“No, no... it’s just that even though we’re following a lawyer around, we’re carrying guns, and that means we’re here because there’s some chance something might happen. And when it happens, I don’t want to be out of shape, you know?”

“Hey, Greer, tell you what... let’s go sit in the bar and wait till some fruits pick us up and bring them back here and you can beat the fuck out of ’em. How does that sound?” Angelo laughed-swallowed. He couldn’t have been having a better time at a party.

“You got a warped sense of humor, Ange. You really do.”

“What is it? You think maybe something’s going to happen on that overnight hike you’re going on tonight? Don’t worry, that guy Nolan will be along to protect you. Or is that it? Is that who you’re nervous about?”

“Bullshit.”

“Say, Felix isn’t going to try and cross this guy Nolan, is he? Is that why you’re nervous, baby?”

“Why don’t you just finish your beer, Angelo.”

“They tell stories about Nolan. He never burned up any women in the kitchen, but they tell stories about him.”

“Look,” Greer said, “all Felix said was I’d be going along. My understanding is that the guy has some money stashed somewhere, and that I’m supposed to escort him and the cash to one of our Chicago banks. If I’m worried about anything, it’s that money. All that money’s a big responsibility.”

“How much is it, anyway?”

“Felix wasn’t specific. I’d guess a couple hundred thousand, at least.”

“That’s probably right,” Angelo nodded. “You know I heard Felix say Nolan was behind that bank heist in Iowa a year or two back. The one that came close to eight hundred thousand. There were three or four men in on the job, I think. So he ought to have a couple hundred thousand at least is right.”

“Should,” Greer said. He sipped the beer. “Uh, what kind of stories you heard about him?”

“You ever hear how the thing between him and Charlie got going?”

“That’s before my time.”

“Mine, too. But my older brother Vinnie... you know Vinnie?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s in his era. Told me all about it. Charlie had a brother name of Gordon, an asshole from way back, and Charlie set this asshole Gordon up with part of the Chicago action. A bigger part than Gordon could handle, according to Vinnie. Anyway, Nolan is managing nightclubs and making quite a rep. He takes over a loser on Rush Street and turns it into a moneymaker in two months. And he does his own bouncing, I might add. So this Gordon, not content to leave ride a good thing, tries to move Nolan out of the club racket into strongarm, of all things. Nolan doesn’t want no part of enforcer stuff, and tells Gordon so. Now Gordon was a lot like Charlie, see, only less brains. All the pride, but lots less brains. And so Gordon tells Nolan, look, he doesn’t care, if he says crap, Nolan is supposed to ask how high, and that line of garbage. He tells Nolan to kill a guy, some guy who’s a friend of Nolan’s who works in his club. Nolan says no way. A few days go by and this guy, this friend of Nolan’s, turns up in Lake Michigan and he isn’t swimming. Nolan gets mad. He goes to Gordon and shoots the asshole and splits with twenty grand of the Family’s money.”

Greer smiled. He put his gun in his shoulder holster. “So that’s why Charlie hated Nolan so much. Nolan killed his brother.”

Angelo smirked, batted a hand at the air, “Oh, hell, Gordon was no loss to anybody. Not even Charlie. It was pride. Keep in mind Charlie’s pride, Greer. That was one puffed-up son of a bitch. Nolan’s play made a fool out of Charlie. He killed Charlie’s brother, right? And he stole Charlie’s money. And he got away clean. Worst of all, he got away clean. For years Charlie had an open contract out on Nolan. Nobody collected. Made Charlie look bad. Real bad. When all this happened, nearly twenty years ago, Charlie was underboss in Chicago. The day Charlie died he was still the same damn thing.”

Greer nodded. “And he probably died blaming that on Nolan.”

“Probably,” Angelo agreed. He sighed. “I could use another beer.”

“Me, too.”

“But we’re on call, better not. And besides, I’m not about to go walking into that bar again. A guy practically whistled at me last time.” Angelo grinned, tried to drain one last drop out of the Pabst.

The phone on the nightstand rang. Angelo reached over and answered it. He said, “Yes, sir... yes, sir... right away, sir.” He hung up.

Greer said, “Felix?”

“Felix,” Angelo said. “I think we’re about to get a nice close look at this guy Nolan. Come on.”

Greer put on his coat.

3

After brunch, Nolan called the bar and had them send over some beer in a cooler to Felix’s room. Send over eight bottles, he said, five Schlitz and three German imported. Nolan didn’t know if Felix drank beer, but it seemed early in the day for anything else, and if Felix did drink beer, it would be German imported.