Killing Them Softly (Cogan's Trade Movie Tie-in Edition)

not gonna give me the same kind of shit I give Russell? You know why Russell called me? Because, who else’s he got to call? And it’s the same thing. If we get grabbed in there, Dean calls Sandy. And what do I do? Have him tell her, get me somebody too? I can’t call you, for Christ sake. They’d be waiting for that. I, we haven’t got no friends, either. You look at it, you and me and Russell’re in exactly the same position, except he’s in it now and we’re not in it yet.”
    â€œWell, Jesus,” Amato said, “I mean, this was your idea and everything. It isn’t like, I came around and saw you on this one. Shit, you’re afraid of it, forget it. Won’t piss me off any. I just went down there and I did, I did what you wanted. I haven’t got no investment in this. I made almost four thousand yesterday alone. I can do without it.”
    â€œWon for a change,” Frankie said.
    â€œYeah,” Amato said, “I kind of liked it too. Broke even about, the first part of the week. I got fifteen hundred or so Thursday after and then last night, another twenty-five onna Knicks. Knicks’re gonna take it, this time.”
    â€œYeah,” Frankie said. “John, you told me it was gonna snow in the winter, I’d go out and bet against it, you know that?”
    â€œNice when you win, though,” Amato said. “I figure,after what I been through, I’m gonna be winning pretty good when I start.”
    â€œI figure,” Frankie said, “I’m never gonna start. I’m gonna stick to things I can figure out.”
    â€œWell,” Amato said, “what is it, then?”
    â€œHow does it look?” Frankie said.
    â€œIt looks good to me,” Amato said. “It’s nice and dark, they backed the block up to where they put the fill and there’s a lot of brush and stuff there and signs on the roof that’ll cover you when you’re up on the roof. It’s brick in front, which don’t matter, and it’s cinderblock in back. The roof’s flat. Looks like tar and pebbles, some kind of cheap shit. I’d go in through the roof. There’s a grocery store on one side and a place that sells glasses on the other side and I suppose you could go in through there. But I wouldn’t. I’d go the roof. The guys in there in the daytimes’re those dopes from Northeast Protective that couldn’t see a hockey game in Boston Garden. The cops, I didn’t do the cops yet. Northeast always works on two, three hour schedules because they don’t hire enough guys. But if you don’t want to do it, it’s okay.”
    â€œJohn,” Frankie said, “it’s not this job. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s not this one and it’s not gonna be the next one, either, that’s giving me the yikes. It’s just, ah, shit, I dunno what it is. I don’t like having guys after me, you know? I don’t care who they’re working for, I don’t like having guys after me.”

T HE BLACK GIRL , lanky, arched her spine and bent her arms behind her to fasten her bra.
    â€œThe first one?” Mitch said. “She wasn’t bad. She wasn’t good but she wasn’t bad, either. She was all right. Seemed like she was in an awful hurry, though.”
    â€œWell, after all,” Cogan said, “it was probably pretty short notice for her and all.”
    The black girl adjusted her breasts in the bra cups. Then she walked up behind Cogan’s chair on the apricot rug and used the heel of her left hand to touch his right shoulder. “My dress, honey,” she said, “you’re sittin’ on my dress.” Cogan moved forward without turning his head. The black girl pulled the white dress out from under him. She put it on over her head, her feet splayed on the rug.
    â€œShit,” Mitch said, “its not that. It’s the same thing as it is with everything else. Nobody does anything right any more.”
    Cogan laughed.
    â€œI mean it,” Mitch said. He picked up the glass on the end table next to his chair. “This’s empty,” he said, looking at it. “Want one?”
    â€œToo early for me,” Cogan said.
    â€œEarly?” Mitch said. He stood up in his tee shirt and shorts. “After noon.”
    â€œStill too early,” Cogan said. “You go ahead if you want, though.”
    â€œI’m