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

tell you that. But you can talk to him. Wanna talk to Dillon?”
    â€œNo,” Frankie said.
    â€œWell okay,” Cogan said. “Where’s he gonna be? I know you’re gonna know, if you don’t know now.”
    â€œI haven’t got no idea,” Frankie said. “I seen John three or four times since I got out. I don’t know what he does, nights. Goes home, I guess.”
    â€œOkay,” Cogan said. He finished his beer. “See you around, Frankie, my friend.” He started to get off the stool.
    â€œWait a minute,” Frankie said.
    â€œThere’s things,” Cogan said, “there’s things that won’t wait. You tell me, you don’t know. Okay, I accept that. But I got something to do. I got to find a guy that knows.”
    â€œWhere John’s gonna be tomorrow night,” Frankie said.
    â€œAnd something else now, I guess,” Cogan said. “Like where you’re gonna be, the day after. You gonna be here again? Gonna come in about three-thirty, drink about four beers, hang around until you eat, leave and go up Pagliacci’s like you always do, see what’s still breathing enough to fuck, go home around midnight, one o’clock? That what you’re gonna be doing day after tomorrow? Or are you gonna be doing something else, so it takes me a couple, three days extra? It’s not gonna matter. You could just save me a lot of time, is all.”
    Frankie said nothing.
    Cogan got off the stool. He rested his forearms on the back of it. “Look,” he said, “you gotta be realistic, right, kid? You gotta be. I know the guy. I also know what’s goin’ through your head. He’s, you think he’s a friend of yours, right? You probably, you probably got something lined up with him right now, am I right?”
    Frankie did not answer.
    â€œIt don’t matter,” Cogan said. “I know how you feel. But you think, I bet you figured, that Trattman thing, it was gonna work, right?”
    Frankie did not answer.
    â€œThem things,” Cogan said, “lemme tell you something, kid: them things, they never work. Guys with bright ideas, you know? Like Squirrel. They all know the end-around, and they’re not gonna get something and work it steady and make it work and make it pay. Not them. He’s always been like this, always been looking for a hustle, and guys like him, all they ever do is fuck things up. For everybody else.”
    â€œTrattman got hit,” Frankie said.
    â€œThere’s all kinds of reasons for things,” Cogan said. “Guys get whacked for doing things, guys get whacked for not doing things, it don’t matter. The only thing matters is if you’re the guy that’s gonna get whacked. That’s the only fuckin’ thing.”
    Frankie nodded.
    â€œYou,” Cogan said, “you’re one of the few guys that know, right?”
    â€œI dunno,” Frankie said.
    â€œYes you do,” Cogan said. “You know very fuckin’ well. You, you got a choice. You’re gonna be one of the guys that gets whacked out or else you’re not. You know that. It’s just a matter of time, now, my friend.Just a matter of time. Him first and then you. That’s the way you’re going.”
    Frankie did not answer.
    â€œExcept you’re in a position,” Cogan said, “you’re in a position very few of them guys ever get in. You can do something about it. I known very few guys inna position like that.”
    Frankie did not answer.
    â€œFrank,” Cogan said, “I hope you don’t think, I’m shittin’ you.”
    â€œLook,” Frankie said, “who the fuck are you? I never saw you before in my life, all of a sudden you’re telling me all these things. What the fuck do I know? Maybe you’re not even here. I don’t know nothing.”
    â€œKid,” Cogan said, “I hate to see you go like this. China says you’re all right. And you’re going for fuckin’ nothin’.”
    â€œI’m …” Frankie said, “Jesus, I dunno.”
    â€œLemme ask you something,” Cogan said, “and you think about this, all right? You think, I was to go down Wollaston and see him, there, right now, I was to leave here and drive down there and see him and say: ‘Squirrel, it’s you or Frankie. Who’s it gonna be?’ You think he’d even think about it? You