The Killing Page #5

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Yeah. Like the, um -

Like the man said,

"Life is like a glass of tea." Huh?

Oh, Johnny, my friend,

you never were very bright...

but I love you anyway.

How, uh - How's life

been treating you, Maurice?

About the same as always.

When I need some money,

I go out and wrestle.

But mostly I'm up here,

wasting my time playing chess.

But, you know, I wouldn't know

what to do with myself...

if I didn't have this place to come to.

Maurice, could you use $2,500?

It has a pleasant ring to the ear.

Quite musical.

What is it for?

For taking care of half a dozen private d*cks.

Racetrack cops.

I want you to start a fight

with the bartender at the track.

The track cops will try to break it up.

You keep 'em busy for as long as you can.

Make 'em drag you out of the place.

No gunplay. Strictly a muscle job.

Would it be out of order for me to ask...

for what it is that you are willing to pay such

a price to see me demonstrate my talents?

I would imagine it is for more

than just your own personal entertainment.

$2,500 is a lot of dough, Maurice.

Part of it's for not asking questions.

That sounds not unreasonable.

Still, I will probably go to jail,

and jails I have found unpleasant.

Food is very bad, company is poor,

beds are too small.

Ah, it'll only be a disorderly conduct charge.

Maybe 60 days, nothing worse.

And if a man has a little money

to spread around in the right places,

he can be quite comfortable for his stay.

I do not quite understand, Johnny.

For what you want me to do, you could

get any hoodlum for a hundred dollars.

Yeah. I don't want any hoodlum.

I want a guy like you.

Someone who's absolutely dependable...

who knows he's being well-paid to take a risk

and won't squawk if the going gets rough.

I was thinking, if perhaps you can't

work out some other arrangement -

But suppose I were willing

to forgo part of it...

and take a share

in your, uh, enterprise instead.

- No?

- No. It's not mine to share up.

Very well, Johnny. Now I sense

there will be certain details to work out.

Yeah. I'll buy you a cup of coffee, huh?

- It's beautiful, isn't it?

- Yeah, it's exactly what I wanted.

Yeah, pops, you could take care of a whole

roomful of people with that gun.

Maybe not kill 'em all, but then they

wouldn't be good for anything afterwards.

I knew you'd take care of it for me, Nikki.

Say, uh, how long have you had this place?

Almost a year.

Yeah, and it's picturesque enough,

but there can't be much profit in it.

There isn't.

But then there isn't much trouble neither.

- What are you thinking about?

- A job. Your kind of a job. A job with a rifle.

- What kind of money, pops?

- 5,000.

- Who do I have to kill?

- A horse.

- A horse?

- A four-legged horse.

- And for that I get 5,000?

- Well, for that and -

I figured there'd be a gimmick.

The gimmick isn't as tough

as you may think.

You shoot the horse, and, if by any chance

anything goes wrong, you don't squawk.

And all I gotta do is bump off a horse?

- Well, it's a special kind of a horse, Nick.

- So?

For certain reasons,

including your own protection...

in case anything happens, I'm not gonna

give you the whole story, just your part of it.

Next Saturday the $100,000 handicap

is being run.

In the seventh race - that's the big race of

the season - there's a certain horse running.

He's one of the best three-year-olds

to come along in the last 10 years.

He's a big money winner, and he won't

pay even money because half the people

out there are gonna be down on him.

All right. There's a parking lot less than 300

feet from the northwest corner of the track.

From a car parked

in the southeast corner of that lot...

you get a perfect view of the horses

as they come around the far corner

and start into the stretch.

A man sitting in a car parked in that spot

using a high-powered rifle

with a telescopic sight...

should be able to bring down

any given horse with a single shot.

And a man with your eye

would hardly need a telescopic sight.

That horse is worth

a quarter of a million bucks...

and you know the crowd

would go completely nuts.

So what? Let 'em go nuts.

You can do it. You can do it easy.

And you shouldn't have too much trouble

getting away in the confusion.

Red Lightning will undoubtedly be leading

in the stretch because that's the way he runs.

So he goes down, a couple of other horses

pile up on top of him.

- There'll be plenty of confusion.

I can guarantee you that.

- Yeah.

And there's one more thing -

Suppose by accident you do get picked up.

What've you done? You shot a horse.

It isn't first-degree murder.

In fact, it isn't even murder.

In fact, I don't know what it is.

But the chances are, the best they could

get you on would be, uh, inciting a riot...

or shooting horses out of season

or something like that.

Well, you put it down, 'cause you make it

sound real simple. You know, pops?

Okay, pops. How do I get it?

- 2,500 today, 2,500 the day after the race.

- Okay. Crazy. Now, tell me something -

What's your angle, John?

They'll probably call the race off, huh?

And they won't pay off any of the bets?

Come on.

Maybe. But what my angle is

is my business.

And, Nikki, 5,000 bucks is a lot of dough,

and that's what I'm paying it for -

so nobody has to know my business.

All right, John.

I got no troubles with you. I'm with you.

- I'm lookin' for Joe Piano.

- Who's lookin' for Joe?

- Patsy sent me.

- Patsy who?

- Patsy Gennelli.

- Where did you see Patsy?

Alcatraz. We roomed together.

My name -

Don't tell me who you are.

What can I do for you?

I want a place to stay for about a week.

I won't be in it very much.

I don't want it cleaned, and I don't want

anybody else in it except myself.

I think I can accommodate you.

So how's the boy?

Eh, he's fine. He's doing it on his ear.

He's the best pitcher they got up there.

- Yeah, I know.

- He told me to tell you

not to worry about him.

Yeah, he's doing the book, you know.

I worry plenty.

Well, he's a tough kid.

Maybe he'll get a break.

Yeah, I know. Let's hope.

Here you are. I got another one.

You don't have to worry about

leaving anything in here.

It'll be safe. I'm always over here.

There'll be no maid service.

- You wanna leave anything in there?

- Just this, and another bag next week.

Don't you worry.

Nobody will disturb them.

- All right. What'll it be?

- Oh, no. No charge. You said Patsy sent you.

Sure, he sent me, but he's a friend of mine.

I'd feel better if I paid.

Kind of a business arrangement.

I can afford it.

- Okay, then. It'll be $10 a week.

- All right.

I'll send the money in the bus to the boy.

Thank you very much.

Have a nice time, huh?

Four days later, at 7:30 a. M...

Sherry Peatty was wide awake.

Gosh, honey. Did I wake you up?

I'm sorry. I just couldn't sleep somehow.

It's all right.

Can I get you anything?

- Would you like some more coffee?

- No, I guess not.

Nice of you to offer though.

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