The Thief (Isaac Bell 5)

“No.”

“Did you ever see him?”

“How could I see him? Bruno kept him to himself.”

“Did your brother tell you how much the guy was paying?”

Frank shook his head. “Bruno would never tell me. He’d take what it was and pay us what he felt like.”

“Hard man, your brother.”

“Not as a hard as them.”

“No, I suppose not… Mind me asking something?”

“Nothing’s stopped you so far.”

“Nothing’s stopped you from answering, and I do appreciate that, especially at such a hard time.”

“You gunning for those guys?”

“Yes,” said Bell.

Frank nodded. “What was you asking?”

“Did your brother ever work for them before?”

Frank hesitated.

Bell asked, “Was this the first time?”

“I dunno. I mean, I dunno if it was the same or who knew the same. You know what I mean?”

“No.”

“I mean, for when they have a party, sometimes, we sell ’em dust. We sell ’em goils.”

“Who?”

“They might have been who told this guy about my brother.”

“Could have been,” Bell agreed. “Who are they?”

Frank hesitated. “I don’t want to queer things with them. Maybe it wasn’t them who told the guy about us. I don’t want to…”

“You don’t want to mess up a good arrangement,” said Bell. “I don’t blame you.”

“Neither do I,” said Harry Warren.

“Yeah, I mean, steady money is steady money.”

“With your brother out of action, money’s going to be tight,” said Bell. “At least until your crew gets back on its feet. Look, Harry’s standing so no one can see me handing you this. Just a couple of hundred dollars to tide you over.”

“Two hundred bucks? Crissakes, mister. What do you get outta this?”

“I get the guy who killed your brother. If you can tell me who introduced him to your brother. Was it the customers who buy your cocaine and your girls?”

“Yeah.”