Chicago 1982 is a goldmine for the construction industry, and Eric and his two business partners are thriving. Once living as struggling orphans in a Catholic boys' home, they've overcome poverty and abuse to obtain success. Now living the lives they once only dreamed of, they're sure of one thing: they will never look back.<br><br>Then the past returns, by way of a cheap polyester suit and a smile Eric has never forgotten, and all the dark memories come crashing back. Lucky for him, Jimmy has no idea who Eric is, or who Eric used to be.

We Three Kings

And I shake my head as I realize I’m talking to him in my head yet again. Once again, I’m lost for words.


“I guess I’m not really sure what you’re asking me?” he says.


So, I smile. “I’m asking you if you can start the day after tomorrow.”


His grin is a beacon in the sea of my turmoil. “Yes, sir,” he says. “Yes, sir, you definitely will.”3


It was the seventies, and it was Chicago, and there was punk rock and street-gangs and crime. We fit in as if we’d been born into it. There wasn’t a single thing we didn’t get into if the money was right. Surprisingly enough, we were good at it—making money, that is—and we were good at twisting the little bit we did make into more. At night it was on the streets: running packages for important people, shaking our fists at unimportant people who needed a reminder, driving jacked cars to unlit garages and making sure the wrong kind of girls got to the right kind of places and home again.


Chapter 6