Ben tugged him forward toward his car. ‘Maybe so, Teddy,’ he said. ‘But not yet.’
THIRTY-SEVEN
Luther pounded his fist on the desk. ‘Goddammit, Teddy!’ he cried. ‘What is this about a house and crazy pictures on the walls and shit like that?’
Langley sat calmly in a chair across from Luther’s desk, his eyes shifting slowly from one face to the next.
Ben stood in the left corner by the window. Daniels leaned on the wall opposite him, his eyes watching Langley steadily.
‘What’s in that house, Teddy?’ Luther demanded.
‘You already know,’ Langley replied almost offhandedly. ‘Wellman’s already told you. You’ve already found everything you need.’
Luther leaned toward him menacingly. ‘Crazy shit, right?’
Langley said nothing.
‘Goddammit, Teddy, you know what this makes us look like?’ Luther demanded. ‘Like a bunch of idiots, morons!’
Daniels straightened himself from the wall. ‘I don’t give a shit about that house,’ he said. ‘But if you laid one goddamn finger on Charlie Breedlove, I’ll –’
Langley shook his head despairingly. ‘They’ll do it for you, Harry,’ he said. ‘They already have.’
Daniels stared at Langley threateningly. ‘Did you kill Charlie?’
‘No,’
Daniels stepped away from the wall. ‘Don’t you lie to me, Teddy. Charlie Breedlove was my partner.’
‘I didn’t lay a hand on Charlie Breedlove,’ Langley said coldly. ‘I figure the FBI did it. They been after all of us, sniffing around, trying to pin things on us.’
‘FBI, my ass,’ Daniels hissed. He scooped the ring from the top of Luther’s desk and pressed to within a few inches of Langley’s face. ‘You see this, Teddy? This was Charlie’s wedding ring. You know where Ben found it?’
Langley didn’t bother to answer.
Suddenly, Daniels stepped over and slapped his face. ‘Do you know where he found it, you little shit!’
Luther jumped to his feet. ‘Stop it, Harry,’ he shouted. ‘Give me that goddamn ring.’ He snapped it from Daniels’ fingers. ‘Where’d you get this?’ he demanded, his eyes bearing down on Langley.
‘I never seen it before,’ Langley said sullenly.
‘Harry already took it over to Mrs Breedlove,’ Luther said. ‘She identified it. She said it was definitely Charlie’s.’
Langley remained silent.
‘Where’d you get it, Teddy?’ Luther repeated.
Langley shook his head. ‘I never seen it before.’
Luther picked up the roll of electrical tape and held it in the air.
‘How about this? You ever seen this tape before?’
‘No.’
‘You didn’t buy it?’ Luther continued insistently. ‘It didn’t belong to you?’
‘No.’
‘It looks like the same kind of tape that was wrapped about Breedlove’s hands,’ Luther said.
Langley’s eyes shifted slowly to the right, settling on Ben’s. ‘I never saw that tape. I never saw that ring. The niggers are doing this. Them and their big-wheel friends.’
‘Niggers?’ Luther cried. ‘You think they killed Breedlove?’ He laughed. ‘You’re up to your neck in bullshit, Teddy. You’re spilling over with it.’
Langley drew his eyes away from Ben, then let them drift back to Luther. ‘You going to arrest me?’
‘You got a reason I shouldn’t?’
‘I was with my brother.’
‘That may be true, Teddy,’ Luther replied icily. ‘But the question is, where were the two of you?’
‘We was in our trailer, that’s where we was.’
‘It probably took two people to hang Breedlove up the way he was,’ Luther said accusingly.
‘Me and Tod, right?’ Langley said with a snide laugh. ‘That’s the way you figure it?’
‘It’s beginning to look that way.’
Langley tightened his lips. His eyes returned to Ben, but he did not speak.
‘Where’s Tod now?’ Luther demanded.
‘At home.’
‘Home, or that little dump you got over on Courtland?’
‘Home,’ Langley said. ‘You know, the trailer.’
‘And I guess he’ll say you two were together all night?’
Langley nodded.
‘And that you were in the trailer?’
‘That’s right,’ Langley said. ‘He was sick. He had a fever. He’s my brother, and so it’s my job to see after him when he’s feeling bad.’
Daniels stepped over to face Langley. ‘Let me tell you something, Teddy,’ he said. ‘If you hurt Charlie, I’m going to deal with you myself. ’
Langley stared coldly into Daniels’ face. ‘I didn’t lay a finger on your asshole buddy,’ he spat, ‘but Breedlove was a goddamn informer, and it don’t surprise me a bit that he ended up dead.’
Instantly, Daniels raised his hand to strike Langley, but Luther grabbed his hand. ‘You want your job, Harry, you let me handle this.’
Daniels’ hand trembled in place for a moment, then lowered slowly. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You’re right, Captain.’
Luther let go of Daniels’ hand, then turned to Ben. ‘Go over and check on Tod,’ he said. ‘See what he has to say.’
Ben nodded quickly, then stepped toward the door.
‘Oh, by the way,’ Luther said, ‘you forgot this when you left this morning.’
Ben turned around in time to see Luther toss his badge toward him from across the room.
The Langleys’ trailer sat on plain gray cinderblocks at the back corner of the lot. Other trailers were scattered across the bare ground, their doors and windows flung open against the baking heat. A few work shirts and tattered bedsheets hung from the communal clothesline at the opposite end of the field, and beyond it, Ben could see a rusty set of swings and a crude seesaw.
Tod Langley opened the door slightly, and Ben could see a single eye peering at him from the darkness behind it.
‘I need to talk to you, Tod,’ he said.
‘Me?’ Tod asked surprised. ‘Where’s Teddy?’
‘He’s still on duty,’ Ben told him.
Tod still did not open the door. ‘Well, I don’t know,’ he said, hesitant, an edgy fear in his voice. ‘I mean, after the way you done with Teddy, I –’
‘It’s not about that,’ Ben assured him.
‘Well, what is it then?’
‘It’s about Charlie Breedlove.’
‘What about him?’
‘I’m checking on a few things.’
‘It ain’t got nothing to do with me.’
Ben could feel himself growing increasingly impatient as he continued to stand in the steamy summer air. ‘Let me in, Tod,’ he said finally. ‘This is department business and I don’t have time to argue about it.’ He pressed his hand against the door and felt it give way as Tod drew back.
Tod had already dropped into the small chair a few feet from the door, and for a moment Ben simply stood,
