“What’d he mean by that?”
“Oscar was in it with BB and Kit in the first place. He set it up so that Kit could take Son. But he didn’t know about the rest.”
“And you run down here from Chi?” Fearless asked.
“Yeah. I was waitin’ for Leora and Son. But she didn’t come because Oscar had called her too. I took the train and started lookin’ for Kit. I heard that he was at this rooming house, so I came here. They told me about him and Charlotta, so I kept my eye on her.”
“Don’t make no sense,” I said.
“What?”
“Why would Kit waste his time on Oscar if there was somebody wanted to buy the book already? I mean, the white man had to be Maestro Wexler or his son. They got almost fifty thousand dollars layin’ around in the closet. Why give Oscar time to raise the money?”
“Maybe because he killed the kids,” Fearless said.
“Kit’s been dead too long for that,” I said. “Same man killed him probably killed them too.”
“You right, Thad—I mean Paris,” Brown said. “Why would Kit waste time with Oscar? I mean, Winifred had already went to the police because’a the necklace.”
“She didn’t tell the cops about Son?” I asked our new ally.
“No. She was afraid that the cops would wanna know where his parents were.”
“I don’t get it,” Fearless said. “If this book is the big thing, why Kit wanna mess around with a hot necklace?”
It was a good question, reminding me that Fearless was a thinker too.
“Oscar let Kit take the necklace. That was what they agreed on to pay Kit for his taking Son.”
“So Kit had to take the choker in order to keep Oscar and Leora from suspecting about the book,” I said.
“Yeah. Oscar promised to pretend that the emerald got misplaced,” Brown added. “But once he realized about the book, he told Winifred that Kit stole the necklace.”
“Somethin’ must’a gone wrong on Kit’s side,” I said. “Somehow Lance was in trouble and Kit needed to get his money fast. He leaned on Oscar but instead Oscar put you and Leora on the case. Maybe he was thinkin’ that Leora could set him up and then he’d send you in to take him down.”
“Yeah,” Brown said. “That was it. And Oscar told Winnie what he wanted her to know. That way she could get after them without knowing about the book.”
“And that’s where Milo comes in,” I said.
“Who?” asked Brown.
“A man we know that Winifred hired.”
“Who do you think it was beat up Charlotta?” Brown asked me.
“He doesn’t sound like one of Wexler’s men,” I said. “But I don’t know. Wexler could have a hundred men workin’ for him. I guess it could be that Oscar is lyin’ to us. He lied to his sister.”
“So you think he took the book?”
“Naw. That wouldn’t make any sense,” I said, knowing that I had the book in the trunk of Fearless’s car.
“You guys finished yammerin’?” Fearless asked with a yawn. “’Cause you know I’m tired.”
We broke up then. Brown went to his room and we went down to the car.
DeLois was asleep in the backseat.
She looked so peaceful there with her hands folded together under her cheek, her breath coming slowly and deep. She might have been a troubled child but sleep came to her, a gift from a milder deity than the one that governed my fitful world.
38
FEARLESS DROVE US to Ambrosia’s house. DeLois slept the whole way. I told Fearless that I’d drive her home because he’d been nodding at the wheel. But when he wanted me to take my car I balked.
“Why bother taking my car outta the garage?” I reasoned. “I could just hold on to yours.”
“Not mine, Paris—Ambrosia’s. Don’t worry, man. I ain’t gonna lose the money. And sure as hell ain’t nobody gonna take it from me.”
He was right. The money and the book would be safer with him.
I woke DeLois up and led her to my car. She was groggy but trusting. Fearless kissed her on the cheek and told her that I’d drive her home.
In my car again I opened the window so that DeLois would wake up with the fresh air.
“Where you live exactly?” I asked her when she finally sat upright.
“Over near Adams and Hoover.”
I guided the car in that direction.
“You got a cigarette, Mr. Minton?”
I fished out two and handed them to her.
“Light me one too,” I said.
There’s nothing quite like a woman lighting your cigarette for the immediate feeling of intimacy. Putting the filtered tip in my mouth she touched my lower lip with her fingertips.
“What you and Fearless doin’ in Miss Moore’s house?” she asked me.
“Gettin’ into trouble I guess.”
“I guess if you gonna get into trouble you might as well do it with Fearless Jones,” she said and then giggled. “He sure did make that fat man sweat.”
“What were you doin’ in Miss Moore’s place?”
“Maybe I live there.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But you don’t.”
“How you know I don’t?”
“Because I took a room there a few days ago and I had dinner with the whole houseful. You weren’t there. And if you did live there, then why am I driving you home?”
DeLois’s face wasn’t small but it was petite. She pouted and then brought the cigarette to her lips.
“You know,” she said.
“Somebody send you in there to Melvin?”
“Naw. It’s just this bar I go to sometimes where he go too. He always tryin’ to mess wit’ me, but you know I always tell ’im to go on.”
“But not tonight.”
DeLois took another drag and turned to the window.
“How do you know Fearless?” I asked to ease her discomfort.
“He used to live in the apartment upstairs from me. He’s a real nice man. One time I had this boyfriend wanna try and beat on me. Fearless come down and asked him if he wanted to leave. It was funny. Richard started blusterin’ about how he was gonna kick Fearless’ ass. But the whole time he was talkin’ he was movin’ backwards and pickin’ up his things. Finally he shouted some curse or sumpin’ when he was at the door and then he ran.” DeLois laughed. I did too.
We drove a few more blocks.
“So what were you doin’ at Miss Moore’s?” I asked again.
“I cain’t make my rent and I got my little sister wit’ me. I got fifteen dollars but they want thirty.”
“You could slide a week or two.”
“I done slid a month already.”
We came to the small aqua-colored building on a street named Orchard. I stopped the car but neither of us moved or said anything.
I was closer to Fearless than to anyone except my mother. He had expectations of me that he never had to put into words. The fact that he took DeLois out of that rooming house was him saying that he wanted me to finish the job.
“So how come you left wit’ us?” I asked.
“I didn’t wanna fuck that man,” she said. “I don’t wanna fuck the landlord neither, but at least he don’t weigh five hundred pounds.”
I reached into my pocket and peeled off four twenty-dollar bills. I handed the money over. She didn’t take it at first. Instead she looked me up and down.
“What?” I asked.
“Nuthin’. It’s just that you even skinnier than my landlord and you the right color too.”
I took her hand and folded it around the money.
“No, DeLois. It ain’t like that. People been throwin’ money at me and Fearless the last couple’a days now. And my mama always told me to keep what I earn but to share good fortune. This is just for you and your sister.”
DeLois’s jaw dropped. “You mean you just givin’ me this money?”