“Do you think that the police knew that I was at those pot parties?”
“No. But if there were other teachers from the school around there, then you better tell the sergeant that you were there. Tell him that you were in shock when you saw your old boyfriend and that you couldn’t bring yourself to say that you knew’im. Sanchez won’t like it but in the long run it’ll be better for you.”
“You really think so?” the young woman asked.
“Uh-huh. And, Simona?”
“Yes, Mr. Rawlins?”
“The cops’d be mad if they knew I came down here to warn you. Maybe you shouldn’t mention it.”
She looked at me and nodded. But who knew what she thought?
CHAPTER 15
I’M A BOOK READER. There’s always a book on my night-stand; sometimes more than one. At that time I was reading
I love literature but the phone book was still my favorite reading. It was the ledger of my world. Holland and Roman Gasteau were right next to each other in the G’s. They were born one after the other, in school they were seated in the same row. Their mother probably dressed them the same and they died on the same day.
Roman lived in an apartment building down on La Brea, not too far from my house. I drove by in the late afternoon. It was a great block of a building with two police cars parked out front. I even saw the back of Sanchez’s head in the open arcade that led to the atrium.
I drove on, trying to think of a way into Roman’s life.
Jesus and Feather weren’t at the house when I got there. Usually he’d go to her school after practice and bring her home. Sometimes I’d pick her up. Feather loved it when I came by the school. I liked meeting her. But I had to pass that day. I sat down and tried to think out the problem. Did Holland really threaten to kill Pharaoh? If he did, was that why his brother came to the school? Why did Idabell leave? And why lie about the dog?
The dog?
Where was that damned dog? I still planned to get rid of him. I had softened up a little, though. My new plan was to take him out to my old friend Primo. Primo would know somebody who wanted a dog.
I got up and looked around the house. There was no sign of him anywhere except for a small gift he’d left on my slipper. It was a dry turd so I figured that he’d done it in the morning.
He wasn’t in the yard. Or, if he had been, he’d slipped out through the bushes into the Horns’ property.
I was about to go next door when it struck me—why was I looking for that damn dog? He didn’t know anything, and if he did know, and he could talk, he wouldn’t have told me. That dog hated me more than any other solitary being ever had.
AN HOUR LATER I had a plan.
Feather came running in the front door.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”
Pharaoh dashed in at her heels. He was yelping happily until he saw me. Then he crouched down and growled. Jesus walked in over him.
“Hi, Dad,” my son said.
“Where’d that dog come from?” I asked Feather. I could tell that my voice had a sharp edge because a scared look came over her face.
“We left him over with Mr. Horn,” Jesus said. “He was crying so much this morning when we were leaving that Feather wanted to take him to school. But then I said that maybe Mr. Horn wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s an awful lot to ask of your neighbor,” I said.
“Uh-uh,” Feather whined. “Mr. Horn like Frenchie. He said so, huh, Juice?”
Jesus nodded. He looked at me and then looked away. There was still that money in the box upstairs to talk about. But Jesus was too afraid to bring it up—so was I.
I let them settle in. Pharaoh followed me around the house staying at the corners and watching my every move. That dog got under my skin.
After a while I said to Jesus, “Take that ole wagon’a Feather’s and go on down to Mr. Hong’s shop. Get me a box of steaks. Two-pound porterhouse steaks. The aged stuff. Tell’im t’put’em on my bill.”
Jesus nodded and went to get the wagon from the garage.
“Honey,” I said to Feather.
“Yeah?” She was watching Pharaoh watch me. “Frenchie like you, Daddy.”
“Oh? Why you say that?”
“ ’Cause he always wanna look at you.”
That devil dog had everybody fooled but me.
“Honey,” I said again.
“Uh-huh.”
“You know I would keep little heartache here if I could. But he belongs to somebody else who loves him even more than you do.”
