He glared, but he answered. 'She said she was tired of little boys.'
'Jimmy,' I said, 'she hasn't been home for two days. Her father's worried.'
He laughed. 'Worried? That jerk? He's lucky she didn't split a long time ago.'
'Why should she have?'
'He's on her case all the time. Won't leave her alone. He's the king of
Don't do that, don't go there, don't hang out, don't be late. He's a tightass with money, too. She hates him.'
'She told you that?'
'Uh-huh.'
A gust of wind shook the window in its frame. A storm was coming up. There were scratching sounds as pebbly dust was flung against the shack.
'You know Eve Colgate, Jimmy?' I asked. 'She lives along Ten outside of Central Bridge.'
'Sure. Tony used to work for her, long time ago. Sometimes he took me over there with him. She used to give me, like, cookies and stuff. I mean, I was a kid.' He flushed self-consciously.
'Last Friday she was robbed,' I said. 'She lost some pretty valuable stuff, but it's not stuff just anybody could unload. I want to know who did that job, Jimmy. Was it you?
His face was the face of a kid who'd been smacked even though, for the first time in his life, he'd been nowhere near the cookie jar.
'Oh, man!' he said. 'No, it fucking wasn't! What do I got to do for you, man, draw you a picture? I'm clean! Ask Allie. Ask Tony. Ask fucking
'Okay, Jimmy,' I said, 'Okay. It wasn't you. Who was it? Frank?'
'No way. Even if it was his idea, it wouldn't've been him. He keeps his hands clean. Only he'll find where to fence your shit for you later, for the right price. What the hell's the difference, anyway? I got a murder rap hanging over my ass and you're asking about a robbery I never even heard of! What do you want from me?' He stood abruptly. 'You keep asking me all this shit I can't answer. What do you want?'
'I'm trying,' I said evenly, 'to dig your ass out of a hole so deep it hasn't got a bottom. Your keys to the bar were found next to Gould's body.'
His face went white, stranding his eyes, big and dark and frightened. 'What?' he almost whispered.
'Your keys to the bar, on a ring with some other keys. Door keys, car keys. Where's your truck?'
'My what?' He looked blank; then the color rose in his face again.
'Oh, come on, Jimmy. Ellie Warren says you bought a four-by-four. It's not up here. Where is it?'
'I don't know,' he said.
'You don't know? What the hell does that mean, you don't know?'
'I don't fucking know! One of the guys must have borrowed it. They do sometimes, you know, like when I'm working and shit.'
'How long is it that you don't know?'
He paced the small room. 'Couple of days, maybe. How the hell'd my keys get in the bar?'
'You tell me.'
'Oh, man! I wasn't there. I wasn't! I didn't know nothing about it, until I heard it over the goddamn scanner.' He stopped pacing, turned to me hopefully. 'They were left there on purpose. Like Wally was killed there: to make me look bad.'
'Planted? Maybe. Who had the truck?'
'Oh, shit, Mr. S.! I don't know! One of the guys took it, Andy or Rich, somebody. I leave the keys in it sometimes when I'm at work. Bad habit, huh?' He tried to grin.
'Same keys? The ones on the silver ring?'
'Yeah. I guess so.'
I pushed to my feet, stood facing him. 'This is a load of crap. You don't just lose track of a new four-by-four. I don't know how that truck figures into Gould's murder, but your keys say it does. I want to know who had it. Was it Frank?'
'Frank? I wouldn't lend Frank a nickel, forget about my truck!'
'But you did lend it to someone. Andy and Rich didn't just come and take it, did they?'
'No, man, I told you.'
'You told me bullshit.'
'Hey! Hey, you don't like it, go to hell!' he exploded. 'No one asked you to come up here, man! You don't owe me nothing. I don't need you. I was doing great before you came!
'Were you?' I asked quietly.
He turned away with a curse, pounded a fist on the wall. Wood groaned, glass shivered. He stared out the window at the bleak plain. The shaky flame of the kerosene lamp was mirrored in the glass.
