Kiss Her Goodbye Read Free

pricks."
    "No. No attitude problem for you."
    This time I finished off the beer and put the mug down. I waved for a refill and the waiter took the empty away. "I'm just plain tired of the game, Pat. I haven't got an attitude problem. I haven't
got
an attitude. Period."
    The gray eyes turned placid. He smiled just a little. "Good."
    I frowned at him. "And before you ask, let me tell you something. I haven't lost my nerve. It's just that it's finally occurred to me that tilting at windmills doesn't matter a damn in this lousy life. Let somebody else do the dirty work—like you cops, for instance."
    "I been waiting years to hear this. Don't stop now."
    "I
have
stopped. I'm not in it anymore. I haven't got the slightest faintest fucking desire to get wrapped up in that bundle of bullshit again. I've done it, it's past me, I'm retired."
    For a full minute Pat went on eating, then nodded sagely. "And maybe it's for the best."
    It was his tone of voice that made me ask, "What're you
not
saying?"
    His eyes came back to mine. "Right now there's relative peace on the streets. After you wiped out young Bonetti, everybody thought the old man would try to lay a hit on you, and if it didn't take, you'd come roaring back at him with one of those wild-ass shoot-outs that you were so damn famous for. Hell, that's why we kept you under wraps in the hospital ... until you slipped out on your own."
    "Don't lay any blame on the uniforms guarding me—I'm still not that easy to babysit."
    "I didn't. I don't."
    "So what's Papa Bonetti think about it now?" My second beer came and I sipped the head off it. "Is there still a contract out for this old dog?"
    "Not to our knowledge." He shrugged. "We took out so many of his men, and you killed his son—Alberto's a broken man. Sitting out his final years at his Long Island estate, and at that old social club. He's out of the business."
    "Balls."
    "Okay, so maybe he's not as retired as he says. I mean, somebody's distributing the stuff."
    "But not the Bonetti family."
    "Far as we know, they aren't major players in narcotics. They may still have some fingers in the racket, but their strong suits are loan-sharking and gambling. On the other hand, I don't think Alberto Bonetti's losing sleep over evening the score with Mike Hammer."
    "You sound sure of that."
    "I am. We went through some back channels and put the question to him. As far as he's concerned, the incident is closed. His boy Sal was a hothead who aimed higher than he could reach. The kid's dead, his pop's staying under the radar, maybe retired, maybe not. Either way, any more shooting would be bad all around."
    I paraphrased the Capone quote I'd shared with Marty: "Lousy for business."
    "And it would make our current administration
very
uneasy, as well."
    "I'll bet," I said sourly.
    We both went back to our corned beef, the noise around us building up as the bar crowd made its way back to the tables. It was a scratchy sound now, an irritant. I had been away from it too long, much too long, and a scene I once found comforting only annoyed. They sounded like a bunch of damn kids at a ball game, and Pat and I tried to cover it with our own grown-up conversation.
    But there comes a time when the small talk fades and all you do is sit there looking at each other, wondering how to work up to the main event.
    I said, "What happened to Doolan, Pat?"
    His frown had a ragged edge to it, as if he didn't like the way it was going to sound. "I told you. He killed himself."
    "Bullshit."
    He lifted a palm, like he was swearing in at court. "That's what I thought when I first saw the report. Doolan was never the suicide type."
    "Damn well told. There's no way you're going to make me believe
that.
"
    The gray eyes had a weariness now. "Suicide isn't really the right word, Mike."
    "What's that supposed to mean?"
    Pat sat back. "Physically healthy men who can't cope, and just plain give up and shoot themselves—
that's
suicide."
    "So?"
    "So a week ago Doolan had a