Freaky Deaky

by Elmore Leonard

  "You haven't done anything," Chris said.

  "I'm getting bids on the work. Don't have one yet that pleases me."

  Chris said, "I'll bet there's still some of Robin in there."

  "Man, she was all over the library, huh? Didn't Skippy say something to you?"

  "He opened his eyes. I think he said, 'Oh, shit,' but I could barely hear him."

  Donnell said, "Yeah, well. . . ." Sipped his coffee and said, "How you doing with Ginger?"

  "You mean Greta. She went out to L.A., try and get in the movies. She makes it, I can say I helped finance her career. In a way, I mean. I gave her the check Woody gave me."

  "Get out."

  "I wasn't gonna keep it and Woody didn't have any more checks, so . . . what's the difference?"

  "The difference between being smart and dumb as shit," Donnell said, "is what the difference is. Man, I don't believe it. You out of work, you give money away."

  "There's a good chance I'm going back, get in Homicide . . . after this hearing tomorrow. They want to ask me a few questions."

  "I bet they do."

  "There's one area where I might have a problem. See, I've talked to them already during the investigation--you know how they go after all the little details. They want to know where I got the dynamite; I said it was in the house. They say, Okay, but why did you go there? I tell them, To pick up Greta. They say, Oh? With a gun? And I just said, without thinking, What gun?"

  "Not saying you didn't have one."

  "Unh-unh, I said, What gun?"

  "I 'magine they mean the one I found blown clear out in the yard and give to a policeman. That funny gun."

  "That's what I was afraid might've happened."

  "So you have to explain why a laid-off cop is walking around with a piece, huh? Like what was your intent?"

  "I kept it at work, but I never used it on duty."

  "Tell 'em you were taking it home."

  "And just happened to have it," Chris said and thought about it a moment. "That's not bad."

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