When I drove back, the white tapestry was in place. All clear. I parked around the back. A couple of the cooks looked suspiciously at me-maybe the ones who lost the bet on Pansy's nationality. I took my table in the back. Mama sat down with me, handing over a copy of the
'You had the law here, Mama?'
'Yes. Police very worried about this place. The gangs-stores have to pay for protection. They ask me if it happen to me.'
You could see Mama thought the whole idea was ridiculous-the gangs only tried their shakedown racket on legitimate businesses.
'What did you tell them?'
'I tell them the truth. Nobody bother me. You want soup?'
'Sure,' I told her, opening the paper as she went back to her business.
I'd almost forgotten about Flower Jewel. I flipped to the back of the paper, looking for her name. I found it, but it didn't cheer me up. She'd left early, but some other nag parked her to the first quarter in 28:4. Too fast. She was shuffled back into the pack. Then she make a big brush at the three-quarter pole, going three-wide on the paddock turn. She actually had the lead at the top of the stretch, but the little 'lx' told me the story-she broke stride, looking for more speed. Finished fourth. It looked like a lousy drive to me, but Maurice would want his money, not an autopsy.
I finished my soup, ate a few of the dim sum the waiter brought, smoked a couple of cigarettes. I went up to the front desk and slipped Mama the three hundred for Maurice with another thirty for Max.
'You not such good gambler, Burke,' she said, a little smile on her face.
'I don't get many chances to bet on a sure thing,' I told her. 'Like where dogs come from.'
Mama wasn't insulted. 'Only way to bet,' she said.
It was time to visit Wolfe.
89
TRAFFICE WAS light on the way to the courthouse. I turned off Queens Boulevard and nosed past the D.A.'s parking lot, saw Wolfe's Audi near the door. The lot was half empty, but I didn't want to leave the Plymouth there. They have municipal parking a half-block away. It looked like a graveyard for the few cars still remaining. Dark and deserted-a mugger's paradise. I hit the switch to disable the ignition, not worrying about even the lowest-grade thief breaking in for the radio. I don't use a car alarm-they're a waste of time unless you're close by.
It was eight-forty-five when I pushed open the glass doors to the D.A.'s office. The guy at the desk looked up from his crossword puzzle. His eyes never reached my face.
'The jail's next door,' he said.
'I know,' I told him. 'I have an appointment with A.D.A. Wolfe.'
Still not looking at me, he picked up a black phone on the desk, punched in a couple of numbers.
'There's a lawyer here-says he's got an appointment with Wolfe.' He listened for a second, looked up again. 'Name?' he asked. 'Burke.'
He spoke my name into the phone, then put it down. 'Turn right past the divider, last door at the end of the corridor.' 'Thanks,' I said to the top of his head.
I found the place easy enough. Wolfe was sitting behind a big desk. The top was swept clean-a white orchid floated in a brandy snifter in one corner. Two monster piles of paper were on a shelf behind her. I guess she knew most cons can read upside down.
She was wearing a white wool jacket over a burnt-orange dress, a string of pearls around her neck. Her nails were a few shades darker than her lipstick-both red. Wolfe had a soft, pale face-one look and you could see it wasn't from fear, it was her natural color. The silver wings gleamed in her lustrous hair. When I came in the room she stood up, reached across the desk to shake hands.
'Thank you for seeing me,' I said.
'I can't promise you much privacy,' she replied. 'There's a lot of people still working in the other offices.'
I couldn't tell if it was a warning-it didn't matter.
'I've been working on something for a while,' I said. 'And I ran across some stuff I thought you'd be interested in.'
She lit a cigarette with a cheap plastic lighter, pushing an ashtray with some hotel's name on it in my general direction. She was good at waiting.
'Anyway,' I said, 'I got to the point where I need some more information-another piece of the puzzle…'
'And you believe I have this piece?'
'I'm sure you do,' I said.
A tall black woman stalked into the office, ignoring me as if I was a lump of furniture. Her mouth was a grim line.
'It was an acquittal,' she told Wolfe.
Wolfe's face didn't change. 'It figured to be,' she said. 'Did you stand up?'
'Stand up?' the black woman asked.
I knew what she meant even if the black woman didn't. Baby-rapers have a way of smirking when the jury refuses to believe their victims-as if the jury said it was okay, what they did. A good prosecutor looks them in the eye, memorizing their faces.
'What did you do when the foreman read the verdict?' Wolfe asked the question another way.
'I went over to the defendant-I told him I'd see him again,' the black woman said.
'You stood up,' Wolfe told her. 'Round one, remember?'
'I remember,' the black woman said. 'He'll be back. And I'll be ready for him.'
Wolfe smiled-I could feel the heat coming off the black woman standing behind me. She knew what the smile meant.
'Want to take tomorrow off?' Wolfe asked.
'I'll take a day off when Jefferson goes down,' the black woman snapped.
'We all will,' Wolfe said. It was a dismissal.
I lit another cigarette. Wolfe hadn't hung around just for a meeting with me. Time to get to it.
'I'm playing it straight down the line on this. Did Lily talk to you?'
'Lily did. McGowan called me too.'
'And?'
'And I still don't know what you want, Mr. Burke.'
'I want…' I started to say. A guy about five and a half feet tall and four feet wide walked in, stepping between me and Wolfe. His hair was cropped close to his scalp-he had a round face but cop's eyes. He was wearing a black knit shirt over some gray slacks. The shirt didn't have an alligator on the front, but it did feature a shoulder holster. The.38 was only a small dot on his broad chest. He looked like a retired wrestler or a bouncer in a waterfront bar.
'How's it going?' he asked Wolfe, never taking his eyes from me.
' Jefferson was acquitted,' she said.
' Jefferson is a miserable fucking piece of slime,' the big guy said, chewing on each
