“Not that I ever noticed,” the priest said, “but maybe he had other habits, like gambling, or didn’t know how to manage money. Or maybe he was supporting a family, like this woman Ms. Warshawski says she saw, although he didn’t seem like a family man. You could check with the shops on Ninety-first Street; he told me he did some odd jobs for them. Talk to Mr. Bagby, since Ms. Warshawski saw him in a Bagby truck.”
“You what?” Conrad’s voice was a whip-crack. “You saw him with Bagby and didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”
“Is this a big deal? Is Bagby connected?” Trucking is a good Mob cover—you can go anywhere and carry anything, including dead bodies to coal dust mountains.
“As far as I know, Bagby is a model citizen. Unlike you,” Conrad said.
I’d pulled out my iPhone to show him the picture I’d taken of Fugher and the gravel-faced man, but that needless bit of sarcasm made me keep it to myself. Probably a mistake, since if anyone had hitman written all over their scarred and pitted faces, it was the gravel guy.
“You could still ask him whether Fugher did any work for them. Although the dispatcher told me he didn’t recognize him.”
Conrad became even more incensed. “You went to Bagby?”
“I have yet to meet Vince Bagby, but I did stop at the yard to ask about Fugher. I couldn’t figure out why he was so nervous around me, but the dispatcher claimed not to know him.”
“And you say you were only on my turf on family business?” Conrad demanded. “This is crossing a line, even for you.”
“Excuse me, Lieutenant, but at what point did we morph into Russia or Iran, where a citizen has to get police permission to walk into a business and ask questions? The dispatcher might have lied to me; you could probably charm him into telling you the truth, flashing your badge and your gun and maybe a bullwhip.”
“Vince Bagby has been very generous to our youth scholarship fund,” Father Cardenal interjected. “Please don’t say anything that would make him think we don’t appreciate what he does.”
“What about Rory Scanlon?” I asked. “I know he’s offered to help young Frank Guzzo go to baseball camp. Does he support your youth programs?”
“Mr. Scanlon also does a lot for us. Betty Guzzo talked to me after you left. She’s frightened of you. She thinks you came to the game the other day to ruin Frankie’s chances with Scanlon,” Cardenal said.
“The whole Guzzo family seems to have been sniffing glue or something that rots the brain,” I said. “All I want is for Stella to stop slandering Boom-Boom. I hope Frankie gets his big chance, but he’s only fifteen; you don’t know what he’ll be like at nineteen.”
“Is that a threat?” Cardenal asked.
“You mean you’re taking Betty’s rantings seriously? Of course it’s not a threat. When my cousin was fifteen, there were other kids his age who looked as good as him. They worked just as hard as he did or maybe even harder, but they were as good as they were ever going to be when they were fifteen. I don’t know what Scanlon’s quid pro quo is, unless community goodwill helps turn out the vote in the Tenth Ward, but if he gets young Frank into a quality baseball camp, that will be a big help in the kid’s development.”
“Why can’t community goodwill come because someone cares about the community?” Conrad demanded. “Why does it always have to be something ulterior with you?”
“Conrad. Dear, kind, naive Lieutenant Rawlings: this is Chicago, Scanlon’s a fixture in the Democratic machine, Tenth Ward committeeman for starters—”
“Scanlon’s a fixture down here,” Conrad interrupted. “Gives to our widows and orphans funds, takes part in our programs against gang violence. The quid he wants personally is a piece of the insurance action. We let him sell life insurance to any of our cops who want more coverage than the union offers. It’s a fair deal in exchange for all he does for the community.”
“Frank Guzzo told me he takes boys off on solo trips if they need special counseling. Do you ever see any change in them when they come back?” I asked.
Conrad and Cardenal both blew up at that suggestion, which left me uneasy, not reassured. It sounded as though they were hearing the same warning bells I had, only they didn’t want to acknowledge them because they needed Scanlon’s support. When I said as much, it only made them angrier. Conrad and I left soon after that, with Conrad giving me a biting lecture on outside agitators coming into a community and getting everyone hot and bothered.
“I remember that language directed at civil rights workers,” I said.
“No one’s confusing you with Ella Baker, so don’t get a swelled head. What are you really doing down here? Don’t ask me to believe crap about your family. You don’t have relatives here anymore.”
“Where families are concerned, it doesn’t matter if they’re alive or dead, you’re always carrying them with you. Frank Guzzo brought me down here to talk to his mother. Who responded by digging up this alleged diary. You followed the story, I assume.”