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Ed understood, all right. Ever since the night the Klavern had raided the North Side neighborhood, he d
been hoping that Theo might somehow overlook what had happened. And with four days gone by, Ed
had almost forgotten about it himself. Forgotten it enough to have left the gun he d been carrying at home
today.
No, Ed said. I don t.
Ed, Ed, Ed. Why do you lie to me? I thought you and I understood each other. You look at me and
don t see nothing but a nigger. And I look at you, and I see an ofay piece of shit. We never made no
bones about that. You knew where I was coming from. And I knew where you were, too. So why don t
we start over: Tell me about Thursday night?
Thursday? Ed said weakly.
Yeah. Now, I know for a fact that your truck came into my neighborhood last Thursday, and tried to
pick up one of my runners. You let him go, which showed you had some common sense, at least. But
then on Friday it was the same thing, only this time & He glanced back at the other two men and
walked forward, backing Ed into the folding machine. Only this time, you drove out of there with five of
my people. Five! Now, as I recall, when we made our arrangement I insisted that you could skim off
whatever trash you wanted downtown, but you were to stay out of the North Side. And you said that
was fine. It must have been fine cause you never went there til last week.
It wasn t us! Ed said.
Theo s men grabbed Ed s arms.
Ed. My man saw you sitting in the truck. He heard you tell your boys to quit. Course, that was just
before he got clobbered. Now, why don t you just admit to me you were there?
All right! Ed said, breathing heavily. It was us. But it was a mistake. We let your man go and I said we
had to get out of there, and we did. The next night I had nothing to do with. I didn t want any part of it.
Who did it then, Ed?
Ed Pratt hesitated. There was that oath he had taken never to divulge the secrets of a fellow Klansman.
I don t know. I just know it wasn t me.
Theo snapped his fingers. The two men dragged Ed over to the guillotine. They shoved his arm under the
blade and cranked down the clamping bars to hold it there. Theo strolled over.
Time to get serious now, Ed. Tell me who said to go to the North Side.
I don t know!
Yeah, you do. You re that what do you call it? Theo smiled, remembering. Kleagle? Yeah, that s
right! And ain t nobody shits down at that church without the Kleagle smelling it! Now, you talk to me,
Ed, and maybe you can make it up to old Theo.
I said I don t know. Don t you think I d tell you now if I did!
Where s that switch? Theo said pleasantly. Oh, yeah. The green button, right? Theo pressed it with
his thumb, and the worm gears above the guillotine began to drive the forty-two-inch blade down. Ed felt
it press against his skin, time slowing down until he could scream, Ravelli!
Theo pressed the button marked Release, and the blade popped back to its ready position. A stream
of blood trickled down both ends of the deep cut across the top of Ed Pratt s arm.
That was a name, wasn t it, Ed?
Ed nodded. He was too scared to talk.
Theo feinted toward the button plate, and Ed screamed.
Say it again, Ed.
R-Ravelli, Ed repeated. It s Lou Ravelli. He s a kid I just recruited, a ballplayer.
You mean that third baseman? You serious?
That s him.
Shit, Theo said. And he knows how to play ball, too.
He s a hothead. I thought he d be good for the crew but he wasn t satisfied with just taking drunks. He
got the other boys riled up. We drove up there and he almost got your man, but I let him loose, Theo, I
swear to God. The second night, I didn t know about. I stayed home that night. He must have got the
boys together and gone out without me.
Theo nodded at his man, who turned the crank and raised the clamping bar.
You know, this whole thing s too bad, Ed. That makes one more person I ve got to see this afternoon,
and the doc s on my butt, too. Ed pulled his arm out of the cutter. Theo let him straighten up. Then he
pushed Ed forward hard, turning his head and sliding him forward under the clamping bar. He held him
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