was alone…lonely. I kept her company. Out of friendship to both her and Tommie.”
“Oh, I believe this. This sounds real likely.”
“I don’t give a damn what you believe! There was nothing between Thalia and me except friendship. And if I didn’t want to help her
“Okay,” I said calmly, patting the air with my hands. “Okay. Then let’s just back up a few steps. Tell me what happened that night. The night Thalia was assaulted.”
He let out a sigh, then shrugged. “It was just another Navy Night at the Ala Wai. Dancing, drinking, laughing. Husbands and wives do tend to split up on Navy Night, go their separate ways—nothing wrong with that. We’re not swapping wives! It’s just a damn party.”
“Okay. Did you see Thalia leave?”
“No.”
“Did you leave yourself, at any time?”
“No.”
“Well, you eventually
Another shrug. “Party lasted longer than usual. I even slipped a couple bucks to the orchestra to play past midnight, we were having so much fun. I took off my shoes and danced. Everybody stood around and clapped in rhythm and…”
“Everybody saw you, you mean.”
Another rifle-aim narrowing of the eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you might have slipped out, then slipped back, and made yourself conspicuously seen, to build an alibi.”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“What were you doing walking outside Thalia’s house with your fly unbuttoned, Jimmy?”
“I was a little drunk. I took a piss in the bushes. Some cops came along and I got smart with ’em and they hauled me in.”
“That’s how you became a suspect in the rape.”
He scowled. “It was just a stupid mix-up. Tommie told ’em he’d been with me all night. Thalia vouched for me, too.”
“What were you doing there? You don’t live next door to the Massies or anything.”
“Tommie and me left the Ala Wai around one o’clock; when he couldn’t find Thalia, he assumed she’d gone on to the Rigbys—it was kind of an after-party tradition to go over to Red’s for a nightcap and scrambled eggs, and when Tommie called home from the Ala Wai and got no answer, he figured Thalia must’ve caught a ride over there. Tommie drove us over to the Rigbys, but there was no Thalia. So Tommie called home again—and this time she was there, and that’s when she told him about the…you know.”
“The rape.”
“Right. Tommie rushed out and took off in his Ford, and then I started gettin’ worried…. I’d only heard his half of the phone conversation, but it was clear something was terribly wrong at home. So I walked over.”
“And stopped to take a piss along the way.”
“Yeah. And forgot to button my fly, and that’s how the stupid mix-up with the cops happened.”
“I see. Do you know anything about Thalia having an argument with Lt. Stockdale?”
He shrugged. “I was just on the fringe of that. It was nothing special.”
“What was it about?”
“I don’t really know. When people are drinking, they don’t need an excuse to bicker.”
“I guess they don’t.”
We stood staring at each other. The muffled sound of the band and the gaiety within the Ala Wai mingled with the call of birds and the rustle of trees; these sounds, which neither of us had noticed while we were talking, seemed suddenly deafening.
Finally he asked, “Is that all?”
I nodded. “Thanks for the information.”
His smile was nervous. “Look, uh…sorry I grabbed your shirt. I know you’re just doing your job.”
“Forget it. I was provoking you.”
“You admit that?”
I nodded. “I’ve been getting canned stories from everybody I talked to here, tonight. I had to find a way to cut through the bullshit, so I gave you the needle.” I held out my hand. “No hard feelings?”
He took it; we shook.
“No hard feelings,” he said.
I smiled at him, and he smiled back, but I didn’t mean it, and neither did he. This bastard had been fucking Thalia Massie, and we both knew it.
