Chapter 5 — The Deals on Chicago Chronicles

The Assumption — Thursday, 12 July 1990, 9:00 PM

Thu, 12 Jul 1990 21:00:00 +0000

Rosie’s Bar, Buchanan Street / Modius’s Mansion, Miller Beach Gary, Indiana

The pen touched paper at 10:07 PM on a Thursday in July, and Gerald Fisk signed his father’s building over to a dead man without knowing either of those things.

Rosie’s. The burned-out neon. Sam Cooke on the jukebox. Fisk looked at the assumption transfer the way parolees look at the door — like it might close again before he got through it. He signed. Darius folded the document into the envelope and put it in his coat pocket, and the weight of it was nothing and the weight of what it meant was a city.

The Ghost Lane — Thursday, 28 June 1990, 11:45 PM

Thu, 28 Jun 1990 23:45:00 +0000

Gary, Indiana — multiple locations

The pager went off at eleven forty-five. Fifteen minutes early. The number was Argyle Street.

Darius picked up the phone and dialed and the voice on the other end was the fake one first — the bumbling uncle, the restaurant owner, the accent like a door painted to look like a wall. Then the accent fell and the real voice said: “What did you offer him, Warren?”

The Lucian Approach — Monday, 25 June 1990, 11:00 PM

Mon, 25 Jun 1990 23:00:00 +0000

Gary Exports Co., East Chicago Harbor Gary, Indiana

The office at Gary Exports Co. was cinderblock and corrugated steel and a hand-painted sign that said FREIGHT & LOGISTICS, and the woman who opened the door looked at Darius the way a bouncer looks at someone who left their ID in the car.

“Office is closed.”

“I’m here for Lucian.”

“He know you’re coming?”

“Just responding to his Lakeside deal.”

Something crossed her face. She went to the inner door, knocked once, leaned in. Came back and left the door open behind her. No invitation. Just a gap.