headache and a bad taste in my mouth. I used aspirin and mouthwash and went down to the Red Flame for breakfast. I picked up a later Times, but there was nothing further on the floater. They had the same item as the earlier edition.
Eddie Koehler is a lieutenant now, attached to the Sixth Precinct in theWestVillage . I called from my room and managed to get through to him. 'Hey, Matt,' he said. 'It's been a while.'
It hadn't been all that long. I asked about his family and he asked about mine. 'They're fine,' I said.
'You could always go back there,' he said.
I couldn't, for far more reasons than I wanted to go into. I couldn't start carrying a badge again, either, but that didn't keep him from asking his next question.
'I don't suppose you're ready to rejoin the human race, huh?'
'That's not going to happen, Eddie.'
'Instead you got to live in a dump and scrounge for every buck. Listen, you want to drink yourself to death, that's your business.'
'That's right.'
'But what's the sense paying for your own drinks when you can drink free?
You were born to be a cop, Matt.'
'The reason I called—'
'Yeah, there has to be a reason, doesn't there?'
I waited for a minute. Then I said, 'Something in the paper that caught my eye, and I thought maybe you could save me a trip to the morgue. They took a floater out of theEast River yesterday. Little guy, middle-aged.'
'So?'
'Could you find out if they identified him yet?'
'Probably. What's your interest?'
'I got a missing husband I'm sort of looking for. He fits the description. I could go down and take a look at him, but I only know him from photographs and after a little while in the water—'
'Yeah, right. What's your guy's name and I'll find out.'
'Let's do it the other way around,' I said. 'It's supposed to be confidential, I don't want to spread the name if I don't have to.'
'I guess I could make a couple of calls.'
'If it's my guy, you'll get yourself a hat.'
'I figured as much. And if it's not?'
'You'll get my sincere gratitude.'
'Fuck you too,' he said. 'I hope it's your guy. I can use a hat. Hey, that's funny, come to think of it.'
'How?'
'You're looking for a guy and I'm hoping he's dead. You think about it, it's pretty funny.'
The phone rang forty minutes later. He said, 'It's a shame, I could've used a hat.'
'They didn't get a make?'
'Oh, they got a make, they made him on fingerprints, but he's not a guy anybody's gonna hire you to look for. He's a character, we got a sheet on him a yard long. You must've run into him once or twice yourself.'
'What's his name?'
'Jacob Jablon. Did a little stooling, a little boosting, all kinds of dumb shit.'
'Name's familiar.'
'They called him the Spinner.'
'I did know him,' I said. 'Haven't run into him in years. He used to spin a silver dollar all the time.'
'Well, all he's gonna spin now is in his grave.'
I drew a breath. I said, 'He's not my guy.'
'I didn't think so. I don't think he was anybody's husband, and if he was she wouldn't want him found.'
'It's not the wife who's looking for my guy.'
'It's not?'
'It's his girlfriend.'
'I'll be a son of a bitch.'
'And I don't think he's in town in the first place, but I might as well string her for a few bucks. A guy wants to disappear, he's just going to do it.'
'That's the way it generally goes, but if she wants to hand you money—'
'That's my feeling,' I said. 'How long was the Spinner in the water? Do they know that yet?'
