“That’s cute, Lester,” I said. “I’ll have to remember that one.”
By then it was daylight: it was seven-thirty and word of the tragedy had spread up and down the block. People were gathering on the walk and peering in the windows.
“What’s the name of the guy who was dating her?” Cameron said.
“You mean Jerry Harkness?”
“If that’s the guy who was dating her, that’s who I mean.”
“I wouldn’t say he was dating her. He took her to dinner a couple of nights ago.”
“We need to see him. And we need to go up in the hills and see this McKinley woman. See if she’s still got that tape, for one thing. Maybe the lab can separate those voices and we can hear what they were saying when they were talking over each other. That should be the first priority. How do I get there?”
“You don’t unless you call first. That’s the way the lady operates.”
“Well, here’s the way I operate. You give me her address and let me worry about getting in.”
“You could save yourself some grief if you call her. I don’t think she did this, do you?”
“I don’t know who the hell did it.”
“Lester, she was with me at the time.”
“Wrong, sport. She was with you when she played you a tape that she said had just been made. Besides, you don’t have to pull the trigger to be involved in something.”
I nodded slowly. “It’s a calculated risk. If she’s still got the tape, a phone call might make sure she keeps it.”
“Or burns it.”
“Or uses it over,” Hennessey said. “That’s the most likely thing. She’ll slip it back in the machine and just use it again. Shucks, even by calling her, we might be erasing it.”
“Oh, hell,” I said, remembering. “I think I may’ve already done that.”
“What’d you do?” Cameron said meanly.
“I got back here about midnight. She called me almost as soon as I came in the door. We talked for a few minutes, then I called her back. God damn it, she had the recording on. I talked on it for a long time.”
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
“What’d you talk about?”
“Just stupid bullshit. Dumb, stupid stuff.”
“Love talk?” Cameron asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t think that question requires a translation. Are you involved with this woman, Janeway?”
“Yeah,” I said after a moment. “I believe I am.”
“Shit,” Cameron said.
“Next time I decide to have an affair with a woman, Lester, I’ll be sure and come ask your permission first.”
“We’ve got to go get that tape now,” Hennessey said, “before she uses it anymore.”
“You can’t get in there without a warrant,” I said.
“You still can’t stop playing cop, can you, Janeway?” Cameron said. “I think maybe it’s time you remembered who the police are.”
“I’m trying to tell you something that might do you some good if you’ll just shut up and listen. You don’t just walk up to this lady’s house and knock on the door. She’s got a ten-foot fence and a gate that locks. If you go over that fence without a warrant, anything that comes from that tape is out the window, even if the killer confesses in verse and leaves you his telephone number.”
“That’s only true if she’s involved,” Hennessey. “We couldn’t make a case against her with the tape, but we sure as hell could if the killer’s somebody else.”
“Why not cover your ass?” I said.
“You’ve always been good at that, haven’t you, Janeway?” Cameron said. “Except once.”
They carried the bodies out in rubber bags strapped to stretchers. The crowd gave a soft collective sigh and moved back from the door. It all seemed to take forever, as if people were trapped in some slow-motion twilight zone. The lab men combed the place, and this is not a hurry-up process. I waited them out. I sat by the door and tried not to think, and when I could see that it was winding down I started working on a new sign for the window. I wrote it on chipboard with a heavy black marking pen. It said, closed until further notice.
I began to see familiar faces in the crowd. Clyde Fix. A couple of bookscouts I knew. I saw Ruby standing alone, and Neff a few feet away, also alone. I’d seen it before, how death both repels and attracts, leaving even best friends alone with their darkest fascinations, fears. Jerry Harkness peeked in and asked what had happened. When I told him, he looked sick. He drifted down the street without another word.
