House of the Rising Sun by Chuck Hustmyre

one told his brother to bring you on after you got out of the joint. Cops got a better education than your average goombah, anyway, so Vinnie probably figures you got a better shot at catching these punks than any of our guys.”
    â€œBut I’m not a cop anymore,” Ray said. “I tried to explain that to him. I’m an ex-con. That means I’m blacklisted for life. I’m like a leper. Where I show up, other cops run so they don’t catch anything from me. All I am now is an unarmed security guard. I can’t go after a crew of armed robbers and murderers without a gun, but if I even get near one, I’m violating my parole.”
    â€œNobody’s asking you to take them down. Just help us find them.”
    Ray steeled his resolve. “What if I say no?”
    Charlie’s face got hard. “Then you’ll be a problem.”
    They had another round. This time Ray paid.
    As they were leaving the bar, Charlie slipped a napkin into Ray’s hand. “My number’s on it. You need help, give me a call. I’ll see what I can do.”

    â€œYou think that asshole is going to do it?” Tony asked, leaning against the wall next to one of the big windows in Vinnie Messina’s fourth-floor office.
    Vinnie, his ass sunk into the sofa, munched on peanuts from a jar. He nodded as he dropped another handful into his mouth. “He’ll do it.”
    Tony eyed the empty chair behind Vinnie’s desk. Pushing away from the wall, he strolled over and sat down, listening with satisfaction as the rich leather creaked under his weight. The casters rolled easily on the hardwood floor as he slid up to the desk and propped his elbows on the lacquered top. “You didn’t see him with that cop downstairs. I don’t think he’s bullshitting when he says he ain’t got no friends on the department anymore.”
    Vinnie upended the jar, pouring the last of the peanuts directly into his mouth. When he finished crunching them, he said, “My brother’s gonna think it’s funny if I don’t put Shane on the job.”
    Tony knew that Vinnie lived in his older brother’s shadow. He also knew Vinnie didn’t like it, but there was nothing Vinnie could do about it. He wasn’t tough enough to really stand up to his brother. Old Man Carlos put up with a certain amount of posturing from his kid brother, but that was it. Vinnie wasn’t his own man. He certainly would never be able to replace his brother. Someone else would have to do that. “Then why did you let that prick Charlie Rabbit talk you out of it?” Tony said.
    Vinnie set the empty peanut jar down on the end table. “He didn’t talk me out of it. I agreed that Shane could think about it until tomorrow.”
    â€œSince when do we let our guys think about whether or not they’re going to do what we tell them?”
    â€œWe don’t tell anybody anything,” Vinnie snapped. “I tell them what to do. And they’re not our guys. They’re my guys.”
    Now wasn’t the time to argue. Patience, Tony told himself. He had to have patience. “That’s what I meant.”
    â€œI know you got a beef with him over that broad downstairs, but—”
    â€œI don’t give a shit about her,” Tony snapped. “She’s just a piece of tail, like half a dozen others.”
    Vinnie stared at him. “When you let things get personal, that’s when you lose control.”
    Tony Z. waved a hand at him. “I just don’t like the guy.”
    â€œI like him, and my brother likes him. He did five years for us.”
    â€œIt wasn’t five years,” Tony said, tired of hearing about how tough Ray Shane was supposed to be. Everything he had seen of Shane lately just convinced him even more of what a scared little prick he was.
    â€œClose enough to five,” Vinnie said. “But the important thing, at least as far as my