“Nope. I think it’s an astute judgment.”

“Now you’ve got her ganging up on me, Stone.”

“I’m just one person,” Viv pointed out, “I can’t gang up on you.”

“You can, with a little help from Stone.”

“I’m not ganging up on you,” Stone said, “I’m drinking soup, and very good soup it is. My compliments to Eva.”

“I’ll pass that on,” Viv said. “She’ll love it.”

“Now you’re changing the subject to soup,” Dino said.

“We’re trying,” Viv replied. “And we’re not getting much help from you.”

“Why does everybody blame everything on me?”

Viv looked at her watch, then shook a pill into her hand. “Time for another painkiller,” she said.

“I don’t want another one,” Dino said. “They make me drowsy.”

“I know.” She popped the pill into his mouth and forced a glass of water on him.

—

Gene Ryan slept like a child in his new bed.

Chapter 45

Al Parisi walked around Gene Ryan’s new apartment, checking it out. “I specially like the crown moldings,” he said. “That’s an elegant touch. Two TVs, too—you don’t have to get out of bed.”

“Thanks, Al.”

“It’s all in very good taste.”

“Well, I didn’t really have much to do with it, except the TVs. Some decorator did it up, along with the two-bedroom across the hall, as model apartments. I made ’em an offer for the place, furnished.”

“Smart move, Gene.”

“You said on the phone you got another job?”

“I have,” Al said. “It came to me when I got a phone call from Sean Finn. He’s one of the guys in the poker game, and he said some of the fellows wanted to talk to me. They want to have lunch tomorrow. Sean’s the one who brought the ringer dealer into the game.”

“And you accepted?”

“Sure, I got nothing to hide.”

“And why did the invitation make you think of a new job?”

“Because the job is Sean Finn’s liquor store, on 17 North.”

“I don’t know, Al, liquor stores can be tough: these days they got cameras and silent alarms, and you never know when some guy’s going to pull a shotgun from under the counter and let fly.”

“This one’s not like that,” Al said confidently.

“Why not?”