“What kind?”
I told him all that I learned from Cinnamon.
“Yeah,” he said in a way that I knew he was still thinking about that tape. “Yeah, if you bring me one I should be able to work up a pedigree. The people I work with use bonds like that all the time. I got access to everything they do. If a bearer bond got a special origin I could prob’ly sniff it out.”
Our steaks came soon after that. Mouse ate like two men.
Jackson didn’t even touch his food. After the meal was over Jackson took the check. I had known him nearly thirty years and that was the first time he ever willingly paid for a meal.
We made small talk for a while. Mouse caught Jackson up on what our mutual friends were doing. Who was up, who was 2 0 7
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dead. After forty-five minutes or so Jackson looked at his watch and said that he had to get back to work.
At the door Mouse took him by the arm.
“You like that little girl Jewelle?” he asked.
“Love her,” Jackson said.
“How ’bout yo’ car an’ clothes an’ this here job?”
“Great. I never been so happy. Shit, I do stuff most people don’t even know that they don’t know about.”
“Then why you so hot and bothered over a few dollars on a tape? Fuck that tape, man. That money ain’t gonna suck yo’ dick.
Shit, if you happy then keep on doin’ what you doin’ an’ don’t let the niggah in you run riot.”
Raymond’s words transformed Jackson as he heard them. He gave a little nod and the hopelessness in his eyes faded a little.
“Yeah, you right,” he said. “You right.”
“Damn straight,” Mouse said. “We ain’t dogs, man. We ain’t have to sniff after them. Shit. You an’ me an’ Easy here do things our mamas an’ papas never even dreamed they could do.”
I appreciated being included in the group but I realized that Mouse and Jackson were living on a higher plane. One was a master criminal and the other just a genius, but both of them saw the world beyond a paycheck and the rent. They were beyond the workaday world. I wondered at what moment they had left me behind.
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32
Idropped Mouse off at his apartment on Denker. He told me that he was going to look into Cicero, his habits and friends.
“If you lucky, Ease,” he told me, “the mothahfuckah be dead by the time you see me again.”
Most other times I would have tried to calm Mouse down.
But I had looked into Joe Cicero’s eyes deeply enough to know, all other things being equal, that he was the killer and I was the prey.
s a u l l y n x a n d d o r e e n lived on Vista Loma in View Park at that time. Their kids had a yard to play in and colored neighbors who, on the whole, didn’t mind the interracial marriage.
Doreen came to the door with a toddler crying in her arms.
“Hi, Easy,” she said.
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We had a pretty good relationship. I respected her husband and didn’t have any problem with their union.
“Saul call yet, honey?”
“No. I mean . . . he called once but George answered it and he didn’t call me. I was hanging clothes on the line out back.”
I could see my disappointment register on her face.
“I’m sure that he’ll call soon though,” she said. “He calls every evening about six.”
It was just past three.
“Do you mind if I come back at about five-thirty or so? I really have to talk to Saul.”
“Sure, Easy. Can I help you?”
“I don’t think so, honey.”
“How’s it going with Feather?”
“I’ll catch you in a couple’a hours,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to talk about Feather one more time.
w h e n c i n n a m o n d i d n ’ t a n s w e r my knock I figured
that either she was dead or out eating. If she’d been killed, there wouldn’t be anything to learn from her body. If she’d had the bonds they’d be gone, and so the only thing I could gain by breaking in would be another possible murder charge. So I decided to sit at a bus stop bench across the street and wait until she returned or it was time for me to go talk to Saul.
While waiting I thought about my plan of action. Survival was the priority. I had to believe that Joe Cicero wanted to kill Cinnamon and anyone else that got in his way. Therefore he had to go — one way or another. The police wouldn’t help me. I had no evidence against him. Axel Bowers was dead but I couldn’t prove who had killed
