anything, even hello. The deputy mayor was a distinguished man in a gray suit. He waved his arm through the air while he talked and he smoked Pall Malls. He had silver-gray hair and I thought for a moment that he looked the way I imagined the president to be when I was a child.
Officers Mason and Miller were called when I mentioned them.
We were all sitting in Mr. Wrightsmith's office. He was behind his desk and the deputy police chief stood behind him. Carter and I sat before the desk and Carter's lawyer was behind us. Mason and Miller sat off to the side, on a couch.
'Well, Mr. Rawlins,' Mr. Wrightsmith said. 'You have something to tell us about all these murders going on?'
'Yessir.'
'Mr. Carter here says that you were working for him.'
'In a way, sir.'
'What way is that?'
'I was hired by DeWitt Albright, through a friend of ours, Joppy Shag. Mr. Albright hired Joppy to locate Frank and Howard Green. And later on Joppy got him to hire me.'
'Frank and Howard, eh? Brothers?'
'I've been told that they were distant cousins, but I couldn't swear to that,' I said. 'Mr. Albright wanted me to find Frank for Mr. Carter here. But he didn't tell me why he wanted them, just that it was business.'
'It was for the money I told you about, Larry,' Carter said. 'You know.'
Mr. Wrightsmith smiled and said to me, 'Did you find them?'
'Joppy had already got to Howard Green, that's when he found out about the money.'
'And what exactly was it that he found out, Mr. Rawlins?'
'Howard worked for a rich man, Matthew Teran. And Mr. Teran was mad because Mr. Carter here messed him up on running for mayor,' I smiled. 'I guess he was looking to be your boss.'
Mr. Wrightsmith smiled too.
'Anyway,' I continued, 'he wanted Howard and Frank to kill Mr. Carter and make it look like a robbery. But when they got in the house and found that thirty thousand dollars they got so excited that they just ran without even doin' the job.'
'What thirty thousand dollars?' Mason asked.
'Later,' Wrightsmith said. 'Did Joppy kill Howard Green?'
'That's what I think now. You see, I didn't get in it until they were looking for Frank. You see, DeWitt was checking out Mr. Teran because Mr. Carter suspected him. Then DeWitt got interested in the Greens when he checked out Howard and came up with Frank's name. He wanted somebody to look for Frank in the illegal bars down around Watts.'
'Why were they looking for Frank?'
'DeWitt wanted him because he was lookin' for Mr. Carter's money, and Joppy wanted him for that thirty thousand dollars, for himself.'
The sun was coming in on Mr. Wrightsmith's green blotter. I was sweating as if it was coming in on me.
'How did you find all this out, Easy?' Miller asked.
'From Albright. He got suspicious when Howard turned up dead and then he was certain when Coretta James was killed.'
'Why's that?' Wrightsmith said. Every man in the room was staring at me. I had never been on trial but I felt I was up against the jury right then.
'Because they were looking for Coretta too. You see, she spent a lot of time around the Greens.'
'Why didn't you get suspicious, Easy?' Miller asked. 'Why didn't you tell us about this when we brought you in?'
'I didn't know none'a this when you talked to me. Albright and Joppy had me looking for Frank Green. Howard Green was already dead and what did I know about Coretta?'
'Go on, Mr. Rawlins,' Mr. Wrightsmith said.
'I couldn't find Frank. No one knew where he was. But I heard a story about him though. People were sayin' that he was mad over the death of his cousin and that he was out for revenge. I think he went out after Teran. He didn't know nuthin' 'bout Joppy'
'So you think that Frank Green killed Matthew Teran?' Miller couldn't hide his disgust. 'And Joppy got to Frank Green and DeWitt Albright?'
'All I know is what I just said,' I said as innocently as I could.
'What about Richard McGee? He stab himself?' Miller was out of his chair.
'I don't know 'bout him,' I said.
They asked me questions for a couple of hours more. The story stayed the same though. Joppy did most of the killing. He did it out of greed. I went to Mr. Carter when I heard about DeWitt's death and he decided to come to the police.
When I finished Wrightsmith said, 'Thank you very much, Mr. Rawlins. Now if you'll just excuse us.'
