Barely Legal

79

Mookie called Taperelli back. “You spoke to him?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“I think he’s clean. Just a case of friends taking him out to dinner. Did they react while he was on the phone?”

“Not at all,” Mookie said. “He played it very cool. He might have been confirming a business appointment.”

“I think it’s okay. I think he’s scared to death, particularly after what happened to his girlfriend. He’s not going to put another girl at risk.”

“So it’s just another ordinary dinner?”

“Looks like it.”

“So can I knock off?”

“If he goes home, sure. Just so he don’t go anywhere else.”

Mookie was pissed when he hung up the phone. Herbie and his friends had just got their dinner. They’d eat it slowly, savoring every bite. They wouldn’t be done for hours. When they were, it would be late and they’d go straight home.

Mookie was hungry just watching them.

He jerked his notebook out of his pocket. Who did he have on tonight? Gus, Chico, and Cousin Lou were all there. Paulie would be coming on to overlap Gus, who would be leaving at midnight.

Mookie looked up Paulie’s number and gave him a call.