Play a Cold Hand by Terence Faherty

Author:Terence Faherty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, private eye, noir, detective fiction, gangsters
Publisher: Terence Faherty

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I was hoping Paddy would bring in Rosa Mariutto yet that day, since we now had the IRS breathing down our necks. The sooner we called them off, if they could be called off, the better I’d sleep. Paddy might have been thinking the same thing, because he used the prearranged signal—set up in case Mariutto was having his wife’s phone calls monitored—as soon as we got back to Roe Street.

Peggy placed the actual call to the Mariutto penthouse. She asked for Musso and Frank’s Grill, got huffy with whoever told her she’d gotten a wrong number, and hung up. Thirty minutes later, Rosa called back from a phone booth. The earliest she could meet us was the next morning, which satisfied Paddy. He gave me the rest of the day off, which satisfied me. Especially after I got home and found Ella happier than she’d been in weeks. She’d finished Private Hopes for the last time and was ready to celebrate. As it turned out, I had no trouble sleeping that night whatsoever.

Rosa reported, sans Guy De Felice, the next morning, wearing a beige linen suit and another of her broad-brimmed hats. It put her eyes in shadow again, but I was still able to spot the glint in them when Paddy produced the white envelope bearing her father’s name.

“I took the precaution of looking these over,” he said. “They’re records of under-the-table beef sales George Yowell made during the war and an affidavit from one of the middlemen he dealt with, now conveniently dead.”

Rosa took the envelope and examined each folded sheet with care. “Now what?”

“Now,” Paddy said, “if you’ll be guided by me, we burn them. We would have done it yesterday, but I wanted you to be sure that your husband’s hold on you is well and truly broken.”

“I could mail them to Daddy.”

“And they could miscarry. In fact, walking out of here with them in your possession is a risk. And not just for you.”

“I followed your instructions coming over. I changed cabs twice.”

“Even so.”

Rosa thought about it for as long as it took her to cross, uncross, and recross her long legs.

“Burn them,” she said.

“Scotty, if you’ll do the honors.”

Paddy’s office lacked a fireplace. We made do with a metal trashcan and an open window. While the papers burned, Paddy discussed the future.

“On the subject of our mutual safety,” he said, “I’d like you to hold off filing for your divorce for a while. I don’t want Moose to connect the filing with our little business deal.”

“How long are we talking about?”

“Just until he strays again.”

“That won’t be a hardship.”

“Good. When that happens, you can call it the straw that broke the camel’s back, if that doesn’t sound too personal. If Moose mentions black-market beef, never let on that you know he’s bluffing. Tell him your father has offered to sacrifice himself for your happiness. You’ll be a free woman in no time.”

Rosa kissed Paddy good-bye shortly afterward. “Too bad you’re married,” she said.

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