Page 43 of His Virgin Vessel

"Of selling illegal alcohol."

"The law is the law," said Porter, sternly. "I'm not vindictive. I wouldn't go after you for more than you've done, or try to pin other crimes on you. Your dad taught me that," he added to Corinne. "But you broke the law, and I plan to make you pay to the extent of the law. I just want that understood, before we go any further. And, if you try and make a run to the door now, then I also want it understood that I will try and stop you. We were friends once, and those were good times, but they were a long time ago. I'm not saying you didn't have it tough growing up, but so did I, and I'm here, and you're there. And that's the way it is."

Porter sat back and waited for my response.

I nodded. "Well, I appreciate you being up front with me, Porter."

"Figure I owe you that much," Porter said. "There were times back in the day when you had my back when no one else did."

"We had to stick up for each other back then."

Porter nodded. "But you reach an age when you've got to decide which way you go, and you made your decision, Asa."

I nodded. I felt that making me feel bad about my life choices while arresting me was a little bit much.

"You think you've got enough on me to make it stick?"

Porter laughed. "That's your game, huh? Well, we'll try. We might not have your book anymore, but we've got some other stuff that might surprise you. I wouldn't call it a slam dunk, but I'd put my money on you doing hard time."

The plan, so far, was not going my way, and I could see Corinne getting anxious. Time for me to play my trump card.

"You know Tony Rassi's mob, yeah?"

"I know of them," Porter said carefully. "They keep themselves pretty clean in the open. You never hear a word against them, and there's never a shred of evidence."

"No one wants to testify against them."

Porter nodded ruefully. "Hard to blame folk for that. The Mafia has a bit of a reputation when it comes to snitches."

"What if someone could give you hard evidence?"

He tried hard to hide it, but I saw the spark of interest in Porter's eye. The man who took down Rassi's gang would not be a mere deputy for long.

"What sort of evidence?"

I shook my head. Years of experience had led me to never trust the police.

Porter pulled a face. "I've never been one for deals with criminals. That's another thing I learned from your dad, Corinne. Letting one off to put another inside just seems like a wash to me."

"I sell hooch," I said, a little injudiciously perhaps. "You want me to list what Rassi's into? You want me to list the deaths that I can tell you he's responsible for, that you can't ever pin to him? Who do you want walking the streets?"

"Ideally, neither of you," Porter said honestly. "The thing is, Rassi is a vague promise. You have no idea the number of times we thought we had something on him, only for him to wriggle out. Taking him down is not guaranteed. You, on the other hand, are sitting here right now, in my kitchen, telling me that you sell illegal hooch."

I sat up straighter in my chair. "Have you been recording this?"

Porter shrugged. "Just a little precautionary thing, when you have a known criminal in the house."

"That's inadmissible!" Corinne cried angrily.

"True," Porter said. "But it's a hell of a start. You see how easy it is to put you away, Asa? Rassi ... I want him, but I don't think you can give him to me. And, like I said, doing deals with criminals just doesn't sit well."

I took this in. It had been a good idea, and I didn't think we'd have gotten a different response if we'd tried another deputy. Now there was only one thing left to do.

"Corinne, can you give us a minute?" I asked.

Corinne frowned deeply, but got up and headed into the next room, not saying anything, but glaring at Porter on her way out.

I turned back to my old school friend. "I need you to get Corinne home safely and keep an eye on her." I outlined my Mafia concerns, and Porter listened.

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