He stood up and stomped into the bedroom toward the toilet.
I sat down and fell asleep in that position.
The flush of the toilet jolted me awake.
When Raymond came back in he’d put on black slacks and a black T-shirt — his work clothes.
1 9 4
C i n n a m o n K i s s
“Place ain’t got no kitchen,” he said. “If you want coffee we gotta go to Jelly’s down the street.”
“What time they open?” I asked.
“What time you got?”
“Twenty past five.”
“Let’s go.”
w e w a l k e d
the few blocks down Denker. The sun was a crimson promise behind the San Bernardino Mountains.
“What you got, Easy?” Mouse asked when we were halfway to the doughnut shop.
“Man up in Frisco hired me to find a black girl named Cinnamon. I went to her boyfriend’s house and found him dead —”
“Damn,” Mouse said. “Dead?”
“Yeah. Then I came back down to L.A. I found the girl but she told me about a dude in a snakeskin jacket she thinks killed him.
That day a man in a snakeskin jacket come around askin’ at my house for me.”
“He find Bonnie an’ the kids?”
“She and Feather are in Switzerland and Jesus is out on his boat.” I decided not to mention that Ray’s ex- girlfriend was with my son.
“Good.”
“So the guy shows up at my office. Says his name is Joe Cicero. He’s a stone killer, I could see it in his eyes. He threatened my family.”
“You fight him?”
“I took out the gun you gave me and he left.”
“Why’idn’t you shoot him?”
“There was other people around. I didn’t think they’d lie for me.”
1 9 5
W a lt e r M o s l e y
Mouse shrugged at my excuse, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the logic I offered. We’d arrived at the doughnut place.
He pushed the glass door open and I followed him in.
Jelly’s seating arrangement was a long counter in front of which stood a dozen stools anchored in a concrete shelf. Behind the counter were eight long slanted shelves lit by fluorescent lights. These shelves were crowded with every kind of doughnut.
A brown woman stood at the edge of the counter smoking a cigarette and staring off into space.
“Millie,” Mouse said in greeting.
“Mr. Alexander,” she replied.
“Coffee for me an’ my friend.” He took a seat nearest the door and I sat next to him. “What you eatin’, Ease?”
“I’ll take lemon filled.”
“Two lemon an’ two buttermilk,” Mouse said to Millie.
She was already pouring our coffees into large paper cups.
I needed the caffeine. The way I figured it Georgette and I hadn’t gotten to sleep until past three.
Our doughnuts came. We fired up cigarettes and drank coffee. Millie refilled our cups and then moved to the far end of the counter. I could tell that she was used to giving my friend his privacy.
“Thanks for talkin’ to me last night, Easy,” Mouse said.
“Sure.” I wasn’t used to gratitude from him.
“How you spell that guy’s name?”
“The Roman is c-i-c-e-r-o but he didn’t spell it for me.”
“I’ma use a pay phone in back to ask around,” he said. “Sit tight.”
“Early to be callin’ people isn’t it?”
“Early for a man workin’ for somebody else. But a self-employed man gotta get up when the cock crow.” With
