“Yes, say that,” Mama told me, adamant.
“She said she was my girlfriend?”
“Yes. Say that. I ask her who this is, right? She say, Tell him his girlfriend called.”
“You recognize the voice?”
“No. Maybe. . . not sure. Hard to tell with Europeans. All sound alike.”
“She didn’t leave a number? A message?”
“Just call, okay? Ask for you, okay? I say you not here, call back, okay? Who you? She say, ‘His girlfriend,’ then hang up. No more.”
I didn’t waste time trying to figure it out. “You seen Max around, Mama?”
“Sure. Here before. With baby.”
“He coming back?”
“Always come back,” Mama said. Something was wrong—the whole song was a beat off.
“What is it, Mama?” I asked her, looking her full in the face—something you do with her only when you’re dead serious.
“What you do with these. . . people?”
“What people, Mama?”
“Crazy people. What you do with them?”
“Mama, I’m not following this, all right? I’m working.”
That should have ended it. Working was sacred to Mama. And she knew what kind of work I did. Same as hers, only I played it different. But we were both thieves in our hearts. All of us in my family were. We might have had different reasons, but nobody ever asked. Sometimes we told—I knew about Max, and I knew about Michelle—and sometimes we didn’t—the Prof never explained, he just taught. Nobody ever asked Mama. And if she told Max, he kept it to himself. I’ve known Mama forever. And the only time she was ever upset with me was when I wasn’t working. But her face was stone and her eyes were harder.
“It’s just a job,” I tried again.
“You go after that girl, right?”
“Girl? What girl? You think the killer’s a woman?”
“Not killer. The girl. The one you bring in here. The one you marry.”
“Marry? Mama, what the hell are you talking about? I never—”
“Crystal Beth,” Mama said. No description, an actual name. Very strange for her. “You live with her, yes? Love her, right?”
“Mama, I—”
“You go where she is, Burke? You go to be with her?”
“Me? Mama, no! You think this is some kind of kamikaze run, I—”
“Huh!” is all she spat back at me. I realized I’d screwed up halfway through the word. Mama hates anything Japanese, even their expressions.
“Mama,” I said, dropping my voice, going into my center for patience, calling on the credit I’d built up, “you know I don’t lie to you.”
“Uhn,” is all I got back from her mouth. But she nodded, unable to deny what I said.
“This isn’t about suicide. I know there’s nothing. . . there. Crystal Beth’s down in the Zero, right? She’s gone. I can’t find her. And people don’t come back from the dead.”
“Some people not die.”
“What does that mean? She’s dead, Mama. No question about it. Dead and gone.”
“So you look for. . . who? People who kill her? Or man killing. . . them?”
“What?”
“Your woman killed. Accident, right? I mean, not her they killing. Just hate those. . . people.”
“Homosexuals?”
“Yes,” Mama said, looking as close to embarrassed as I’d ever seen her. “Hate. . . them. Not her. Not. . . personal, right?”
“Right.”
“This other one, big killer. He kill them too, he find them, right?”
“Sure. Looks like he’d happily waste any fag-basher on the planet.”
“But you look for him, right? You find him, then he stop. No more killing, right?”
“Ah. I don’t know, Mama. That’s not my deal. The people who want me to find him, they want to help him. Help him get out of here, get safe. They sure as hell don’t want me turning him over to the cops.”
“Sure sure. But he still stop then, right?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“So the ones who kill your woman. . .?”
“Mama, I don’t know who they are. I don’t have any way to find them. And thanks to this ‘Homo Erectus’ guy, every fag-basher in the city has gone to ground. People are even afraid to talk about it, much less do it.”
“All wrong,” Mama said.
“What?”
“All. . . timing, yes? All wrong, also. Your woman die. Not the only one, right?”
“Right. They just sprayed. . .”
“Yes. And then killer comes walking.”
“Right. That must have blown his fuse. Last-straw kind of thing, I don’t know.”
“I know,” Mama said.
“You know. . . what?”
“How many die?”
“I don’t know. A few dozen, at least. He’s been—”
“Not him. With your woman?”
“Just one other. The rest were wounded, but. . . Jesus. Mama, you saying it was a hit? And they just made it look like a fag-bashing?”
“Not. . . how you say, credit, right?”
“Right,” I said, thinking it through. Sure. What terrorist kills without bragging about it? And nobody had. So when this Homo Erectus started making his move, everybody thought they knew why, but, maybe. . .?
“So you think. . . maybe it was just a murder? And Crystal Beth died for camouflage? They knew who they wanted, but just covered it up? Like setting fire to a whole building full of people to kill one of them—the cops think it’s an arson, but it’s really a homicide. Sure, could be. But the only man I ever knew who worked like that was. . . ”
Mama looked at me. Into me. I got it then. That was his style. Almost his trademark. You paid him for a body, you got a body. If he had to make a whole bunch of bodies to cover his tracks, so what? I remember the first time the Prof had pulled my coat to the truth. Years after we’d all been released. “No man knows Wesley’s plan, brother. Nobody knows where he’s going. But everyone knows where he’s been.”
“Wesley’s dead,” I said to Mama.
She just shrugged.
The pay phone rang about an hour later. I picked it up, said, “What?”
“Didn’t the Chinese lady tell you I called?” Nadine’s voice, edged with irritation.
“She said someone who said they were my girlfriend called. Somehow, I didn’t think to make the connection.”
“I told you before,” she said softly. “You have to start telling the truth. I always do.”
“My platonic girlfriend, then, right? I guess they didn’t get the joke here.”
“What joke? Your nose is so open I can see your brains.”
“That’s what happens when you use those fake-color contact lenses, bitch. They really cloud your vision.”
“Keep playing, honey. It doesn’t change anything. I’ve got what you want.”
“Not a chance.”
“In fact,” she purred into the phone, “I’m holding it right now.”
“There’s guys who’d pay you three ninety-five a minute for that kind of crap—why you wasting it on me?”
“Oh, I’m not wasting anything. And I’m not playing with myself either. I was playing with this. . . . Listen!”
What I heard on the phone was the sound a sheaf of paper makes when you riffle it against your thumb.
“Where and when?” I asked her.
I almost didn’t recognize her when she first showed, striding along the sidewalk in front of the joint like a yuppie businesswoman going to an important meeting, a fitted dark suit with a white blouse over plain dark pumps and sheer stockings. Her hair was in a tight bun. And the requisite attaché case was in her hand, a tasteful shade of blue.
I swung the Plymouth into place. She opened the door like it was a cab she had hailed, only she got in the front seat.
“Where’s your partner?” was the first thing out of her mouth.
“She’s working,” I told her.
“I thought you took her everywhere.”
“Not everywhere,” is all I said. Pansy had been sick all day. Some kind of flu, my best guess. Upset stomach, lethargic. I kept her warm, gave her some homeopathic stuff I got from a vet. She was running a little fever, but her appetite wasn’t that much off, so I wasn’t worried. But she needed her rest.
“I don’t know what kind of old heap this is,” Nadine said, “but at least it’s got plenty of legroom.” She demonstrated by crossing her legs. Her perfume smelled coppery—the way blood tastes in your mouth.
“You wouldn’t understand,” I said.
“Wouldn’t understand. . . what?”
“This ‘old heap,’ ” I replied.
“Oh Christ, you’re sensitive about that too? You love your dog, you love your car. You should be driving a pickup truck with a gun rack behind the cab.”
“If I was, in this city, you think people’d remember seeing it?”
“Well. . . sure.”
“You think anyone’s gonna remember seeing this?”
“I. . . Oh. I get it.”
“No, you don’t. But the kind of broad you are, you always think you do.”
We were just pulling onto the highway when she said: “What does that—?” But she lost her breath as I mashed the throttle and the reworked Mopar 440 fired a giant torque-burst down the driveline to the fat rear tires. The Plymouth rocketed past traffic like it was a multi-colored picket fence. I slid across three lanes and drifted it around the exit ramp, scrubbing off speed with a downshift, and merged smoothly into the Riverside Drive traffic. The Plymouth went back to purring, its stump-puller motor barely past idle. Quiet inside enough for me to hear her whisper “Jesus Christ!” when she got her breath back.
“This thing is purpose-built,” I told her. “For work, understand? Not for show.”
“I get the point.”
“Good. Let’s stop playing, all right?”
“I haven’t been playing. I was just—”
“Playing, gaming, teasing. . . I don’t care what you call it. You got this whole ‘I-never-lie’ routine you want to run, go for it. What you’re really good at is making judgments, little girl. Bad judgments.”
“Little girl? Take a look, mister,” she said, sucking in a deep breath so none of her subtlety would be lost on me.
“I’m not talking about your age. Just your experience. I’ve seen it all my life. You know stuff, but it doesn’t translate, understand?”
“No. No, I don’t.”
“When you’re a tourist, the natives all look slick to you.”
“Huh?”
“You know all about the. . . stuff you do. The roles you play, the language you use, the. . . props, whatever. You don’t know a damn thing about the only thing that’s happening where you and me are concerned.”
“And that is. . .?”
“Hunting.”
“I’m not trying to tell you your business. I was just—”
“—running your mouth,” I finished for her. “That’s the part you need to keep in neutral, all right? I don’t do word games. This isn’t about getting me to admit I want to fuck you, understand?”
“I—”
“That’s all you’ve been doing since I first laid eyes on you. What do you want that’s so important? You don’t need me to tell you you’re a fine-looking woman.”
“Maybe I want to fuck you,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Maybe you do. But I’m not interested in being one of your trophies.”
“Oh, I get it. A real Alan Alda you are. You only want commitment, huh? Won’t settle for anything less than true love.”
“I had true love,” I told her softly. “It died. And the killers are from the same tribe this ‘Homo Erectus’ guy is hunting.”
“How could—?”
“She was bi,” I said. “And she was one of the people who got done in that drive-by in Central Park.”
“You mean you have your own—?”
“I had my own,” I cut her off. “I never minded sex with a woman who wanted sex. . . just for that. Truth is, that’s mostly what I did. . . do. But people with agendas scare me.”
“Agendas?”
“Yeah. I’m a good man to have sex with if you’re married. I’m not going to fall in love with you, I promise. So when you decide to break it off, I won’t beef. I won’t stalk you, and I won’t blackmail you either. I’m nice and safe, see what I’m saying?”
“I see—”
“Shut up and listen, okay? Give it a chance, you might like it. I’m a good man for some things. Like I said. But if you’re married, I’m not going to kill your husband for you just ’cause I want some more of your pussy either. You get it now?”
“Yes. All right. But I don’t—”
“You don’t. . . what? You been preaching about what a liar I am all along, haven’t you? But you say you’re in love with a serial killer you never met, and I’m supposed to buy that, make you partners with me on this deal?”
“I didn’t say I was in love with him. I told you—”
“No, I told you. I don’t know why you’re all dressed up tonight, but whatever’s in that case you’re carrying better be a present from your girlfriend on the force. You know, the one you bragged about? So here’s one you must have heard when you were just sprouting those things you’re so proud of now: Put out or get out.”
“I don’t put out in cars,” she said, giving her lips a quick little lick. “But if you want to take me home and try your luck. . .”
“I don’t have a home,” I told her.
“You mean you’re married.”
“I guess your friend on the force really knows nothing, huh?”
“Fine. You don’t have a home. I do. Want to see it?”
“I want to see what’s in that briefcase.”
“Then take me home,” she said.
She lived right at the edge of Turtle Bay. And even if she’d scored a rent-controlled deal, it was still a pricey neighborhood. I aimed the Plymouth at the Triborough, planning to loop back on the FDR on the off-chance anyone else was interested in where I was going. That’s why I’d really pulled that highway stunt—if the cops had been tagging me, it would have smoked them out. The rearview mirror had been empty of anything suspicious. That didn’t cover everything—the federales are pretty good at box-tags. But I still didn’t think they were involved in this. And NYPD wouldn’t spare the numbers, not with the whole city screaming for an arrest.
I slapped a new cassette into the player. The car was wrapped in the blues. KoKo’s version of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Evil,” backed up by Jimmy Cotton on harp. You know how artists “cover” a record? Michael Bolton imitating Percy Sledge, Pat Boone white-breading Little Richard. . . ultra-lite fluff. Plenty buy it, though. Probably the same people who watch Hard Copy and think the emphasis is on the first word.
But KoKo didn’t cover the Wolf, she twitched her hips and bumped him right off the stage. Then the tape moved on to Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland teaming on “Something to Remember You By,” and I thought of Crystal Beth. . . and what she’d left me with. I was still thinking about that as the tape started to travel through hardcore Chicago, with Son Seals at the wheel, his Bad Blood Blues searing the truth out of that branding iron some fools call a slide guitar. Nadine sat silently through it. Didn’t say one word until I took the Thirty-fourth Street exit from the Drive. “Who was that?” she finally asked.
“Another mix,” I said, thinking she was talking about the stuff at the very end of the tape. “Mostly harp men: Butterfield, Musselwhite, Wilson—”
“Oh, I know him. Kim Wilson, right? From the Fabulous Thunderbirds. But I never heard him play anything like. . .”
“No,” I told her, flat-voiced. “That was Blind Owl Wilson. From Canned Heat. It’s a different planet.”
“Judy Henske’s planet?”
“Yeah.”
“Surprised I remembered?”
>
“No,” I told her truthfully. “It’s not hard to see you’re a real smart girl.”
“And that’s good, right?”
“No. It just. . . is. A good mind’s like any piece of technology. Neutral. Like a gun or a knife. It’s not what you have, it’s what you use it for.”
“That’s another way of saying you don’t trust me?”
“How many more ways would you like?”
“There’s a spot,” she said, pointing with a transparent-lacquered fingernail at a Mercedes pulling away from the curb. I parallel-parked, thinking of what Wolfe’s Audi would have done to the pristine BMW behind me, and we got out. Once I saw her building, I could see rent control wasn’t an issue—it was a major-league high-rise, built within the past few years.
Nadine smiled at the doorman’s “Good evening,” but didn’t say anything back. We got on the elevator.
“Go ahead,” she said, nodding toward the row of push-buttons. “I’m sure you know which floor’s mine.”
“Nope.”
She snorted. Tapped the 44 button.
When the elevator stopped, she stepped out ahead of me. I followed her down the heavy-carpeted hall. The plain pumps had enough heel to keep her mass in motion, so I couldn’t tell if it was inertia or she was putting on another show.
When she got to 44J, she inserted the key she must have palmed when I was watching the mass in motion, and then we were inside.
“Careful,” she said, showing me what she meant by moving slowly down a couple of steps into a sunken living room. She hit a wall switch and a soft rosy light suffused the entire room. It was long and narrow, with the far wall almost floor-to-ceiling glass, flanked on each side by a black acoustical tower. On the right, an audiophile extravaganza spread across a single shelf that flowed out of the wall so smoothly it must have been a custom job. Along the left, the major focal point was one of those giant-screen TV units with a trio of leather recliners and matching ottomans—one black, one white, and one red—arranged with their backs to the right-hand wall.
“I’m not out at work,” she said, as if that explained the decor. “Have a seat.”
The window glass looked fixed in place—they don’t have balconies that high up—so I took the chair closest to it, the white one, spun it so it was facing the door.
Nadine walked over to where I was sitting, pulled the ottoman away, and perched on it, crossing her legs again. “Open it yourself,” she said, indicating the briefcase on the floor. “It’s not locked.”
Choice of Evil Page 10
