“I want you to take Pete the Finn. Dick will take Lew Yard. You’ll have to play it the way I’ve been playing⁠—do what you can when you can. I’ve an idea that the pair of them will try to make Noonan let Whisper alone. I don’t know what he’ll do. He’s shifty as hell and he does want to even up his brother’s killing.”

“After I take this Finnish gent,” Mickey said, “what do I do with him? I don’t want to brag about how dumb I am, but this job is plain as astronomy to me. I understand everything about it except what you have done and why, and what you’re trying to do and how.”

“You can start off by shadowing him. I’ve got to have a wedge that can be put between Pete and Yard, Yard and Noonan, Pete and Noonan, Pete and Thaler, or Yard and Thaler. If we can smash things up enough⁠—break the combination⁠—they’ll have their knives in each other’s backs, doing our work for us. The break between Thaler and Noonan is a starter. But it’ll sag on us if we don’t help it along.