“Mr. Sandler, of course, I’m sorry. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through in the last couple of days.”

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through the last couple of days, either.”

“Okay, look, just start from the beginning. What’s this about a file? What are you talking about?”

“Is your phone secure?”

“What? What are you talking about? Of course my phone’s secure.” But then again, I thought, it might not be. Flint might have had the line tapped, thinking Trixie might call me, tell me where she was.

Fuck it. “It’s fine,” I told Sandler. “What is it?”

“I e-mailed you a file. A recording, of a conversation.”

“What conversation?”

“Me and my boss. Ellinger, Frank Ellinger. I got this digital recorder, left it on in my jacket pocket, went in and saw him, got him to say stuff. I’ve got him admitting to the payoffs from the Gorkin lady and others, letting shithole restaurants stay open even when they don’t meet minimum standards, that kind of thing. It’s all there. Listen to it. You’ll see. You just have to make it clear that even though I make it sound like I’m going along with it, it’s me trapping him, you understand? You have to make that clear when you do your story.”

“Hold on, Sandler. I’ll check it out. I’m sure it’s good stuff. Let me have a listen and we’ll go from there.”

“Let’s meet again, at Bayside Park. We can meet there at nine tomorrow morning. You listen to it, you come and see me, we’ll get these fuckers.”

“Okay, okay, that sounds fine. Let me get some numbers from you.” I opened up the bedside table drawer, found a pen and a piece of paper. “Where can I reach you?”

Sandler gave me his cell, work, and home phone numbers. “Just listen to it, okay? It’s legit. You need to get these guys, and these crazy Gorkin women. I can’t live with this shit anymore, you know?”

“I hear ya.”

“Ellinger, I think he was suspicious at the end, you know? Like he thought I was up to something, so you gotta move on this fast. He might talk to Mrs. Gorkin or something, you never know.”

“Okay, okay. Just calm down. I’ll listen to the file, meet you in the morning.”

“Just listen,” Sandler said, and hung up.

I sat on the edge of the bed a moment, then went into the bathroom and turned the shower taps back on.

Just as I figured. No more hot water.

But there was plenty more waiting for me.

CHAPTER 31

31