Freddy was walking to the coffee shop where he knew Holdaway would be waiting for him. He was absolutely strutting with his news and couldn't wait to see the look on his boss' face when he told him the latest.
Freddy walked into the diner and immediately spotted Holdaway sitting at a window booth, scarfing down a huge burger and fries.
"Say hello to a motherfucker who's inside. Cabot's doing a job and take a big fat guess who he wants on the team?" He said without preamble and was rewarded with a muffled choke as the guy nearly snorted up a mouthful of his dinner.
"This better not be some sort of Freddy joke" Holdaway said immediately.
"It's no joke man, I'm in there. I'm up his ass" Freddy said, holding out his hand. Holdaway smiled, shook his hand then grabbed him in a huge bear-hug. Freddy sat down in the booth and got ready to tell his story.
"So, how did it happen?" Holdaway asked.
"Nice Guy Eddie tells me Joe wants to meet me. He says I should just hang at my apartment and wait for a phone call" Freddy was enjoying his story now, he was getting a kick out of the triumph that came from literally months of hard work. "Well, after waiting three goddamn days by the fucking phone he finally calls me and says Joe's ready and he'll pick me up in fifteen minutes"
"Who all picked you up?" Holdaway asked, picking up a few more fries.
"Nice Guy" Freddy replied. "We get to a bar…."
"What bar?" Holdoway interrupted.
"Smokey Pete's in Gardena" Freddy replied and Holdoway nodded.
"We get there and I meet Joe and a guy named Mr. White. It's a phony name, my name's Mr. Orange" Freddy continued.
"Mr. Orange?" Holdoway asked with a smirk.
"Mr. Orange" Freddy replied with a smile.
"Okay Mr. Orange" Holdoway said with a chuckle, grabbing more fries. "You ever see this motherfucker before?"
"Who? Mr. White?" Freddy asked.
"Yes Mr. Orange, Mr. White" Holdoway replied.
"No he ain't familiar. He ain't one of Cabot's soldiers either, he's gotta be from out of town" Freddy said, trying to remember all of the details of the previous night. He'd been trained to try and memorize every detail of an encounter with these kinds of guys. Anything that was said by them could be info they'd need to take this guy Joe down. He was finding it a challenge to remember every single detail now and knew that Holdoway was testing him in a way. Freddy was his pupil and he obviously wanted to make sure he'd done the job right.
"Joe knows him real good" Freddy continued, describing Mr. White.
"How can you tell?" Holdoway asked.
"The way they talk to each other. You can tell they were buddies" Freddy said.
"Two of you talk?" Holdoway asked
"Who?" Freddy replied. "Me and Joe?"
"Mr. White" Holdoway said, a little frustrated.
"A little" Freddy said.
"About what?" Holdoway asked.
"Brewers" Freddy said with a smile. He knew what was coming next.
"Milwaukee Brewers?" Holdoway asked with genuine interest now. This was getting somewhere.
"Yeah, apparently they won the night before, he made a killing off of them" Freddy replied.
"This is sweet, man. Cuz if this crook is a Brewer's fan then his ass has got to be from Wisonsin" Holdoway said excitedly.
Freddy had been waiting for Holdoway to ask the right questions and come to the same conclusion that he himself had already. Seeing his friend catch on he put his finger in the air with a "bing!" and Holdoway continued.
"And I'll bet you anything from a "little eye Joe" to a "damned if I know" that in Milwaukee they got a sheet on this Mr. White motherfucker's ass." Freddy was nodding now, glad to see Holdoway had caught on so quickly. " So what I want you to do is to go through the mugs of all the guys from "Old Milwaukee" with a history of armed robbery and put a name to the face" Holdoway said to his protégé and Freddy grinned in agreement.
"Nice work Freddy" Holdoway said, holding out his hand.
"Thank you, my man" Freddy said, shaking it in return.
"How was Long Beach Mike's referral?" Holdoway asked curiously.
"Perfecto" Freddy replied. "He's backing me up a long fuckin' way. I told them it was Long Beach Mike I did the poker game with" Freddy said, referring to a made up heist of a poker game they'd invented. "When Nice Guy called him to check it out he said I was a-ok. He said I was a good thief, I didn't rattle, and I was ready to make a move" Freddy continued. "So do right by him, he's a good guy. I wouldn't be inside if it weren't for him" Freddy said earnestly.
"No, no, no, no" Holdoway said seriously "Long Beach Mike is not your fucking amigo, man. Long Beach Mike is a fucking scum-bag. He's selling out his amigos, that's what kind of "nice guy" he fucking is, alright? I'll take care of his fucking ass alright? But you get that low-life scum-bag outta mind and you take care of business, alright?" Holdoway said harshly.
Freddy thought that Holdoway was really overreacting. What did he think that he and Long Beach Mike were lovers or something? Jeez, he'd just asked Jim to be fair to him because he'd been so helpful with Joe. To placate his buddy, Freddy made a big show of sliding a hand in front of his face to mean that he was erasing Long Beach Mike from mind.
"Gone" he said reassuringly.
Holdoway looked relieved that he'd gotten through to his pupil. He'd really been worried for a minute that the kid was going to forget what all this hard work was about. He didn't need a guy inside who was going to start making friends with the crooks or worse yet, feel sorry for them. Freddy's comment had surprised him but it looked like he'd overreacted to it a bit. Holdoway had trained Freddy himself and he knew that he was a fair guy. But he also felt confident that he could get the job done. At the very least he knew the kid had cajones. Big ones too, since he wanted to do undercover work. Satisfied that his point had been well taken, Holdoway asked something he'd wondered ever since Freddy had come strutting through the door.
"Did you use the "Commode Story?" he asked with a sly smile.