“What’s Cicero got to do with this?” Christmas asked.
“I don’t know.” Saul was wearing a tan suit with a brown T-shirt.
Christmas Black raised his head as if he’d heard something. A moment later there was a knock at the door.
“Stay in your room, E.D.,” Christmas called.
We all went to the door together.
I had my hand on the .38 in my pocket.
Black pulled the door open and there stood Raymond.
“Christmas Day,” Mouse hailed.
“Silent Knight,” our host replied.
They shook hands and gave each other nods filled with mutual respect. I was impressed because Mouse’s esteem was an event more rare than a tropical manifestation of the northern lights.
On our way back to the couches I felt my load lighten. With Raymond and someone he considered an equal on our side I didn’t think that anyone would be too much for us.
I revealed as much of the story as I dared to. I told them about the state of Axel’s house but not about finding his corpse.
For that I relied on their imaginations when they heard about the meeting between Chickpea and Axel. I told them about Maya’s calls and about finding Haffernon in Philomena’s room. I 2 3 6
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told them about the existence of the bonds and the letter, but not that I had them.
“How much the bonds worth?” Raymond wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Thousands.”
“You think this Haffernon’s the top man?” Christmas asked.
“Maybe. It’s hard to tell. But if Haffernon was the boss, then who killed him? He is the one hired Lee. I’m sure of that.”
“Lee has at least twenty operatives at his beck and call,” Saul said.
“And if anybody’s behind Haffernon,” I added, “they’ll have a whole army at their disposal.”
“What’s the objective, gentlemen?” Christmas asked.
“Kill ’em all,” Mouse said simply.
Christmas’s lower lip jutted out maybe an eighth of an inch.
His head bobbed about the same distance.
“No.” That was me. “We don’t know which one of them it is.”
“But if we do kill ’em all then the problem be ovah no mattah which one it was.”
Christmas laughed for the first time.
Saul gave a nervous grin.
I said, “There’s still the money, Ray.”
“Money don’t mean much if they put you in the ground, Ease.”
“I can’t go out killing people for no reason,” Saul said.
“There’s a reason,” Christmas replied. “They suckered you in and now your life’s on the line. The cops wouldn’t touch this one and if they did they’d put you in jail. There’s your reason.”
“Yeah,” I said, because once you invited men like Christmas and Mouse into the room Death had to have a seat at the table too. “But not before we find out what’s what.”
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“An’ how you plan to do that, Easy?” Mouse asked.
“We go to the horse’s ass. We go to Robert E. Lee. He’s the one brought us in. He should be able to find out what the problem is.”
“What if he’s the problem?” Christmas asked.
“Then we’ll have to be smart enough to fool him into showing us that fact. The real problem is getting to him. I got the feelin’
that Maya doesn’t want that conversation to come about.”
“That’s easy,” Saul told us. “Call him now, when she’s not at work.”
a f t e r a s m a l l s t r a t e g y discussion Saul dialed the
number. It rang five times, ten. He wanted to hang up but I wouldn’t let him. After at least fifty rings Lee answered his business phone.
“It’s Saul Lynx, Mr. Lee. I’m calling you at this late hour because I have some fears that Maya may not be trustworthy. . . .
