“You don’t quit, I gotta hand it to you,” Blum says.
“Neither do you,” Jimmy says. “You still fucking with people by wandering around in a robe?”
“Too old, too tired,” Blum says. “And that old goombah, Gigante, his brother was a priest? He was more convincing than me.” He nods at Jimmy with his chin. “You didn’t buy that I was crazy?”
“Only like a fox.”
“Yeah, I still got it.”
“So to what do I owe the honor?” Jimmy asks.
“I came here to tell you, man to man, that you got me all wrong.”
Jimmy says, “Somehow I doubt that.”
“What I’m here to tell you is, I had nothing to do with those three people dying.”
“I’m told that Hank Carson owed you a lot of money,” Jimmy tells him.
“He did.”
“Just out of curiosity,” Jimmy says, “how much did the late Mr. Carson owe you?”
“A million, give or take a few thousand,” Blum says.
“Lot of money.”
“He’s lucky something unfortunate didn’t happen to him sooner,” Blum says. “Lucky for him he finally paid.”
Now he’s got Jimmy’s attention.
“You’re saying he wasn’t still to the bad with you when he died?”
“Paid up in full, to Bobby Salvatore, couple of days before hediddie,” Blum says. “Maybe you’re not as much of a hot shit investigator as I heard you were.”
Blum shakes his head. Even that seems to require most of the strength he has in him. When he stops, his head falls a little to the side.
“It was supposed to be last call for the guy,” Blum says. “I sent Bobby thinking he was going to have to clip him. But Carson shocked the shit out of Bobby and shocked the shit out of me and paid in full.” He nearly smiles. “Still no problem in this world that a bag full of money can’t solve.”
The old man’s lips look cracked and dry. He licks them now.
“Carson told Bobby he didn’t want to die because of what he owed,” Blum says. “Then he pays up and dies anyway. Funny world, right?”
“Tell me again why you’re here,” Jimmy says.
“Your girl needs to keep my name out of her mouth at this trial,” he says, “before something happens to her.”
“In case you haven’t figured it out already, she scares about as easily as I do,” Jimmy says. “And she wants you to testify.”
Blum laughs, which then turns into a coughing fit.
“Something funny?” Jimmy asks.
“Yeah,” Blum says. “You thinking I give a rat’s ass what she wants.”
“I’ll pass your message along, though I’m not sure it will do any good.”
“I don’t want to have to kill her,” Blum says.
