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

oughta be enough. You’re gonna have to get your own ski masks or something.”
    â€œI’d like a sawed-off for this one,” Frankie said. “Something big, scare the shit out of them, you walk in the door.”
    â€œYou get one,” Amato said, “use it. Okay by me. Just don’t start taking your fuckin’ time about it, is all. We’re not the only smart guys in the world.”

T HE 300F DID EIGHTY quietly on Route 128 north.
    â€œShe looked really great,” Russell said. “I mean,
really
. Beautiful big tits, fucked like it was going out of style. This’s really a great car, isn’t it? It’s like riding in your fuckin’ bedroom, but it’s still a great car.”
    â€œI wished,” Frankie said, “one of the things I really wish, I wish you could still get a car like this.”
    â€œKeep this one,” Russell said.
    â€œJust what I need,” Frankie said, “a nice, hot car. No, you can’t do it, and there’s none of them around that’re in decent shape enough to buy. Fuck. Tell me about her some more.”
    â€œWanna blow your mind?” Russell said. “You’re not gettin’ any still, are you?”
    â€œTomorrow night I’m getting some,” Frankie said. “This goes all right, this’s my last night, a priest. Tell me about it. I’ll take care my own hog.”
    â€œWell, you had the practice,” Russell said.
    â€œThat’s nice talk,” Frankie said, “guy like you that was sticking it in Goat-ass’s satchel. Very nice talk.”
    â€œThat’s the first rule,” Russell said, “a clean old man. I didn’t see no broads around, up there.”
    â€œWho said Goat-ass was clean?” Frankie said.
    â€œNot me,” Russell said. “That’s the next rule. If there’s no old man around that’s clean, take the dirty one.”
    â€œI should’ve had them get you a goat,” Frankie said. “I had some clout with the keepers. I should’ve done that. The rest of us could’ve watched. You sure you’re not fooling around with them dogs, like John said, right?”
    â€œDogs’re liable to bite,” Russell said. “I knew a kid, I knew a kid that had a dachshund once … never mind that. Lemme give you some advice, Frank: stay away from the dogs. You can get nipped, and what I hear, that hurts. Stick with broads. If you can find one.”
    â€œYou know?” Frankie said. “I’m not sure I can. Maybe it’s the same thing. Maybe they’re not making broads any more, either. You can’t get a nice hemi, because it’s liable to make somebody sick or something, it burns gas, and it’s probably, it wouldn’t surprise me, there’s no more broads, either.”
    â€œThere’s broads,” Russell said. “Just like us. There’s always broads. Squirrel wants to do something, he knows where he finds us. We go in and we go out and he’s having drinks some place, and he gets the same as we do. He knows where we are. The girls? They’re the same. They’re just as crazy as we are. It’s just one crazy bastard taking advantage of another crazy bastard. That’s all it is. That broad I was with? She’s crazy. She’s beautiful but she’s crazy. The way she looks, she didn’t have nothing to do with that. She don’t have nothing to do with the way her head’s fucked up, either. But it is. She’s fuckin’ batty.
    â€œShe lives up onna Hill, right?” Russell said. “I go up there, she opens the door, she’s naked. Right there. Kind of threw me. She is really a good-looking girl. The stuff I been having, well, it’s not like I don’t appreciate it, you know? I was in a long time. But this kid, she was something. So I stand there, I’m just looking at her. And she says: ‘We’re gonna