“I think I will have a scotch and soda,” Louise said. “Johnnie Walker Black.”
He pushed his glass to her.
“I’ll get another,” he said.
It was rude and certainly unsanitary but she picked it up and sipped from it as he gestured toward the bar for another.
Why the hell did I do that? she wondered, and then the answer came to her: Because I don’t know what to do to keep myself from making more of a fool of myself than I already have. How am I going to get out of this?
The mustached Greek proprietor delivered the drink immediately himself.
“We seem to have at least one thing in common,” Dutch Moffitt said.
“Wow!” she said.
“Relax, Louise,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She looked at him again, met his eyes for a moment, and then looked away.
“I don’t know why I came here,” she said. “But just to clear the air, I now realize it was a mistake.”
Dutch Moffitt opened his mouth to reply, but before the words came out, he was interrupted by a male voice.
“Good afternoon, Captain Moffitt, nice to see you.”
The sleeve of a glen-plaid suit passed in front of Louise’s face.
“Hello, Angelo,” Moffitt said.
Louise, once the arm was withdrawn, looked up. A pleasant-looking, olive-skinned man-Italian to judge by the “Angelo”-well barbered, smelling of some expensive cologne, was standing by the table.
“My father was asking about you just this morning,” the man said.
“How’s your mother, Angelo?” Moffitt asked.
“Very well, thank you,” Angelo said.
“Give her my regards,” Moffitt said.
Angelo smiled at Louise, and then looked at Moffitt.
“Are you going to introduce me to this charming lady?”
“Nice to see you, Angelo,” Moffitt said.
Angelo colored, and then walked away.
“What was that,” Louise demanded. “Simply bad manners? Or-”
“That was Angelo Turpino,” Moffitt said. “You don’t want to know him.”
“Why?”
“He’s a thug,” Moffitt said. “No. Correction. He’s a made man. Their standards are slipping. A couple of years ago, that slimy little turd wouldn’t have made a pimple on a made man’s ass.”
“What’s a ‘made man’?”
He looked at her, into her eyes again.