Cry Havoc

beside her, she turned and lifted a hand.

'See ya around,' she said cheerfully. Under her breath she muttered, 'Magillas.'

Getting into the Mercury, Lewis whispered, 'Damn!” then, 'What's a magilla?'

' ‘Member Magilla Gorilla? The cartoon?'

Lewis frowned and shook her head. 'So you're calling them gorillas cuz they're black?'

'Jesus,' Frank swore. 'You gotta get over this black thing. I called them magillas because they're big and stupid. They could be fucking purple for all I care. They're still big and stupid.'

'Hmph,' Lewis snorted.

'Hmph,' Frank snorted back, relieved she was finally out of the Mother's goddamned Hansel and Gretel rockhouse.

'Damn,' Lewis swore softly. She twisted the AC button and warm air whooshed from the vents. 'Where we going?'

Frank intended to visit the Mother's other sister, but she wanted to think about the morning.

'Breakfast?' she asked Lewis.

'I wouldn't mind.'

While she directed Lewis to the Norm's on Pacific, Lewis argued, 'I still don't see why you wouldn't let me handle her. I'd have done all right.'

Keeping her earlier thoughts to herself, Frank smiled at the rookie's unfounded confidence.

'She's way too big for you to cut your baby teeth on.'

'How would you know if you don't give me a chance?'

'Trust me,' Frank assured. 'I know.'

She didn't add that her handle on the Mother had been slippery enough. Lewis seethed beside her, her eagerness pleasing Frank.

'Whoa. Slow down,' she said, staring out her window.

'What?' Lewis asked, trying to see what Frank was looking at. A slim woman in a tangerine skirt and cream colored hat sashayed along the sidewalk.

'Girl, you look good,' Frank sang out the lyrics of a popular song, 'won't you back that ass up!'

Lewis stiffened and the woman stopped. Making a brim with the flat of her hand, she beamed when she recognized Frank. Singing back, 'Bitch who you playin' wit?' she wiggled her ass dramatically toward the car.

Frank's smile was genuine, and in a deep, sultry voice, the woman purred, 'Officer Frank, where you been at? I ain't seen you, Lord, on into a month of Sundays.'

It didn't matter if they were a detective III, a captain, or the chief of police—on the street all cops were officers.

'Been busy, Miss Cleo. How you been?'

'You tell me,' the woman pirouetted.

'It's not right,' Frank admired. 'I get older and uglier, and you get younger and prettier.'

Miss Cleo gushed, 'You just gotta know how to work it, sugar.'

Frank introduced her to Lewis, amused when Miss Cleo dangled a white-gloved hand out to her. Lewis took the fingertips, saying, 'Pleased to meet you, ma'am.'

'Ma'am,' Miss Cleo laughed. 'Isn't she sweet? Now what can I do for you, Officer Frank. It's hotter than seven hells standing out here.'

'Don't mean to keep you. What's the word on Mother Love-Jones?'

'Whoo-ee, that old thang?'

Miss Cleo fanned herself.

'Now you know I don't involve myself with that kinda traffic. I do my business, on my own side of the street. You know that.'

'I know. Just wondering if any of your customers might've dropped a word on her. Her nephew going down and all.'

'Oh, isn't that awful,' Miss Cleo responded in a deep voice. 'I heard he had his you-know-what cut off and stuffed in his mouth. Is that right?'

The rooster found with Duncan had been a holdback, a piece of evidence not released to the media. Still, variations on the truth swirled in the rumor mill.

'Not quite. What else you hear?'

The woman checked up and down the street.

'I heard he'd been going around behind the Mother's back, and this is what come of it, you know what I mean?'

'How going around?'

'Like hustling his own brand. You can't disrespect that old woman like that. If you ask me, that boy was handing out calling cards to trouble.'

'Was he grinding ounces or weight?'

'What I heard, that boy was moving keys. Right under her nose! He ought to have known he couldn't get away with that sort of business.'

'What else?'

Waving one of her gloved hands, Miss Cleo said, 'I really don't know much more. All I heard was some of them goofers what hangs out at her corner mart talking about it.'

'Which goofers?'

The woman offered a couple street names and Lewis wrote them down. Frank ran Danny's associates' names by her and Miss Cleo recognized Carrillo.

'He thinks he's a boss bailer. He'd best mind he don't end up with his you-know-what you know where.'

'Anything else?' Frank asked.

Miss Cleo hefted her slim shoulders. Frank gave her a twenty and told her to buy a new hat. Tucking the bill into her blouse the woman laughed wide.

'I can see it's been some while since you bought a new hat, Officer Frank.'

'You be careful out there,' Frank said, motioning Lewis on.

'She's a piece of work.'

'He,' Frank nodded. 'Miss Cleo's real name is Clarence Carter. He's been on the hoe stroll since before dirt was invented.'

'Damn,' Lewis marveled.

'Yeah. Looks like the genuine article, huh?'

'Better'n you and me put together,' Lewis laughed.

'You can't see the scars under his make-up. A rookie tried to bust his cherry on him then went ape shit with his D-cell when he felt under Miss Cleo's skirt. Bobby and I responded. He was almost dead when we got there. Had a big old crack in his skull.'

'What happened to the rookie?'

'Last I heard he was up in San Mateo. Working vice.'

'Damn,' Lewis said through clenched teeth.

Frank kept her window down, letting the hot air outside compete with the slightly cooler air inside.

'So tell me. How would you have handled the Mother?'

Lewis pushed out her lips, studying the question.

'First off, I'd have been respectful, then I'd've asked where she was Wednesday night. Depend—'

'Nope. Right off you've fucked yourself. Right away you've put her on the defensive by wanting to know where she was during a murder. In something like this, where we don't know the level of involvement, it's best to approach them from the standpoint of the bereaved relative or friend. Get them talking about the vie and give them the chance to say something you might be able to bury them with. Once they're talking and comfortable with the story they're telling you, then you can start introducing the questions. Start with something innocuous like, 'What sort of mood was he in? Who was he with?' That makes them give you details you might be able to trip them up on later.

'Try to make every question open-ended. Don't ask, 'Were you with Danny Blank that night?' That just leads