#69

“Have I made remembering all this any easier?!” Lefty Sinister will yell. Flannigan the Stooly's blood will be all over his fists, and the edges of his violin case. He'll be badly injured but still conscious, and thus, still able to talk. A useful attribute in these stressful times.

“I swear, I don't know where your boys are!” Flannigan will screech. “Yeah, I admit it! I worked with Fox, and I helped sell 'em 'n' you out! But I don't know where he took 'em!”

“Are they still alive?”

“I-I dunno!”

Another punch will shatter his sinuses. He'll scream out again, but no one will be able to hear him. No one who'll care, at any rate.

“I'm tired of hearing those words pour out of your goddamn mouth!” Lefty will shout.

“I s-swear, Lefty! I...” Another punch, and another crack.

He'll gasp for air, his nasal passages filling with his own blood. His eyes will look around desperately for help, but then they'll shift; turn to a look of resignation.

“Look, you'll kill me if I don't help you,” he'll say, to which Lefty will nod. “And Fox will kill me if I tell. So I guess I'm backed into a corner.” He sighs, coughing up blood as he does so.

“So you had eight other boys, right? Esau, Tekoa, Wilhelm, Eye, Zanne, Fritz, Usius, and 'Bones' Ellson. Plus you. Well, I was there when Fox raided The Future Tense. He took down and captured Zanne, and Eye tried to go after him, with Fritz hooking up with him. You got knocked out, you remember that. After that it was a car chase. Everyone else in the Mob was behind, but they caught quick. When they did that, 'e cut up Eye and shot Fritz, then grabbed Wilhelm—tried to use 'im as a meat shield. With that he capped Tekoa and Usius, which made Esau and Bones try to charge. But here's where it gets weird, Lefty—he just starting shooting this brown light out of his hands!”

“Brown light?”

“Yeah! Same color as car fuel, y'know?”

Lefty will know. He used to be, or will used to be, a slimechap—guy who works with fuel, harvests it. Shitty job. He won't like to think of it.

“But yeah, this light just makes 'em...vanish! They're gone! Then he does the same thing to Zanne and Wilhelm. Usius gets back up, 'cause he's a tough bastard to kill, and bam! Brown light hit 'im too. They're all gone. Or dead. Maybe he kidnapped 'em—or maybe that zap killed 'em too.”

Lefty will pause to think. Holy shit. Eye, Fritz, Tekoa—all dead. They would be some of his best. They would all be his best, really—the best damn gang in all of Boston. Would've made old man O'Grady proud, if he were allowed to be spoken of.

“Where's Fox hiding these days, then, eh? Where's his den?”

“I-I don't...” WHACK. “O-okay! H-he's hiding out in the Zorro Club!”

“The Zorro Club?” Stupid name. Clearly means “fox” in Spanish—doesn't every idiot know that? Not very clever on the Inspector's part.

“Alright, Flannigan. I'll let you live. But I ain't payin' any hospital bills.”

“You won't need to, Sinister.” His face will go back to that sort of resigned look from earlier. “I'll be honest with ya.”

He exhales weakly. “Fox ain't gonna let me get to no hospital.”