Chapter 51

“You’re…you’re a cop? Is that the truth?”

“Yes. I have no reason to lie to you.” His badge lay on the desk making him wonder if he’d solve this case and keep his job.

“Unless you’re one of the goons checking up on me.”

“Goons? Someone’s checking up on you?”

“Do you think I’d move to LA because I want to? I hate this place. I hate this whole state. The people running things are nuts. I wanna come back to Philly but they keep telling me I’m safer out here.”

“Safer? Why’s that?”

“Who knows? They never explained, but they told me that the whole bashing incident had opened a can of worms with the wrong people and if I testified I’d be dog meat.”

“Who is ‘they’ exactly?” Doyle asked.

“The goons, who do you think?”

“Did they explain why you’d be dog meat?”

“No. They just scared the shit out of me and I took their advice. Now they check up on me all the time. But it’s like more than checking up, y’know?”

“How do you mean that?”