'I am.'
'What's the big deal?'
'I warned you about provoking these guys.'
'Look, Dave, what's "open hit" actually mean? Nothing. It's something these greasebags like to mouth off about while they're stuffing linguine in their faces. A real whack is when they bring in a mechanic, a mainline button man, a full-time sociopath, from Miami or Houston, and this guy knows he either leaves meat on the sidewalk or he's the next guy for the cooling board.'
'Clete—'
'Drop it, mon. Max and Bobo are always blowing gas. It's time they both get their snouts stuck in the commode.'
'I just don't believe you. Why don't you go stand in the middle of the streetcar tracks?'
'Okay, big mon, you've warned me. Listen, has Motley called you yet?'
'No.'
'Dig this. Ole Mots stopped thinking about food and cooze and being black long enough to do some real detective work.'
'I think Motley's turned out to be a good guy.'
'That's what I was saying. Is there static on the line or something? Yesterday afternoon he got some chest waders from the fire department, and he and I splashed out into that swamp in Lafourche Parish. It took a while, but we found it.'
'Found what?'
'The armored vest. The guy who cut open the two lowlifes with the chain saw, we found where he got out of the water on a levee not far from Larose. There were depressions in the mud that Sasquatch could have left. Anyway, about two hundred yards back into the swamp he'd dumped the vest by a sandbar. There were a half-dozen pieces of buckshot in the plates.'
'Why would he be wearing a vest?'
He laughed, then took the receiver away from his mouth and laughed again.
'You want to let me in on it?' I asked.
'You're beautiful, Streak. There's a secret that everybody seems to know except my old podjo from the First. You're one of the most violent people I've ever known. Why do you think Buchalter would wear a vest? You've probably got him spotting his Jockeys.'
'Thanks for going out there, Clete.'
'Hold on a minute. There's something else. Maybe it's important, maybe not. There was some stenciling on the cloth. The vest was Toronto PD issue.'
'It's Canadian?'
'Maybe he got it at a surplus store. But it's a thread, right? Anyway, talk with Motley.'
'You remember the nun we saw at the hospital?'
'Yes, she need somebody to pound erasers for her?'
'Not unless you want to visit her in the parish jail.'
Then I told him about all the events involving the woman who called herself Marie Guilbeaux.
'Definitely a weird scam, mon,' he said.
'I'll bet she and Buchalter have their umbilical cords tied together.'
'What are you holding her on?'
'Not much.'