Shallow Graves

know then but you did know by last night?“
    “Yesterday afternoon, I—Jeez, John. Let me go back, go through it from the top, okay?“
    I exhaled. “Okay.“
    Mullen mashed out the cigarette. “The claim comes in with the Dani name on it, nothing about ‘Danucci.’ It gets sent to New York. Winningham sees it, makes the connection, then tells me over the phone to assign the investigation to you. Get me?“
    “You gave it to me without knowing about the Danuccis being involved.“
    “Right, right. I get the call from Winningham, I figure, he’s trying to be a nice guy for once. I owed you, John. What you taught me here, what you said for me when they .booted you out. I figured this’d be a good way to pay you back a little.“
    “So you didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.“
    “Right.“
    “So what happened to change things?“
    Mullen closed his eyes and chewed the inside of his cheek. Then he seemed to talk to the desk. “Winningham called me yesterday. Said he was going on vacation. Said he wanted to tie up a few loose ends first.“
    “Like me.“
    Harry looked up. “Yeah. Yeah, like you. He asks me, ‘You give that case to Cuddy yet?’ and I say, ‘Yes, Mr. Winningham.’ And he says, ‘He working on it yet?’ And I say, ‘You bet he is.’ And then he says, ‘You hear back from him yet?’ and I go, ‘No, Mr. Winningham, but I just gave him the file yesterday.’ And the shit says, ‘Well, don’t hold your breath, Mullen.’ And I stop. Then I say, ‘What do you mean?’ And he says, ‘You ever heard of the Danucci family?’ And I say, ‘Like in the mob stories, you mean?’ And Winningham just laughs, John. The son of a bitch just laughs at me.“
    I watched Mullen. “He told you not to tell me, right?“
    Harry looked away, out his window toward the Burger King. “Yeah, but fuck him.“
    I watched my old friend some more, tried not to see his little kid with the goofy smile.
    Harry said, “Besides, another month, it won’t mean anything anyway.“
    “Why not?“
    Mullen stabbed at the pack of Marlboros. “Another month, I’m gone.“
    “They caught you?“
    He looked at me like I wasn’t speaking the mother tongue. “What?“
    I inclined my head toward the ashtray. “The company policy on smoking. They caught you?“
    “Oh.“ Harry acted like he wanted to laugh, but just couldn’t find the right muscles. “No. Jeez, that’s right. I was so worried about that the last time I saw you. No, John. They’re folding us up.“
    “They’re what?“
    “They’re closing the office. That was one of the other ‘loose ends’ Winningham wanted to tie up before he hit the beach. Seems some MBAs didn’t have anything better to do down in New York, they punched me and my people into the computer and found out they could save a dime, folding us up and doing all the regional investigating with free-lancers out of Boston or Portland or Providence.“
    “You’re kidding?“
    Mullen’s face told me he wasn’t. “So, you want to punt this Dani/Danucci thing, it doesn’t matter. You want to stay with it, I’ll let you know when to start sending your reports to New York.“
    I let out a breath and sat back in the chair as Harry lit his cigarette. I couldn’t see how leaving the case for Empire would take me out of Mau Tim’s death as far as the Danuccis were concerned. At Homicide, Holt wouldn’t be any help, and Murphy couldn’t be any help. Right now, being with Empire was a justification, maybe even a buffer.
    Then I noticed the little kid in the photo again. “Harry, what are you going to do?“
    He blew smoke from his nostrils. “Check with some guys I know, dust off the resume.“ He tried to smile. “They still call it that, right?“
    “I’ll keep my ears open for you.“
    “Thanks, John.“
    “I hear about something. I’ll let you know.“
    “Good, thanks.“
    As we stood and shook hands, I couldn’t decide whose hail words sounded more hollow.

    I had left the Prelude in the condo space for my walk over to Empire. After seeing Harry Mullen, I walked back to the condo and tried to call Brad Winningham in New York. His secretary adyised me he would not be available for a week. I told her I’d like to see him then and she told me that he’d be very busy upon his return. I said that was all right. I’d be happy even if I had to wait to see him. When she asked for my name, I told her “John F. Danucci.“ She said she’d put me in the book but