Valediction

and do nothing. I had another small tap from the bottle neck.

I hadn't seen Linda Thomas since the shootout in the weeds. Broad had no sense of adventure. She'd liked Darth Vader okay. What was wrong with me.

I had some more whiskey.

Nice date. We'll go to the movies and after, I'll shoot four guys. Linda probably wanted to get a snack afterward. No imagination. Sit around, eat and drink. Get logy. Probably take in too much salt and saturated fats. Movies and a shootout, now that was different. If you skipped butter on the popcorn, it was cholesterol-free, non-fattening, and low sodium.

I drank some more, and swiveled around and put my feet up on the windowsill, and watched the sky get slowly dark over Linda's empty building.

CHAPTER 39

I found Tommy Banks through a combination of luck and good detective work. The luck part was that I was in my office thinking about coffee when Banks walked in the door. The good detective work involved saying, 'Ah-ha, Tommy Banks.'

He looked awful. He was hollow-eyed and gray-faced and there wasn't much verve in his step. There was about him a kind of exhausted rigidity that kept him unlimber, but slow, as he moved.

'She's still seeing that fucker Winston,' he said.

I knew who 'she' was. I did the same thing.

When I said 'she' it was always Susan. When he said it he meant Sherry.

'I've been looking for you,' I said.

'Me? What for?'

'She asked me to,' I said.

He shook his head. 'Shit,' he said. 'She's worried what I'd find out.'

'Yeah?' I nodded toward my guest chair.

'Yeah.' He sat.

'Why shouldn't she see Winston?' I said. 'There's probably stuff he knows about running the church that she needs help with.'

'She don't need to stay all night,' Banks said.

I raised my eyebrows. It was what I did when I didn't know what to say. This summer they'd been up a lot.

'Did she?' Banks was insistent that I respond. He leaned stiffly toward me. 'Did she?'

'No,' I said. 'I wouldn't think she'd have to stay all night.'

'Now do you believe me?' Banks said.

'Believe you about what,' I said.

'That something's going on there. That there's been something going on for a long time and they're fooling all of you.'

'Tommy,' I said. 'The woman you love is sleeping with another guy, maybe. That's awful for you. But it happens. It's not something I can prevent.'

'They're doing something,' Banks said. 'They been doing something since I first talked to you and you never found it out. You think she's a little gingham sweetie that likes to pray. That's not her. She's been jerking you around just like she did me.'

'What do you think they're doing,' I said.

'I don't know, but she is not a Holy Roller. I know her. I know her better than anyone. That's why at first I figured they'd kidnapped her. She wouldn't go Jesus freak on her own.'

'That's why you made up the kidnap stuff?'

'Yeah, I figured it was true but I figured you wouldn't look all that hard for her if I just said I thought so.'

'And you still don't think she's there 'cause she wants to be?'

'She wants to be there okay. Like she wants to fuck Winston. But not for God.'

'Love?' I said.

He shrugged. 'I don't know how much she's willing to sacrifice for love. I never saw much sign of it.'

'So you think there's something else.'

'Smart,' Banks said. 'You are really smart.' I sighed.

'But you don't know what the something else is,' I said.

'Aren't you supposed to be able to find out stuff like that?'

I felt tired. I thought about coffee, maybe add a little Bushmill to it, an ethnic pick-me-up. I didn't want to work on this case anymore. I was tired of Banks, and of his obsession, and of Sherry and Winston and the Reorganized Church. I was tired of me too.

'Yeah,' I said. 'I'm supposed to find out stuff like that. It's just that I thought I already had.'