When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Read Free Page B

or twenty K aweek's worth. And they don't drive big cars, and they never go out and spend a dollar in somebody else's joint. I don't see Tim Pat buying emeralds for some sweet young thing, or his brothers putting grams of coke up their Irish noses."
    "Up your Irish nose," Billie Keegan said.
    "I liked Tim Pat's little speech, and then buying a round. Far as I know, that's the first time theMorrisseys ever set 'emup for the house."
    "Fucking Irish," Billie said.
    "Jesus, Keegan, you're drunk again."
    "Praisebe to God, you're right."
    "What do you think, Matt? Did Tim Pat recognize Frank and Jesse?"
    I thought about it. "I don't know. What he was saying added up to 'Keep out of this and we'll settle it ourselves.' Maybe it was political."
    "Fucking-A right," Billie said. "The Reform Democrats were behind it."
    "Maybe Protestants," Skip said.
    "Funny," Billie said. "They didn't look Protestant."
    "Or some other IRA faction.There's different factions, aren't there?"
    "Of course you rarely see Protestants with handkerchiefs over their faces," Billie said. "They usually tuck them in the breast pocks, the breast pockets-"
    "Jesus, Keegan."
    "Fucking Protestants," Billie said.
    "Fucking Billie Keegan," Skip said. "Matt, we better walk this asshole home."
    "Fucking guns," Billie said, back on that track suddenly. "Go out for a nightcap and you're surrounded by fucking guns. You carry a gun, Matt?"
    "Not me, Billie."
    "Really?"He put a hand on my shoulder for support. "But you're a cop."
    "Used to be."
    "Private cop now.Even the rent-a-cop, security guard in a bookstore, guy tells you to check your briefcase on the way in, he's got a gun."
    "They're generally just for show."
    "You mean I won't get shot if I walk off with the Modern Library edition of The Scarlet Letter? You shouldof told me before I went and paid for it. You really don't carry a gun?"
    "Another illusion shattered," Skip said.
    "What about your buddy the actor?" Billie demanded of him. "Is little Bobby a gunslinger?"
    "Who,Ruslander?"
    "He'd shoot you in the back," Billie said.
    "IfRuslander carried a gun," Skip said, "it'd be a stage prop. It'd shoot blanks."
    "Shoot you in the back," Billie insisted. "Likewhatsisname, Bobby the Kid."
    "You mean Billy the Kid."
    "Who are you to tell me what I mean? Does he?"
    "Does he what?"
    "Pack a piece, for Christ's sake. Isn't that what we've been talking about?"
    "Jesus, Keegan, don't ask me what we've been talking about."
    "You mean you weren't paying attention either?Jeezus."
    BILLIE Keegan lived in a high-rise on Fifty-sixth near Eighth. He straightened up as we approached his building and appeared sober enough when he greeted the doorman. "Matt, Skip," he said. "See you guys."
    "Keegan's all right," Skip told me.
    "He's a good man."
    "Not as drunk as he pretended, either. He was just riding it, enjoying himself."
    "Sure."
    "We keep a gun behind the bar at Miss Kitty's, you know. We got held up, the place I used to work before John and I opened up together. I was behind the stick in this place onSecond Avenue in theEighties, guy walked in, white guy, stuck a gun in my face and got the money from the register.Held up the customers, too. Only have five, six people in the joint at the time, but he took wallets off of them. I think he took their watches too, if I remember it right.Class operation."
    "Sounds it."
    "All the time I was being a hero inNam, fucking Special Forces, I never had to stand and look at the wrong end of a gun. I didn't feel anything while it was going on, but later I felt angry, you know what I mean? I was in a rage. Went out, bought a gun, ever since then it's been with me whenI been working. At thatjoint, and now in Miss Kitty's. I still think we should have called it Horseshoes and Hand Grenades."
    "You got a permit for it?"
    "The gun?"He shook his head. "It's not registered. You worksaloons, you don't have too much trouble knowing where to go to buy a gun. I spent two days asking around and on the third