Carmella Commands
shake-up that will make him whisper till he gets a new lay of land.”
“But mightn’t you get arrested, Nicolo?”
“Not a chance! Not a chance!” (Nicolo was learning to talk out of the side of his mouth.) “If they ever nick that wise guy for a booze-peddler they’ll do it with a raid, not a pinch.”
“Where’d they raid?” asked Carmella quite innocently.
Nicolo sat up straight and shot a quick glance of doubt at her.
“If I knew I wouldn’t tell,” he said. “And I don’t know. Neither do you. Watch your step, kid!”
“Good Lord, I don’t care. What’s gnawing you, anyway?”
“In my business, kid, you gotta watch out. You don’t know nothing if they ever ask you, see?”
“If they ever ask me things I’ll decide what to know and what not to know,” said Carmella hotly. “And no half-baked kid like you is going to tell me.”
There was ugliness between them as they walked home from the theater that evening.
[202]
