“Like you killed the girl.”
“I never killed nobody. You can beat me up all day long, it don’t matter. I never killed nobody and I’ll never say different.”
“You were in the hotel room.”
“I shoulda thrown that fucking watch in the river. Ten bucks and I got a broken face and more troubles. Yeah, I was in the room. By the time I got there the chick was dead and you were out cold.”
“You’re lying.”
“The hell I am. I thought you were both dead. The first I looked, I saw the two of you, I almost fell out. I wanted to get away from there.”
“Why didn’t your?”
He looked at Jackie. “She’s a user, isn’t she? Ask her.”
Jackie said, “Why were you in that hotel?”
“I was boosting, what do you think? Those hotels, they get a lot of drunks who leave their doors open. They forget to lock them. I was up tight, I was boosting. Is that a crime?”
The question was too silly to answer.
“Jesus, my nose.” His fingers patted it gentry. “You broke my nose.”
“How did you get in the room?”
“The door was open. That goddamn watch. Ten bucks, but I never figured Solly would sing. You can’t trust anybody.”
I asked Jackie if Robin would have left the door unlocked. She shook her head. “Well,” he said, “somebody did.”
I said, “I think he killed her.”
But she shook her head again. “No, he didn’t.”
“I could beat it out of him.”
“I don’t think so. Let me try.” And to Phillie, “You don’t want cops on this. And you don’t want Alex angry.”
“I never killed anybody-”
“I know. But you got to tell this right, Phillie. The door was open and you went inside and took the watch and the wallet and Robin’s purse. Right?” He nodded. “And then what?”
“I split.”
“How?”
“I just walked out.”
“No. When Alex woke up the door was bolted. You better tell this straight, Phillie, and then you’ll get out of it clean, no police, nothing. But don’t buy yourself more trouble.”
He thought about this and evidently decided it was reasonable enough. “I went down the fire escape.”
“Why?”
“I had to lug the purse, didn’t I? Can you see me walking through the lobby with the purse?”
“You’re lying, Phillie.”
“Look, I swear to God-”
She spoke slowly, patiently, logically. “You would of emptied the purse. You could walk right out, no problem. Instead you locked the door and took the fire escape, and that’s always dangerous, going down a fire escape in the middle of the night. You took the purse instead of taking the time to rifle it, which means you were in a hurry, Phillie. Now you better tell it the way it is.”
“I heard somebody in the hallway.”
“So?”
“So there was a dead girl in the room and I panicked! Who wouldn’t? I wasn’t going to get tied into it. You know how they lay it on a junkie. You know the chance you get from them.”
“You heard somebody in the hallway, why didn’t you wait until they went away?”
“I was nervous. Who had time to think?”
She took a cigarette. I lit it for her. She said, “Phillie, it would all go smoother if you didn’t try and hold out. You saw the killer leave that room. You saw him go, and you thought maybe the room was empty and you took a peek inside. You locked the door because you were afraid he was coming back, and when you heard noises in the hallway you went down the fire escape. You were scared bad because you knew what would happen if he found you there. You knew all along Alex didn’t kill Robin because you saw the man who did, and that’s the only way it makes any sense, Phillie, that’s the only way it reads, and now all you have to do is tell me who the man was. You tell us that, Phillie, and you can take your face to a hospital.”
“I didn’t recognize him.”
“Otherwise there’s going to be cops. I mean it now. He never has to know who fingered him.”
“He’ll find out.”
“There’s trouble if you don’t talk, Phillie.”
“Every way there’s trouble.” He worried his broken nose. “Everywhere I look there’s always trouble.”
“Cop trouble’s worse.”
“Yeah?” He sighed. “That fucking watch. I shouldn’t of taken it, and then I knew better than to sell it. I was gonna throw it away. But then I had to get hungry, a lousy ten bucks, two nickel bags, and look what I bought for it.”
“I want a name, Phillie.”
“What makes you sure I know him?”
“The way you said you didn’t recognize him. Otherwise you would of said you didn’t see him. Don’t play games with me, Phillie.”
“I’m dead. If I tell you, I’m fucking dead.”
“You’re dead if you don’t.”
“Beautiful.”
“I’m waiting, Phillie.”
He looked at her. He said, “Fuck it, I’m dead either way. It was Turk Williams.”
Their voices continued. They came at me through air that had gone suddenly thick and heavy.
“That better be the right name, Phillie.”
“You know who I mean? The Turkey?”
“I’ve heard of him.”
“The big dealer?”
“Yes.”
“Would I cop out on him if he wasn’t the one? Be serious, would I pick him? I saw him. I was down the hallway, he never got a look at me, but I saw him. With blood on his hands.”
“Then you knew what you’d find in the room.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“But you went in anyway.”
“I was up tight. You been there, you know what it is.”
“I know.”
“You tell the Turkey where you got it, you know I’m dead.”
“We won’t tell him.”
“I’m dead anyway. You’ll put cops on me. The hell, I’m the only witness there is. I’m sitting here and I’m talking to you and my face is a mess and I’m dead.”
“Oh, you’ll live, Phillie.”
“Yeah. Live. Live, yeah.”
22
I SAID, “I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT. HE WAS MY FRIEND. I KNEW him in prison, I helped him get free. I just
