“Do you know where we can find Kit?”
“No,” Esau said. “I don’t wanna have nuthin’ to do wit’ that man. Him and BB likely to bring that whole family to misery.”
“How’s that?”
Esau gauged me for a moment. I have no idea what he saw but he said, “Son used to stay with his auntie.”
“Winifred?” I asked, and then I remembered the toy gyroscope in her drawing room.
“Yeah. She got him from his mother when she was havin’ problems with her husband, but when Leora wanted him back Winifred said that he’d be better off there with her. She wanted to bring him up herself.”
“Could she get away with that?”
“She did,” Esau said. “That is, until BB got that Kit Mitchell to go up in there pretendin’ he worked with fancy gardens and shit. He took the boy and give him to his mother, but then he told some rich white man that he could tell Winifred that he kidnapped the boy and that she either had to play ball wit’ him or Son would die.”
I liked the shape of the scheme. There was no real crime, at least not that could be proven. The boy was with his mother and safe, the threat would have been vague enough that a prosecutor might not even be able to prove extortion.
“That was the Wexler kids did that?”
“Yes sir.”
“You know they’re dead, right?”
Fearless walked back in then. I wondered who he could have called so quickly.
“Yeah,” Esau said. “That’s why when that white man gave me the choice between Son and BB, I made up my mind on the innocent. He wanted to trade BB’s hidin’ place for Son and I agreed.”
“What’s Son to you?” Fearless asked.
“He’s Leora’s boy. My nephew by law and by love. She brought him here to me while she tried to fix the damage that Kit and BB had done.”
“What damage?” I asked. “She got her boy. What’s wrong with that?”
“BB and Kit took somethin’ else,” Esau said.
“Necklace?” asked Fearless.
“Naw. I don’t know what it was, but Leora was real upset about it. That’s why she said that she had to find Kit.”
“Why didn’t you just call the cops?” I asked.
“Because this is beyond the police. White man came here to me. White man got his kids killed. Rich white man. All I could do was hope that BB could dig his own way out the hole he dug.”
The pain in Esau’s words was almost a physical thing.
“So,” I said, “Kit took Son out from Winifred’s house.”
“That’s right.”
“Is he in bed yet?”
Esau glanced at the back wall and cocked his ear. At that moment I heard the weak cry of water running through pipes in the wall.
“He’s in the tub by now,” Esau said.
LITTLE CHILDREN IN BATHTUBS must be the same all over the world. More like tadpoles than humans, they kick and slide and laugh at the pleasure of warm water and their own nakedness. Trini was smiling down on her little charge.
“Hey, Son,” Fearless said as we three men entered the bathroom.
When he stared up at us his mouth fell open.
“We need to find somebody,” Fearless continued.
“My daddy?” the child asked.
“No, uh-uh. Not right now. But do you remember a man name of Kit?”
The boy shook his head no.
“One of his teeth is silver like.”
“Oh yeah. That’s the man took me out from my auntie’s house and give me to my mama.”
“Do you know where we could find him?”
“Where the big wheel is,” Son said with a nod.
I was ready to jump in and ask as many questions as necessary to find Kit but Fearless just said, “Thanks, boy,” and turned to walk away.
I put a hand on his arm and asked, “Where you goin’?”
“To get Kit. You comin’?”
