Joey Gallo's Lament

Kelly came back into the room carrying a glass of water in a chipped coffee mug.  Joey was a little the worse for wear. Ryan had been tuning him up for over an hour and he slumped in his chair. The only thing that held him up was his stubbornness. Hate will do that for you.

“So Joey Ubatz how are you feeling this fine afternoon? Perhaps you might like to shed some light on what we were talking about?”

“I ain’t got nothing to say Kelly. You can have this retard wail on me all you want but that ain’t gonna change shit.”

“Maybe so. But I will be finding the one who put the beating on Mr. Anthony Tringale one way or the other. We found out that he owed quite a bit of money. It seems he liked to take a flyer now and then and was in serious Dutch. Now since you are the Shy for this part of Brooklyn I would presume you might have known something about that. Maybe you stopped by to persuade him to settle up and things got out of hand?”

“I don’t know nothing and I told you I wanted my fucking phone call.”

“Ah your phone call. You want to let your fingers do the talking no doubt. What do you think about that Dennis?”

Ryan smiled his pig like smile and reached for the phonebook. He smacked Joey across the head. He flew back and toppled over on to the filthy floor. The beefy detective took the book and put it over Joey’s hand. And stomped on it. Then again. Then a third time. And chuckled.

“Won’t be talking now Detective Kelly now will he? Fingers or other which way wise.”

Joey moaned a little. He couldn’t help it. It felt like all the bones in his mitts were busted. The pain was almost unbearable.

“Help him Dennis. It seems our friend is all at six and sevens.”

Ryan dragged him up by the back of his suit and set his chair upright. Threw him into the seat. 

“Now Joey my dear friend why do we have to have all this unpleasantness. I am not inquiring over anything all that important. You know me. I am a reasonable man. When you and your barbershop quartet aced that miserable dago in the barbershop did I even ask you a question? This matter is a little different you see. You can’t drop a body on my streets and expect me to turn a blind eye can you…you guinea fuck?”

“I didn’t do anything you fucking potato eating cocksucker. Why don’t you go fuck yourself. Or better yet let your boyfriend feed you his braciole. I bet you would like that wouldn’t you fucking limp dick motherfucker.”

“Joey, Joey, Joey. You are one dumb wop. When are you going to learn? You ain’t that tough. No of you spaghetti benders are all that tough. We will get it out of you. Sooner or later. It just depends on how much pain you might want to endure. We have all the time in the world. Don’t we Dennis?”

“Yes” Detective Ryan said. “What do you want to do with him?”

“Leave him chained to the desk and let him ruminate on the error of his heathen ways. Let’s go get a cup of coffee. Like I said. We have all the time in the world.”