Free Killing Them Softly (Cogan's Trade Movie Tie-in Edition) by George V. Higgins Page B

voice like a kid.”
    â€œTrattman said,” Cogan said.
    â€œSo far’s I know,” the driver said, “there’s nothing wrong with Trattman’s hearing, or his nose or anything.”
    â€œNope,” Cogan said. “Nothing I ever heard about, anyway.”
    â€œBut then, of course, when I talked to him …”
    â€œYou talked to Trattman?” Cogan said.
    â€œNo, of course not,” the driver said. “Trattman calledCangelisi, and they got word to him and then I talked to him.”
    â€œOh,” Cogan said.
    â€œIs that important?” the driver said.
    â€œProbably not,” Cogan said. “I was just wondering, how Trattman decided to call you. I wouldn’t’ve done that.”
    â€œWell, I do talk to him,” the driver said.
    â€œYeah,” Cogan said, “but I don’t, and I didn’t know you, I knew there was somebody, of course, but I never heard of you before in my life. Just seemed funny, is all.”
    â€œWell, I didn’t talk to him,” the driver said. “Trattman. But I talked to him last night and I talked to him again this morning.”
    â€œSo nobody,” Cogan said, “nobody’s actually talked to Trattman about this.”
    â€œJust Cangelisi,” the driver said. “Trattman called him from the place and he couldn’t get him and he woke his wife up and everything.”
    â€œYeah,” Cogan said. “So all we got right now, to go on, is what Trattman told some guy. And that’s what I’m supposed to go out and find two kids on, what Trattman told some guy, I never even talked to.”
    â€œThat’s not what he said,” the driver said. “He said that I was to call Dillon, and I called Dillon, and then I talked to him and he told me to talk to the fellow that Dillon sent and see what you thought, I assume it’s you, anyway, what you thought ought to be done next.”
    â€œWhat happened to Zach?” Cogan said.
    â€œI’m not really sure,” the driver said. “They had some kind of a disagreement. I think it was about the way he handled the petition for cert. Zach. He didn’t tell me very much about it, but he did say he couldn’t representhim any more. I called Zach when he first called me, naturally.”
    â€œZach was with him for a long time,” Cogan said. “I talked to Zach a lot.”
    â€œNot so long, actually,” the driver said. “About five years. No more’n that. When he first started out he had McGonigle.”
    â€œMagoo?” Cogan said. “He came up here for a guy and they practically hadda carry him in court in a basket.”
    â€œHe’s had some bad luck,” the driver said. “And that was probably before you were born, when he had McGonigle. Then, Zach told me, well, he didn’t have as many problems then. That was really before he really needed a lot of legal work done. But then he had Mindich and then he had the fellow from New York, Mendoza, and then he used Zach. It’s good trade,’ Zach told me. Tor five years it’s good business. It’ll drive you nuts, but the money’s good.’ See, according to Zach, he blames you when things don’t come out the way he wants them to, and then he gets a new lawyer.”
    â€œZach was the guy I had to talk to,” Cogan said. “Nice guy. He helped me set my thing up. Say hello to Zach for me, you happen to see him.”
    â€œI will,” the driver said. “Now, what do I tell him?”
    â€œWell,” Cogan said, “the games’re shut down, right?”
    â€œMost of them,” the driver said. “Somebody called Testa and he said he’d like to see somebody try to come into his operation. So I guess he’s still working. The rest of them’re pretty much closed.”
    â€œSame thing that happened the last time,” Cogan said.
    â€œIt’s