Gin Palace 02 - The Bone Orchard

had.”
    “About him?”
    I nodded.
    “You miss him.”
    “I never really knew him, Tina. I mean, I have a few memories, but I have no real idea who the man was.”
    “Why didn’t he … keep you? Why did he send you to live with that creepy family?”
    “I don’t know. I’m sure he had his reasons.”
    “You know, you never talk to me about how you grew up, except that it was hell.”
    “I don’t talk to anyone about it.”
    “Why not?”
    “It’s just not something I talk about.”
    “Did he hurt you?”
    “Tina.”
    “Is that how you learned to fight, defending yourself against your adoptive father?”
    “Tina.”
    “Why don’t you talk about it? He was your father.”
    “He wasn’t my father. My real father wasn’t my father, as far as I’m concerned. I had no father, just two men who are no longer a part of my life, okay?”
    Tina looked away. “I don’t know what I’d do without Augie,” she offered.
    “You won’t have to worry about that.”
    She took a step toward me and looked at me square, as if searching out an opening in my guard, and said “Are we ever going to be normal? You and I, I mean. Are we ever going to be like we were before all this started?”
    “Let’s get your father straightened out first,” I told her, my eyes locked on a distant, bare wall.
    “I can’t pretend I don’t feel what I feel, Mac.”
    “No one’s asking you to.”
    “You don’t want to even look at me, let alone hear what I’m feeling.”
    “We’re allowed all our feelings, Tina. We’re just not always allowed to act on them.”
    “I gave up trying to seduce you a long time ago, Mac. My schoolgirl crush is way over.”
    “You know my concerns,” I said. “You know my situation with the Chief.”
    “If he’s your enemy, then vanquish him.”
    I looked at her and laughed. I had never heard her speak in that way before. “You are your father’s daughter.”
    “We’re reading Julius Caesar in English.”
    “Finish it, then we’ll talk all you want about that particular school of thought.”
    “Sometimes I just don’t understand you.”
    Deeply tired, not wanting this at all, I muttered, “Yeah, well, join the club.” I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms, digging in deep.
    “You never used to be like this, Mac. You used to be someone people could count on. When the Chief’s son and his friends tried to rape me, you went through them like they were nothing.”
    “And look where it got us.”
    “My life would be shit right now if you hadn’t been there, if you hadn’t done what you done.”
    “You don’t get it, Tina. I don’t regret having saved you. I’m just tired of it all. When I did what I did to the Chief’s son, after you were safe, when we were free to go, I kept going, out of rage, out of greed, and I set into motion events that resulted in the death of three people. I have blood on my hands. I want the blood off and I want to keep it off.”
    Tina looked toward the windows and the November gloom beyond them. She was thinking something through. I could tell this by the look on her face. I’d give her whatever time she needed.
    Finally, she said, “After they killed Caesar they washed their hands in his blood.”
    “Wasn’t very bright of them, was it?”
    “No. Marc Antony walked in and took one look and knew exactly who killed Caesar.”
    “There are consequences to every action we make. Everyone around here is so reckless, Tina. Frank, the Chief, ever your father. Even I used to be reckless. I don’t want to be that anymore. No one dies because of me again. No one. So the pieces stay in place, and once your father calls, you go home to him and you stay away from here, okay? I’m going to help your father, I promise, and everything’s going to be fine, as long as the pieces stay in place. Will you help me keep them there?”
    “I’ll do anything you want, you know that.”
    “Good. I’m going to go out for a while,” I said. “You probably won’t be here when I get back. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you Thanksgiving, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    I pulled on my sneakers and then put on my denim jacket. Tina stayed where she was in the bedroom doorway. We looked at each once again, and then I left her.
    I went down the two flights of stairs to the bar below. There was a good lunch crowd at the bar. George saw me as I slipped into the antique phone booth and closed the door. I dialed Eddie’s number. His wife, Angel, was