THAT SAME DAY
“You want to talk here?” the tall and leaner of the two asked. “Might be better if we go to the Oyster Bar, no? Grab us some littlenecks and a couple of cold ones.”
“I didn’t drag my ass down here to grab a meal with you, Arthur,” Kenwood said. “Tell me what you and Pete came to tell me. And then you can go down to the Bar and eat all the raw fish you can stand.”
“Tank and that crippled partner of his are digging into the Randy Jenkins file,” said Pete. He was older than his partner, with a shaved head and wearing a tight black muscle T and jeans torn at the knee. “Went in and asked for the case from Connors is what I heard.”
“Why that one in particular?” Kenwood asked.
“Not sure,” Arthur said, shrugging.
“Have they reached out to anyone yet?” Kenwood asked.
“They’ve only been on it a couple of days,” Pete said. “They might have connected with one of their old street informants, but that’s not going to get them far. They have to dig up a doer from seventeen years back. That’s no easy feat.”
“I don’t give a damn how many hurdles Tank’s got to jump over,” Kenwood said. “He’s the type that doesn’t stop until he gets what he’s after. Trust me. I know that bastard better than either one of you.”
“Maybe so,” Arthur said. “But even with the chief running cover for them, it’s a heavy lift. They have to prove the guy who confessed and got convicted for the murder didn’t do it and dig up the one who did. I don’t care how good Tank is, I don’t see how he cracks this baby open.”
“Don’t be so quick to brush them off,” Kenwood said. “Especially when it’s my ass and not yours that’s in the ringer.”
“The DA’s office is taking a second look at all your closed homicides,” Pete said. “Why’s this one got your ass tied in knots?”
“Besides, what do you care if they find the guy?” Arthur said. “Just like with all the others, they release the con, pay him out seven figures, and two, three days later everybody moves on, business as usual. You still sit back, collect your pension, and live your life.”
“That might be true on them other cases,” Kenwood said. “But not with this guy Tank. Him and Pearl catch some luck and pin the murder on someone other than Jenkins, they’re not going to be happy to see it end there. If that happens, then they’ll come looking for me, and I’m not in any mood to give those fuckers that chance.”
“Okay, then,” Pete said. “What are you thinking of doing about it?”
“Stop them now,” Kenwood said. “Don’t give them a chance to get anywhere near the case.”
“You better go looking for somebody else,” Arthur said. “Passing off some information your way is one thing. Going after a couple of retired badges is another matter. And I’m not in this to piss away my pension, let alone risk some jail time of my own, just to cover your greasy tracks.”
“You take my money, you take my orders and follow them,” Kenwood said. “And you’re both in too deep to take any back steps now.”
“My advice?” Arthur said. “Keep a clear head. Tank and the chief go back a gang of years and they’re tight. Something happens to either him or Pearl while they’re working this case, you don’t think the chief is going to come looking at you hard?”
“Let him look all he wants,” Kenwood said. “Something goes down, I won’t be anywhere near where it happens. And besides, where’s it written it has to be Tank that takes the hit? He’s got himself some half-ass crew helping on the cases come his way. I even hear he’s got his brother’s kid living with him, and he still spends cozy time with the looker runs that restaurant he hangs out in. There are targets everywhere you look.”
“I would steer clear of the girlfriend if I were you,” Pete said.
“And why is that?” Kenwood said. “Because of her old man? I gotta shit my pants because of some past-his-prime wiseguy?”
“Past his prime or no, Carmine Tramonti was a high-end mob boss,” Pete said. “And with a guy like him, you touch his family, he’ll do all he can to make sure a bullet gets sent your way.”
“Not if my bullet hits him first,” Kenwood said. “Hard to get off a shot when you’re laid out in a coffin.”
“You make a move like that, it’s going to piss off lots of people,” Arthur said. “None more than Tank himself. He’ll figure you for that in less time than it would take him to pour a cup of coffee. And he’ll come straight at you.”
Eddie Kenwood moved away from the information desk and looked at the two men and smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “No matter how all this shakes out, it’s going to come down to him coming after me and me going after him.”
“There must be some real bad blood between the two of you,” Pete said, “if you’re looking to take him down as bad as all that.”
“I’m not planning on taking him down,” Kenwood said. “I’m planning on bringing him in, handcuffs and all.”
“For what?” Arthur asked.
“For murder,” Kenwood said. “I’m going to arrest Tank Rizzo for murder.”