Cogan's Trade

“You look all beat to shit,” Frankie said.

“Yeah,” Russell said, “and the hell of it is, I been up for about a week, you know? And I shouldn’t’ve even slept last night, only I hadda or I would’ve just fallen down. I got to keep moving till I finish this thing off. I thought I was go

“You haven’t dumped the stuff?” Frankie said.

“Dump it,” Russell said, “Christ, no. I didn’t hit it yet. I can’t, I probably won’t be able to move it till tonight, now, by the time I see him and everything. I know where it is. I can get it, and I haven’t got it on me.

“Down the bus station,” Frankie said.

“Never mind,” Russell said. “I know where it is.”

“You’re just an asshole,” Frankie said. “You know that, you asshole? The kind of chances you’re taking, they’re go

“Talk to me about that when I get the dough,” Russell said.

“Russ,” Frankie said, “this whole town’s dry, and it’s been dry for three or four weeks. There’s more guys ru

“Not till I hit it,” Russell said. “Look, I’m into this, over twelve K, right? I put it to a guy, fast, I don’t hit it, what do I get? I’m go

“It’s stupid,” Frankie said. “It’s fuckin’ stupid. That’s a thousand dollars a year.”

“Look,” Russell said, “I don’t need nothing, make me dumb. You know that, you and Squirrel. Squirrel knows it, at least. Maybe you still think we were smart, doing that. You’re just as dumb as I am. You just come around and stroke me some, I’ll do any dumb fuckin’ thing you can think of. The thing is, though, you and me’re different. When this’s over, I’m through, doing dumb things for guys. I do dumb things for me, maybe, and then, I get grabbed, okay, at least I was doing them for me. Which means, I get to keep all the fuckin’ money. I don’t have to give Squirrel nothing for being smart enough to see I’m stupid any more.”

“That worked out beautiful,” Frankie said.

“Sure,” Russell said, “fuckin’ cheesecake. Of course there’s a contract out on us and all, but it worked beautiful. You and me, we got different ideas of beautiful, too.”

“The fuck’re you talking about?” Frankie said.

“You,” Russell said, “me, and the Squirrel. There’s a contract out on us. I hang around here too long, which I’m not go

“For what?” Frankie said.

“Cut the shit, Frank,” Russell said, “for the Trattman game. The fuck’s the matter with you?”

“What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Frankie said. “You’re the one that’s got something the matter with him. Where’re you getting this fairy story? You flying or something?”

“Frank,” Russell said, “I can add and subtract. There’s gotta be a contract. Has to be one.”

“Nobody knows we did it,” Frankie said.

“I think they do,” Russell said.

“They went for it,” Frankie said.

“That’s good,” Russell said. “You go ahead and believe that. It’ll make you feel better while the guy’s catching up with you. Who’s the guy that does the work? Tell him when he sees you, sorry I couldn’t wait around. Tell him I went to, tell him I went back i

“Russell,” Frankie said, “Trattman’s practically dead. They beat him shitless. You didn’t know that, did you?”

“Shit,” Russell said, “of course I knew that. Ke

“Ke

“Right,” Russell said. “Ke

“ ‘Well,’ he tells me, we get to talking, ‘there’s not very many things a guy can do.’ And he tells me, there’s a guy, runs a card game some place, Ke

“Bullshit,” Frankie said.

“No bullshit,” Russell said, “he didn’t know the guy’s name.”

“Ke

“So fuckin’ what?” Russell said.

“Anything Ke

“They did,” Russell said, “that’s what he said. He said there’s this guy, he knows these two guys, him and his brother hadda go out and do the number o

“Yeah,” Frankie said, “and what’d you say, case Dillon didn’t have the whole story before?”

“I didn’t say shit,” Russell said.

“You horse’s cock,” Frankie said.

“I didn’t say fuckin’ shit,” Russell said. “The guy told me something. I listened. He never even, I didn’t, if I didn’t already know something, I wouldn’t even’ve known it was Trattman. You think I was go

“You better not’ve,” Frankie said. “John’s go

“Oh,” Russell said, “big fuckin’ deal. I got the Squirrel mad. I’ll probably have to go to bed without no fuckin’ supper. Fuck him.”

“YOU THINK HE DID,” Amato said.

“John,” Frankie said, “I know he did. Him and Ke

“So’s he,” Amato said.

“Not in Montreal,” Frankie said. “In Montreal he’s as clean as he can be.”

“There’s guys in Montreal, too, you know,” Amato said.

“I know it,” Frankie said, “and you know it. He apparently doesn’t. It don’t make no difference. It’s what he thinks. He thinks we’re i