All the
Flowers
AreDying
LAWRENCE BLOCK
For a pair of Knockaround Guys:
b r i a n k o p p e l m a n
&
dav i d l e v i e n
O Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are callin’, From glen to glen, and down the mountainside, The summer’s gone, the roses all are fallen, And now ’tis you must go, and I must bide.
But come ye back when spring is in the meadow, Or when the hills are hushed and white with snow, Ye’ll find me there, in sunshine or in shadow, O Danny Boy, O Danny Boy, I love you so.
But if ye come, and all the flowers are dyin’, And I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Then you will find the place where I am lyin’, And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I will hear, though soft you tread above me, And then my grave will warmer, softer be, And you will bend and tell me that you love me, And I will wait in peace until you come to me.
—Frederic Edward Weatherly, “Danny Boy”
Listen, O judges: here is yet another madness, and that comes before the deed. Alas, you have not yet crept deep enough into this soul.
Thus speaks the red judge, “Why did this criminal murder?
He wanted to rob.” But I say unto you: his soul wanted blood, not robbery; he thirsted after the bliss of the knife.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra Translated by Walter Kaufmann
Contents
1.
When I got there, Joe Durkin was already holding down a
corner tabl
e...
1
2.
He’d originally suggested dinner at seven, but I’d pushed
it bac
k to...
9
3.
The Greensville Correctional Center is located just
outside of J
arr
att...
17
4.
The cell is larger than he’d expected, and more comfortably
appointed.
25
5.
At a meeting over the weekend a woman whom I knew
by sigh t cam e up..
.
33
6.
There’s a Red Roof Inn just outside of Jarratt, at the exit
off
I-95,
but
on...
44
7.
The first thing TJ tried was the phone number. It was his
cell pho
ne...
60
8.
He’s up before the alarm rings. He showers, shaves, dresses.
He’s sav
ed a…
70
9.
It’s noon, and no one has yet made an appearance on the
other side of t
he.. .
79
10.
Monday night I was having a cup of coffee in front of the
television set.. .
89
11.
He holds the bronze letter opener in his hands, turns it over,
runs a fi
ng er...
98
12.
I didn’t much want to give my client a report of the night’s
proceedings,...
101
13.
Downstairs, he gives his name. He gets off the elevator to
find her
fra
med...
108
14.
Mother Blue’s was either half full or half empty, depending
I sup
pose...
116
15.
I woke up to the smell of coffee, and when I got to the
kitchen
Elaine...
123
16.
They weren’t really set up for viewing. The autopsy wasn’t
finished...
129
17.
In a Kinko’s on Columbus Avenue, he sits at a computer
terminal,
where...
144
18.
TJ said, “You already thought of this, and it don’t make
sense any
way,...
153
19.
“I guess you’ll want to get upstairs,” I said. “Don’t you have
to see
how ...
161
20.
The letter opener was sealed in a clear plastic evidence bag.
Sussman...
168
21.
The Canarsie line runs east from Eighth Avenue and
Fourteenth...
172
22.
After they left I checked Elaine’s appointment book.
I start ed to c
op
y...
181
23.
Knives
are
beautiful.
185
24.
I went first to Grogan’s, the uncompromising old Irish bar
at Fifti eth...
192
25.
I took the long way home from Grogan’s, up Tenth Avenue
to...
200
26.
That was Friday, and according to the Times it was the
longest
day
of...
206
27.
It is, he has to admit, a disturbingly good likeness. It’s
in
the
papers
and…
213
28.
“I see your wife’s shop is closed until further notice,”
Sussman said .
221
29.
He had a rough time,” I said. “He had a job and a girlfriend,
and he...
227
30.
“You know,” Ira Wentworth said, “I can’t tell you how
many tim
es I’ve ...
238
31.
He sits in the coffee shop. He has a table next to the window,
and
he
can...
245
32.
It was late morning when Mark Sussman called. Had I
caught
the
item...
247
33.
Sometimes it seems to him that there truly are guardian
angels, and that
...
251
34.
The phone call came a few minutes after five. I let the
machine pick ...
257
35.
The
bastard’s
wary.
261
36.
I slept poorly, and kept slipping in and out of a drinking
dream.
I
woke...
269
37.
He is completely tuned in, perfectly focused, and he hears
the turn ing of...
272
38.
Could
I
have
heard
something?
276
39.
I’m floating. I’m in empty sky, or in a sea of nothingness.
I’m floa ting.
279
40.
There may have been other times when I recovered
consciousness,
or...
283
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other Books by Lawrence Block
Cover
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
1
When I got there, Joe Durkin was already holding down a corner table and working on a drink—vodka on the rocks, from the looks of it. I took in the room and listened to the hum of conversation at the bar, and I guess some of what I was feeling must have found its way to my face, because the first thing Joe asked me was if I was all right. I said I was fine, and why?
“Because you look like you saw a ghost,” he said.
“Be funny if I didn’t,” I said. “The room is full of them.”
“A little new for ghosts, isn’t it? How long have they been open, two years?”
“Closer to three.”
“Time flies,” he said, “whether you’re having fun or not. Jake’s Place, whoever Jake is. You got a history with him?”
“I don’t know who he is. I had a history with the place before it was his.”
“Jimmy Armstrong’s.”
“That’s right.”
“He died, didn’t he? Was that before or after 9/11?” That’s our watershed; everything in our lives is before or after that date. “After,” I said, “by five or six months. He left the place to a nephew, who tried running it for a few months and then decided it wasn’t the life he wanted for himself. So I guess he sold it to Jake, whoever Jake is.” 2