Even the Wicked

by Lawrence Block

Page 38

 

  "Dude I found aint about to testify," he said. "So it dont matter how tainted he gets. "

  "Thats the idea. "

  "Tainted," he repeated, savoring the word. "Only thing, I supposed to work for Elaine today. Mindin the shop while she checks out this Salvation Army store somebody told her about. "

  "Ill cover for you. "

  "I dont know," he said. "Lotta stuff you got to know, Bo. How to write up sales, how to make out the charge slips, how to bargain with the customers. It aint somethin you can do just walkin in off the street. "

  I swung at him and he grinned and dodged the blow. "Didnt I tell you?" he said. "You got to work to establish the jab. " And he snatched up the photographs and headed for the door.

  * * *

  The photos had been taken by a third-year student at Western Reserve, in Cleveland. Id started out with a name and phone number from Wally Donn, but the guy I reached was swamped with work and didnt know when he could get to it. He gave me two other numbers, and when each one led me no further than an answering machine I looked in my book and called a fellow I knew in Massillon, Ohio. Massillons not exactly next door to Cleveland, but I didnt know anybody closer.

  Id met Tom Havlicek six or seven years ago when a man Id locked up once killed an old friend of Elaines, along with her husband and children. Havlicek was the cop in charge, a police lieutenant who liked his work and was good at it. Wed hit it off and stayed in touch. Id managed to deflect his periodic invitations to come out to Ohio and hunt deer, but Id seen him twice in New York. He came alone the first time, to attend a police products trade show at the Javits Center, and I met him for lunch and showed him a little of the city. He liked what he saw enough to bring his wife a year or so later, and Elaine and I took them to dinner and arranged theater tickets. We joined them for the revival of Carousel at Lincoln Center, but they were on their own for Cats. Friendship, Elaine explained, only goes so far.

  It didnt take long to determine, through a contact in the Cleveland Metropolitan PD, that William Havemeyer had skated thus far through life without getting into trouble. "He hasnt got a yellow sheet," he reported. "Which means he hasnt been arrested. Not in Cuyahoga County, at any rate. Not under that name. "

  I thanked him and got the name and phone number of his Cleveland contact.

  "Now, since they never arrested him," he went on, "they sure dont have a photo of him, and Garvin"-his friend on the CMPD-"gave me a number of a guy he knows who retired recently, but it turns out hes in Florida for the season. So I thought of my sisters boy. "

  "Hes a police officer?"

  "A college student. Hell be a lawyer when hes through. Just what the world needs more of. "

  "You cant have too many lawyers," I said.

  "That seems to be the Good Lords view of the matter, the way he keeps making more of them. Wont be long before theyve got nobody left to sue but each other. Hes a bright young man, never mind who his uncle is, and photographys his hobby. "

  "How is he at lurking?"

  "Lurking? Oh, to get the photo. Id say hes a devious cuss. Serve him in good stead in his chosen profession. Should I call him?" I said he should. "And when are we going to shoot some deer, will you tell me that?"

  "Probably never. "

  "Never make a hunter out of you, will we? You know what? Why dont you come out here after the seasons over and well just take a walk in the woods, which is the best part of hunting anyway. No guns to carry, and no risk of being mistaken for a twelve-point buck by somebody who had his breakfast out of a flask. Of course you dont get to bring home any venison that way. "

  "Which spares you from having to pretend to enjoy it. "

  "Not your favorite meal, eh? Nor mine either, truth be known, but theres something about going out and getting it that satisfies a man. "

  I called him from Elaines shop to tell him the photos had arrived and his nephew had done a good job.

  "Im glad to hear that," he said, "but Im not surprised. He always took good pictures, even as a little kid. I spoke to him just last night, and Ill tell you what pleases me is how much fun he got out of doing the work. We could make a good police officer out of that boy. "

  "I bet your sister would love to hear that. "

  "Her and my brother-in-law both, and I guess I see their point. No question but that lawyers get richer than cops. Who ever said the worlds a fair place?"

  "I dont know," I said, "but I swear it wasnt me. "

  * * *

  I spent a few hours minding the shop, and its a good thing I dont have to do that too often. Someone-I think it was Pascal-wrote something to the effect that all of mans problems stem from his inability to sit alone in a room. Im generally pretty good at sitting alone in a room, with or without the TV on, but that day I found it a trial. For one thing, I wanted to be out on the streets doing something. For another, people kept interrupting me, and to no purpose. They would call up, ask for Elaine, want to know when she would be coming back, and ring off without leaving a name. Or they would come to the door, stick their heads in, register a certain amount of dismay at seeing me instead of the lady of the house, and go somewhere else.

  A couple of people did come in and browse, but I didnt have to talk price with them, or make out charge card slips, because none of them tried to buy anything. One inquired about the price of several paintings-all the prices were clearly marked-and said that she would be back. That means about as much as saying "Ill call you" to a woman after the two of you have seen a movie together. "People who keep shops," Elaine had told me, "are more realistic than girls on dates. We know you wont be back. "

  I had time to read the papers. Marty McGraws column did indeed include Wills latest letter. Without naming names, the anonymous author made it clear that the three men on his list were just a starting point. Many more of us were candidates for his next list, unless we saw the light and mended our ways. The letter struck me as tired and unconvincing. I had the feeling Will #2 didnt even believe it himself.

  TJ breezed in somewhere around the middle of the afternoon. He was wearing baggy jeans, with a down vest in hunter orange over his camo jacket. He was dressed for success, if your line of work happens to be street crime.

  "Got to change," he said, slipping past me to the back room. He came back wearing khakis and a button-down shirt. "Dont want to scare the customers off," he said, "but if I went downtown like this, Ida scared the dude off. "

  "You found him?"

  He nodded. "Says its the man he saw. "

  "How sure is he?"

  "Sure enough to swear to it, cept he aint about to swear to nothin. Told him he wouldnt have to. That straight?"

  "Probably. Can you take over now until Elaine gets back?"

  "No problem. Where you goin, Owen?"

  "Cant you guess?"

  "I dont guess," he said. "I detect. Where I detect yous goin is Cleveland. "

  I told him he was a good detective.

  * * *

  Id already called from the shop to book the flight, and I walked over to Phyllis Binghams office to pick up the ticket, then back to the apartment to pack a bag with a clean shirt and a change of socks and underwear. I didnt know how long this was going to take, but I figured to be away overnight no matter what.

  Phyllis had me flying Continental out of Newark. I beat the rush hour traffic to the airport, and by the time we were on the ground in Cleveland most of the commuters were sitting down to dinner. There was a small group of people with hand-lettered cardboard signs waiting at the security gate, and one of the signs had my name on it. The kid holding it was tall and rangy, with close-cropped reddish-blond hair and a narrow face.

  "Im Matthew Scudder," I said, "and you must be Jason Griffin. Your Uncle Tom said hed try to reach you, and that youd come if you had the time free. "

  He grinned. "He told me Id better have the time free. Meet his plane and drive him out to Lakewood, and anywhere else he wants to go. Is that where yo
u want to go first? This mans house in Lakewood?"

  I said it was, and we went to his car, a Japanese import a couple of years old. It sparkled, and I guessed that hed taken it through a car wash on his way to the airport.

  On the way, I asked him what he knew about the case. "Nothing," he said.

  "Tom didnt tell you anything?"

  "My uncles a need-to-know kind of guy," he said. "He gave me a name and an address and told me to go take the guys picture without being obvious about it. I told him I might have to buy a telephoto lens. "

  "Ill reimburse you. "

  He grinned. " Borrow one, he said. So thats what I did. I parked across the street from Mr. Havemeyers house and waited for him to come home. When he did get home he drove straight into the garage. Its an attached garage, which is unusual in that neighborhood. Theyre mostly older homes there, but his is newer than the others and its got a carport-type garage. So he went on in without giving me a look at him, let alone a chance to zoom in and take his picture. "

  "What did you do, wait for him to come out again?"

  "No, because hed probably leave the same way, right? Uncle Tom hadnt told me how to cope with this sort of situation. As a matter of fact the only advice he gave me-well, can you guess what it was?"

  "Bring a milk bottle. "

  "He said a wide-mouthed jar. Same difference. I asked him what I was supposed to do with it, and he said after I sat there for a couple of hours the answer would come to me. At which point I figured out what the jar was for. Youll never guess what he told me next. "

  "Whats that?"

  " When the jar fills up, empty it in the gutter. I said, like, pour it out in the gutter? No onell see you, he said, and itll wash away. I told him thanks for the wise counsel, but I probably would have figured out how to empty the jar on my own. He said after all the rookies hes trained over the years hes learned to leave nothing to chance. "

  "Hes a wise man," I said. "But Im on your side. I have a feeling youd have worked out the part about emptying the jar all by yourself. "

  "Maybe, but on the other hand I have to admit I never would have thought to bring the jar in the first place. You dont ever see them peeing in bottles in the movies. "

  I agreed that you didnt. "Howd you get the pictures?"

  "There was this kid shooting baskets all by himself a few doors down the street. I told him Id give him five bucks if he could ring the doorbell and get the man inside to come outside of his house. He went and rang it and ran off, and Mr. Havemeyer opened the door a crack and then shut it again. I snapped a picture but it wasnt one of the ones I sent you because you couldnt see anything. Anyway, I told the kid that wasnt good enough, but if he did it again and got the guy to come out Id pay him the five and another five on top of it. "

  "And it worked. "

  "He made it work. He went into his own house and got a paper bag about so big and filled it with crumpled newspaper. Then he put it on the stoop and set it on fire, and then he rang the bell again and pounded on the door and ran like a thief. Mr. Havemeyer opened the door a crack again, and then he rushed outside and started stomping and kicking at the burning bag. " He grinned. "It took me a minute to get focused because I was laughing too hard to hold the camera steady. It was pretty funny. "