Bishop’s Lounge was busy and loud and blue with smoke. I sat by myself back in a dark corner booth, contributing my share of smoke and watching Angela. She had come in with a group of work friends and they sat at one of the tables chattering and drinking wine but she seemed distracted and kept looking over at the bar. She had on a black dress to match her black bob. There was also a black wire in her black purse she didn't know about.

A giant yellow-haired goon came in. He stood up at the bar and ordered a drink and looked at Angela and Angela talked to her friends at the table and tried not to look at him. The bartender brought him over a drink and he held it up to the light and inspected it. and the glass looked like a thimble in his massive hand. He sipped from it, set it down, and stared at Angela some more.

Presently, she stood up and said goodbyes and crossed the room. Her fingertips brushed his thigh as she passed him and he picked up the drink, shot it down, set the empty on the bar, twisted around, and followed her out.

When the door closed, I strolled casually to the window. I watched them go down the steps and turn right at the sidewalk. A few seconds ticked by. Then I shouldered my way outside, stood on stone steps, and brought out small binoculars. Through an earpiece, I could hear the purposeful click-clicking of Angela’s heels on the sidewalk and the goon’s labored breathing as he struggled to catch up. This guy might be able to toss a car into the ocean, I thought, but he wouldn’t be winning any marathons soon.

They walked to the end of the block and faced off beneath a street lamp.

“Got the money?” he growled.

Angela, looking bored, blew a stream of smoke in his face, flicked her cigarette butt to the sidewalk, and ground it out with her shoe. “Not yet.”

The big man’s face clouded. His eyes were hot bright slits, his voice a menacing purr. “You’ve had a week,” he said. “How long do you need?”

Angela shrugged. “Well, I don’t know, big boy. How long can you...hold out?”

Quick as an adder, the big man’s arm shot out from his side, his meaty hand clamping her her arm. She gasped, round-eyed, and stared and the goon held her that way for a couple seconds before letting go, his face a stony Easter Island head. “You think this is a game, lady?” he asked.

Angela scowled at the goon, her face angry and amazed and a little afraid. She turned the scowl down to her arm and rubbed it. “Why you gotta be so rough, you big ape?”

The goon's gold teeth glittered. He reached a hand into his coat and brought out a wooden match. He studied the match, looked up at Angela and said: “A man’s gotta get his kicks somehow.” Then he stuck the match in his teeth and the grin died and the stone face returned.

Angela said nothing. She kneaded her arm and stood quiet and for a while the three of us listened to the hustle of the city.

Finally the goon said: “Tomorrow night then.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow night. We’ll do the hit tomorrow.”

Angela bunched up her forehead, put a vertical crease between her eyebrows. “No, I-you can’t!”

The big man took the match from his mouth, looked at it some more, and put it back in his teeth. His heavy-lidded eyes came up to hers. “Listen lady, I don’t expect you to understand how much preparation something like this requires but, believe me, it’s plenty. This isn’t just a run-of-the-mill job. We have people in place. They expect to be paid. Every day we sit still costs money. Capisce?”

“I’m just...I’m having trouble...getting all the money together.”

The big man grunted and turned to go. “That’s unfortunate. I’ll be sure to let Tony know.”

“No!” she cried, taking hold of his lapels. “No, I can get it. I can. Very soon.”

The goon looked down at her hands on his jacket. He looked up and asked: “When?”

“Two weeks.”

He shook his head. “Two days.”

She squealed, hung limp from the lapels. “I can’t get that much money in two days!”

“That’s a shame,” the big man snarled, taking hold of her wrists and peeling her away. He held her there and said: “Guess you should have thought about that before you asked us to whack your husband. You back out now and Tony will be very disappointed. No telling what he’ll have me do.” The gold toothed smile came back. “Maybe I’ll bring toys.”

She shuddered.

“You have forty-eight hours,” he said, releasing her. Then he turned and walked.

I spoke down to my necktie: “That’s all we get, boys. Take them.”

Cops poured in from all over. Two stepped out from shadows in the alley. Three piled out of a parked van across the street. Then, the uniforms streamed in from both ends of the block training their rifles on Angela and the big man. Sergeant Hawkins yelled through a megaphone. “On your knees! Do it now!”

Angela and the big man exchanged a glance, hers terrified, his nonplussed, and put their hands up, dropping to their knees. Two uniforms came up behind them, pulled their arms down, and cuffed their wrists. One cop yanked the goon roughly to his feet but the other was gentler with Angela.

When they were standing, I walked over and said to Hawkins: “Letter of the law. Every “I” dotted. Every “T” crossed. I want this one flawless.”

“Consider it done, Sir.”

I nodded to Hawkins and turned to Angela. “Did you really think you could pull this off?”

“John!” she sobbed. “Oh, thank heavens! John, I’m mixed up in something awful here!”

I took out a cigarette and lit it. I took it out of my mouth and looked at it, watched smoke curl up into the night air. Then I looked at Angela. “Better get a lawyer, Sweetheart,” I told her. “I want a divorce.” I nodded at Hawkins and they loaded her, kicking and screaming, into a squad.