them. The hall gun is still in the drawer. He wasn’t afraid of them.”
“And he should have been,” Hawk said. “You figure the broad got shot because she was here?”
“Could be. Or it could be she was part of the whole deal. Whatever the whole deal was. Or it could be they wanted to kill her, and he had the misfortune to be on hand.”
“Going to call the cops?” Hawk said.
“Guess we got to.”
“We could just close the door and walk away.”
“Your fingerprints in the system?” I said.
“‘Course,” Hawk said.
“Mine too.”
“So give them a call,” Hawk said.
CHAPTER FORTY
“We’ll let the B and E slide,” Quirk said. “But corpses keep showing up in your area, we might cite you for littering.”
We were outside, away from the smell, leaning on the fender of Quirk’s car. It was about six hours since we’d found the bodies. The prowl car guys had arrived first and questioned us and told us to stick around. Some District 6 detectives came and asked us questions and told us to stick around. Crime scene people asked us questions and told us the detectives wanted us to stick around. Belson showed up after a while and asked us questions and told us to stick around and wait for Quirk. An hour and a half ago Quirk had ambled in and told us to stick around until he was through.
“Anyone know the identity of the woman?” I said.
“Yeah, we talked with some neighbors. Name was Margaret McDermott. She was DeRosa’s girlfriend. Live-in. Been with him six, eight years,” Quirk said.
He was looking at Hawk. Hawk smiled at him.
“You bother me,” Quirk said. “I know you wouldn’t have aced these two people, then come back a week later and called us.”
Hawk smiled some more.
“And I know that when you’re with Snoop Doggy Dogg here, you may not be on the up-and-up, but you’re probably not illegal.”
Hawk’s smile seemed almost sweet as he listened to Quirk.
“On the other hand,” Quirk said, “I hate to come upon a double homicide and find you lingering about and give you a bye.”
I said, “I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it, Captain.”
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t, too,” Quirk said. “But not because you say so.”
“My word is my bond,” I said.
“I don’t know what the connection is between you two clowns, but I know you’d cover for him.”
“White guilt,” I said. “My ancestors might have owned slaves.”
“Yo‘ ancestors being bog-trotting paddies didn’t have the money to own no slaves,” Hawk said.
I looked at him sadly. “You wouldn’t understand,” I said. “It’s a white thing.”
“Isn’t this fun,” Quirk said. “Lemme get the other cops over here, give them a chance to listen.”
I said, “We’re just working on our material, Captain.”
“And it’s really enjoyable,” Quirk said. “Oddly enough there’s no warrants out on Hawk.”
“You sure?” Hawk said.
“I had it checked.”
“Embarrassing,” Hawk said.
“You got anything you can tell me about this thing?” Quirk said.
“Same as I tole the other six cops,” Hawk said. “I just along try to keep him from hurting himself.”
“Okay, you can drift,” Quirk said. “Spenser, I’ll talk a little more with you.”
Hawk nodded his head once, slightly, and walked away.
“I talked to the same six cops he did,” I said.
“You used to be a cop,” Quirk said. “You know how we do this.”
I nodded.
“I don’t know much more than I did after I shot the guy in Southie,” I said.
“You didn’t know much before you shot that guy in Southie. Name was Kevin McGonigle. Twenty-three, two priors for strong-arm.”
