“When you tell this story at school, you can tell it that way.”
“I don’t go to school.”
“You should.”
The booze was wearing off. I went home and went straight to bed.
Chapter 9
The alarm clock woke me at seven thirty. No hangover. That was pleasant. I could get used to that. With a shower and shave, dressed and out the door, I was on my way to work.
An olive drab Chevy with official white markings fell in behind me. I couldn’t make out the lettering, but I could guess. Captain Pugh had sent some payback. I’m not sure where he got my home address. I could see two large men in Army uniforms in the front seat of the car. The driver was young, big, and had a serious look about him. The other one was in the shadows.
I drove north under the Interstate and to the police station and pulled into a parking space marked “Official Police Vehicles Only.” The olive drab Chevy sped away.
I didn’t get out. I backed out of the parking space just as a uniform was walking over to tell me I couldn’t park there. I smiled and waved at him and drove to my office.
Willa wasn’t in yet. She must’ve stopped at the bank to deposit our windfall. I was right. I settled in at my desk, and she came in, smiling.
“Good morning, boss man,” she said, taking off her coat and tossing a deposit slip on her desk. “The Bentworth Detective Agency is in the black for the first time I can remember. All caught up on our bills, and my back salary is paid in full at last.”
“Anything left?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“I’m not going to tell you. You’d just spend it.”
“That I would.”
“Your paycheck is in your desk drawer. Spend that.”
I opened the drawer and looked at the check.
“What? I get a pay cut?”
“Times are tough, boss man. There’s a recession on. Got to tighten our belts. We all have to pitch in and do our part.”
You’d have thought she was selling war bonds.
I left the office and went to Ray’s. Bunny was there with a disappointed look on her face.
“Where were you last night?” she said.
“Sleeping off a fight.”
“A fight?”
“Yeah. A guy’s been pestering Amanda. Now he’s not.”
“You look better than yesterday. Fighting must be better for you than drinking. I’ll get your breakfast.”
She went into the kitchen and returned with the usual bacon, eggs, and all that.
“You’re perfect, Bunny. I need a cholesterol fix.”
“Thanks, Stan. You’re looking better too. So, what do you think? Want to get back together?”
“Still thinking about it.”
“I won’t mention it again,” she said. “I’m not used to rejection.”
“It gets harder to take and more frequent as you get older,” I said before I could stop myself.
She turned with a flip and left to take care of other customers. I ate alone, glad for the solitude. I had several things on my mind. What was I to do about Jeremy and the Gestapo twins? Would Vitole lay off Buford? Would Rodney’s illegal money transfer come back to haunt me? And, of course, there was Bunny. What was I going to do about Bunny?
This pile of complications made looking for bail jumpers and cheating husbands feel like the good old days.
I finished breakfast and went back to the office. I went into the inner office, sat in my chair, and dozed off.
After a while Willa came to the door, “Somebody’s here to see you.”
I came awake and sat forward. “Who?”
“Bill Penrod.”
I stood up and rubbed my eyes as Penrod came in.
“Hello, Stan.”
“Come in, Bill,” I said. “Sit down. Good to see you. What does Delbert Falls’s finest need this morning?”
He looked at his watch. “It’s afternoon.”
Bill had been my shift supervisor when I was in homicide. We were close friends and had worked well together, partnering on many cases. Sometimes he was primary, sometimes I was. We had a good closure rate, an unbeatable team. I was good at finding witnesses and suspects, and Bill was the interrogator. He could’ve wrangled a confession out of O.J. We were both good at finding clues and gathering information. Breaking up our team was the Lieutenant’s biggest mistake, although he would never admit it.
He plopped in the chair in front of the desk. His bulk filled it up. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his brow. Bill would have perspired at the North Pole.
“Smoke in here?”
“Yep.”
“Can’t smoke in the squad room,” he said. “Have to go to a designated area outside. They should know what that costs the city in lost manpower. At any given time, half the shift’s out there.”
“Shift happens.” I pushed the ash tray across to him. He lit a cigarette with the old Ronson lighter that I’d always coveted, snapped it shut, and took a drag.
I said for the thousandth time, “If you ever quit smoking, I want that lighter.”
He grunted and looked like he was enjoying the smoke. I wished I wasn’t trying to quit. I still had a couple in my pack. I lit one up. Just to be sociable.
“We got a guy in custody says he talks only to you, Stan, He already lawyered up.”
“Who is it?”
“Buford Overbee.”
Things just got more complicated. It looked like I might just earn out that ten grand retainer.
“What did he do?”
“We like him for a murder this morning. A retired fed named Mario Vitole. What can you tell us?”
My mind was spinning at ten thousand revs per minute. What had gone wrong? Did Vitole fail to understand my warning? Did he really think we didn’t know he had been the blackmailer?
“Not much. I did some work for Overbee not long ago.”
“I know. I sent him to you. Some kind of vague missing person situation.”
“Same guy.”
“What was the case?”
“I’m still on retainer with Overbee, Bill. I’ll have to talk to him before I can talk to you about that. But I don’t think my case is related to this.” A little white lie. They were related.
“Stan, you know the drill. It’s murder. P.I. to client privilege doesn’t work here.”
“I know,” I said. Bill didn’t need to tell me how it works. It hadn’t been that long ago that I was on his side of the table.
“You know something, you got to tell me,” he said. “I don’t want to have to file an obstruction charge against you.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“Some judge will put your sorry ass in the clink with a contempt violation if you dummy up. And I’m the only one on my side who’ll give a shit what happens to you.”
“Understood. I’ll spill. But can you cut me a little slack until I talk to Overbee? He isn’t going anywhere, and the vic won’t get any deader.”
“I guess I can do that since it’s you. But don’t tell the Lieutenant. He doesn’t love you like I do.”
“Thanks. What can you tell me about the case?”
“A neighbor found the body late this morning in the street a couple doors from his house. He had a bullet in his brain. Small caliber, from the front between his eyes, no GSR, no exit wound. His nose had been recently rearranged.”
“Which way from his house?” I was thinking about Marsha Sproles and a jealous husband.
“North.”
Bingo! He had gotten bumped in front of his girl friend’s house. I figured I’d hang onto that piece of knowledge until it could help.
“Who was the neighbor who found him?”
He looked at his notepad. “Marsha Sproles.”
The girlfriend found the body. I wondered whether there was any significance to that.
“Did the vic have any connection with the mob?”
“He worked witness protection before he retired.”
“Well, that’s sure a connection. You need to look into all his cases from before he retired.”