Hard as Nails

CHAPTER FOUR

Kurtz's new home, the Harbor Inn, was an abandoned, triangular three-story old bar and bargeman's hotel standing alone amidst weed-filled fields south of downtown Buffalo. To get to it, you had to cross the Buffalo River on a one-lane metal bridge between abandoned grain elevators. The bridge rose vertically as a single unit for barge traffic—almost nonexistent now—and a sign on the superstructure informed snowplows: "Raise Plow Before Crossing." Once onto what locals called "the Island," although it wasn't technically an island, the air smelled of burned Cheerios because the only remaining operating structure amidst the abandoned warehouses and silos was the big General Mills plant between the river and Lake Erie. The main entrance to the Harbor Inn—still boarded over but boarded now with a lock and hinge—was at the apex of the building's triangle where Ohio and Chicago Streets came together. There was a ten-foot-tall metal lighthouse hanging out over that entrance, its blue and white paint and the Harbor Inn logo beneath it so rust-flaked that it looked like someone had machine-gunned it. A fading wooden sign on the boarded door read—FOR LEASE, ELICOTT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY and gave a 716 phone number. Beneath that sign was older, even more faded lettering announcing

CHICKEN WINGS

CHILI

SANDWICHES

DAILY SPECIALS

Kurtz got the extra key from its hiding place, unpadlocked the front door, pulled the board out of his way, stepped in, and locked it all behind him. Only a few glimmers of sunlight came over and under the boards into this triangular main space—the old lobby and restaurant of the inn. Dust, plaster, and broken boards were scattered everywhere except on the path he'd cleared. The air smelled of mold and rot.

To the left of the hallway behind this space was the narrow staircase leading upstairs. Kurtz checked some small telltales and went up, walking slowly and grabbing the railing when the pain in his head made him dizzy.

He'd fixed up three rooms and one bathroom on the second floor, although there were hidey holes and escape routes out of all nine rooms up here. He'd replaced the windows and cleaned up the big triangular room in front—not as his bedroom, that was a smaller room next to it, but as an exercise room, fitted out with a speed bag, heavy bag, a treadmill he'd scavenged from the junk heap behind the Buffalo Athletic Club and repaired, a padded bench, and various weights. Kurtz had never fallen into the bodybuilding fetish so endemic in Attica during his eleven and a half years there—he'd found that strength was fine, but speed and the ability to react fast were more important—but during the last six months he'd been doing a lot of physical therapy. Two of the windows in here looked out on Chicago and Ohio Streets and the abandoned grain silos and factory complex to the west; the center window looked right into the pockmarked lighthouse sign.

His bedroom was nothing special—a mattress, an old wardrobe that now held his suits and clothes—and wooden blinds over the window. The third room had brick and board bookcases against two walls, shelves filled with paperbacks, a faded red carpet, a single floor lamp that Arlene had planned to throw away, and—amazingly—an Eames chair and ottoman that some idiot out in Williamsville had put out for junk pickup. It looked like some eighty-pound cat had gone at the black leather upholstery with its claws, but Kurtz had fixed that with electrical tape.

Kurtz went to the end of the dark hall, stripped out of the old man's clothes, and took a fast but very hot shower, making sure to keep the spray off his bandages.

After drying off, Kurtz took out his razor, squeezed lather into his palm, and looked at the mirror for the first time.

"Jesus Christ," he said disgustedly.

The face looking back at him was unshaven and not quite human. The bandages looked bloody again and he could see the shaved patch around them. Blood had drained beneath the skin of his temple and forehead down under his eyes until he had a bright purple raccoon mask. The eyes themselves were almost as bright a red as the soaked-through bandages and he had scrapes and road rash on his left cheek and chin where he must have done a face-plant onto the concrete garage floor. His left eye didn't look right—as if it weren't dilating properly.

"Christ," he muttered again. He wouldn't be delivering any love letters for SweetheartSearch-dot-com again anytime soon.

Shaved and showered now, somehow feeling lousier and more exhausted for it, he dressed in clean jeans, a black t-shirt, new running shoes, and a leather A-2 jacket he'd once given to his old wino-addict informant and acquaintance, Pruno, but which Pruno had given back, saying that it wasn't really his style. The jacket was still in pristine condition, obviously never worn by the homeless man.

Kurtz gingerly pulled on the fedora and went into the unfurnished bedroom that adjoined his own. The plaster hadn't been repaired here and part of the ceiling was falling down. Kurtz reached above the woodwork of the adjoining door, clicked open a panel covered with the same mildewed wallpaper as the rest of the wall, and pulled a.38 S&W from the metal box set in the hole there. The gun was wrapped in a clean rag and smelled of oil. There was a wad of cash in the metal box and Kurtz counted out five hundred dollars from it and set the rest back, pulling the weapon free of the oily rag.

Kurtz checked that all six chambers were loaded, spun the cylinder, tucked the revolver in his waistband, grabbed a handful of cartridges from the box, stuck them in his jacket pocket, and put away the metal container and oily rag, carefully clicking the panel back into place.

He walked back to the triangular front room on the second floor and looked in all directions. It was still a beautiful blue-sky autumn day; Ohio and Chicago Streets were empty of traffic. Nothing but weeds stood in the hundreds of yards of fields between him and the abandoned silos and mills to the southwest.

Kurtz flipped on a video monitor that was part of a surveillance system he and Arlene had used in their former office in the basement of an X-rated-video store. The two cameras mounted at the rear of the Harbor Inn building showed the overgrown yards and streets and cracked sidewalks there empty.

Kurtz grabbed his spare cell phone from a shelf by the speed bag and punched in a private number. He talked briefly, said "Fifteen minutes," broke the connection, and then redialed for a cab.

The public basketball courts in Delaware Park showcased some of the finest athletic talent in Western New York, and even though this was a Thursday morning, a school day, the courts were busy with black men and boys playing impressive basketball.

Kurtz saw Angelina Farino Ferrara as soon as he stepped out of the cab. She was wearing a tailored sweatsuit, but not so tailored that he could make out the.45 Compact Witness that he guessed she still carried in a quick-release holster under her sweatshirt. The woman looked fit enough to be on the courts herself—but she was too short and too white, even with her dark hair and olive complexion, to be invited by those playing there now.

Kurtz immediately picked out her bodyguards and could have even if they hadn't been the only other white guys in this part of the park. One of the men was ten yards to her left, studiously studying squirrel activity, and the other was strolling fifteen yards to her right, almost to the courts. Her bodyguards from the previous winter had been lumpish and proletarian, from Jersey, but these two were as thin, well-dressed, and blow-dried as California male models. One of them started crossing toward Kurtz as if to intercept and frisk him, but Angelina Farino Ferrara waved the man off.

As he got closer, Kurtz opened his arms as if to hug her, but really to show that his hands and jacket pockets were free of weapons.

"Holy fuck, Kurtz," she said when he got to within four feet and stopped.

"Nice to see you, too."

"You look sort of like The Spirit."

"Who?"

"A comic strip character from the forties. He wore a fedora and a blue mask, too. He used to have his own comics page in the Herald Tribune. My father used to collect them in a big leather scrapbook during the war."

"Uh-huh," said Kurtz. "Interesting." Meaning—can we cut the crap?

Angelina Farino Ferrara shook her head, chuckled, and began walking east toward the zoo. White mothers were herding their preschoolers toward the zoo gates, casting nervous glances toward the oblivious blacks playing basketball. Most of the males on the courts were stripped to shorts even on this chilly autumn day and their flesh looked oiled with sweat.

"So I heard that you and your parole officer were shot yesterday," said Angelina. "Somehow you just took it on your thick skull while she took it in the brain. Congratulations, Kurtz. You always were nine-tenths luck to one-tenth skill or common sense."

Kurtz couldn't argue with that. "How'd you hear about it so fast?"

"Cops on the arm."

Of course, thought Kurtz. The concussion must be making him stupid.

"So who did it?" asked the woman. She had an oval face out of a Donatello sculpture, intelligent brown eyes, shoulder-length black hair cut straight and tied back this morning, and a runner's physique. She was also the first female acting don in the history of the American mafia—a group that hadn't evolved high enough on the political-correctness ladder even to recognize terms like "female acting don." Whenever Kurtz found himself thinking that she was especially attractive, he would remember her telling him that she'd drowned her newborn baby boy—the product of a rape by Emilio Gonzaga, the head of the rival Buffalo mob family—in the Belice River in Sicily. Her voice had sounded calm when she'd told him, almost satisfied.

"I was hoping you could tell me who shot me," said Kurtz.

"You didn't see them?" She'd stopped walking. Leaves swirled around her legs. Her two bodyguards kept their distance but they also kept their eyes on Kurtz.

"No."

"Well, let's see," said Angelina. "Do you have any enemies who might want to do you harm?"

Kurtz waited while she had her little laugh.

"D-BIock Mosque still has its fatwa out on you," she said. "And the Seneca Street Social Club still thinks you had something to do with their fearless leader, whatshisname, Malcolm Kibunte, going over the Falls last winter."

Kurtz waited.

"Plus there's some oversized Indian with a serious limp who's telling everyone who'll listen that he's going to kill you. Big Bore Redhawk. Is that a real name?"

"You should know," said Kurtz. "You hired the idiot."

"Actually, Stevie did." She was referring to her brother.

"How is Little Skag?" said Kurtz.

Angelina shrugged. "He was never returned to general population after that shank job in Attica last spring. Cons don't like Short Eyes. Even scum has to have its scum to look down on. Best bet is that Little Stevie's under federal protection in a country club somewhere."

"His lawyer would know," said Kurtz.

"His lawyer had an unfortunate accident in his home in June. He didn't survive."

Kurtz looked at her carefully but Angelina Farino Ferrara's expression revealed nothing. Her brother had been her only rival to the control of the Farino crime family, and the loss of his lawyer would have cramped Little Skag's ability to operate at least as much as the shanking and beatings had, which had come about because of a pedophile story that Angelina had leaked to the media.

"Who else might want some of me?" said Kurtz. "Anyone I haven't heard about?"

"What would I be getting in return?"

Kurtz shrugged. "What would you want?"

"That jacket," said Angelina Farino Ferrara.

Kurtz looked down. "You want my jacket in exchange for information?"

"No, dipshit. That was one of Sophia's post-fuck presents. She bought them by the gross from Avirex."

Shit, thought Kurtz. He'd forgotten that Angelina's now-dead younger sister had given him this bomber jacket. It was one of the reasons he'd given it to Pruno. And, indeed, it had been a post-fuck going-away present He wondered now if this concussion had made him too stupid to go out in public. Right, said the more cynical part of his bruised brain, blame it on the concussion.

"I'll give you the jacket right now if you tell me who else might have been in that parking garage with me yesterday," he said.

"I don't want the jacket," Angelina said. "Nor the sex that made Sophia give you the damn thing. I just want to hire you the way she did. The way Papa did."

Kurtz blinked at this. When he'd gotten out of Attica a year ago, he'd tried out the theory that since he couldn't work as a licensed private investigator any longer, he might find dishonest but steady work doing investigations for shady characters like Don Farino and then the don's daughter, Sophia. It hadn't worked out so well for Kurtz, but even less well for the dead don and his dead daughter.

"Are you nuts?" said Kurtz.

Angelina Farino Ferrara shrugged. "Those are my terms for information.",

"Then you are nuts. You want to hire me in what capacity? Hairdresser to your boys?" He nodded in the direction of the pretty bodyguards.

"You weren't listening, Kurtz. I want to hire you as an investigator."

"At my daily rates?"

"Flat fee for services rendered," said Angelina.

"How flat?"

"Fifteen thousand dollars for a single name and address. Ten thousand for just the name."

Kurtz breathed out and waited. His head felt like someone had displaced it about two feet to the left. Even the color of the leaves blowing around them hurt his eyes. The basketball players shouted at some great rebound under the boards. Somewhere in the zoo, an old lion coughed. The silence stretched.

"You thinking, Kurtz, or just having a Senior Moment?"

"Tell me what I'm supposed to investigate and I'll tell you if I'm in."

The woman folded her arms and watched the basketball game for a minute. One of the younger men playing caught her eye and whistled. The bodyguards glowered. Angelina grinned at the kid with the basketball. She turned back to Kurtz.

"Someone's been killing some of our people. Five, to be exact."

"Someone you don't know."

"Yeah."

"You want me to find out who's doing it?"

"Yeah."

"And whack him?"

Angelina Farino Ferrara rolled her eyes. "No, Kurtz, I have people for that. Just identify him beyond any reasonable doubt and give us the name. Five thousand more if you come up with a current location as well."

"Can't your people find him as well as whack him?"

"They're specialists," said Angelina.

Kurtz nodded. "These people close to you getting hit? Button men, that sort of thing?"

"No. Contacts. Connections. Customers. I'll explain later."

Kurtz thought about it. The wad of cash in his pocket was getting close to the last money he had. But what were the ethics of finding someone so these mobsters could kill them? He certainly had an ethical dilemma on his hands.

"Fifteen thousand guaranteed, half now, and I'll find him and locate him," he said. So much for wrestling with ethics.

"A third now," said Angelina Farino Ferraro. She turned around, blocking the view from the basketball court with her body, and slipped him five-g's already bundled into a tight roll.

Kurtz loved being predictable. "I could tell you right now who's doing it," he said.

Angelina stepped back and looked at him. Her eyes were very brown.

"The new Gonzaga," said Kurtz. "Emilio's boy up from Florida."

"No," said Angelina. "It's not Toma."

Kurtz raised his eyebrows at her use of the dead don's son's first name. She'd never been fond of the Gonzagas. Kurtz's well-honed private investigator instincts told him that that might have had something to do with old Emilio raping her and crippling her father years before.

"All right," he said, "I'll start looking into it as soon as I get my own little matter settled. You going to give me the details about the hits?"

"I'll send Colin around to your office on Chippewa this afternoon with the notes." She nodded toward the taller of the two bodyguards.

"Colin?" Kurtz raised his eyebrows again and decided he wouldn't do that anymore. It hurt. "All right My turn. Who shot me?"

"I don't know who shot you," said Angelina, "but I know who's been looking for you the last few days."

Kurtz had been out of town delivering Sweetheart-Search-dot-com letters most of that time. "Who?"

"Toma Gonzaga."

Kurtz felt the air cool around him. "Why?"

"I don't know for sure," said the woman. "But he's had a dozen of his new guys looking—some hanging around that dump you live in by the Cheerios factory. Others staking out your office on Chippewa. A couple hanging around Blues Franklin."

"All right," said Kurtz. "It's not much, but thanks."

Angelina zipped up her sweatshirt. "There's another thing, Kurtz."

"Yeah?"

"There's a rumor… just a street rumor so far… that Toma's sent for the Dane."

Through the pounding in his skull, Kurtz felt a slight lurch of nausea. The Dane was a legendary assassin from Europe who rarely came to Buffalo on business. Kurtz had seen him in action the last time he'd been here—the day that Don Byron Farino and his daughter, Sophia, and several others, had been shot in the presumed safety of the Farino compound.

"Well…" began Kurtz. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He knew, and he presumed that Angelina Farino Ferrara knew, that even if Toma Gonzaga wanted Joe Kurtz dead for some reason, he wouldn't have to bring in the Dane for that It was far more likely that Gonzaga would hire someone of the Dane's caliber and expense to eliminate his one real rival in Western New York—Angelina Farino Ferrara. "Well," he said again, "I'll look into it when I figure out who did this to me."

The acting female don of the Farino family nodded, zipped her sweatshirt up the rest of the way, and began jogging, first across the grass with its blowing yellow leaves, then onto the winding inner park road toward the rear of the zoo. The two bodyguards ran to their parked Lincoln Town Car and hurried to catch up.

Kurtz shifted the old man's fedora slightly trying to get the pressure off the bandages and his split skull. It didn't work. He looked around for a park bench, but luckily there was none in sight—he probably would have curled up in a fetal position on it and gone to sleep if there'd been one there.

The basketball players were letting new guys come into the game while the sweaty players leaving the court traded high-fives and clever insults. Kurtz brought his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and called for a cab.