“Trevor?” she said, and the big young man appeared.
He had been standing off to the side just as Mouse was.
“What you want?” Trevor barked.
“I’m working on a job,” I said. “Tryin’ to prove that Jackie was killed by Musa Tanous.”
“You lyin’, man. You the one saved him from me.”
“I’m the one saved you from the electric chair,” I corrected, “just where my client wants to put Tanous.”
Trevor squinted and moved his head around as if trying to hear some far-off sound.
“Nuh-uh, man,” he said at last. “You hit me upside the head and took my knife.”
Trevor pushed the door open, confident that round two would go in his favor. I took a pace backward and Ray took a sidle pace into view. Trevor noticed the periphery movement and swiveled his head.
“Hey, brother,” Mouse hailed.
“Trevor,” Miss McKenzie cried. “Stop it before you get in trouble.”
She would have said those words anyway but I don’t think Trevor would have stopped his onslaught if he wasn’t worried about my friend.
Mouse had the aura of danger around him. The way he walked, talked, and smiled were all harbingers of violence.
When Miss McKenzie looked at him, her frown deepened. She turned to me and asked. “What you want here, mister?”
“My name is Easy Rawlins, ma’am, and I want prove that Musa Tanous killed your daughter.” I said this with absolute certainty. And it was true. If I tried my best to prove Tanous’s guilt then maybe I’d achieve the opposite.
“Get inside, Trevor,” she said.
He obeyed her and she made room for me and Mouse.
* * *
THE FRONT ROOM was just that—a room. It had no carpeting or decoration. There was a wooden bench and a couple of wood chairs. There was a stool. Mouse took that. We all sat, even Trevor.
“Who you workin’ for?” Trevor asked.
“I can’t tell you his name,” I said. “He’s a married man and he’s afraid that his wife might find out. But he paid me to make sure that Jackie’s killer gets convicted.”
“Is it Durgen?” Trevor asked, “that white man own Trellson’s?”
“No,” I said quickly, as if avoiding the question. “Tell me what happened the day your sister was killed. Did you talk to her? Did Tanous call her?”
“She didn’t stay around here much any more,” Miss McKenzie said. “She has her own apartment and most of the time she was out cattin’ around. You know men loved her and she loved them too. I tried to get her to stay here with me but she went her own way.”
“Did she have lots of boyfriends?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Trevor said belligerently.
Mouse grinned.
“What you grinnin’ at, fool?” Trevor asked him.
“Don’t listen to him, Mr. Alexander,” Miss McKenzie said. “He too young to know respect.”
Mouse shrugged generously.
“I need to know what she was doin’ and who she knew,” I said. “Because that way maybe I can put Jackie and Musa in the same place at the time she was killed.”
“You ain’t the police,” Trevor said.
“And she’s no white girl,” I replied. “I hope you don’t think the cops gonna work up a sweat over her killer. If Tanous got the money for a good lawyer then he’s gonna walk.”
“And I’ll kill his ass.”
“And spend the rest of your life behind bars, or maybe the court will be lenient and execute you.”
This prospect seemed to confuse Trevor.
“Yes, Mr. Rawlins,” Miss McKenzie said. “She knew a lotta men. She wasn’t no prostitute now. Sometimes men helped her with her rent and she was out to dinner every night. But money never changed hands for gettin’ in the bed.”
“Did you know many of them?”
“Not a lot. Mr. Tanous was really the only one she stuck with. He was nice to all of us.”
“He killed Jackie, mama. He killed her. How can you call that nice?”
“The Lord will take care of all that, boy. Yes he will.”
Trevor jumped up from his wood chair and stormed out the front door.
