One or the Other by John McFetridge

said, “Fuck you,” and pulled out his gun and everybody started shooting.
    â€œHit the bastard twenty times,” Caron said. “But we got lucky, he didn’t hit any of our guys.”
    â€œThat’s good.”
    Caron didn’t look back and said, “Yes, it is.” He pushed open the door from the stairwell and walked down the hall to the office they were using.
    Half the squad was there but Dougherty didn’t see Ste. Marie or Laperrière.
    Caron went over to a corner where a couple of guys were talking quietly.
    â€œHey.” One of the older guys Dougherty didn’t know came up to him and said, “Say you see a guy and a girl and she has a black eye, what do you think?”
    Dougherty said, “I think he’s going to jail.”
    The guy looked surprised for a second and then he said, “Yeah, you’d think he hit her, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œWell,” the guy looked back at the other cops he’d been talking to, drawing them in for a kind of audience, and he said, “that’s one way of looking at it, sure, but maybe she just wouldn’t shut up,” and he broke out in a big smile and laughed.
    The other guys laughed, too.
    Dougherty said, “Funny.” He knew there was a time he would’ve laughed, too, trying to be one of the guys with all these detectives, but he didn’t feel it now. Then he saw Paquette leaning against a desk off by himself a little, and Dougherty walked over and said, “That was bad last night.”
    â€œIncroyable. The noise in that garage.”
    â€œSadowski just started shooting?”
    â€œLike the punks say, it happened so fast.” Paquette finished off the coffee in his paper cup and tossed it into the garbage can. “They say there is a contract out on Ste. Marie and Laperrière.”
    â€œWho says that?”
    â€œIt’s on the street.” Paquette shrugged. “All these raids, all the bars we’re busting, these guys can’t do any business. They’re going to fight back.”
    â€œYou believe that, there’s a contract?”
    â€œFifty grand, they say.”
    Dougherty said, “Shit.” He figured it was possible. It sounded crazy, like a movie, but it could be real. Fifty grand wasn’t that much if you were sitting on two and a half million.
    â€œWhere are they now?”
    â€œWith the chief.”
    â€œShit. And we just wait.”
    â€œWe need some results,” Paquette said. “Soon. We need to find the money.”
    Dougherty said, “Yeah,” but he didn’t think very much of that money was still in the city. He was surprised to hear him say that’s what they were still looking for, he figured Paquette was a lot closer to the heart of this investigation, all the time he was spending with the top guys, Ste. Marie and Laperrière, and they’d know it was long gone, but Dougherty didn’t say anything.
    The phone rang and Caron picked up the receiver. He spoke quietly and then didn’t say anything for a while, just listened, not looking too happy about it, and then said, “
Bon, c’est correct.
” He put the receiver back down on the phone and said, “Okay, it was a long night — we’re not going to get anything done today. Let’s meet back here tomorrow morning at ten.”
    â€œ
Pas ce soir
?”
    â€œNo.”
    Dougherty started to leave, but Caron stopped him and said, “Carpentier wants to see you.”
    â€œWhat does he want?”
    â€œHow would I know? He’s in the office.”
    Dougherty walked the few blocks to Bonsecours Street HQ and went up to the fourth-floor homicide office. Carpentier was at his desk talking on the phone, and he waved Dougherty over as he was saying, “
Bon, oui, maintenant.
” He hung up and said, “So, you’re not too busy today?”
    â€œSome guys were up all