“He thinks Spiro has the stuff.”
“These two would eat their young if you gave them the chance.”
I had my jacket in my hand when the phone rang again. It was Louie Moon.
“He was here,” Moon said. “Kenny Mancuso. He came back, and he cut Spiro.”
“Where's Spiro now?”
“He's at St. Francis. I took him there, and then I came back to see to things. You know, close up and all.”
Fifteen minutes later we were at St. Francis. Two uniforms, Vince Roman and a new guy I didn't know, stood flatfooted, weighted to the earth by their gun belts, at the emergency room desk.
“What's the deal?” Morelli asked.
“Took a statement from Stiva's kid. Got slashed by your cousin.” Vince cut his eyes to the door behind the desk. “Got Spiro back there, stitching him up.”
“How bad?”
“Could have been worse. Guess Kenny tried to cut Spiro's hand off, but the blade glanced off the rodent's big gold ID bracelet. Wait'll you see the bracelet. Right out of the Liberace collection.”
This got a chuckle out of Vince and his partner.
“Don't suppose anyone tagged Kenny?”
“Kenny's the wind.”
Spiro was sitting up on a hospital bed in the ER when we found him. There were two other people in the ER, and Spiro was separated from them by a privacy curtain partially pulled closed. His right arm was heavily bandaged from hand to forearm. His white shirt was blood-splattered, open at the neck. A blood-soaked necktie and kitchen towel had been tossed onto the floor beside the bed.
Spiro came out of his stupor when he saw me. “You were supposed to protect me!” he yelled. “Where the hell were you when I needed you?”
“I don't go on duty until ten of ten, remember?”
His eyes swiveled to Morelli. "He's nuts. Your cousin is fucking nuts. He tried to chop my goddamn hand off. He should be locked up. He should be in a looney bin. I was in my office, minding my own business, working on Mrs. Mayer's bill, when I look up and there's Kenny. He's raving about me stealing from him. I don't know what the hell he's talking about. He's a fucking fruitcake. Then next thing he says he's gonna chop me up piece by piece until I tell him what he wants to know. Lucky for me I was wearing that bracelet, or I would have been learning how to write left-handed. I started yelling, and Louie came in, and Kenny took off.
“I want some police protection,” Spiro said. “Ms. Marvel here doesn't perform.”
“I can have a blue-and-white drive you home tonight,” Morelli said. “After that you're on your own.” He passed his card to Spiro. “If there's a problem you can give me a call. If you need someone fast go to nine-one-one.”
Spiro made a derisive sound and glared at me.
I smiled nicely and rocked back on my heels. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Tomorrow.”
The wind had slacked off, and it was drizzling when we came out of the hospital.
“Warm front coming in,” Morelli said. “Supposed to be nice weather behind the rain.”
We climbed into Morelli's truck and sat, watching the hospital. Roman's squad car was parking in the driveway reserved for emergency vehicles. After about ten minutes Roman and his partner escorted Spiro into the squad car. We followed them to Demby and waited while they made sure Spiro's apartment was secure.
The cruiser rolled out of the lot, and we sat for a few minutes longer. Lights were on in Spiro's apartment, and I suspected they'd be burning all night.
“W
e should watch him,” Morelli said. “Kenny's not thinking good. He's going to keep after Spiro until he gets what he wants.”
“Wasted effort. Spiro doesn't have what Kenny wants.”