I shrugged and fished a smoke out of my pack and pushed in the dash lighter. “Cigarette?”
“I don’t smoke.”
“Okay.” I lit the Camel and drew some tobacco into my lungs. I noticed that my hand was shaking, and I put it by my side. On the corner up ahead, a neighborhood market stood open for business, moths swarming in the spotlight mounted above the door. Young people walked in and out carrying small packages and forties in brown paper bags wrapped to the neck. An older man leaned against the store’s plate glass and listlessly begged for change, barely raising his head. I sat there calmly and smoked my cigarette and wai Cretgainst ted for Jack LaDuke to regain his composure and enough of his pride to the point where he could talk. After awhile, he did.
“Shareen Lewis hired me to find her son,” he said.
“So she is worried about him.”
“Yes.”
“Why’d she call you?”
“She didn’t,” he said, “at first. She called a bondsman she knew named William Blackmon.”
“I’ve heard of him.”
“Yeah, they tell me he’s been around forever. But he farms out a lot of his work now. First thing I did when I came to town, I went to all the skip tracers and bondsmen, went to see if I couldn’t work something out.”
“Blackmon recommended you to Shareen Lewis.”
“They go to the same church. Blackmon took me for a flat referral fee.”
“And when I dropped my card in the Lewis’s door, she wanted to know what was going on.” LaDuke nodded. “She agreed to meet with me just so you could set up the tail, check me out.”
“That’s right,” LaDuke said. “Now I’ve been straight with you. What is going on, Stevonus?”
“I’m working on the Calvin Jeter murder,” I said, “just like I told her. Roland Lewis seems to be the key.”
“Working for who? And don’t kid me with that ‘police assistant’ crap, okay?”
I considered how much I wanted him to know. “I was the first one to find Jeter’s body. I came on it by accident. I called it in anonymously to the cops. The cops have gone as far as they’re going to go on it. I’m doing some digging on my own.”
“For who?” he repeated.
“Jeter’s mother. And me.”
LaDuke eyed me suspiciously. “There’s more to it than what you’re telling me. But I guess that’s good enough for now, Stevonus.”
“The name’s Stefanos. What have you got, a speech impediment or something?”
“I’ve got trouble with names,” he said with a touch of embarrassment. “That’s all.”
“Call me Nick, then. You can remember that, can’t you?”
“Sure.”
I flicked my cigarette out the window and watched its trail. LaDuke shifted nervously in his seat, tapped his fingers on the vent window.
“So what are we going to do now?” I said.
“Well,” LaDuke said, “I could use a little help on my end.”
“I bet you could.” I looked him over. “How long you been in D.C.?”
“Does it show?”
“A little.”
“I don’t know. Six, maybe seven months.”
“Six months. Shit, LaDuke, you don’t even know your way around yet. You’re never gonna find that kid.”
“It’s beginning to look like that.” He rubbed the top of his head. “How much have you got on the Jeter case?”
“A few things,” I said.
“I was thinking… maybe you and me, we ought to work together on this. You know, feed each other information. I mean, you’re not getting paid right now, isn’t that right? We could cut it straight down the middle.”
“Cut what? After Blackmon’s piece, that doesn’t leave enough for two.”
“I’ve got a couple of other cases I’m working on,” he said. “I’m after a deadbeat husband, for one. Maybe you could help me out there, too.”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Sleep on it,” he said. “Because, the thing is, if you’re set on talking to Roland Lewis about Jeter, you’re going to have to go through me. Shareen Lewis isn’t going to let you near her house, that’s for sure. I don’t think she cares too much for you.”
“She must prefer them on the clean-cut side,” I said, scanning his shirt-and-tie arrangement, damp and limp now in the evening heat.
“Yeah, well, this is a business. If you’re going to make it, you’ve got to treat it like a business, act in a businesslike manner, and be presentable.”
“And brush your teeth after every meal.”
“What’s that?”
“Forget it. We about done?”
“Yeah,” he said, “let’s go. But move over, will you? This time, I’m gonna drive.”
He parked the ford in front of the Spot and let it idle. I got out, went around to the driver’s side, and leaned my arms on the lip of the open window.
“Think about my proposition,” he said.
I nodded and said, “I will.”
He looked at me curiously. “Something else?”
“There’s one thing I wanted to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t ever pull a gun on a man unless you intend to use it. And even then, don’t pull it. Do you understan Cyou'27'›
“I know all about guns,” he said. “I grew up in the country. I’ve known how to shoot since I was a kid.”
“Congratulations. But it’s not the same thing. An animal’s not a man.”
“No shit,” he said with a cocky grin.
I pushed off from the car and stood straight. “Well, I guess you already know everything there is to know. So you might as well get on home.”
“Right. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Take care, hear?”
I walked across the street to my car. LaDuke drove away.
SEVEN
I woke up early the next morning, fed my cat, went outside and picked my Post up off the stoop, then went back in and read it over a couple of cups of coffee. After a week, there had still been no follow-up on Calvin Jeter’s murder. Nothing in the Post or in the Washington Times, and nothing on the TV news.
I phoned Boyle, and when he phoned me back he confirmed it: “This one’s already cold, Nick.”
He asked me what I had. I said, “I’ve got nothing.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close enough. Boyle told me to keep in touch before he cut the line.
I paced around some after that, did a few sets of sit-ups and push-ups in my room, showered, dressed for work, and paced around some more. I found Jack LaDuke’s business card on my dresser and rubbed my finger across its face. I put it down and walked into another room. A little while later, I returned to my bedroom and picked the business card up off the dresser once again. I went to the phone and dialed LaDuke’s answering service. He phoned me back right away.
“Glad you called,” he said.
