“Surprising no one spotted him,” I said.
“Might have been under for a while till he started to puff up,” Quirk said.
I nodded.
“Nice,” I said.
Quirk gestured with his head, and the morgue attendant slid the drawer shut.
“Come on,” Quirk said. “I’ll buy you lunch.”
“What could be better,” I said.
There was a sandwich shop up Albany Street a little where Quirk bought sandwiches and coffee for us. I declined the sandwich and drank the coffee while we sat in Quirk’s car and watched the activity at the wholesale flower market across the street.
Without looking at me Quirk said, “And the two goons got shanked.”
“My goons?” I said. “That tried to kill me?”
“Yep. In the jail yard, yesterday. Guard found them both in a corner. Throats cut.”
“Jesus Christ,” I said.
“Yeah,” Quirk said. “Last man standing.”
“Tony got to them,” I said.
“Or Rugar,” Quirk said. “Pretty sure it was an inmate or a guard.”
“What a pleasure to watch a trained mind work,” I said.
“Years on the job,” Quirk said.
“Anybody talk to them, before their demise?”
Quirk shook his head.
“Epstein finally found us a translator,” Quirk said. “He and I were scheduled to interview them today.”
“What a coincidence,” I said. “Was their attorney going to be present?”
“Yep.”
“Good old Lamar,” I said. “Murder weapon?”
Quirk shrugged.
“Maybe a utility-knife blade,” Quirk said. “We’re looking into it.”
“What do you expect to discover?”
“Zip,” Quirk said.
“Any suspects?”
“Everybody,” Quirk said. “You got yourself into something pretty ugly.”
“Yeah, but at least I’m not making any progress,” I said.
“Assuming it’s all related to Tashtego,” Quirk said, “I count eleven people killed so far. Two of them by you.”
“I know,” I said.
“For what?” Quirk said.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Me neither,” Quirk said.
“Don’t feel bad,” I said. “Epstein and Healy don’t know, either.”
Quirk finished his sandwich and carefully wiped his mouth on a paper napkin.
“The funny thing is,” he said, “we know who did the original crime. But we don’t know why, and we can’t find him.”
“Yet,” I said.
“Hawk walking around with you?”
“Most of the time,” I said.
“I was you,” Quirk said, “I’d make it all the time.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Nobody in this deal seems to mind killing people.”
“And you are probably a sentimental favorite to be next,” Quirk said.
“Would you miss me?” I said.
“No,” Quirk said.
39
Ty-Bop and Junior were in evidence. Ty-Bop was the shooter, a skinny kid wearing a watch cap pulled way down over his ears. He seemed to be listening to something the rest of us couldn’t hear, and moving to its beat. Junior was the muscle, vast and thick and stolid.
Hawk lounged at the bar near Ty-Bop. Ty-Bop would kill anything that Tony pointed him toward. But that aside, he always seemed to admire Hawk. He never said anything, but he watched him all the time, the way a schoolyard player would watch Michael Jordan.
Junior brought me into Tony’s office and patted me down.
“Got a gun, Tony,” Junior said.
“Let him keep it,” Tony said. “I just want to know he’s not wearing a wire.”
“Nope,” Junior said. “No wire.”
Tony gestured him out, and Junior closed the door behind him as he left.
“Gives us a little more room,” I said.
Tony smiled.
“He’s a big one,” Tony said.
“Sorry about Leonard,” I said.
“Uh-huh.”
“How’s your daughter,” I said.
“No worse,” Tony said.
“Still with…”
“No,” Tony said.
I nodded. Tony waited.
“We’ve known each other for a while,” I said.
“Uh-huh.”
Tony was beautifully dressed in a brown tweed jacket with a light-blue windowpane pattern. He had on a blue shirt and a brown silk tie.
“We’ve done each other some favors,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” Tony said. “’Specially the time you got me sent to jail.”
“We were much younger,” I said.
“Everyone was,” Tony said. “You helped me out with my kid, couple years ago.”
“I did,” I said.
“You know I’m not wired. Anything we say in here is off the record and doesn’t leave this office,” I said. “I’m not after you.”
Tony smiled faintly.
“Oh, good,” he said.
“You remember Rugar,” I said.
“He was with you in Marshport,” Tony said.
“As was Leonard,” I said.
Tony took out a slim cigar and snipped the end and lit it carefully with a silver desk lighter.
“Rugar was involved in a big-deal kidnapping on Tashtego Island a while back,” I said. “I was there.”