New Hope for the Dead

by Charles Willeford

Ellita nodded and started for the bathroom. As Hoke was on his way out, to his surprise the two girls each kissed him on the cheek.

  Hoke parked on the second level of the bus station in Coral Gables, put his police placard in place instead of feeding the meter, and walked over to Miracle Mile, a block away. The Bouquetique was a narrow shop between a luggage store and a Cuban joyería. The flower arrangements in the window were artificial for the most part, and there was no FTD logo, but there were signs for Visa and MasterCard on the glass door. If Loretta Hickey wasn’t a member of FTD, Hoke thought, and had to depend on walk-in customers only, she would be hard-pressed to pay the high rents charged on Miracle Mile. During the last two years the street had been upgraded and tile sidewalks had been added. The Mile merchants had all been assessed accordingly for the beautification.

  A short Oriental woman was behind the counter. Behind her a tall, lighted refrigerator held flower arrangements and a huge vase of red roses. It was cool in the shop, and there was a pleasant odor of freshly cut flowers and ferns. In a glass-topped case beside the counter were the so-called smart things Loretta Hickey sold as well as flowers. There were silver bracelets, turquoise rings, earrings and necklaces, and a half-dozen glass paperweights.

  “Yes, sir?” the Asian woman said, in a high tiny voice. She was the woman Hoke had talked to on the phone and had thought was a child. She stepped back two paces as Hoke moved to the counter, and Hoke wondered why Mrs. Hickey would hire such a shy woman as a salesperson. He decided it was because Loretta could probably get her for the minimum wage.

  “Tell Mrs. Hickey I want to see her.”

  “She’s designing in the back. I can help you?”

  “No. Just tell her Sergeant Moseley is here.”

  The woman pushed through the bamboo curtains that separated the front from the back workroom. It was almost three minutes before Loretta Hickey came through the curtains. Her lipstick was freshly applied, and Hoke figured she had redone the rest of her makeup as well.

  “I meant to come earlier,” he said, “but I was delayed.” He opened the envelope and removed the receipt Loretta had already signed. “You’d better count it.”

  “I trust you.” She smiled.

  “But cut the cards.”

  Loretta counted the money, replaced it in the envelope, and then put the envelope into the wide front pocket of her blue cotton smock. Her honey-colored hair was in two braids down her back, and her face was flushed slightly.

  “I was going to ask you out to dinner tonight,” Hoke said, “but a few other things have come up.”

  “I thought you were coming to my place for dinner. I’ve still got all that ham, and—”

  “Ham’ll keep. But I won’t be free till Monday night. And I’d prefer to take you out to dinner. Then, if we don’t get enough to eat, we can always go back to your house and snack on the ham.”

  “All right. But most restaurants in the Gables are closed Monday nights.”

  “We don’t have to eat in the Gables. I know a nice place on Calle Ocho. You like Spanish food? I don’t mean Cuban, I mean Spanish.”

  “They use so much garlic …”

  “Okay. Seafood it is, then.”

  “I’m not picky. It’s just that even when you tell them no garlic they put it in anyway.”

  “I know a good seafood place. Incidentally, I talked to Mr. Hickey, your ex, and he’s going to have Jerry cremated.”

  “Oh? Have they released the body?”

  “Not yet. On Thursday, as I recall, there were about twenty-five P.M.s ahead of him. They only do six or seven a day, unless there’s an emergency, and then they hire extra help. As you know, if you looked at the paper, there was a fire at the Descanso Hotel last week, and they’ve got about six charred bodies to identify, too, so—”

  “I’m sure Harold’ll call me when the cremation takes place. Did he say anything to you about me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About Jerry and me. Harold had this ridiculous idea that Jerry and I—well, it was just crazy. There’s no way in the world I could ever get interested in a kid like Jerry.”

  “No, he didn’t say anything to me. But I went through a divorce myself, Loretta, and it always changes people. In fact, my wife accused me of having an affair with a young woman in the Grove. At the time of our divorce I was putting in fourteen-hour days, so I wouldn’t’ve had time for anything like that. Even if I’d had the money it takes for motel rooms.”

  “I often work twelve-hour days myself. Right now, I’m making a funeral wreath. I wish I could get more funerals.” She blushed. “I didn’t mean what you think.”

  “I know what you meant, and I hope you get more funerals, too. Anyway, Minrow’s Funeral Home will be taking care of Jerry’s cremation. So if you want to add anything to the announcement in the papers, or if you want to invite some of Jerry’s friends, you should call Minrow.”

  “Jerry didn’t have any friends that I know of. I tried to make a list for you, and couldn’t think of anyone. But I’ll call Mr. Minrow. There should be some flowers, even at a cremation.”

  “Okay, then, Loretta. I’ll pick you up at your house Monday night about eight-thirty, depending on the traffic.”

  “All right.” Loretta reached across the counter to shake hands. Hoke held her hand with both of his, pulled her toward him, and kissed her on the lips before he released her hand.

  He turned toward the door when he heard the high-pitched girlish giggle from behind the bamboo curtain.

  Hoke stopped at a Greek restaurant on his way back to his car and ate a Greek salad for a late lunch. It wasn’t enough, and he was still hungry, but he decided to let it do until dinner. He showed the cashier his badge and asked her if he could use the phone. He dialed Henderson at home, and Bill answered.

  “I’m glad I caught you. I didn’t think you’d be back from the zoo yet, and just took a chance.”

  “We didn’t go. Marie took the kids to Bloomingdale’s instead. They hadn’t seen the new store yet, and she just got her Bloomie’s card in the mail.”

  “You should’ve intercepted it, Bill, and cut it into little pieces.”

  Bill laughed. “It’s in her name, not mine. And Marie’s flush right now. She just sold the same house she sold three months ago, and picked up an identical four thousand in commissions. The same house, at the same price.”

  “I don’t get it. How’d she sell the same house twice?”

  “Marie says the house sells itself. The entire interior, every damned room, is paneled in cypress, and the wood’s waxed and polished. People flip when they see the paneling. Then when they buy it and move in, the wood’s so damned dark they have to keep the lights on all the time, even at high noon. If they painted the paneling, the house would be ordinary, so they can’t do that, you see. But a woman, spending her days in a dark house like that every day, gets depressed after a couple of weeks. So they sell it again, and move. Marie says she’ll probably sell the house again before the end of the year.”

  “At any rate, you won’t get stuck for her Bloomie’s bills.”

  “No way. So what’s up, Hoke?”

  “I’d like to talk to you. Can you meet me at the Shamrock for a beer?”

  “I guess so. But I want to look at some Toros this afternoon.”

  “Toros?”

  “The mowers. I’ve been thinking about buying me a riding mower, and Toro’s supposed to be the best. If I had a Toro riding mower, I could probably get my son to mow the lawn. Kids love to ride these things. In fact, if I had a mower, I wouldn’t mind doing the lawn myself.”

  “Why not tell Jimmy that he can’t use the Toro until he takes a shower after P.E.?”

  Henderson laughed. “Because that would probably work, and then I’d never get to ride it.”

  “I need to talk to you for a while, Bill, but I don’t want to interfere with your afternoon.”

  “I’ll meet you at The Shamrock in a half-hour, Hoke. There’s no h
urry about the Toro. It was just something I was going to do, that’s all.”

  “Thanks, Bill. In a half-hour then.”

  Hoke hung up the phone, thanked the cashier, and walked back to the bus station to retrieve his car.

  Hoke was pleased with himself, by his boldness. He hadn’t known in advance that he was going to kiss Loretta, but she had leaned right into it. If that fucking Asian woman hadn’t been there, the kiss would have lasted a lot longer. For a moment, he had forgotten all about Ellita and the girls; he had almost changed the date from Monday to tonight. He drove to The Shamrock, parked in the dirt lot in the back, and went into the bar.

  14

  The lighted clock in The Shamrock said two-thirty. Henderson was already there, sitting at the bar with a light Coors draft in front of him. Two men in three-piece suits were at the end of the bar talking about cars. They looked like used-car salesmen, but Hoke knew that they were both detectives with the Metro Police Department. Prince was on the jukebox, singing “Head.” The two elderly men who had played the song—one was an investigator for the D.E.A.; Hoke didn’t know the other one—were listening to the lyrics, frowning with concentration.

  Hoke ordered a draft Michelob for himself, and then he and Henderson moved to a table in the corner by the front window.

  Hoke told Henderson about the arrival of his daughters, and then told him about Ellita’s pregnancy and about checking her into the Eldorado. Henderson’s fixed smile didn’t change, but he listened attentively, and he didn’t touch his beer while Hoke was explaining.

  “Right now,” Hoke finished, “they’re over at the Fifth Street Gym watching Tony Otero work out. So far, I haven’t had enough time to think everything out, and I don’t know what to do about Ellita. That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it.”

  “The situation’s newer to me than it is to you, Hoke.” Henderson sipped his beer. “Ellita’ll be okay, I think. In the long run she’ll be in a healthier situation. No one in her thirties should still be living at home. A few years back, she’d’ve been fired for getting pregnant, but not now. She can work till she starts showing, and then she can get an authorized maternity leave, married or not. Then, once the baby’s born, she can be back to work within a month or two.”

  “I don’t know what to tell Willie Brownley, or whether I should tell him or not.”

  “It’s not your problem, Hoke. Our new assignment’s only for two months, and if Ellita’s only seven weeks pregnant, she’s not going to show anything for another two or three months. Besides, it’s up to her to talk to Willie, not you. Her being pregnant sure as hell won’t interfere with our assignment. There’s no danger involved, and if it ever looks like there might be, we can always leave her in the office. Or something.”

  “Ellita won’t ask for any favors, Bill. She may not be a libber like your wife, but we can’t patronize her just because she’s knocked up. She wouldn’t stand for it.”

  “In that case”—Henderson widened his metal-studded smile—”we’ll have to be subtle.”

  “You’re about as subtle as a hurricane.”

  “What about you? You’ve already given her the weekly reports to do, and you had her type Morrow’s confession. I could’ve done that, you know.”

  “Ellita types without looking, and you and I both have to look. There’s another thing she told me. The battery went dead on the tape recorder when we were talking to Morrow, and she saved our ass by getting the battery changed out in the hall.”

  “Jesus, I didn’t know that. I just thought it was a bad time to take a piss.”

  “I didn’t know either, till she told me last night.”

  “Don’t tell Brownley anything about the pregnancy. We’ve got to hang onto Ellita, Hoke.” Henderson shook his head. “Do you really think she was a virgin, and got knocked up her first time out?”

  “I’d like to believe it, Bill, but I can’t. She’s thirty-two years old. I don’t see how she could live in Miami for twenty years and stay a virgin. I don’t doubt that this Bruce guy she picked up was a one-night stand, but she must’ve experimented at least a few times before she met him. Hell, she went to Shenandoah Junior High, Southwest High, and Miami-Dade.”

  “Think about what you just said for a minute, Hoke.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve got two teenage girls now, that’s what I mean. Fourteen and sixteen, right? Have you talked to them about sex yet? If you don’t talk to them soon and get them on the pill, you could have three pregnant girls on your hands before school starts.”

  “I hate to think about anything like that.”

  “You have to, Hoke. You’re a father now, and you don’t know what Patsy told them, or if she told them anything. Over on Miami Beach there’s teenage boys running around with perpetual hard-ons, and they can talk a couple of provincial girls from Vero Beach into doing damned near anything.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to them. You want another brew?”

  “I’ll get ’em.”

  Henderson went over to the bar to order. Hoke had wanted some advice, but not the kind he was getting. Henderson came back with two frosted mugs of beer.

  “You ever talked to your kids about sex, Bill?”

  “That’s Marie’s department. I might talk to Jimmy a little later and give him the standard lecture. I’ve warned them about drugs. Cripes, even the kids in elementary school are smoking pot already.”

  “I’ve got to find a decent place to live, Bill. That’s my first priority.”

  “Why don’t you borrow some money from the credit union?”

  “I owe ’em too much already. I’m still paying for last year’s vacation and for the new engine in my car. But I’ll be a little better off now, because I won’t have to send Patsy any more paychecks.”

  “Do you want to bring Ellita and the girls over to the house for dinner tomorrow? I can barbecue some burgers in the back yard, and we can drink a few beers. It’ll get Ellita’s mind off her troubles.”

  “I’ll take a raincheck, Bill. I’m gonna spend the day looking for a house, or maybe a two-bedroom apartment.”

  The afternoon rain began, and the temperature in the air-conditioned bar dropped immediately. The bartender switched off the overhead fans. Hoke looked through the window. The rain came down so hard and the sky was so dark, it was difficult to see across Red Road.

  “I haven’t been much help, have I?” Bill said.

  “Sure you have, Bill. Sometimes just talking about things is enough. The problem is I’ve got girls instead of boys. If they were boys, I could give ’em ten bucks apiece, tell ’em to hitchhike out to the West Coast for the rest of the summer. Then, by the time they came back, I’d have everything straightened out.”

  “Would you do that?”

  “Why not? That’s what my old man did for me when I was sixteen. When I got out to Santa Monica, I worked on a live-bait boat and saved enough money to ride the Greyhound back to Riviera Beach. I had a great summer out there in California, even though the ocean was too damned cold to swim in. But you can’t do something like that with girls. I’ll get them jobs next week, though. If they’re working all day, they won’t get into any trouble.”

  “I might be able to help you there, Hoke. Marie knows a lot of people. Sue Ellen can get a work permit. But Aileen, all you can get for her is maybe a baby-sitting job. You have to be sixteen to get a work permit.”

  “I’ll worry about that next week. But if you can find something for Sue Ellen, I’d appreciate it.”

  “I’ll talk to Marie.”

  “You want another beer, Bill?”

  “I don’t think so. To tell you the truth, I feel a little guilty about taking the day off. Teddy Gonzalez called me at home last night. He’s stuck on the triple murder in Liberty City, and Slater’s no help at all. These three guys—all of them black—were tied hand and foot with copper wire, and then machine-gunned from the doorway. We know the killer was in the doorway because of the way
the empty cartridges were scattered, and because there were no powder burns on the victims. Two were dead when the patrol car got there, and the third guy died before the ambulance arrived.”

  “It sounds like a professional hit.”

  “More like a semi-professional hit, Hoke. The guy said ‘Leroy’ before he died. A pro would’ve made sure they were all dead before leaving.”

  “Just ‘Leroy’? Nothing else?”

  “That’s all. There was no evidence of drugs in the house. The neighbors said these three guys had been living there about a week. We got an ID on all of them, but none of them was a Leroy.”

  “Christ, Bill, there must be ten thousand men named Leroy in Liberty City.”

  “It could’ve been worse. He could’ve said ‘Tyrone.’ Anyway, Slater told Teddy Gonzalez to check out everyone in the neighborhood named Leroy. In the first place, no one wants to talk to a white cop down there, especially a Latin cop, and Teddy’s been running into problems without a partner. That’s why he called me, and I didn’t know what to tell him.”

  “What about Leroy’s floating crap game?” Hoke said, taking a sip of beer. “I don’t know if it’s still in business, but Leroy’s game used to move around the neighborhood in the vicinity of Northside, and that might be what the guy was talking about, or trying to say. Tell Teddy to check out the game. If it’s still around, that might be a lead.”

  “I never worked in Liberty City. Where was the game?”

  “Tell Teddy to check the files. Leroy’s game was busted a few times, and he moved it around a lot, but the game was always in the vicinity of the Northside Shopping Center, because that was where the gamblers had to park. They had to walk to the game from there. Tell him to check with some of the patrol cars in the area.”

  “I don’t know, Hoke. But it’s a better lead than trying to check ten thousand Leroys who won’t open the door. I’ll give Teddy a ring when I get home.”

  “Sure you don’t want another beer?”

  “I don’t think so. I didn’t really want this one. It’s still early; I think I’ll drive over and look at the Toros.” Henderson got up, slapped Hoke on the shoulder, and pushed through the swinging doors into the rain.