Mr. Wrightsmith smiled too.
'Anyway,' I continued, 'he wanted Howard and Frank to kill Mr. Carter and make it look like a robbery. But when they got in the house and found that thirty thousand dollars they got so excited that they just ran without even doin' the job.'
'What thirty thousand dollars?' Mason asked.
'Later,' Wrightsmith said. 'Did Joppy kill Howard Green?'
'That's what I think now. You see, I didn't get in it until they were looking for Frank. You see, DeWitt was checking out Mr. Teran because Mr. Carter suspected him. Then DeWitt got interested in the Greens when he checked out Howard and came up with Frank's name. He wanted somebody to look for Frank in the illegal bars down around Watts.'
'Why were they looking for Frank?'
'DeWitt wanted him because he was lookin' for Mr. Carter's money, and Joppy wanted him for that thirty thousand dollars, for himself.'
The sun was coming in on Mr. Wrightsmith's green blotter. I was sweating as if it was coming in on me.
'How did you find all this out, Easy?' Miller asked.
'From Albright. He got suspicious when Howard turned up dead and then he was certain when Coretta James was killed.'
'Why's that?' Wrightsmith said. Every man in the room was staring at me. I had never been on trial but I felt I was up against the jury right then.
'Because they were looking for Coretta too. You see, she spent a lot of time around the Greens.'
'Why didn't you get suspicious, Easy?' Miller asked. 'Why didn't you tell us about this when we brought you in?'
'I didn't know none'a this when you talked to me. Albright and Joppy had me looking for Frank Green. Howard Green was already dead and what did I know about Coretta?'
'Go on, Mr. Rawlins,' Mr. Wrightsmith said.
'I couldn't find Frank. No one knew where he was. But I heard a story about him though. People were sayin' that he was mad over the death of his cousin and that he was out for revenge. I think he went out after Teran. He didn't know nuthin' 'bout Joppy'
'So you think that Frank Green killed Matthew Teran?' Miller couldn't hide his disgust. 'And Joppy got to Frank Green and DeWitt Albright?'
'All I know is what I just said,' I said as innocently as I could.
'What about Richard McGee? He stab himself?' Miller was out of his chair.
'I don't know 'bout him,' I said.
They asked me questions for a couple of hours more. The story stayed the same though. Joppy did most of the killing. He did it out of greed. I went to Mr. Carter when I heard about DeWitt's death and he decided to come to the police.
When I finished Wrightsmith said, 'Thank you very much, Mr. Rawlins. Now if you'll just excuse us.'
Mason and Miller, Jerome Duffy—Carter's lawyer, and I all had to go.
Duffy shook my hand and smiled at me. 'See you at the inquest, Mr. Rawlins.'
'What's that mean?'
'Just a formality, sir. When a serious crime is committed they want to ask a few questions before closing the books.'
It didn't sound any worse than a parking ticket if you listened to him.
He got in the elevator to leave and Mason and Miller went with him.
I took the stairs. I thought I might even walk all the way home. I had two years' salary buried in the back yard and I was free. No one was after me; not a worry in my life. Some hard things had happened but life was hard back then and you just had to take the bad along with the worse if you wanted to survive.
Miller came up to me as I descended the granite stair of City Hall.
'Hi, Ezekiel.'
'Officer.'
'You got a mighty powerful friend up there.'
'I don't know what you mean,' I said, but I did know.
'You think Carter gonna come save your ass when we arrest you every other day for jaywalking, spitting, and creating a general nuisance? Think he's gonna answer your calls?'
'Why I have to worry about that?'
'You have to worry, Ezekiel'—Miller pushed his thin face right up to mine; he smelled of bourbon, wintermint, and sweat—'because I have to worry.'
'What do you have to worry about?'
'I got a prosecutor, Ezekiel. He's got a fingerprint that don't belong to anybody we know.'
'Maybe it's Joppy's. Maybe when you find him you'll have it.'
