A Dance at the Slaughter House

Page 32

 

  "I think I can get him to come in," I said. "I think thats what he wants to do. "

  "Thatd be nice," he said. "But if not at least hell talk to you, and youll be wearing a wire. Youre meeting him at four? I wish it was earlier. "

  "Hes got appointments until then. "

  "And business is business, right? Ill see you here at three. " He stood up. "Meantime I got appointments myself. "

  I walked across town to Elaines, stopping en route for flowers and a bag of Jaffa oranges. She put the flowers in water and the oranges in a large blue glass bowl and told me she was feeling a lot better. "Weak," she said, "but definitely on the mend. What about you? Are you all right?"

  "Why?"

  "You look drawn. Were you up again last night?"

  "No, but I didnt sleep very well. The case is breaking. It ought to wrap up in a couple more hours. "

  "How did all that happen? Its Wednesday, isnt it? Or did I get delirious and miss a couple of days?"

  "Thurman needed a confidant and I managed to be it. He was feeling pressured, partly by me, I suppose, but mostly by Stettner. "

  "Whos Stettner?"

  "Rubber Man," I said. I gave her an abridged version of our conversation last night at Grogans. "I was in the right place at the right time," I said. "I was lucky. "

  "Unlike Amanda Thurman. "

  "And a whole lot of other people, from the sound of it. But Amandas the one theyll all go away for. Between Thurmans testimony and whatever physical evidence they can put together, they ought to be able to build a nice solid case. "

  "Then why so glum, chum? Shouldnt you be strutting around like a bantam rooster? Whatever happened to enjoying the moment of triumph?"

  "I guess Im tired. "

  "And what else?"

  I shrugged. "I dont know," I said. "I spent a couple of hours with Thurman last night. It didnt make me like the little prick but it didnt leave me ready to rejoice in his downfall, either. A week ago he looked to be some kind of cold criminal genius, and now it turns out hes just a dimwit. A couple of manipulative perverts led him around by his cock. "

  "You feel sorry for him. "

  "I dont feel sorry for him. I think hes a manipulative bastard himself, he just ran into a better one in Stettner. And Im not buying everything he told me last night. I dont think he fed me any outright lies, but I think he made himself look better than he had any right to. For one thing, Ill bet anything Amanda wasnt the first person he killed. "

  "What makes you say that?"

  "Because Stettners not stupid. He knew the cops would grill Thurman up one side and down the other if his wife was murdered under that sort of circumstances. Even if they didnt suspect he was involved, theyd question him repeatedly in order to get a line on the killers and not overlook any possible clue. So Stettner would have tempered him first by getting him accustomed to killing. He was there when Leveque was killed, he was an accessory, and I think there must have been times when he and one or both of the Stettners did a number on a woman and she wound up dead. Thats what I would have done if I were Stettner. "

  "Im glad youre not. "

  "And Im not sure how much I buy of his attack of conscience," I said. "I think hes scared, I think that parts true enough. Once Stettner gets the last hundred grand from him hes got no reason to keep him alive. Unless he wants to try for the rest of the money, which is always a possibility. Maybe thats Thurmans real fear. He doesnt want to give up the rest of the money. "

  "He cant keep it anyway, can he? If he confesses?"

  "He doesnt intend to confess. "

  "But I thought you said you were going to bring him in. "

  "Im going to try. Im hoping I can manipulate him the way Stettner did. "

  "You want me to come along and blow him?"

  "I dont think thatll be necessary. "

  "Good. "

  "See," I said, "I think hes trying to manipulate me. Maybe he wants me to kill Stettner for him. That seems farfetched, but its not out of the question. He may want my help in arranging some sort of Mexican standoff, whereby he leaves evidence and testimony that will nail Stettner in the event of his own death. If he sets that up right and Stettner knows it, then hes home free. "

  "But any evidence he gives you-"

  "Goes straight to Joe Durkin. Damn it. "

  "Whats the matter?"

  "Its eleven-thirty and Im not seeing him until four. I should have kept pressing him last night instead of giving him time to think it over. The problem was that he was exhausted and so was I. I thought wed do it this morning but he went into this song and dance about his business appointments. I wanted to tell him he could afford to cancel, that he was out of business, but I couldnt do that. You know, he called me a few times yesterday afternoon and wouldnt talk. "

  "You told me. "

  "If I could have got together with him then it might be wrapped up by now. Of course I wouldnt have talked to Danny Boy and I wouldnt have gone in knowing about Stettner. " I sighed. "I guess itll all work out. "

  "It always does, baby. Why dont you lie down for an hour or two? Take the bed, or Ill make up the couch for you. "

  "I dont think so. "

  "It wont hurt you. And Ill wake you in plenty of time to go see Joe and get wired. "

  "Im already wired. In a manner of speaking. "

  "Thats my point. "

  I caught a noon meeting and walked back to my hotel, stopping for a stand-up lunch at a pizza parlor. I had pepperoni on it to make sure I covered the four basic food groups.

  Maybe the meeting relaxed me, or maybe it was the result of good nutrition, but when I got back to my room I felt tired enough to lie down for an hour. I set my alarm for two-thirty and left a call at the desk for that time as a backup. I kicked my shoes off and stretched out in my clothes, and I must have been out before my eyes were completely shut.

  The next thing I knew the phone was ringing. I sat up and looked at my clock and it was only two, and I picked up the phone prepared to snarl at the desk clerk. TJ said, "Man, why is it you aint never home? How I gone tell you what I find if I cant even find where you at?"

  "What did you find out?"

  "The boys name. The young one. I met this kid who knows him, says his name be Bobby. "

  "Did you learn his last name?"

  "There aint a lot of last names on the Deuce, Matt. Aint too many first names, either. Mostly its street names, you know? Cool Fool and Hats and Dagwood. Bobby, he too new on the block to have hisself a street name. Kid I talked to say he just got here around Christmastime. "

  He hadnt lasted long. I wanted to tell TJ that it didnt matter, that the man whod been with Bobby was about to go away for something else, something that would keep him away from kids for a long time.

  "Dont know where he came from," TJ was saying. "Got off a bus one day is all. Musta come from some place where they had men who liked young boys, cause that what he was lookin for from the jump. Fore he knew it one of the pimps scooped him up an started sellin his white ass. "

  "What pimp?"

  "You want for me to find out? I most likely could, but the meter already run to the twenty-dollar mark. "

  Was there any point? The easy case against Stettner was the murder of Amanda Thurman. There was a body and a witness and, in all likelihood, some kind of physical evidence, all of them lacking in the disappearance and probably murder of the boy called Bobby. Why bother to chase some pimp?

  "See what you can find out," I heard myself say. "Ill cover the meter. "

  AT three I presented myself at Midtown North and took off my jacket and shirt. A police officer named Westerberg wired me for sound. "Youve worn one of these before," Durkin said. "With that landlady, one the papers called the Angel of Death. "

  "Thats right. "

  "So you know how it works. You shouldnt have any trouble with Thurman. If he wants you to go to bed with him just make sure you keep your shirt on. "

  "He wont want me to
. He doesnt like homosexuals. "

  "Right, nothing queer about Richard. You want a vest? I think you ought to wear one. "

  "On top of the wire?"

  "Its Kevlar, it shouldnt interfere with the pickup. The only thing its supposed to stop is a bullet. "

  "There wont be any bullets, Joe. Nobodys used a gun in this so far. The vest wont stop a blade. "

  "Sometimes it will. "

  "Or a pair of panty hose around the neck. "

  "I guess," he said. "I just dont like the idea of sending you in without backup. "

  "Youre not sending me in. Im not under your command. Im a private citizen wearing a wire out of a sense of civic responsibility. Im cooperating with you, but youre not responsible for my safety. "

  "Ill remember to tell them that at the hearing after you wind up in a body bag. "

  "Thats not going to happen," I said.

  "Say Thurman woke up this morning and realized he talked too much, and now youre the loose end he has to get rid of. "

  I shook my head. "Im his ace in the hole," I said. "Im his backup, Im the man who can make sure Stettner wont take a chance on killing him. Hell, he hired me, Joe. Hes not going to kill me. "

  "He hired you?"

  "Last night. He gave me a retainer, insisted I take it. "

  "What did he give you?"

  "A hundred dollars. A nice crisp hundred-dollar bill. "

  "Hey, every little bit helps. "

  "I didnt keep it. "

  "What do you mean, you didnt keep it? You gave it back to him, hows he gonna trust you?"

  "I didnt give it back to him. I got rid of it. "

  "Why? Moneys money. It doesnt know where it came from. "

  "Maybe not. "

  "Money knows no owner. Basic principle of law. Howd you get rid of it?"

  "Walking home," I said. "We walked as far as Ninth Avenue and Fifty-second Street and then he went one way and I went the other. The first guy who staggered out of a doorway looking for a handout, I wadded up Thurmans money and stuck it in his cup. They all have cups now, Styrofoam coffee cups that they hold out at you. "

  "Thats so people wont have to touch them. You gave some bum on the street a hundred-dollar bill? Hows he gonna spend it? Whos gonna change it for him?"

  "Well," I said, "thats not my problem, is it?"

  Chapter 17

  I walked over to where Richard Thurman lived and stood in a doorway across from his building. I got there ten minutes early for our four oclock appointment and I spent the time watching the sidewalk traffic. I couldnt tell whether or not there was a light on in his apartment. His building was on the uptown side of the block and the windows on the upper floors caught the sunlight and reflected it back at me.

  I waited until four, and then I waited another two minutes or so before I crossed the street and entered the vestibule next door to Radicchios entrance. I pressed the button for Thurman and waited to be buzzed in. Nothing happened. I rang again and waited and again nothing happened. I went next door and checked the restaurant bar. He wasnt there. I went back to my station across the street, and after ten more minutes I walked to the corner and found a working pay phone. I called his apartment and the machine answered, and at the tone I said, "Richard, are you there? Pick up the phone if you are. " He didnt pick up.