As they sped down the road in the rattling station wagon, Pinky said, “Nick always goes to the same pawnbroker for everything he swipes. And knowing him, he’d head there immediately after he finished the job at Rainbow Gardens.”
The reason Pinky was missing his engagement ring wasn’t because he’d lost it. After Pinky got the black joker card, Nicky knew the kid wasn’t going to need the ring anymore. He’d picked his pocket while everyone was in shock. It was just the kind of stunt Bowtie would pull, being the snake that he was.
“You sure about this?” Hats asked. “Even if that was his plan it probably would only take him twenty minutes for the broker to examine the goods and fork over the cash.”
Pinky nodded. “He’ll be there. I know exactly how long it would have taken him to get the job done with only the Moretti brothers for help. He’ll have gotten out of there less than an hour ago. If we hurry we’ll be able to catch him before he leaves.”
“I hope you’re right,” Hats said.
But Pinky was wrong. Nicky Bowtie hadn’t even shown up yet. Two blocks away from the pawnbroker, they passed Nick on the street. He was walking down the sidewalk, straightening his bow tie and whistling without a care in the world.
“There he is!” Pinky yelled.
Hats slammed on the brakes and pulled the station wagon up on the sidewalk, blocking Nick’s path. Bowtie froze in his tracks.
“Hey Nick,” Hats said, sticking his head out the window. “You’re just the prick I’ve been looking for.”
Bowtie stepped back. He didn’t know what they wanted until he saw Pinky get out of the passenger-side door.
“Pink?” Nick’s voice stuttered. “What are you doing here?”
He played dumb but he knew exactly why they were looking for him.
“Get your ass over here, you filthy rat,” Rizzo said as he stepped out of his car, trying to pull the enormous green hat off his head.
“Oh, shit…” Nick turned and ran.
Rizzo continued pulling his hat but he couldn’t separate it from the others.
“Damn it,” he said. Then he turned to Pinky. “Get that son of a bitch!”
Pinky took off after the man with the giant bow tie as Rizzo gave up on removing his hat and got back into his car. Nick ran through a family of clowns coming out of a restaurant, throwing a grandfather to the ground in order to get past. Pinky went around the group, avoiding a vanilla mother carrying a half-clown baby. It widened the gap between them by at least five yards.
Hats roared up the road in his station wagon, passing Pinky and catching up to the clown in the bow tie. The vehicle seemed like it was about to fall to pieces as he cut Nicky off on the sidewalk, but he was able to block the clown’s path. As Pinky closed in, Nick scanned the area. The nearby alley was blocked by a fence. He had no choice but to climb it.
“Stop him,” Hats yelled.
But Pinky wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed Nick’s ankle before he got over, but Nicky was able to kick out of his grasp and jump to the other side.
Hats grumbled and pulled back into traffic.
“I’ll cut him off on the other side,” Hats said as he sped off.
Pinky climbed over the fence and chased Nicky into the alley.
“Get back, Pink!” Bowtie cried, tugging on something in his belt as he ran. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
It was a handgun that Nick was trying to reach, but it was stuck in his belt loop. Knowing Nicky, the gun was probably loaded with his bullet of choice: depressors, aka sad bullets. Not designed to kill, but to put the target in a state of depression so severe that it usually resulted in suicide. They were very useful for suppressing targets, obtaining information—interrogations always went smoothly when the person being questioned was too depressed to care about anything anymore—and getting rid of enemies in such a way that the cops would never suspect foul play. It was just the kind of clown weapon that a snake like Nicky would prefer to use.
Pinky’s gun was in his ankle holster; he didn’t have time to get it while running. He picked up the pace. While Nick was struggling to remove his piece, Pinky charged him and tackled him to the ground before he could get the weapon free.
“You son of a bitch!” Pinky punched him in the face, cutting his knuckles open on the clown’s teeth.
Nicky spit blood and giggled.
“You look pissed off, Pink,” Nick said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve seen you without a smile on your face.”
Pinky punched him again. Then he pulled out a knife and held it to the rat’s throat.
“Why’d you do it, Nicky?” Pinky asked, shoving his blade closer to clown’s neck. “You’re supposed to be one of us. Why’d you flip?”
Nick gasped as Pinky held the blade tighter against his throat. He was more in danger of being choked to death than having his throat slit.
“I didn’t flip, Pink. You did. Everyone knows that you’re the rat.”
“Oh yeah?” Pinky ripped open his shirt. “Is this the reason you never take this thing off?”
Pinky grabbed Nick’s bow tie. It was connected to a wire. He cut it from his neck. Then he smashed it against the asphalt. It didn’t seem like it was on at the moment, but Pinky couldn’t be too careful.
“Yeah, so what?” Nicky said. “I didn’t have a choice. You would’ve done the same.”
Pinky picked him up off the ground and shoved him against the wall. Nick was nearly a foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than Pinky, but the kid threw him around like a stack of pancakes.
“No, I wouldn’t have,” Pinky said.
“Why? Because you follow a bullshit code of honor? Or maybe you think you’ll lose your worthless slut of a girlfriend if you rat out her family?”
“You don’t talk about Taffy that way.”
Nicky laughed through his bloody teeth. “You’re actually in love with her, aren’t you? That spoiled brat of a whore wasn’t even a good lay.”
As Pinky let go of Nick to throw another punch, the rat ducked out of the way. Pinky’s knuckles collided with the brick wall, leaving a fist-shaped blood mark. Nicky pushed him to the ground and ran.
“Hey, Pink,” Nicky said, turning back. “If you love her that much, then you’ll probably want this back.”
He held up the engagement ring. As Pinky charged him, Nick threw it across the alley, aiming for a storm drain. Pinky’s eyes widened. He didn’t think. He just acted. Instead of going after Nick, Pinky ran in the opposite direction. He leapt into the air and landed face-first into the storm drain. The ring went through the grate, but he managed to catch it with the tip of his little finger. His eyes locked on the rainbow-colored gem as the ring dangled off his pinkie.
It took three minutes of careful coordination for Pinky to pull the jewelry out of the grate using only his little finger. By the time he had it in his hands, Nick was long gone. Pinky went to the end of the alley just as Hats pulled up to the curb.
“What happened?” Hats yelled. “Where is he?”
Pinky looked around. Then sighed, rubbing his bloody knuckles.
“He got away,” Pinky said.
Then Hats hit the steering wheel so hard the air bag blew up in his face.