Shallow Graves

this planet?“
    “I’ll bet that shut him up.“
    “Yeah. Yeah, it did. I got to admit, though, it is a clever piece of machinery. I mean, it’s got this little wheel, you can adjust it for noise, even while you’re wearing it. The audiologist says to me, ‘Mr. Katzen, you can even turn it off completely, should say a motorcycle start up next to you.’ And I say to him, ‘Doctor’—I don’t know, is he a doctor, but I figure, it doesn’t hurt to be polite, right?—’Doctor, I’m not sure how to tell you this, but my Wild One days are behind me, you know?’ “
    “Good comeback, Mo. I—“
    “So then he tells me the battery lasts six months and the aid itself is built for a lifetime. He says, ‘It’s got the Manhattan Project in it.’ And I say, ‘Great, my age, I have to have an atomic bomb in my ear,’ and he says, ‘No, Mr. Katzen, the Manhattan Circuit,’ and that’s when I realize, John, I got to have the thing.“
    “I think you’re right, Mo. Listen, I wonder if—“
    “ ‘Course, the little bugger does have its drawbacks. I told you about the phone business?“
    “Yes, Mo.“
    “Well, it’s no picnic riding in the car, either. Oh, it closes out the engine noise just fine, but you put the directional signal on? Because it’s inside the cabin with you, the thing sounds like a Mongol gong. Also, if it falls out or you can’t remember where you put it, there’s a homing device inside, makes this sound to let you know where it is. But, surprise, surprise, guess what?“
    “You can’t hear it.“
    “On the button, John. On the button. You need a hearing aid to start with, how’re you supposed to find the little bugger from a homing sound you can’t hear without the little bugger in your ear?“
    “Speaking of finding things, Mo.“
    “What?“
    “I said, speaking—“
    “I heard you, John. You’re sitting not four feet away from me, right?“
    “Right, Mo.“
    “No need to repeat things, right?“
    “Right, Mo.“
    “So, what’d you come over here for. Spit it out.“
    I took a breath. “I’m working on a case. It involves somebody I’d like to talk with you about.“
    “Who?“
    “Thomas Danucci.“
    “Thomas... Tommy the Temper?“
    “Yes.“
    Mo shook his head, fired up the dead cigar with a war memorial lighter. “John“—puff—“I don’t think“—puff-puff— “working on a case“—puff-puff-puff—“involving Tommy Danucci is such a great idea.“
    “I’m inclined to agree with you. But I’m already in it, and for a lot of reasons, it’s easier to keep going than to bail out.“
    “Your decision.“ Mo blew a smoke ring. “Tommy Danucci, Tommy Danucci. One of the last of the old ones, John. The ones who made their bones before the war—W W n, I mean. He stayed in the background, always the gentleman, I heard. Like he ran one of those Renaissance city-states with the Borgias and whatever.“
    “Do you know much about his family?“
    “You mean his relatives or his organization?“
    “Good point. Start with his organization.“
    “He came up through the Buccola crowd, late thirties. Heard a little bit about him, here and there during the war. Loansharking, barbooth games, something with the Teamsters. Nothing unusual. Then around the early sixties, he really hit his stride with the sharking. You were still in school then, John, but Boston started getting a reputation.“
    “What kind of reputation?“
    “As a place where deadbeats got beat dead.“
    “Catchy.“
    “Yeah, I’m sure Tommy intended it that way. He wasn’t all that big, but boy he was tough. And blind to the pain if he was in a fight. I have this friend who’s Italian—grew up with me in Chelsea. My friend says he saw the Temper take a knife in the shoulder from a deadbeat when Tommy was doing some collection work in the old days. Knife and all, my friend says Tommy was able to punch the guy senseless.“
    “Danucci still in the rackets?“
    Mo shucked some ash from the cigar. “Who can say? Those guys, I assume they got the equivalent of profit-sharing after they retire, even if they’re not still active. Seems to me I heard Tommy had a heart attack a few years back, not much since.“
    “How about his relatives?“
    “Tommy married a little late as I recall. Beauty from the old country, real ethnic name. Couple of sons, but I think one went to Vietnam like you, and the other... I don’t know, doctor or lawyer, maybe?“
    So far things checked out