Dog Tags

CHAPTER 47

“HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND THAT OUT?”

“What’s the difference?” Willie asks. “I told you I wanted to help out, and that I wanted to know who hired Childress. So I did both.”

“M? That’s the guy’s name?”

“That’s what they call him.”

“Willie, I need to know where this came from.”

“Why?”

“So I can judge how reliable it is. No offense, I trust you completely, but anyone can be wrong.”

So Willie reluctantly tells me about his friend Joseph Russo, and how he is sure Russo is correct about this. I have no doubt he’s telling me the straight scoop, and I’m also sure that Russo is the type of guy in position to have access to this information. As search engines go, the Vincent Petrone crime family has the power of about six Googles.

“You took a big chance, Willie.”

“The piece of shit held a gun on Sondra. M sent him, so M is going down, no matter what kind of chances I have to take. Besides, I told you, Russo is a friend, and he thinks he owes me.”

“Why does he think that?”

“Because I took care of three guys that were trying to kill him in prison.”

“You took care of them?” I ask. “How did you do that?”

“They were coming at him with knives, and I didn’t think that was fair, so I stopped them and put them in the hospital.”

“Oh.” I’m amazed that such a momentous event could have happened, yet Willie is so nonchalant about it that he never told me. If I heroically thwarted a murder, I would have a book deal and a Today show appearance within an hour. I would also walk around wearing a sandwich board proclaiming myself a “hero” sandwich.

“Russo’s going to put out the word to try and find him,” Willie says. “And I want to help as well.”

Obviously Willie is going to be active in this hunt whether Laurie and I want him to or not, so I can’t say no. Nor do I want to; he’s learned more in a few days than I have since I got on the case.

“Okay. We’ll—” I’m interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Since Edna is off somewhere being Edna, I answer it myself.

“Hello,” I say, using a clever phone conversation opening that I’ve perfected over time.

“Hello, Andy.” It’s Cindy Spodek; the first time I’ve spoken to her since I asked if she could get the FBI report on the Iraq explosion.

“I hope you’re not calling for another favor,” I say. “I’m starting to feel taken advantage of.”

“Don’t push it, old friend. I tried to get a look at the report you asked about.”

Her use of the word “tried” doesn’t exactly fill me with optimism. “And?”

“And there is no way. I’d have an easier time getting my hands on the nuclear codes.”

“Sorry to hear that,” I say. “Is that to be expected in a situation like this? Is it standard operating procedure?”

“Even without seeing it, I can tell you that there’s nothing standard about that report. It’s classified in the extreme; Homeland Security is all over it.”

“Homeland Security? This happened in Iraq, not Iowa.”

“Andy, think of the world as one big happy homeland.”

This is confusing to me, which means it gets added to the list. “Thanks, Cindy. I appreciate your trying. And while I have you…”

“Uh-oh,” she says.

“If I say ‘M,’ what does it mean to you?”

“I hope you mean, like in Mary.”

“No, I mean like in criminal or hit man,” I say.

The next ten seconds defines the phrase “ominous silence.” “Cindy?”

“Andy, this is someone you don’t want to have anything to do with, in any form.”

“So you know of him?”

“I’ve been chasing him for six months.”

“Why?”

“He’s a murderer, Andy. And one of his murders is part of a case I’m working on.”

“Which one?” I ask.

“I’m not at liberty to say. Sorry.”

“Is it mob-related?”

I can just about see her frowning into the phone. “I’m not going to play twenty questions with you, but no, it’s not mob-related, depending on your definition of mob.”

“That’s a little cryptic for me,” I say.

“That’s the best I can do, other than to tell you to be very careful with this guy. And I can also send you the sketch we’re working with; we don’t have a picture.”

I ask her to send it to me right away, and then I get off the phone and tell Willie about the conversation, and he nods confirmation. “Russo said he was bad news.”

Which is pretty significant, because I imagine Russo is a pretty good judge of bad news.