“Is that where he learned to deal off the bottom?” Al asked.

—

It was at that moment in time when Ryan and Vinny walked into Sean Finn’s liquor store out of a steady rain outside, their yellow raincoats and hats glistening, droplets hanging from their false beards. The two men who had delivered the bank bags had left, and there were no customers in the store.

“Put your hands on the counter and keep them there,” Ryan said, producing a shotgun on a shoulder strap from under his raincoat.

Vinny held his shotgun in one hand and vaulted over the counter with the other. He pushed the two men along the counter, away from the cash register. “Look what we got here,” he said, taking two handguns from under the counter and emptying them, then tossing them into the wine department. He found the three bank bags, too, and put them on the counter.

Ryan grabbed all three handles in one hand and kept the shotgun leveled with the other.

Vinny vaulted back over the counter and stood by the door. “Go ahead, partner, and start the car. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Don’t do anything crazy,” Ryan said. He turned to the two victims. “He gets crazy when people don’t do what he tells them. You don’t want that.”

“We’re not going to give you any problem,” the older of the two men said. “It’s not our money.”

Vinny grabbed the phone on the counter and yanked the cord free of its connection, then threw it into a display of bottles, knocking over a few. “Wait five minutes, then do your duty,” he said. The car pulled up, and Vinny backed out the door of the store and got in.

“Go,” he said.

—

Everybody was waiting for Sean Finn’s answer to the Vegas question when somebody’s cell phone rang.

“That’s mine,” Finn said. “I’d better get it.”

“Sure, Sean, you get it,” Merv said.

Finn put the phone to his ear. “Sean Finn,” he said. He listened for a minute, then his face fell. “Call nine-one-one,” he said. “I’m on my way.” He put the phone back in his pocket. “Now listen,” he said.

“We’re listening, Sean,” Merv said. “Tell us about your guy from Las Vegas.”

“I really can’t go into that right now,” Finn said. “My store was just robbed. They got the week’s receipts from three stores.” He stood up.

“Maybe your guy from Vegas knows some people who know how to do that sort of thing,” Al said.

“We’ll have to talk about this later,” Finn said, edging around the table toward the exit.

“Let’s don’t talk about it ever again,” Merv said. “That okay with you guys?”

Everybody nodded, including Al.

Sean ran for the door.

“Funny, isn’t it,” Merv said, “how Sean’s phone rang just when it did.”