The Deep Read Online Free PDF Page A

approved, some hated. But most were scared.
    â€œSome things have changed the last few years,” I told them. “I see new faces. Important people. I know why you’re here and why you’re connected. I’m hoping that none of you try anything spectacular because this kind of business is my kind of business. The organization will continue to move as it did under Bennett until I go over all the affairs. Now... any questions?”
    A hand waved from the far side. “Deep ...” “Who is it?”
    â€œCharlie Bizz.”
    â€œGo ahead, Bizz.”
    â€œYou in for keeps, Deep?”
    â€œAll the way. If there are any other studs feeling hot to make it then you can choose up sides.”
    â€œRoger, Deep. Good to see you, kid.”
    I nodded in his direction. “Augie’s picking up all the papers. Don’t give him trouble. I want a roster of members and all the goodies that Bennett kept. Anybody holds out and there’ll be trouble. Just like the old days.”
    The face that had been watching me without any expression at all grew a sneer. It belonged to a man whose physical strength was disguised by a layer of fat, but was visible in his eyes and the hatchet slash of his mouth. The sneer was cool, deliberately aimed and calculated.
    I said, “Councilman ... you don’t look convinced.”
    Hugh Peddle who held the old Dutch district appraised me with a veiled look, never losing the sneer. His voice was soft, not like the sneer at all. “I’m just curious..., Mr. Deep.”
    â€œAre you?” I watched him carefully to catch any change in expression. “Beside you sits a Mr. Coppola. At the moment I understand he’s a guiding force behind the incumbent party in City Hall. Do you know him well?”
    â€œQuite well, Mr. Deep.”
    â€œYou stout men are usually addicted to Turkish baths. Have you ever noticed the scars on his belly?”
    â€œOften.”
    â€œHas he ever told you how he got them?”
    â€œNever.”
    When I grinned his sneer twitched at one end and got hard to hold. “Ask him then,” I said.
    From three or four spots came grunts of acknowledgment and I knew some of the old crowd were still around.
    The party wasn’t quite over yet. There was still something left undone. I leaned on the back of one of the seats and looked out over the bunch. “Whoever killed Bennett better start running,” I said. “I’m going to get him, and that’s the end of his life.”
    Benny-from-Brooklyn and Dixie were standing now, their minds not fully accepting what had happened. Their faces went back twenty-five years, remembering the disgusting things that had happened below in the cellar and knowing that they were happening again.
    I liked it that way.
    Little Cat was watching me with that expression that got him his name. I waved to him. “You, Cat. Let’s go.”
    He squirmed out with a happy laugh and waited. Like everybody else. They were all waiting too. I said, “You’ll be hearing from me. Just sit tight.”
    The squeal opened the door with a respectful nod aid we went downstairs to where Augie was. The big guy looked at a speaker high on the wall and muttered, “Intercom.”
    â€œThen you know you’re with me?”
    â€œAll the way, Mr. Deep. I know exactly what to do.”
    Cat opened the door and we stood outside on the street in the clean rain. He coughed into his hand and pounded his chest. When he could speak he said, “What’s with me, Deep?”
    â€œLike always, Cat. Up the walls and over the fences for you. In where no one else can go. The eyes, the ears.”
    â€œI ain’t the same Cat any more, Deep.”
    â€œTrouble?”
    â€œLungs. T.B. But not so soon to kick it as you.”
    â€œThink so?”
    â€œThey’ll get you, Deep. They don’t want nobody as bad as they want you. They got big things doing for the