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I stayed where I was, letting the others mob him, but he worked his way over to me and got an arm around my shoulders. "This is the man," he announced. "Best fucking detective ever wore out a pair of shoes. This mans money," he told Billie, "is no good at all tonight. He cant buy a drink, he cant buy a cup of coffee, and if you went and put in pay toilets since I was last here, he cant use his own dime. "
"The johns still free," Billie said, "but dont go giving Jimmy any ideas. "
"Oh, dont tell me he didnt already think of it," Tommy said. "Matt, my boy, I love you. I was in a tight spot, the world was lookin to fall in on me, and you came through for me. "
What the hell had I done? I hadnt hanged Miguelito Cruz or coaxed a confession out of Angel Herrera. I hadnt even set eyes on either man. But I had taken his money, and now it looked as though I had to let him buy my drinks.
I dont know how long we stayed there. Curiously, my own drinking slowed even as Tommys picked up speed. I wondered why he hadnt brought Carolyn; I didnt figure hed care much about appearances now that the case was closed forever. And I wondered if she would walk in. It was, after all, her neighborhood bar, and shed been known to come to it all by herself.
After a while Tommy was hustling me out of Armstrongs, so maybe I wasnt the only one who realized that Carolyn might turn up. "This is celebration time," he told me. "We dont want to hang around one place until we grow roots. We want to get out and bounce a little. "
He had the Riviera, and I just went along for the ride. We hit a few places. There was a noisy Greek place on the East Side where the waiters all looked like mob hit men. There were a couple of trendy singles joints, including the one Jack Balkin owned, where Skip had reportedly stolen enough money to open Miss Kittys. There was, finally, a dark beery cave down in the Village; I realized after a while that it reminded me of the Norwegian bar in Sunset Park, the Fjord. I knew the Village bars fairly well in those days, but this place was new to me, and I was never able to find it again. Maybe it wasnt in the Village, maybe it was somewhere in Chelsea. He was doing the driving and I wasnt paying too much attention to the geography.
Wherever the place was, it was quiet for a change and conversation became possible. I found myself asking him what Id done that deserved such lavish praise. One man had killed himself and another had confessed, and what part had I played in either incident?
"The stuff you came up with," he said.
"What stuff? I should have brought back fingernail parings, you could have had someone work voodoo on them. "
"About Cruz and the fairies. "
"He was up for murder. He didnt hang himself because he was afraid theyd nail him for fag-bashing when he was a juvenile offender. "
Tommy took a sip of scotch. He said, "Couple days ago, black guy comes up to Cruz in the chow line. Huge spade, built like the Seagrams Building. Waitll you gets up to Green Haven, he tells him. Every blood theres gwine have you for a girlfriend. Doctor gwine have to cut you a brand-new asshole, time you gets outta there. "
I didnt say anything.
"Kaplan," he said. "Talked to somebody who talked to somebody, and that did it. Cruz took a good look at the idea of playin Drop the Soap for half the jigs in captivity, and the next thing you know the murderous little bastard was dancing on air. And good riddance to him. "
I couldnt seem to catch my breath. I worked on it while Tommy went to the bar for another round. I hadnt touched the one in front of me but I let him buy for both of us.
When he got back I said, "Herrera. "
"Changed his story. Made a full confession. "
"And pinned the killing on Cruz. "
"Why not? Cruz wasnt around to complain. Cruz probably did it, but who knows which one it really was, and for that matter who cares? The thing is you gave us the lever. "
"For Cruz," I said. "To get him to kill himself. "
"And for Herrera. Those kids of his back in Puerto Rico. Drew spoke to Herreras lawyer and Herreras lawyer spoke to Herrera, and the message was, look, youre going up for burglary whatever you do, and probably for murder, but if you tell the right story youll draw shorter time than if you dont, and on top of that, that nice Mr. Tillarys gonna let bygones be bygones and every month theres a nice check for your wife and kiddies back home in Santurce. "
At the bar, a couple of old men were reliving the Louis-Schmeling fight. The second one, the one where Louis deliberately punished the German champion. One of the old boys was throwing roundhouse punches in the air, demonstrating.
I said, "Who killed your wife?"
"One or the other of them. If I had to bet Id say Cruz. He had those beady little eyes, you looked at him up close and got that he was a killer. "
"When did you look at him close?"
"When they were over to the house. The first time, when they cleaned the basement and the attic. I told you they hauled stuff for me?"
"You told me. "
"Not the second time," he said, "when they cleaned me out altogether. "
He smiled broadly, but I kept looking at him until the smile turned uncertain. "That was Herrera who helped around the house," I said. "You never met Cruz. "
"Cruz came along, gave him a hand. "
"You never mentioned that before. "
"I mustve, Matt. Or I left it out. What difference does it make, anyway?"
"Cruz wasnt much for manual labor," I said. "He wouldnt come along to haul trash. When did you ever get a look at his eyes?"
"Jesus Christ. Maybe it was seeing a picture in the paper, maybe I just have a sense of him as if I saw his eyes. Leave it alone, will you? Whatever kind of eyes he had, theyre not seeing anything anymore. "
"Who killed her, Tommy?"
"Hey, didnt I say let it alone?"
"Answer the question. "
"I already answered it. "
"You killed her, didnt you?"
"What are you, crazy? And keep your voice down, for Christs sake. Theres people can hear you. "
"You killed your wife. "
"Cruz killed her and Herrera swore to it. Isnt that enough for you? And your fucking cop friends been all over my alibi, pickin at it like a monkey hunting lice. Theres no way I coulda killed her. "
"Sure there is. "
"Huh?"
A chair covered in needlepoint, a view of Owls Head Park. The smell of dust, and layered over it the smell of a spray of little white flowers.
"Lily-of-the-valley," I said.
"Huh?"
"Thats how you did it. "
"What are you talking about?"
"The third floor, the room her aunt used to live in. I smelled her perfume up there. I thought I was just carrying the scent in my nostrils from being in her bedroom earlier, but that wasnt it. She was up there, and it was traces of her perfume I was smelling. Thats why the room held me, I sensed her presence there, the room was trying to tell me something but I couldnt get it. "
"I dont know what youre talking about. You know what you are, Matt? Youre a little drunk is all. Youll wake up tomorrow and-"
"You left the office at the end of the day, rushed home to Bay Ridge, and stowed her on the third floor. What did you do, drug her? You probably slipped her a mickey, maybe left her tied up in the room on the third floor. Tied her up, gagged her, left her unconscious. Then you got your ass back to Manhattan and went out to dinner with Carolyn. "
"Im not listening to this shit. "
"Herrera and Cruz showed up around midnight, just the way you arranged it. They thought they were knocking off an empty house. Your wife was gagged and tucked away on the third floor and they had no reason to go up there. You probably locked the door there anyway just to make sure. They pulled their burglary and went home, figuring it was the safest and easiest illegal buck they ever turned. "
I picked up my glass. Then I remembered he had bought the drink, and I started to put it down. I decided that was ridiculous. Just as money knows no owner, whiskey never r
emembers who paid for it.
I took a drink.
I said, "Then a couple hours after that you jumped in your car and raced back to Bay Ridge again. Maybe you slipped something into your girlfriends drink to keep her out of it. All you had to do was find an hour, hour and a half, and theres room enough in your alibi to find ninety spare minutes. The drive wouldnt take you long, not at that hour. Nobody would see you drive in. You just had to go up to the third floor, carry your wife down a flight, stab her to death, get rid of the knife, and drive back into the city. Thats how you did it, Tommy. Isnt it?"
"Youre full of shit, you know that?"
"Tell me you didnt kill her. "
"I already told you. "
"Tell me again. "
"I didnt kill her, Matt. I didnt kill anybody. "
"Again. "
"Whats the matter with you? I didnt kill her. Jesus, youre the one helped prove it, and now youre trying to twist and turn it back on me. I swear to Christ I didnt kill her. "
"I dont believe you. "
A man at the bar was talking about Rocky Marciano. There was the best fighter ever lived, he said. He wasnt pretty, he wasnt fancy, but it was a funny thing, he was always on his feet at the end of the fight and the other guy wasnt.
"Oh, Jesus," Tommy said.
He closed his eyes, put his head in his hands. He sighed and looked up and said, "You know, its a funny thing with me. Over the phone Im as good a salesman as Marciano was a fighter. Im the best you could ever imagine. I swear I could sell sand to the Arabs, I could sell ice in the winter, but face-to-face Im just no good at all. Wasnt for phones, Id have trouble making a living selling. Why do you figure that is?"
"You tell me. "
"I swear I dont know. I used to think it was my face, around the eyes and mouth, I dont know. Over the phones a cinch. Im talkin to a stranger, I dont know who he is or what he looks like, and hes not lookin at me, and theres nothing to it. Face-to-face, somebody I know, whole different story. " He looked at me, his eyes not quite meeting mine. "If we were doin this over the phone, youd buy what Im telling you. "
"Its possible. "
"Its fucking certain. Word for word, youd buy the package. Matt, suppose for the sake of argument I said I killed her. It was an accident, it was an impulse, we were both upset over the burglary, I was half in the bag, and-"
"You planned the whole thing, Tommy. It was all set up and worked out. "
"The whole story you told, the way you worked it all out, theres not a thing you can prove. "
I didnt say anything.
"And you helped me, dont forget that part of it. "
"I wont. "
"And I wouldnta gone away for it anyway, with or without you, Matt. It wouldnta got to court, and if it did Ida beat it in court. All you saved is a hassle. And you know something?"
"What?"
"All we got tonight is the booze talking, your booze and my booze, two bottles of whiskey talkin to each other. Thats all. Morning comes, we can forget everything was said here tonight. I didnt kill anybody, you didnt say I did, everythings cool, were still buddies. Right? Right?"