Grief Street

house I busted up. Which is lucky for Eva, because I almost creamed her, like I was a freaking contender at an ultimate fighting match.”
    “Now what’s the problem? Eva doesn’t think of herself as the lucky type?”
    “The problem...”
    Kowalski went silent for a few seconds. I heard him snort. Or was he laughing?
    “Problem is, Hockaday, I’m trying to decide something of a religious nature.”
    “Such as what?” I had to ask.
    “Ain’t you heard what I said? I almost canceled out my wife. Then I almost beat the crap out of her. So how come I didn’t go through with neither one?”
    “I give up, Sergeant.”
    “Maybe on account of an intervention by God. Maybe something else. Guess what else?”
    “I’m tired of guessing.”
    “Something I seen on a chalkboard at charm school, where I’m going on account of your beef.”
    “What was that?”
    “Lesson of the day. ‘Where there is yet shame, there may in time be virtue.’ See my meaning?” Kowalski stepped close and looked me up and down. “By the way, you look like shit.”
    “My apartment’s a few blocks away from here. I want a shower and I want to burn these clothes.”
    “Any beer at your place?”
    “No beer.”
    “Well, that’s all right. Probably you got a phone though. I should go by the book and call in a deadly force report on that wacko almost took off your head. Let the body boys do their mop-up without us, what do you say?”
    King Kong Kowalski in my apartment. What could I say? We walked around the side of the house, and up Tenth Avenue toward my tenement on Forty-third Street. I walked slowly with the big man who had had a big day.
    “Incidentally,” I said, remembering how Neglio, Krai, and Souza were supposed to be conducting an investigation, “have you seen Inspector Neglio tonight?”
    “He’s up there to Roosevelt with your wife. Neglio was looking for me, I hear. So I went to him—and brought him what else he was looking for.”
    “What was that?”
    “A list of Becker’s wrong cops, the ones that wreathed you. That’s right, I knew about this gang out to scare you off the beef. Sorry, Hockaday. I’m ashamed of myself for that, too. Anyway, about this gang—I never knew exactly who was in it. I didn’t want to know. When I got virtue, though, I went and persuaded Becker to give up the names.”
    “How did you accomplish the persuasion?”
    “That you don’t want to know.”
    “Maybe not.”
    “So Becker also told me how the wreathers would all hang out in this Eddie Mallow’s dump, which I know from this other time in my life I’m ashamed about…”
    Kowalski lost his voice again. He spent a couple of seconds taking a walk along some personal street of grief. And I thought, meanwhile, Of course—it was Eddie all along; Eddie who organized the rabid cops, Eddie who lured me to his hell on earth.
    “So anyways, I ratted out everybody to the inspector. Then I went on a personal hunt until I found every last one of the bastards. After which I went after Mallow. Who I sure freaking found. Along with you, Hockaday. In the nick of time.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I know from penance. So don’t mention it.”
    “Becker’s gang assaulted my wife. She’s pregnant.”
    “Yeah, it’s what Neglio says. Honest to God, Hockaday, I never knew about that part of it with your wife. You got to believe me.”
    “I believe you.”
    “So you want to know where the wrong cops are, right now as we speak?”
    “Where?”
    “Wearing leg irons in the cage at the station house. We’re waiting for the morning before we take them down to Central Booking.”
    “Why tomorrow?”
    “The inspector, he wants the press corps all nice and rested for the perp walk. Which he wants on the prime time news.”

Forty-two

    R uby’s doctor ordered her to stay on for a second night at the hospital.
    “Don’t worry, Irish,” she told me. “Some of the tests didn’t pan out, that’s all. They have to run them all over again. Call up the lawyer, tell him we’ll see the house later.”
    I lied to Ruby, by not telling her right away what had happened since leaving the hospital room, in pursuit of happiness. Some happiness.
    Ruby knew I was lying. As I knew she was lying to me. For one thing, she never asked what Neglio and two other cops she had never seen before were doing in her room when she woke up. For another, she never let on to me how much her insides hurt.
    I wanted to sleep over in the hospital again, but Ruby