'Sounds pretty fancy stuff for a simple laundry scheme,' Jacky said.
'Scheme was simple enough, but it was worth saving. DePaul is the eighteenth biggest bank in the country,' I said. 'I looked it up. You run one of the biggest cash businesses in the country. Whitfield solves a lot of problems for you.'
Jacky nodded and finished his coffee and looked around for the wastebasket.
'It's back here,' I said. 'Give it to me.' Jacky handed me the cup and I dropped it in the wastebasket.
'Whitfield likes young women,' Jacky said. 'And he likes a lot of things that women don't. So we supply him broads that don't have much choice. Ginger Buckey was one, but she took off on him with the coon, and she had to be replaced.'
'And April was her replacement.'
Jacky nodded. 'We took her from the pimp who took the other whore away from Whitfield,' Jacky said. 'Whitfield liked that.'
'And I came looking for her and in the process found Ginger for you.'
Jacky nodded again. He was smiling faintly. 'And you didn't kill her to keep me from finding out about Whitfield. You killed her as an object lesson for April; or anyone else you might give Whitfield.'
'Both,' Jacky said. 'We killed her for both reasons. We had the pimp do it.'
'Rambeaux?'
'Yeah.'
'And you beat him up for taking Ginger from Whitfield.'
Jacky smiled wider. 'Both,' he said. 'Teach him a lesson and make sure he don't say anything to you.'
'And then when I kept at it you aced him to be sure.'
'Yep. Been smarter to have aced you, way back at the beginning.' Jacky stretched his neck as he talked, as if to loosen a kink in the right side. 'But that's Monday morning. We decided to stay away from you if we could. People say you're hard to kill and you got friends that cause trouble. Bad for business. So we went the other way.'
'Nobody's perfect,' I said.
'So we already gave you somebody for Ginger Buckey. We gave you the guy that did her.'
'Doesn't seem enough,' I said.
'Better be,' Jacky said. 'That's all there is. Anything else would be bad business.'
'You can't spare Lehman and you can't spare Whitfield,' I said.
'That's right.'
'Lehman thinks you tried to hit him,' I said.
'I know.'
'He's going to crack on you someday, Jacky.'
Jacky shook his head. 'You underestimate how scared he is.' he said.
'Maybe,' I said.
'You want the girl or not?' Jacky said.
'Yes,' I said.
'We'll bring her here at noon. Keep something in mind, though. If anyone blows the whistle on Whitfield, there's no point to us not killing you then. Her too.'
'I've thought of that,' I said.
35
April Kyle showed up at noon. By herself. Carrying a small overnight bag. She wasn't dressed for work today. She had on jeans and a T-shirt and pale lemon jazz shoes. The T-shirt had a picture of a penguin on the front and the legend PENGUIN LUST underneath it. Her face was without makeup. She wore no lipstick. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and held partly in place by a pale yellow headband that matched her shoes.
She opened my office door and walked into the room and stopped in front of my desk and stood without moving, her head down, holding the overnight bag by the strap with both hands in front of her. She didn't speak. No one came in behind her.
'Long time no see,' I said.
She nodded without looking up.
She hadn't closed the door when she came in and the corridor behind her remained empty. I got up and walked around my desk and out through the open door and looked up and down the corridor. No one was there. I closed the door and went back around the desk and sat down. April stood as she had, her eyes fixed on something near her feet.
'You okay?' I said.
She nodded again without looking up. Maybe I should try to think of a question without a nod-shake answer.
