Bad blood

51

The #6 chugged in close again as a second team of EMTs carried Mike onto the empty train for the ride up to Thirty-fourth Street and the Bellevue emergency room.

He stretched out on the long, gray vinyl seat of the brightly lit car. One of the medics had removed his shoes and was sitting at his feet, beginning to examine them to determine the nature of the injury.

“They’ll x-ray you, but my guess is you’ve got a torn ligament. Maybe a fracture, too, the way you said you landed on it when you fell. There’s a lot of swelling. You’ll have to stay off this for a while.”

“Hurts like hell. You got a pillow handy? This bench is hard as a rock. My tail and my head hurt more than my foot.”

I laughed and sat down, gently lifting Mike’s head and resting it in my lap, brushing the hair back off his face.

He looked up at Mercer. “Has she been useful today or what? Coop earned her stripes. What’s up with those firecrackers, kid?”

“Mercer and I met Uncle Charlie a couple of years ago. Kept a bad gang supplied with what the Chinese used to call ‘exploding sticks’-baozhang.”

“What made you think of that?”

“When I saw the bamboo seats on the old redbird inside the terminal, it reminded me of things Charlie told us about firecrackers-that the earliest ones were made of bamboo. It grows so fast that pockets of air and sap get trapped inside. Over fire, the air expands and bursts out with a loud noise. So eventually, the Chinese started wrapping gunpowder in bamboo tubes. I figured if Quillian was anywhere around, the noise would cause flashbacks to his accident-unhinge him-scare him out of hiding.”

“How did you know Uncle Charlie would have any?”

“Fourth of July’s only a few weeks away. He does a huge business in illegal firecrackers this time of year. And Mercer gave Charlie a pass on our big case-he’s a friend for life. Didn’t lock him up ’cause he was so cooperative.”

The motorman got the signal from the medic and the car moved forward, rounding the rest of the loop before heading up the incline past the northbound side of the Brooklyn Bridge station.

Commuters stepped forward expecting the train to stop and the doors to open, but we were on a private ride with our special patient.

“I thought you hated the subway,” Mike said, looking up at me, pressing my hand in his. “You’re almost smiling. I know you won’t say it, but Brendan Quillian got what he deserved.”

“It’s over. We’re all okay. And I’m almost back, out of the center of the earth. There really is an underground city of death, and I can’t wait to leave it.”

Mercer was hanging on to the pole as the train continued uptown.

“Marley Dionne-your snitch,” Mike said to Mercer. “Is he still at Bellevue?”

“Yeah.”

“Talking yet?”

“No way.”

“Maybe we’ll do a drop-in while I’m waiting to be x-rayed. Dig a little deeper, we’re going to prove that Duke Quillian tried to hire him to kill Amanda. Probably through some Jamaican sandhogs. There’s got to be a connection there. People like Dionne and that guy Larry Pritchard, they’re likely to start talking to us now. Both Duke and Brendan are out of the picture, so they’ve got to feel a whole lot safer. When the deal fell through with Dionne, I’ll bet you Duke kept the contract on Amanda for himself. Delighted in doing it. Brought the whole family breakup back full circle. Duke doing Brendan’s dirty work, just like the good old days.”

“How’d you figure that out about the cash that O’Malley got from Trish?” Mercer asked.

“Hey, Coop and I had every bank record, phone record, contact that Brendan Quillian made in the year before his arrest. His brother’s name never came up a single time. But once we got the story from Trish herself, how Duke had always protected his little brother, done his fighting-it seemed logical to me that Brendan would go to him in the end when he needed the biggest favor of all.”

“Kill Amanda but keep the Keating fortune,” I said.

“What else would he have to give Duke but money? Trish probably found the stash after he was killed, cleaning out his apartment.”

“And Teddy O’Malley?”

“Playing two sides against the middle. Quillians and Hassetts-both families go way back in the business. I tell you it’s tribal with those sandhogs. It was a classic blood feud, and O’Malley wasn’t any damn good at choosing sides. So he gambled with each of them. He was ready to sell Quillian to the highest bidder, and he lost big.”

The train had cruised by the Bleecker Street and Astor Place stations, slowing through the crowded platform at Fourteenth Street, before speeding up again.

“I guess Peterson has the squad looking for Bobby Hassett right now,” Mike said to Mercer. “After the docs check me out, bandage me, you and I can catch up with them.”

Mercer shook his head. “By the time they’re through with you tonight-thin ankle, thick head, and all-I expect Mr. Hassett will be snug behind bars.”

“Screw the hospital. Want to take this damn thing all the way to the end of the line?” Mike asked. I could feel his relief, the tension easing in his body.

“Get me off this chariot, Mr. Chapman. I want to smell fresh air and see the daylight-well, moonlight-as soon as possible. I want to get your ankle taped up so you can take me dancing. I want to be sure that everyone Brendan Quillian hurt throughout his life knows he can’t ever do that again. I want to turn on my faucets every day and find the best-tasting water in the world still coming out of them, and be grateful to all the people who’ve been digging the holes to get it here. I want you to promise me that-”

“Go easy on me, Coop. Way too many demands. Do I have to apologize for taking you into the loop tonight, too?” Mike asked.

“Buy me two drinks and ask me then. If I can hold on to the glass without shaking, without spilling a drop of my Scotch-you’ll be forgiven.”

“What do you think, Mercer? I got the best seat in the house, don’t I?”

The train rocked from side to side and Mike squeezed my hand again.