care.
'There's a lot of dead people, Daphne, and the police want me behind that. There's that thirty thousand dollars you stole from Mr. Carter and DeWitt Albright is on my ass for that.'
'Any money I have is between me and Todd and I don't have anything to do with dead people or that Albright man. Nothing at all.'
'Maybe you don't think so but Albright has the talent to make your business his …'
'So, what do you want from me?'
'Why'd Howard Green get killed?'
She stared through me as if I were a mirage. 'Who?'
'Come on.'
She looked away for a moment and then sighed. 'Howard worked for a rich man named Matthew Teran. He was Teran's driver, chauffeur. Teran wanted to run for mayor but in that crowd you have to ask permission like. Todd didn't want Teran to do it.'
'How come?' I asked.
'A while ago I met him, Teran I mean, and he was buying a little Mexican boy from Richard.'
'The man we found?'
She nodded.
'And who was he?'
'Richard and I were'—she hesitated for a moment— 'friends.'
'Boyfriend?'
She nodded slightly. 'Before I met Todd we spent some time together.'
'The night I first started lookin' for you I ran into Richard in front of John's speak. Was he lookin' for you?'
'He might have been. He didn't want to let me go so he got together with Teran and Howard Green, to cause me trouble so they could get at Todd.'
'What kind of trouble?' I asked.
'Howard knew something. Something about me.'
'What?'
But she wouldn't answer that question.
'Who killed Howard?' I asked.
She didn't answer at first. She just played with the blankets, letting them fall down below her breasts.
'Joppy did,' she said at last. She wouldn't meet my eye.
'Joppy!' I cried. 'Why'd he want to do somethin' like that?' But I knew it was the truth even before I asked the question. It would take the kind of violence Joppy had to beat someone to death.
'Coretta too?'
Daphne nodded. The sight of her nakedness nauseated me right then.
'Why?'
'Sometimes I would go to Joppy's place with Frank. Just because Frank liked people to see me with him. And the last time I went there Joppy whispered that someone had been asking for me and that I should call him later to find out who. That's when I found out about that Albright man.'
'But what about Howard and Coretta? What about them?'
'Howard Green had already come to me and told me that if I didn't do what he and his boss said they would ruin me. I told Joppy that I could get him a thousand dollars if he could make sure that Albright didn't find me and if he could talk with Howard.'
'So he killed Howard?'
'It was a mistake, I think. Howard had a fast tongue. Joppy just got mad.'
'But what about Coretta?'
'When she came to me I told Joppy about it. I told him that you were asking questions and'—she hesitated —'he killed her. He was scared by then. He'd already killed one man.'
'Why didn't he kill you?'
She raised her head and threw her hair back. 'I hadn't given him the money yet. He still wanted the thousand dollars. Anyway, he thought I was Frank's girl. Most people respect Frank.'
'What's Frank to you?'
'Not anything you'd ever understand, Easy.'
'Well, do you think he knows who killed Matthew Teran?'
'I don't know, Easy. I haven't killed anybody.'
'Where's the money?'
