Today they were in Simpson's Dodge pickup, parked farther down Tremont Street, watching Development Associates of Boston in the rearview mirror. Jesse went to use the washroom at the Boston Ballet building, showing his badge in the lobby to forestall discussion.
"First rule of stakeout," Jesse said when he came back. "Locate near a place you can take a leak."
"We going to follow somebody if they leave? Gino, or the receptionist guy?"
"Nope."
"So why are we here?"
"See what happens."
"Why don't we follow them?"
"I don't want to spook them," Jesse said.
"You think they'd spot us?"
"People like Gino need to be pretty alert," Jesse said. "If somebody's alert, it's pretty hard to tail them alone."
"So we're just going to sit here forever?"
"In another couple days," Jesse said, "we'll double-team them."
"Use two cars?"
"Yes."
"You and me in two cars?"
"Yes."
"So this is sort of like training."
"Sort of," Jesse said.
"That'll be so cool," Simpson said.
Jesse nodded.
Across the street, Vinnie Morris came up the stairs in front of the office and out onto Tremont.
"That the receptionist?" Simpson said.
Jesse smiled. "That's the shooter," he said. "Vinnie Morris."
"Doesn't look like anything special," Simpson said.
"He's supposed to be very good," Jesse said. "Look at me and we'll pretend to be talking."
"Look at you?"
"Yes. Nod your head. I'm saying something really important which is why we're sitting here in the parked car. You understand?"
Suitcase was looking at Jesse, nodding his head vigorously.
"You think he'd get wise seeing us sitting here?"
"He might," Jesse said. "Guys like him and Gino are very careful."
"That why we're using my car today?" Simpson said. "So they won't see the same one twice in a row?"
"That's right," Jesse said.
Simpson continued to nod overtly. Jesse grinned.
"And don't overact," he said.
In the outside mirror Jesse watched Vinnie Morris move up the street toward the sandwich shop where Simpson had bought them coffee when they'd arrived. In a few minutes he came back carrying coffee in a tall paper cup.
"Think he's been talking to your mother?" Jesse said.
"Nobody talks to my mom," Simpson said. "They listen."
Vinnie Morris went back down the stairs into the office again. The truck windows were open. There was no breeze. Jesse could smell the hot smell of the sidewalk. In the middle of the afternoon, Brian Kelly came by and tapped on the side window.
"It's okay," Jesse said. "He's a cop."
Kelly squeezed into the front seat of the truck beside Simpson.
Jesse introduced them.
"You got anything?" Jesse said to Kelly.
"Nope, I was going to ask you the same thing."
"We got two more shelter girls left a forwarding number. This time Alan Garner."
"Who's he?"
"Gino's receptionist."
"And main squeeze?"
"I don't know, does Gino usually squeeze his receptionists?"
"Usually part of the job description," Kelly said. "Or so they tell me at OCU."
"You mean these guys are gay?" Simpson said.
"I'm guessing about Garner," Kelly said. "But Gino's pretty certain."
"I want to put Garner and Gino under surveillance. You got anybody you can spare?"
"I look like the CO?" Kelly said. "I can spare me. On my own time."
"How come you need more guys, Jesse?"
"You need a couple on Garner and a couple on Gino," Jesse said. "What about Vinnie?" he said to Kelly.
Kelly shook his head.
"Vinnie does what he does," Kelly said. "For hire. You're looking for a missing kid, or something like that, Vinnie isn't going to do you any good."
"Why not?" Simpson said.
Jesse smiled.
"Vinnie doesn't fuck with kids," Kelly said.
"A shooter with standards?" Simpson said.
"Whatever," Kelly said.
"So there's you and me," Jesse said to Kelly.
"When I'm not wasting my time working, or sleeping, or trying to get laid," Kelly said.
"And Suit is three," Jesse said.
"How many we need?" Simpson said.
"We could get by with three more," Jesse said. "Five more would be perfect."
"Why so many?" Simpson said.
"Two cars so we can bracket Gino. Two for the receptionist."
"So that's four," Simpson said.
"What happens if one of them gets out of the car and starts walking?" Jesse said.
Simpson nodded.
"Can you spare anybody else?" Kelly said to Jesse.
"I only got ten cops left," Jesse said.
"Maybe I can get Bobby Doyle interested," Kelly said. "Otherwise we're it, and part of the time it's just you."
"Part of the time it's probably not any of us," Jesse said. "Once in a while we need to lead our lives."
Kelly looked surprised.
"You do?" he said.