Neal Pollack

Probably both are true—Katrina is truly hot enough to get Hector thinking with the little head, but also Hector made it easy for her to seal the deal without having to seduce him cuz he a goddamn cop. Hell, this crazy game’s all good to me. One way or another don’t change a thing. Just pay me and point the way and I am there.

But like I say, once Katrina lets me in on the job details, one question keeps nagging at me, all night: What’s going on with Hector’s ghost? These uncle guys almost never work undercover without some other cop keep an eye on them from the shadows. Some cop watching me do away with his partner puts me in mind that this job could toss me in the deepest of shit in a freakin’ heartbeat. And nobody do short or easy time off a cop murder, cuz they make sure every single minute you do inside is a living hell.

Katrina quick. She see my concern, tries to calm my nerves by telling how she and Blue have this sweet arrangement with Hector’s ghost, this old cop Eddie.

“Eddie?” I say, that name perking me right up. “Eddie McClusky?”

“Yeah, you know him?” she say.

“Bad-ass mother,” I say. “Eddie’s an Unknown Chicago Legend.”

“What d’ya mean, unknown?” she say.

“To the public,” I say. “But not to half the population of Joliet. I even hear about Bad-ass Eddie Mac when I’m on the street before I do my stretch. How you so sure Eddie ain’t playing y’all?”

“Don’t you worry,” she say. “Me and Blue don’t do this if it ain’t all in place.”

“Do me favor,” I say. “Lay it out for me and I decide if I should worry or not.”

I see she pissed at my question, but I guess she decides it’s fair to ask, so she gives me the respect I deserve and answers me. “First off, Eddie played ball with Blue plenty in the past.”

“Wait a sec, you saying Eddie Mac ain’t righteous?” I say. “That ain’t the word I hear. How about all them arrests he bring down?”

“When it suits Eddie to play straight, he bring arrests down,” she say. “When it don’t, he don’t. That big Irish gang bust over in Bridgeport? Believe me, Blue helped Eddie out with that. It don’t happen if Blue don’t come through big.”

I’m laughing now. “You saying Blue helping Eddie Mac lock up the bad guys?”

“Blue and Eddie only do deals when they both get something out of it. If they don’t, they enemies again.”

“Okay, so what’s Eddie getting out of knocking off this uncle Hector?” I say.

“Hector knows Eddie play both sides of the street, Eddie don’t trust him to be cool. We do this for Eddie, Eddie do something else for Blue,” she say. “But I don’t know what, cuz that’s ’tween Blue and Eddie, and it don’t matter to me.”

I see it do matter to Katrina, but I leave it right there, cuz I can also see she knows Eddie’ll be cool when it all goes down and that’s what really matters to me.

“Heavy duty, baby,” I say, smiling again. “That’s the real deal.”

She puts her hand flat on my chest, all sincere and tender.

“We gonna have to lay real low after the job, though,” she say. “Think maybe you and me go somewhere and enjoy the quiet life for a little bit?”

“Sounds good,” I say, cuz it do sound good.

“I got a place in Costa Rica.”

“Gotta get around my parole thing here, baby, but you singing my song.”

“Good, Zane,” she say. “You gonna like it down there.”

I want to ask her about how she first get involved with Blue’s business, but I leave that for some other time. Maybe when we in Costa Rica. And I’m wondering how I got this lucky all of a sudden, money in my pocket, beautiful woman all into me. All this shit going through my brain as me and Hector are digging the hole toward head-deep, like Katrina orders us to do, and I keep on thinking and thinking and thinking like this. Wondering what I know.

I know what Katrina say about Eddie, about Blue and Eddie, that’s what. And I know Blue owe me. And knowing Blue and Katrina got my back is good enough for me, or I wouldn'’t be here. But I still can’t help coming back around to Eddie Mac, Hector’s ghost, lurking out there in the dark watching his partner dig his own grave. I know I should be scared out of my skin over this job, but now that Katrina and Blue lay it out for me, I’m cool. Except for the sweat soaking through my dark green coveralls, about ten percent fear sweat and the rest shoveling sweat, even in the chilly night air.

All this digging is boring now, and I’m sneaking peeks at Katrina checking her watch. We been working this pit a good while, breathing heavy, and my eyes are level with her toes. Hector’s head don’t even reach up to the grass, he being one short Puerto Rican. Got dirt in my coveralls, dirt on my face, dirt soiling my brand new White Sox cap, dirt in my boots, blisters on my hands, but from this angle I ain’t thinking of none a that, cuz I can see right up under that miniskirt, right to Katrina’s white thong against her smooth coffee skin, and what a heavenly sight that is. I want to just pull her down and get us both really dirty right here in this black soil.

But she surprise me.