A Dance at the Slaughter House Read online

Page 28

 

  As far as I could tell he was wearing the same outfit Id seen him in before. The denim jacket that had looked too warm for the summer now appeared unequal to the winters cold. His high-top sneakers looked new, and he had added a royal-blue watch cap.

  I handed him the sketches. He glanced at the top one and looked up at me, his eyes wary. He said, "You want to draw my picture? Why you laughin?"

  "Im sure youd make a fine model," I said, "but Im no artist. "

  "You didnt draw these here?" He looked at each in turn, examined the signature. "Raymond something. What do you say, Ray? Whats happenin?"

  "Do you recognize any of them?"

  He said he didnt, and I ran it down for him. "The older boys name is Happy," I said. "I think hes dead. "

  "You think they both be dead. Dont you?"

  "Im afraid so. "

  "What you want to know about them?"

  "Their names. Where theyre from. "

  "You already know his name, you said. Happy, you said. "

  "I figure his name is Happy like your name is TJ. "

  He gave me a look. "You say TJ," he said, "everybody gone know who you be referrin to. " He looked at the sketch again. "You sayin Happys his street name. "

  "Thats right. "

  "If thats his name on the street, that the only name the street gone know. Who give you that name, Testament House?"

  I nodded. "They said he didnt live there but he stayed there a couple of nights. "

  "Yeah, well, they be good people, but not everybody can handle the rules an shit, you know what Im sayin?"

  "Did you ever stay there, TJ?"

  "Shit, whyd I do that? I dont need no place like that. I got a place where I live, man. "

  "Where?"

  "Never mind where. Long as I can find it, thats all that matters. " He shuffled through the sketches. Casually he said, "I seen this man. "

  "Where?"

  "I dunno. On the Deuce, but dont be askin me where or when. " He sat down on the edge of the bed, yanked his cap off, turned it over in his hands. He said, "What you want from me, man?"

  I took a twenty from my wallet and held it out to him. He didnt move to take it, and his eyes repeated his question. What did I want from him?

  I said, "You know the Deuce and the bus terminal and the kids on the street. You could go places I dont know about and talk to people who wouldnt talk to me. "

  "Thas a lot for twenty dollars. " He grinned. "Other time I seen you, you gimme fi dollars and I didnt do nothin. "

  "You havent done anything this time either," I said.

  "Could take a lot of time, though. Jivin with the people, goin here an there. " I started to take back the twenty and his hand moved to snatch it from me. "Dont be doin that," he said. "I didnt say no, did I? Just tuggin you round some is all. " He looked around the room. "But I dont guess yous rich, huh?"

  I had to laugh. "No," I said. "Not quite. "

  CHANCE called. He had asked a few people in the fight crowd, and some had recalled an apparent father and son at ringside Thursday. No one remembered having seen the pair before, in Maspeth or elsewhere. I said the man would probably not have had the boy along on other occasions, and he said it was the two of them that people remembered. "So its not like the people I talked to recognized him," he said. "Are you going back out there tomorrow night?"

  "I dont know. "

  "Or you could watch it on television. You might see him if hes in the first row again. "

  We didnt stay on the phone long because I wanted to keep the line open. I hung up and waited, and Danny Boy Bell was the next to call. "Ill be having dinner at Poogans," he said. "Why dont you join me? You know how I hate to eat alone. "

  "Youve got something?"

  "Nothing remarkable," he said, "but you have to eat dinner sometime, dont you? Eight oclock. "

  I hung up and checked the time. It was five oclock. I turned on the TV and watched the opening of the news and turned it off when I realized I wasnt paying attention. I picked up the phone and dialed Thurmans number. When the machine picked up I didnt say anything but I didnt hang up, either. I sat there with the line open for thirty seconds or so before I finally broke the connection.

  I picked up The Newgate Calendar and the phone rang almost immediately. I grabbed it and said hello and it was Jim Faber.

  "Oh, hi," I said.

  "You sound disappointed. "

  "Ive been waiting on a call all afternoon," I said.

  "Well, I wont keep you," he said. "Its not important. Will you be going to St. Pauls tonight?"

  "I dont think so. I have to meet somebody at eight on Seventy-second Street and I dont know how long thatll last. Anyway, I went last night. "

  "Thats funny, I looked for you and didnt see you there. "

  "I was downtown, I went to Perry Street. "

  "Oh, did you? Thats where I wound up Sunday night. The perfect choice, you can say anything there and nobody gives a rats ass. I said terrible things about Bev and felt a hundred percent better for it. Was Helen there last night? Did she tell you about the holdup?"

  "What holdup?"

  "At Perry Street. Look, youre expecting a call, I dont want to keep you. "

  "Thats all right," I said. "Somebody held up Perry Street? What could they get? They dont even have coffee there anymore. "

  "Well, it wasnt a brilliantly conceived crime. It was their Friday night step meeting a week or two ago. A fellow named Bruce was speaking. I dont know if you know him and its not important. Anyway, he gave his qualification for twenty minutes, and then some wacko stood up and announced that he had come to that meeting a year earlier and put forty dollars in the basket by mistake, and he had a gun in his pocket, and if he didnt get his forty dollars back he was going to start blowing people away. "

  "Jesus. "

  "Wait, heres the good part. Bruce told him, Im sorry, youre out of order, we cant interrupt the meeting for something like that. Youll have to wait until the break at a quarter of nine. The guy starts to say something and Bruce bangs the gavel on that sort of podium they have there and tells him to sit down and calls on somebody else, and the meeting goes on. "

  "And the nut just sits there?"

  "I guess he figured he had no choice. Rules are rules, right? Then another fellow, a guy named Harry, went over to him and asked him if he wanted some coffee or some cigarettes, and the nut allowed as to how coffee would be nice. Ill just slip out and get you some, Harry whispered, and he slipped out and around the corner to the police station, I think theres one fairly close-"

  "The Sixth Precincts just a couple blocks away on West Tenth. "

  "Then thats where he went, and he came back with a couple of New Yorks Finest, and they bundled up the lunatic and took him away. Wait a minute, he said. Wheres my forty dollars? Wheres my coffee? Only at Perry Street. "

  "Oh, that could happen anywhere, dont you think?"

  "Im not so sure of that. I can think of an Upper East Side meeting where they would have taken up a collection for the sonofabitch and then tried to see if they could find him an apartment. Well, I wont keep you, I know youre expecting a call. But I had to pass that on. "

  "Thanks for sharing," I said.

  JUST sitting still can drive you crazy. But I didnt want to go anywhere. I knew he was going to call and I didnt want to miss it.

  The phone rang at six-thirty. I grabbed it and said hello and there was no answer. I said hello again and waited. I could tell the line was open. I said hello a third time and the connection was broken.

  I picked up my book and put it down again, and then I looked in my notebook and dialed Lyman Warriner in Cambridge. "I know I told you I wouldnt be filing any progress reports," I said, "but I wanted to let you know that theres been some progress. I have a pretty good idea at this point of what happened. "

  "Hes guilty, isnt he?"

  "I dont think theres any question of that," I said. "Not in my mind and not in his. "r />
  "In his?"

  "Somethings working on him, guilt or fear or both. He called here a minute ago. He didnt say a word. Hes scared to talk but hes also scared not to talk and thats why he called. Im positive hell call again. "

  "You sound as though you expect him to confess. "

  "I think he wants to. At the same time Im sure hes afraid to. Im not sure why I called you, Lyman. I probably should have waited until everythings resolved. "

  "No, Im glad you called. "

  "I have a feeling once things start to move theyre going to move fast. " I hesitated. "Your sisters murder is only part of it. "

  "Really. "

  "Thats how it looks at this stage. Ill let you know when I have something more concrete. But in the meantime I wanted to keep you in the picture. "

  THERE was another call at seven. I picked it up and said hello and there was a click right away as he hung up. I called back right away, dialing the number of the phone at his apartment. It rang four times and his machine picked up. I hung up.

  At seven-thirty he called again. I said hello and when there was no reply I said, "I know who you are. You can go ahead and talk, its all right. "

  Silence.

  "I have to go out now," I said. "Ill be back here at ten oclock. Call me at ten. "

  I could hear him breathing.

  "Ten oclock," I said, and broke the connection. I waited for ten minutes on the off chance that hed call back right away and be ready to spill it, but no, that was it for now. I grabbed my coat and went to keep my dinner date with Danny Boy.

  Chapter 15

  "Five Borough Cable," Danny Boy said. "A good idea, based on the premise that New Yorkers might go for sports programming with a little more local interest than celebrity bass fishing and Australian rules football. But they had a slow start and they made a very common mistake. They were undercapitalized.

  "Just about a year ago they solved that problem by selling a substantial share to a pair of brothers with a last name I cant pronounce, but which Ive been assured is Iranian. Thats all anyone knows about them, aside from the fact that they live in Los Angeles, and are represented by an attorney in that city.

  "For Five Borough, its business as usual. Theyre not making money but theyre not getting killed, and the new investors are willing to lose money for a few years. In fact they might be willing to lose money forever. "

  "I see. "

  "Do you? Interestingly enough, the new investors seem content to play a very passive role. Youd think they might make changes in the companys management, but they kept all the old people on and didnt bring in anybody new. Except that theres someone now whos around a lot. He doesnt work for Five Borough, he doesnt draw a salary, but if you look at the company youll always see him out of the corner of your eye. "

  "Who is he?"

  "Now that," he said, "is an interesting question. His name is Bergen Stettner, which sounds German, or at least Teutonic, but I dont think thats the name he was born with. He lives with his wife in an apartment on a high floor in that hotel of Trumps on Central Park South. Keeps an office in the Graybar Building on Lexington. He deals in foreign currencies, and he also buys and sells precious metals. What does this begin to suggest to you?"