“To handle it. Be braced for it. This ain’t no ordinary development. This is something that when you hear it, you gotta have a good tight hold on yourself.”

Grogan smoothed his hair again. He took a slow and deep breath. “All right, let’s have it.”

Corey spoke matter-of-factly, “It was me who drilled them. Then I set it up so it’d look like they drilled each other.”

Grogan took several backward steps. He looked up at the sky. Then he looked down at the cobblestones. “One of these days I’m gonna have a stroke.”

“I hadda drill them,” Corey went on with it. “It was them or me. They had me slated for the river. They’d tailed me from the Hall.”

“The Hall?” Grogan started to walk backward again, then came close to Corey. Grogan was pale as he said, “What the hell were you doing at the Hall?”

“They had me there for questioning.”

“About what?”

“The party last night. At the Hangout, in the back room. And them two hoods—”

“But that’s a closed case,” Grogan muttered. He turned his head a little giving Corey a side glance. “How come they opened it up again?”

Corey shrugged. “They musta figured I’d have something more to tell them.”

Grogan kept looking at him sideways. “So?”

“So they sat me down and asked how it happened and I told them. Said it just like you said it. And that’s all.”

“You sure that’s all?”

Corey nodded slowly, wearily. And then, “It goes like this—I come outta City Hall and get in a taxi. We’re coming toward the bridge and there’s a car in back. I see it’s a tail and I wanna know what’s happening; so I’m outta the taxi on Marion Street. Then this car cruises in, and they get out, and it’s Macy and Lattimore. They wanna know what I was doing at the Hall. So right away I figured you musta told them to check all my moves.”

“I didn’t tell them anything,” Grogan said. His voice was mechanical, his eyes lenses. The lenses were aimed past Corey.

He’s adding it up already, Corey thought, then went on, “They ask what I was doing at the Hall. I tell them, and they look at each other like it ain’t good enough. Next thing I know they have me in the car. Not that I was worried. Not right then, anyway.” He shrugged. “I thought they were doing what you wanted them to do—just driving me over to your house.”

“And instead?”

“It’s that vacant lot along the riverfront. Lattimore has a gun on me and tells me to get outta the car. So then I know they ain’t workin’ for you no more. It hits me they’re signed in with the other outfit.”

Grogan showed no emotion, no reaction at all.