"Hey, that's out, you edged it!"
"Bullshit! It went straight past my bat. You could have driven a fuckin' truck through the gap."
"Fuck you! I heard the sound, and so did everybody else."
"It was the sound of my bat hitting the ground, asshole! It's time to get those pathetic peepers perused, Franky fuckin four eyes!"
"Hey, I told you, I heard the sound loud and clear. You're fuckin out!"
"Well if you take your head out of your ass, maybe you'll be able to see stuff too rather than just hearing it. "
"Ok that's the last time you've made fun of my sight you little twit!"
He had the mouth to tick off the meanest motherfuckers around, but even he knew he didn't have the physical strength to protect himself from the mean motherfucker charging at him right now. Nevertheless, he stood his ground, even with his heart in his mouth. He had almost closed his eyes when he caught the glimpse of a comforting figure appearing out of nowehere.
"Hey, hey take it easy people. Nobody's throwing hands here."
"You stay out of it man. You should've shut the lid on this obnoxious little worm when you still had time. Now nobody's saving him from the ass-kicking of a lifetime."
"Nobody shuts the lid on my bro, and nobody even dreams about kicking his ass while I'm around. You should walk away from here while you still got the legs to carry you."
"Ok man, but remember, you're not gonna be there always. He's gonna learn his lesson sooner or later."
At this moment, Detective Larry Tolemy opened his eyes. Well, figuratively, cos all this while he had been sitting in the Police Plaza and Commissioner Hanson had been blabbering about the recent murder of a renowned outlaw. He took another glance at the morning paper.
"Live by the sword, die by the sword", screamed the Daily Post, in yet another vain attempt of paying homage to the Son of God. Larry often wondered if Jesus himself ran the paper. For as long as he cared to remember, the front page headline had always had a reference to the Holy Book.
The sub-heading read, "Charles Tolemy, alleged henchman of mob boss Ed Fly "Horny" Jinn, shot dead and thrown into the ocean in broad daylight. Fear of gang-wars grips the city."
"Remember when we were young? You once saved me from Big Moe. I really thought I was a dead duck."
"Nobody can lay a hand on you junior. Not while I'm around."
"That's what I wanna talk to you about Charlie. See I've been hearing some stuff down at the plaza..."
"You've heard right junior. And when the time comes, you do what you're supposed to. Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...."
He woke up again. There was a lengthy account of the incident in the papers, replete with romantic allusions to the thriving mob culture in the city. What the papers had chosen not to mention was something that was almost common knowledge, at least within the police and press circles. Nobody said it out loud, but everybody knew that everybody knew. The call made by Charles Tolemy to Commissioner Hanson a week before the murder. The grapevine suggested that Tolemy wished to testify against "Horny" Jinn. Why and wherefore is not too clear. He was all too aware of the corruption that infested the police ranks, and therefore he had decided to call up the Commissioner himself. Hanson made a big deal of it. In the meantime, he may have missed out on providing the much-promised security cover to Charlie. And he also may have, just may have, tipped "Horny" on the whereabouts of Charlie sometime during their conversation. Larry couldn't say this for sure, but he was there when Hanson received what seemed like a call from the devil himself in his office.
"Larry my boy, we've got to clean the city of this stinking pile of shit. This is not how the city will run. Not while I'm around."
"Yes Sir Commisioner."
"The most important thing right now is to find out the culprits and also prevent any more bloodshed. I need you to take a deep dive, get to the bottom of this, Goddamn it!"
"Understood Sir."
"Very well then."
He had always hated water bodies. Once when they were young, Charlie had played a prank on him by pulling him into the water again and again as he tried to get out of the pool. He liked to think of it as his first encounter with death.
Even though he had never believed in afterlife, he couldn't help being excited as he stood on the coast, thinking, "...and this will be the last."
