewd to write anything down and incriminate himself if it fell into the wrong hands? Naw. It’s a myth, Senator. If that’s what you want to send me out looking for, my advice is to forget it.”
    But the big head was shaking side to side. “No, Mr. Hammer, that book is very real. Old Nic told his most innermost associates, when his health began to fail earlier this year, that the book would be given to the person he trusted most.”
    I frowned, but I also shrugged. “So I’m wrong. Anyway, I’m not that person. He didn’t send me his damn book. But how is it you know what his ‘innermost associates’ were told?”
    â€œFBI wiretaps.” His smile had a pixieish cast, but his eyes were so hard they might have been glass. “Do you think you could find that ledger, Mr. Hammer?”
    I shrugged. “It’s a big city. Puts the whole needle-in-a-haystack bit to shame. But what would you do with the thing? Does the FBI think they can make cases out of what’s in those pages?”
    He swallowed thickly. Suddenly he wasn’t looking me in the eye. “There’s no question, Mr. Hammer, that names and dates and facts and figures in a ledger would be of interest to law enforcement, both local and federal. There’s also no question of its value to the old don’s successors.”
    I was nodding. “Covering their own asses and giving them valuable intel on the other mob families and crooked cops and any number of public figures. The blackmail possibilities alone are …”
    But I didn’t finish. Because the senator’s head lowered and his eyes shut briefly, and I knew.
    I knew .
    â€œYou’ve always been a straight shooter, Senator. But you didn’t come from money. You must have needed help in the early days, getting started. You took money from the don, didn’t you?”
    â€œMr. Hammer …”
    â€œHell. And so did somebody else.” I hummed a few nasty off-key bars of “Hail to the Chief.”
    â€œMr. Hammer, your country would be very—”
    â€œCan it. I put in my time in the Pacific. I should let you all swing. I should just sit back and laugh and laugh and let this play out like Watergate was just the cartoon before the main feature.”
    He looked very soft, this man who had come from such a hard place so long ago. “Is that what you intend to do?”
    I sighed. Then I really did laugh, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “No. I know what kind of foul waters you have to swim in, Senator. And your public record is good. Funny, the president having to send you. Your politics and his couldn’t be much more at odds. But you’re stuck in the same mire, aren’t you? Like dinosaurs in a tar pit.”
    That made him smile sadly. “Will you walk away and just let us decay, Mr. Hammer?”
    â€œWhy shouldn’t I?”
    â€œWell, for one thing, somewhere out there, in that big city, or that bigger country beyond, are people that Old Nic trusted. People like you, who aren’t tainted by the Mob. And who are now in grave danger.”
    He was right about that.
    â€œAnd Mr. Hammer, the way we came looking for you does not compare to the way other interested parties will conduct their search—the other five families, for example. And they may well start with you.”
    I grunted a laugh. “So I owe you a big thank you, at least, since I would have had no idea I was in anybody’s cross-hairs over this. I get that.”
    â€œGood. Good.” He had his first overdue sip of beer. He licked foam off those rather sensual lips and the Leprechaun twinkle was back. “And what would you say to ten thousand dollars as a fee, Mr. Hammer?”
    â€œTen thousand dollars of the tax payers’ money?” I got up and slapped on my hat. “Sure. Why not? It’s a way for me to finally get back some of what