Читать книгу Border City Blues 2-Book Bundle - Michael Januska - Страница 7

THE LIEUTENANT

It was getting late and the stragglers were heading home to flop. Green walked McCloskey around the corner to a diner on Pitt Street next to the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment. Green picked through his key ring while McCloskey pressed his nose against the window. What he saw didn’t look like much.

“No — over here.”

Green was unlocking a plain-looking door to the right of the diner entrance. On the door was a small plaque that said “International Billiards — MEMBERS ONLY.”

The door opened to a narrow stairwell lit by a bare bulb hanging over the landing. McCloskey walked in Green’s shadow all the way up. On the landing and to the right they were confronted with an even heavier door that had a covered peephole the height and width of a pair of eyes. Green jangled his keys again, poked the locks, and swung it open.

The room was pitch black except for a bit of light in the windows overlooking the street below. Before stepping inside, Green reached around the doorframe and finger-punched a couple switches on the wall.

From the copper ceiling hung globe lights that illuminated a bunch of tables and cane chairs arranged haphazardly between the entrance and the bar. To the right were five billiard tables standing side by side. A big skylight punctured the ceiling above the centre table. Blinds covered every window except the ones along back that faced a brick wall in the alleyway.

It was first-class but not fancy, all oak and polished brass with spittoons on the floor instead of sawdust. Green could tell McCloskey was impressed. He let McCloskey take it all in and then pointed with his chin towards a room jutting out from the far corner.

“My office,” said Green.

He went in ahead of McCloskey and pulled the chain on a desk lamp. He shuffled some papers into a pile, removed his bowler hat and set it on top.

“Take a load off.”

McCloskey lowered himself into one of the matching wooden armchairs that faced the desk. Green offered him a cigar from a humidor that looked like a small treasure chest.

“Thanks.”

On a little table that stood between the two chairs was a metal contraption for snipping off one end of a cigar and lighting the other. It looked like it had been made in a machine shop out of spare engine parts. McCloskey put it to work and got the tip of the Cuban glowing. It was nice. Green poured some brown liquid into tumblers while McCloskey surveyed the room. Trophies lined a mantle and photos of boxers in their fighting stance hung on the wall. One of the pugilists was unmistakably Green.

“That was a long time ago.”

He handed McCloskey one of the tumblers and then settled into his chair. The leather groaned beneath him and he stole a puff from his cigar.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how much money you make last year dropping palookas like the Volcano?”

McCloskey told him.

Green gave a gravelly laugh then paused for dramatic effect. “How’d you like to make that in one fight?”

McCloskey nearly swallowed his cigar.

“Seriously — I’ve got money and connections. As far as I can tell that’s all you need to take a fighter to the next level.”

“You a promoter?” asked McCloskey.

Green leaned forward. “Not exactly. But I got what it takes, and so do you.”

He was trying to grab the wheel from McCloskey, and it made McCloskey a little uncomfortable.

“Whoa, I like money just as much as the next guy, but let’s be honest here — I’m no boxer. I’m just a fighter, and if you’re looking for someone to go the long haul with you’re a few years too late with me.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-six.”

Green waved a dismissive hand. “Forget about that.”

He got up and perched on the edge of his desk. His movements were always slow and deliberate. He was a man that didn’t hurry for anyone.

“You got fire in you,” he said, pointing at McCloskey with his cigar. “I can see that. All it needs is a little refinement.”

What Green also saw in McCloskey was his second, albeit vicarious, chance at achieving boxing greatness. He had missed his first opportunity after getting shot up in the Transvaal. He had come limping home from South Africa with no prospects and ended up doing time in the streets or the jails of Montreal. Another war came along, but this time the army wouldn’t have him, so he started looking for the big payoff, a caper that would set him up really nice. As luck would have it Prohibition arrived in the States and created a world of opportunities. He signed on with a smuggling syndicate and got shipped down to Windsor to secure a territory along the border opposite Detroit. Green was the Montreal boss’s first lieutenant. He’d done well for himself but his heart was still in the ring. Seeing McCloskey drop the Volcano was like rekindling an old flame.

He got down to brass tacks. More chit-chat followed, but before long Green was through talking and there was one last dramatic pause.

“So what do you say?” He extended a meaty paw. “We got a deal?”

Okay, McCloskey thought, okay: I make some money, he gets his thrill, and then right before I get crippled by the next big thing to come along, we both go back to our day jobs.

“And if it doesn’t work out,” said McCloskey, “we both walk away with no hard feelings?”

Green rested his hand on his knee. “You telling me you won’t be committed, Killer? A fighter’s got to be committed.”

“I’ll be committed, all right. But I got my limits, just like any man. I know that now.”

Green shifted his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other and studied McCloskey through the smoky cloud that hung between them.

“Don’t think I’m not grateful for the opportunity,” continued McCloskey. “It’s just that I’ve had a bit of a rough time since I got back from overseas. I found my feet but I still need to set a few things right.”

Green squinted at him, like squeezing his eyes would squeeze the truth out of McCloskey. “You in any kind of trouble, Killer?”

McCloskey straightened in his chair and, thinking of his father and brother, said, “I have some debts to pay.”

“Well, what better way to do it? So, do we have ourselves a deal?”

Green extended his hand again and the expression on his face told McCloskey that this time he had better take it. Green was a compelling figure and the slightest change in his body language or tone of voice would convince anyone he meant business.

“Yes, sir — deal.”

“Good. Now let’s drink a toast.”