"It wasn't a tap. The DEA would know about a tap. Somebody dropped the dime on the buy."
"Who knew about it?"
"Cardo… Fontenot… Lionel… obviously Boggs…"
"Why you got that big wrinkle between your eyes, Streak?"
"I'm involved with somebody. She knew about it, too."
"That's great. Why don't you run an ad in the Times-Picayune the next time out?"
"I didn't tell her. She picked up on it somewhere else."
"What's her name?"
"Bootsie Giacano."
"Oh, man, I don't believe it. You're in the sack with one of the Giacanos?"
"She's an old friend from New Iberia. She married into the family."
"Probably like one of Charlie Manson's people, just a casual member of the family."
"Knock it off, Clete."
He grinned and squinted at me.
"The other one that bothers me is Kim D
ollinger," I said. "She was trying to tell me something in your club. I thought she was just bombed."
"She is one tough badass broad, isn't she? I'd like to get to know her a lot better."
"I get the feeling you're not too serious about any of this."
"Why should I be? This whole sting was put together by clowns, if you ask me. They almost got you killed out there. I don't like federal farts doing that to my podjo."
"I think you need to broaden your attitudes, Clete."
He opened my can of Dr Pepper, poured it in a glass with ice, set a glass straw in it, and put it in my hand.
"Drink your pop," he said. "Hey, you know who I got the pizza from?"
"Don't tell me."
"You got it, mon. That strange, buglike colored kid. He works in that pizza joint right around the corner from the Pearl. Hey, mon, it's time to get out of this G-man bullshit. Let them clean up their own mess for a while. If you still want to square the beef with Boggs, you and I'll do it together. With no forms to fill out, either. You know what I mean?"
"I'll let you know."
"Something happened out there, didn't it?" he said.
"What do you mean?"
"The dragon went away."
"Something like that."
"It's a rush, isn't it?"