you into a yes/no response. Always ask in a way that forces a more detailed answer. Ask, 'When was the last time you saw Danny?' That way you're pinning her to specifics. Instead of, 'Was Danny here last night?' ask, 'Where did you see Danny last?' Never give them the answer. Force them to come up with their own. You see?'
Lewis nodded, slowing at a light.
'That's another reason to breast your cards,' Frank continued. Her arm dangled outside the Mercury and she took a perverse pleasure in the searing heat. She absently deciphered the graffiti hieroglyphics sprayed on a crumbling building.
On the sidewalk in the building's shadow, a heap of clothing came to life. A dusty head poked from the bundle and Frank tried to determine if it was male or female. A face that seemed to have weathered countless suns lifted itself to hers. Bluish white eyes stared at Frank. The lips split into a fat grin.
The car started rolling and the grizzled head followed it, the blind eyes and wet smile still trained on Frank. She craned her neck out the window until the relic disappeared.
'Yeah?' Lewis prompted.
'What?'
'What's the other reason to breast my cards?'
It felt like that thing with the poached eggs for eyeballs had not only seen Frank, but recognized her.
'Well?' Lewis demanded.
Even as she silently chastised that she was getting as goosey as Lewis, the hair remained erect on her arms, despite the hundred-degree heat.
'What were we talking about?'
Lewis sighed, 'You said to never give anyone an out. Make them give it up. And to breast my cards, whatever that means.'
'It means don't show them your hand,' Frank answered, relieved to be back on familiar terrain. 'You want to have something to surprise them with. Watch somebody long enough and their actions'll usually tell you more than words. Did you notice me get closer to the Mother before I asked her about Echevarria and Hernandez?'
Lewis shook her head.
'I wanted to get close enough to see her pupils. Right as I said Danny'd been hanging around some Nicaraguans, they dilated. It was a slight and completely involuntary reaction, and it gave her away. She didn't even know she was doing it. She tightened her lips and her eyes narrowed too. Just a fraction, but enough. When you drop something on them they don't think you know about, they can go through dozens of involuntary reactions like that. All the way from pupils dilating to shitting their pants.'
The image of the old beggar faded as Frank talked.
'And pay attention to what they call you. Notice how she went from calling me child to Lieutenant and then back to child? In the beginning she was in control and I was child. Then when she got a little rattled I was Lieutenant. When we were leaving and she told me about the red dog, she felt she had the upper hand again and called me child. Did you notice that?'
'No,' Lewis pouted.
'You will,' Frank reassured. 'It'll all come with time.'
Frank checked the world moving by. A nail salon and a cell phone store. Metal works. A discount store. Two long-haired girls pushing strollers. A young man in a Walkman funked out toward them. Everything was normal.
'I was listening to you with Kim this morning. You gave her all the answers. Don't do that. Let them think you're clueless. Makes them think they know more than you do. Makes them feel more comfortable, confident, and that's what trips them up.'
'Yeah, but she was cooperating. She was being up front with me.'
'Happily or reluctantly?'
'Reluctantly,' Lewis admitted.
'Yeah, like you are now. And if I push too hard you're gonna cop that famous Joe Lewis attitude on me and clam up. What would happen if I treated you soft and respectful-like?'
'It'd make it easier to talk to you.'
'Yeah, you'll open up to me. What if I beat you over the head with what I think you're doing wrong?'
'I'ma be in your face,' Lewis chuckled.
Frank nodded.
'If you make some suggestions and let your wit come to the conclusion you lead him to, then he feels like he's got some power in the conversation, some control. Makes him feel pretty good, then he'll want to keep sharing. N'mean?'
Lewis grinned, 'You just did that, didn't you?'
Frank returned the grin.
'You're gonna be all right, Lewis.'
The sun felt good and Lewis was pleasant company. Frank had written off the odd deja vu at Mother Love's even as it happened, and already she was ascribing the blind stare as nothing more than the old fuck in the blankets recognizing the nostalgic purr of a Mercury engine. By the time they got to Norm's, the unnerving incidents were forgotten. But not for long.
10
The Mother laughed. Her daughter-in-law and sons looked up from their plates.
'What's so funny?' Marcus asked. He'd been pissed all day. Tired of being ordered around like a fucking nigger. Do this, do that. Maybe Danny'd been right.
'That girl coming around here this morning. Loo-te-nant Franco.' The Mother danced the title around. 'Makes me laugh, is all. My daddy used to say, that dog don't know what it's bit into.'
'Maybe you don't know what you bit into,' Marcus mumbled around a piece of bread.
He didn't see the knife leave her hand. It hit Marcus in the temple.
'Goddamn!' he sputtered, bread flying from his mouth like snow.
'Don't you ever doubt me, child. Not while you're in my house, sleeping under my roof. Do you understand that?'
'Yes, ma'am,' he sulked, dabbing his head for blood.
His mother stabbed at her chicken breast.
'Word,' she grumbled, 'you two are just like your father. Him'—she lifted her head at Lucian—'frettin' all the time, and you sulking the whole day. Uh-huh. You got his temperament, all right.'
Yeah, and you little Miss Fuckin' Sunshine, Marcus thought. He shoveled rice and green beans into his mouth faster than a crack-head could hit off a rod. He couldn't wait to get out of this ugly, dark-paneled room. His mother think she living in fucking England or something?
'It seems funny, is all, that girl. She's younger than I thought she'd be. And a fool, too.'
That was just like his mama, be thinking everyone a fool. Well that bitch hadn't looked like no fool snooping around in the supply room. What else had she gotten into before he and Lucian caught up to her?
His mother broke her bread and leaned toward him. As if she knew what he was thinking, and often she did, she confided, 'You see, son. That's what I was laughing about. This ain't about police business. It ain't about that at all. It's
Her grin iced his blood.
'That Loo-tenant? She don't even
Marcus didn't like the sound of that, wondering what world of trouble his mother was getting them into now. He turned his head from her to his empty plate. Like a ten-year-old, he asked to be excused.
11
The next night Frank held a double Scotch in the air while she worked her way through the melee of the Alibi. Snagging an empty chair, she twirled it next to Noah's and straddled it. She leaned into his ear, asking, 'What's your wife doing tomorrow?'
'I don't know. Why? You gonna run away with her?'
'Nope. She's too smart to have me. Think she'd have time to go shopping with me?'
