My Brother's Keeper Read Online Free PDF

remember.’
    â€˜Whatever.’
    â€˜You just relax, Jimmy, and don’t go doing something crazy.’
    Jimmy patted Lou on the back.
    â€˜Same old Lou: a nice guy. Catch more bees with honey, right, Lou?’
    As they were standing there facing each other, the sun had crept higher in the sky behind them and the temperature had risen by a few degrees. The tow truck had the white Mustang hooked up and ready to haul away. The driver was still sweeping broken glass off the street. The police car looked drivable but they wouldn’t move it until the highway safety unit got there and took a few pictures and drew a few diagrams and wrote up the accident report so as to relieve the Philadelphia Police Department of any liability.
    Suddenly Lou and Jimmy found themselves alone on the street.
    â€˜The family’s still got money, Lou, but the old lady, Brian’s mother, seems to control most of it. Eleanor Haggerty. She’s a real piece of work. Hates Franny. Thinks she’s not good enough for her son.’
    â€˜Not uncommon for mothers to disapprove of their son’s choice in women.’
    â€˜Yeah, but this goes a lot deeper.’
    â€˜Is that what Franny says?’
    â€˜Franny’s staying with me for now and she’s not saying much. You’d have to see them together to know what I mean. I never liked it, Lou. But you know, no one could tell Franny what to do.’
    â€˜What do you want me to do?’
    â€˜How about I bring her up to your office later this afternoon? I think she’ll talk to you. She was always able to talk to you. I’m asking as a friend, Lou. Just talk to her.’
    â€˜Yeah, OK, Jimmy.’
    Jimmy was smiling now, with the sun on his face and the street in front of his house quieter than it had ever been. The cops had placed barricades at both ends of Remington Road and nothing was coming up or going down. The old lady across the street had seen enough and went back into her house, slamming the door behind her, either because the neighborhood was going down the drain and she’d seen enough or because the show was over and she hadn’t gotten her money’s worth.
    â€˜Do you ever get sick of it, Lou? I mean, listening to people’s problems, hearing the same shit over and over again. Don’t you ever feel like telling them all to go to hell?’
    â€˜Sometimes.’
    â€˜Sometimes? Is that all you have to say? Does anything ever bother you?’
    â€˜Just ’cause I don’t show it, doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. If I let everything get to me, I wouldn’t be any good to anyone, would I?’
    â€˜I guess not.’
    â€˜There is one thing that does bother me, though.’
    â€˜What’s that?’
    â€˜People who talk like they know it all but never spent a day in anyone else’s shoes. You know what I mean. We’ve seen things, Jimmy, and done things most people only see on television, things they wouldn’t dream of doing themselves because, down deep, they’re afraid. They depend on people like you and me and I’d like to slap them sometimes when they presume to know what we know, in here.’
    Lou put his hand out and tapped Jimmy in the chest just over where his heart would be.
    â€˜I usually slap them before it gets to that point.’
    â€˜I’m keeping an open mind on Haggerty. If the guy senses hostility he might get suspicious. Gets harder to catch him in something. Or he gets defensive and it’s harder to negotiate.’
    â€˜Negotiate?’
    â€˜As in divorce. As in settlement. I’ve dealt with these types before. They’ll do anything to avoid a scandal and they don’t like parting with their money.’
    â€˜You think it’ll come to that, Lou? Franny’ll be crushed.’
    â€˜I don’t know.’
    â€˜What if he wants to play hardball?’
    â€˜Then we play.’
    â€˜Play how?’
    Lou wiped a