Gin Palace 02 - The Bone Orchard

already have a chip on his shoulder about you, he will soon. All Tina does is talk about you, about you and her playing house, about how you saved her life, how you beat the crap out of the two guys who put her badass Daddy in the hospital. She’s a fan for life, we all know that, but this boy’s going to end up with quite a complex before she’s through.”
    “Somebody should explain to her the fragile nature of the male ego.”
    “She wouldn’t listen. I think she’s too busy trying to understand her own nature now. Besides, I want the kid distracted, for obvious reasons.”
    “You know how Tina is. It’s going to happen sooner or later, if it hasn’t happened already.”
    “I’m her father, but I’m not blind. I know how she can be. We both do. Hell, you probably know better than anyone. Still, I was spared all this bullshit worry while I was in the hospital. I knew you wouldn’t touch her, and I knew soon enough that she would have a crush on you, and that she wouldn’t go after anyone else for as long as she felt what she was feeling for you. I’ll tell you, that’s enough to make me want to check back in and deal with those asshole doctors every day.”
    “Where is she now, Aug?”
    “I didn’t want her home alone, so she’s supposed to be at her friend Lizzie’s house tonight. A sleepover. That’s where she’s supposed to be.”
    “If you want, after we knock off, I could take a ride around for you, see if I spot her places she shouldn’t be.”
    “No, Mac, thanks, but no. I’m just a father who isn’t so keen on becoming a grandfather yet.” He rolled his eyes. “Jesus, just the thought of it twists up my gut.”
    “I think it’s supposed to. But she’s a good kid, Aug. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, for a teenager.”
    “It’s not her head I’m worried about. See what happens when you’ve got too much time on your hands. I just kept walking around the house on this fucking cane, looking out the window and wondering if my sixteen-year-old daughter was taking off her jeans for some teenage Romeo with a shitbox Camero. I’ll tell you, I could never get used to being helpless. Never.”
    Augie took in a breath and let it out slowly. He was looking straight ahead, through the windshield, into all that dark cold out there. “I know you hate this job, I know it cuts against your grain, but this is what I do best, and I need to do it, because without it I’m a guy on a cane heading for a padded room somewhere.”
    Augie’s face was large, heavily boned, his hair buzzed to a crew cut. Even in the dark I could see him clearly. I knew every inch of his face by now. Back when I used to drink we would settle in at his kitchen table in the morning and finish bottles of bourbon while Tina was at school. That was when I heard all about his years in the jungles of Colombia with the DEA, about the guys he had worked with, the people he’d seen die, the death squads and machete squads, the government sanctioned murder. That was why he had no problem working for Frank, that the whole thing was a walk across the yard on a spring day compared to Colombia. Sometimes, when there was nothing left to talk about, Augie would tell me about Tina’s mother and the day that she was killed. Then I would tell him what I knew of my real father, an ex-town cop who sent me when my mother died to live with a rich family on Gin Lane and who not long after that disappeared without a trace.
    “Really, Mac, we’re in the same boat, you and me, if you think about it,” he said. “I can’t walk around freely because of my legs. You have to be careful where you walk because of the Chief and his boys. It’s different but it’s the same. You must get tired of walking that line, day and night. You must walk it in your fucking sleep.”
    I nodded once but didn’t say anything.
    “I know you don’t want to hear this, but for you Frank’s a good man to keep as a friend around now. He could prove helpful, if the shit starts coming down.”
    “I don’t doubt it,” I said.
    “If you two really have made peace, you might want to think about keeping it for a while this time. When the Chief does come, he’s going to want to do more to you than nail you for operating an uninsured vehicle. He’s going to come after you with all his boys and something that’ll stick you to the wall. You’re going to want more than me on your side then, Mac. It’s as simple as that.”
    I’d heard everything