to bleed to death. I could hardly believe it. A man like DeWitt Albright didn't die, couldn't die. It frightened me even to think of a world that could kill a man like that; what could a world like that do to me?
Mouse and I heard it on the radio when I was driving him to the bus station the next morning. I was happy to see him off.
'I'm'a give all that money to Etta, Easy. Maybe she take me back now that I done saved yo' ass and come up rich.' Mouse smiled at me and climbed on the bus. I knew I'd see him again and I didn't know how I felt about that.
That same morning I went to Daphne's apartment where I found the little boy. He was filthy. His underwear hadn't been changed in weeks and mucus was caked in his nose and on his face. He didn't say anything. I found him eating from a bag of flour in the kitchen. When I walked up to him and held out my hand he just took it and followed me to the bathroom. After he was clean I brought him out to Primo's place.
'I don't think he understands English,' I said to Primo. 'Maybe you could get something out of him.'
Primo was a father at heart. He had as many children as Ronald White and he loved them all.
'I could give some mommasita a few hundred bucks over the next year or two while she looked after him,' I said.
'I'll see,' Primo said. He already had the boy in his lap. 'Maybe I know someone.'
The next person I went to see was Mr. Carter. He gave me a cool eye when I told him that Daphne was gone. I told him that I'd heard from Albright about the killings Joppy and Frank had done. I told him about Frank's death and that Joppy had disappeared.
But what really got to him was when I told him that I knew Daphne was colored. I told him that she wanted me to tell him that she loved him and wanted to be with him but that she would never know any kind of peace as long as she was with him. I laid it on kind of thick but he liked it that way.
I told him about her sundress, and while I talked I thought about making love to her when she was still a white woman. He had a look of ecstasy on his face; I had a darker feeling, but just as strong, inside.
'But I've got a problem, Mr. Carter, and you do too.'
'Oh?' He was still savoring the last glimpse of her. 'What is that?'
'I'm the only suspect that the police have,' I told him. 'And unless sumpin' happens I'm'a have to tell'em 'bout Daphne. And you know she gonna hate you if you drag her through the papers. She might even kill herself,' I said. I didn't think it was a lie.
'What can I do about that?'
'You the one braggin' 'bout all your City Hall connections.'
'Yes?'
'Then get'em on the phone. I got a story t'tell'em but you gotta back me up in it. 'Cause if I go in there on my own you know they gonna sweat me till I tell about Daphne.'
'Why should I help you, Mr. Rawlins? I lost my money and my fiancee. You haven't done a thing for me.'
'I saved her life, man. I let her get away with your money and her skin. Any one of the men involved with this would have seen her dead.'
That very afternoon we went to City Hall and met with the assistant to the chief of police and the deputy mayor, Lawrence Wrightsmith. The policeman was short and fat. He looked to the deputy mayor before saying anything, even hello. The deputy mayor was a distinguished man in a gray suit. He waved his arm through the air while he talked and he smoked Pall Malls. He had silver-gray hair and I thought for a moment that he looked the way I imagined the president to be when I was a child.
Officers Mason and Miller were called when I mentioned them.
We were all sitting in Mr. Wrightsmith's office. He was behind his desk and the deputy police chief stood behind him. Carter and I sat before the desk and Carter's lawyer was behind us. Mason and Miller sat off to the side, on a couch.
'Well, Mr. Rawlins,' Mr. Wrightsmith said. 'You have something to tell us about all these murders going on?'
'Yessir.'
'Mr. Carter here says that you were working for him.'
'In a way, sir.'
'What way is that?'
'I was hired by DeWitt Albright, through a friend of ours, Joppy Shag. Mr. Albright hired Joppy to locate Frank and Howard Green. And later on Joppy got him to hire me.'
'Frank and Howard, eh? Brothers?'
'I've been told that they were distant cousins, but I couldn't swear to that,' I said. 'Mr. Albright wanted me to find Frank for Mr. Carter here. But he didn't tell me why he wanted them, just that it was business.'
'It was for the money I told you about, Larry,' Carter said. 'You know.'
Mr. Wrightsmith smiled and said to me, 'Did you find them?'
'Joppy had already got to Howard Green, that's when he found out about the money.'
'And what exactly was it that he found out, Mr. Rawlins?'
'Howard worked for a rich man, Matthew Teran. And Mr. Teran was mad because Mr. Carter here messed him up on running for mayor,' I smiled. 'I guess he was looking to be your boss.'
