Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness Read Online Free Page A

a straight answer. Do you think Ness can clean up this town?"
    Lawrence waited a long time before answering. "I think it is important to your political future, Harold, that you be perceived as doing everything you can to clean up Cleveland. That's what Reform candidates do. Hiring a hero to tidy up the joint can only make you look good. Even if it turns out that taking on a big city hurting bad is a little tougher than putting away Sicilian rumrunners. With him on your team, you can't be faulted for not trying to make a difference." He reached down for his briefcase. "He's your ticket to reelection, Harold."
    Burton contemplated a moment, then spread his hands expansively across his desk. "All right, then, Wes. You win. Have the junior g-man come and see me."

4
    "Can't you throw any harder than that?"
    "I could, but you couldn't catch it."
    "Aw, baloney. You throw like a girl."
    "No, you catch like a girl."
    "I ain't had any trouble catchin' anythin' you've thrown."
    "I been holdin' back. I don't wanna scare you." Jimmy Wagner and Peter Kostura had been playing catch for the better part of an hour. Jimmy was glad to have the company, though he would never admit it. Peter was four years younger than he was, a mere twelve, and he knew he'd get ribbed by some of the kids on the street if they knew he was messing around with such a punk. But where were they now? Truth to tell, there wasn't much to do this time of year in Cleveland. Especially on Kingsbury Run. So they played catch on Jackass Hill. What else was there?
    "All right," Peter screeched. His voice still hadn't changed, and it tended to break when he got loud. "You asked for it." He reared back his arm and tossed the baseball with all his might.
    Jimmy caught it without trouble. "Oooh. My hand is stingin'." He laughed. "The Bambino probably couldn't hit that one."
    "He's a goner."
    "He's retired. He ain't never gonna be a goner." Jimmy grinned. "But you are."
    "Yeah? Let's see what you can do."
    "Happy to oblige." With the advantage of four more years of muscles, well-honed by the menial jobs he worked to keep himself fed, Jimmy hurled the ball back.
    Peter caught it. "Hah! See, you ain't exactly Lou Gehrig yourself."
    Jimmy grinned. He hadn't thrown the ball half as hard as he could.
    He liked Peter. Kids were everywhere these days: no work, no one watching the schools, lucky if they even had parents. But friends-not just street trash but actual friends-were hard to come by on Kings-bury Run.
    His father had told him-the last time he saw the man before he disappeared-that there had been a time when Kingsbury Run was a nice neighborhood. The wide, deep gorge stretched all the way from Cleveland 's industrial area, the Flats, to East 90th Street. Once upon a time, according to his father, people had come here for picnics because the green seemed to stretch forever, and there was a brook and trees that provided shade. Even wildflowers. Folks used to come on dates, his dad had said. It's where I took your momma, first time we stepped out together.
    Jimmy had to wonder if his father had made the whole thing up, if it was just as false as a lot of the other stuff he said. Ever since the Crash, as long as Jimmy could remember, Kingsbury Run had been dirt and weeds and trash and bums. Over thirty different railroad tracks crisscrossed the Run, feeding supplies to the factories in the Flats and bringing in trash from all over the country. Hobo Jungle, some folks called it. They built the shantytown that housed the poorest and most desperate of the aimless wanderers who came to town looking for work, looking for a better life, and finding nothing.
    Jimmy's family came from the north side of the Run, where most of the colored families congregated, near Woodland Avenue. The working-class white folk lived on the south side of the Run, most of them with funny names he couldn't pronounce. His father had said those names could give you a clue to what part of Europe or Asia they came