Last Ditch (35 page)

I'd
gotten
everything I was going to get there, so I pressed on.

"What
about all those people who died in that container?"

The
atmosphere
in the room seemed to grow thicker. Neither man spoke or, for that
matter, even
looked at the other.

"The
container thing was a mess," Tim said suddenly.

Frankie
looked
at his boss with mild surprise.

Tim
lifted both
claws. "Leo's family," he croaked.

If
Tim's
pronouncement was supposed to make me feel warm and fuzzy, I'll have to
admit
that it had much the opposite effect. For the first time since entering
the
room, I was no longer sweltering.

"Yeah,"
Frankie said, "what Ralphie said was true. Judy gave her ex-husband a
job
out in the yard."

As
much as I
hated to interrupt, I just had to know.

"Why?
Why
would she give some guy . . . some drunk who used to beat the shit out
of her a
job?"

Frankie
touched
his forehead with his fingers. "Who knows why broads do the things they
do. Specially Chinese broads. You ever find out for sure, you write a
book.
You'll make a million."

Tim
leaned out
into the light. "She told your old man she felt sorry for him. She was
hoping maybe the guy could get his act together, maybe the kid could
have a
father. You know, that kind of thing."

"What
happened?"

"Your
old
man wanted him gone."

I
made it a
statement "He was jealous."

Tim
snorted.
"You think your old man would waste his time on shit like that?" He
waved a bony hand at me. "Jealous," he said derisively. "Over
some skirt."

Frankie
made a
noise in his throat. "What that Jimmy Chen flicker did to piss off your
dad was to try to queer the whole operation."

"How?"

"He
went
to Peerless Price. Spilled his guts." "Why would he do that?"

"Fucker
was crazy. A juicehead," Frankie said with feeling. "He hated Judy.
He really hated your old man 'cause . . . you know ... he and Judy were
..." He let it hang. "Fucker was crazy," he said again.

"What
happened then?"

Frankie
was rolling.
"From the moment that fucker took the job, heat started coming from
everywhere." Frankie painted the air with his hands. "Price was all
over it in the papers. Customs and INS was fallin' all over each other.
I mean,
it didn't take no genius to know who the rat was, but Judy didn't want
to hear
about it Nope. No sir. She made your old man promise he'd leave him
alone."

"Did
he?"

Frankie
wagged
his head. "Technically speaking," he said. "I mean, you know,
that fucker had to go. Not like there was any doubt of it at all.
Question was
just how and when. Bill . . . your old man . . . asked us if maybe we
couldn't..." He searched for a word. "... persuade this Jimmy Chen
asshole that his health would stay better if he was to get the hell out
of town
and stay that way."

Tim's
voice
sounded tired as he spoke from the shadows.

"Leo,"
he began, "you gotta understand. None of us knew the details of Judy's
business." He waved a hand around. "Not me or Frankie and not your
old man." He held the hand still now, stiff palm facing me. "Honest
to God. None of us knew one goddamn thing about that family in the box."

"Swear
to
God," Frankie repeated.

"Things
got out of hand," Tim said.

"Fucker
was crazy," Frankie said for the third time. "We were gonna bust him
up a bit. Make him go tell Judy he quit on his own, so's it wouldn't
look like
Bill had a hand in it. You know, put the fear of God in him."

"And?"

"Things
got out of hand. The guy was a handful and a whole lot bigger than we
figured.
Never seen a guy fight so crazy before. Hadda have Eddie Schwartz sit
on his
chest."

"Bermuda
was there?"

Frankie
made a
disgusted face. "We didn't know this Chinaman from Charlie Chan. Fuck,
they all look alike to me. Bill sent Eddie to finger him for us. Eddie
was
supposed to wait in the car, but, you know, Eddie was a good man. When
things
started to go sideways, he hustled his ass out and gave us a hand."

"Sideways
how?"

"I
told
you, the Chinaman fought like crazy." Frankie looked over at Tim.
"Busted Tim's nose. Stuck a finger in one of my eyes. I hadda wear a
patch
for a month and a half, for Chrissakes."

"So?"

"So
. . .
you know what they say ... it was like feelings were running high. Tim
was
bleeding all over his suit. Eddie's riding the guy's chest like a
buckin'
bronco. I'm down to one eye." He hesitated. "I kinda lost my
temper."

"Yeah?"

"I
guess I
sorta lost it entirely."

"Never
seen him like that," Tim offered.

"I
thought
the fucker had blinded me," Frankie complained. "It was so lame we
never even told your old man. When we was done, we stuffed him in a
boxcar
headed to Florida."

"What
did
you do?"

Frankie
actually looked embarrassed.

"I
cut off
his ears," he said.

Except
for
Ralph and a pair of secretaries in the front booth, the Zoo was
deserted. The
rest of the afternoon regulars were out looking for Jimmy Chen. Terry
wiped his
hands on a red towel and started down the bar. When I waved him off, he
went
back to washing glasses.

"Whatever
it is you got everybody up to, Leo, it sure knocked the crap out of
business,"
he said above the running water.

I
shrugged and
then leaned over and spoke directly into Ralph's ear. I'd already run
the whole
thing down for him twice, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"Lea
me
alone."

He
gargled it
out through a mouthful of beer and then used his sleeve to polish the
dribbles
off the bar.

"No
can
do," I said. "Much as it pains me, my old friend, on this one, all
roads lead to Ralphie."

He
began to
rise from the stool, but I clamped a hand on his shoulder and pushed
him back
down.

"You
din
tell me Eddie was dead," he said.

"That's
why I've got to know what happened, Ralph. Somebody's got to pay for Ed
Schwartz."

"Lea
me
alone," he said again.

"It
wasn't
your fault, Ralph," I said.

He
shot me a
red-rimmed glance and then went back to studying the foam on his glass.

"It
was
just one of those things," I went on. "There wasn't anything you or
anybody else could have done."

"Your
dad
..." he started, and then shook his head sadly and swallowed the rest
of
his beer.

"Trust
me,
Ralph. There's plenty of blame to go around on this one. Judy Chen
should never
have given that scumbag Jimmy a job. It was dumb. My father wanted
Jimmy Chen
gone. That's what started the real shit. He asked Tim and Frankie to
fuck Jimmy
Chen up and get him out of Dodge. None of them had any idea Jimmy was
the one
who was supposed to let that family out. Things went haywire. Frankie
and Tim
lost control of the situation. Jimmy Chen got a lot more fucked up than
anybody
intended. It didn't have anything to do with you."

"I
coulda
..."

"You
coulda nothing. If you'd known, you'd have let them out. You're not the
kind of
guy to let a family die out there in the sun. Everybody knows that."

I
don't know
why I felt the need to lighten Ralph's load. I knew it wouldn't do any
good.
He'd been feeding off of his own guilt for so long that it had become
part of
his life cycle. Taking it away from him now would be tantamount to
removing the
feeding tube from a coma victim.

When
I looked
up, one of the secretaries was slipping quarters into the jukebox. The
jazzy little
bass run told me what was coming. Van Morrison's voice whispered out
from the
front of the room.

"Tim
didn't kill Peerless Price."

Ralph
looked up
from his beer and opened his mouth.

"I
asked
him," I said. "This very afternoon."

He
leaned down,
resting his forehead on the rim of the glass.

"He's
got
no reason to lie to me," I added. "And with Ed Schwartz dead, neither
do you."

Ralph
didn't
move. His cheeks puffed in and out.

"You
knew
Price was buried in my backyard, didn't you? That's why you ran off
from the
house that day. You were afraid we were going to find the body, so you
ran
off."

When
he lifted
his head, the rim of the glass had imprinted his skin, leaving him with
a big
circle etched in the center of his forehead, like a huge blank eye. "No
.
. . I ..." he began.

I
shook my
head. "That's the only way it shakes out, Ralph. The problem has always
revolved around the question of how you bury a body in somebody's yard
without
them knowing about it. I've spent the last week or so kicking that one
around,
and finally, just this morning, it came to me." I tapped my temple.
"You don't. Can't be done. You'd have to know how long the people who
lived in the house were going to be away from home. You'd have to know
that
there was someplace in the yard with fresh dirt. Someplace you could
bury it
that nobody would notice. You'd have to know that a structure was about
to be
built over the spot where you buried the body so you wouldn't have to
worry
about animals or the weather. You'd have to know how the house was
situated.
That the neighbors couldn't see into the backyard."

I
clapped him
on the shoulder.

"It
doesn't scan any other way, man."

He
put his head
back down on the empty glass. I raised two fingers toward Terry. He
pulled a
couple of fresh glasses from the dishwasher and began to pour beer.

"She
came
to the rally," he said softly.

"The
night
before the Fourth of July?"

"Uh-huh."

"Judy
Chen?"

"Yeah."

"She
showed up at the big rally up at Volunteer
Park the night Price
disappeared?"

"Carrying
the kid," he said. "A hell of a mess," he said. "Hell of a
scene. Your mom being there and all . . ."

Terry
arrived
with two fresh beers. Ralph raised his head and slid his empty glass
across the
bar. He now had two interlocking rings imprinted on his head. Three
more rings
and he'd be an Olympic sponsor.

He
downed half
the beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Wasn't nothin'
Bill could do. What with the big rally and all You and your mom sittin'
up
there on the stage with him." He looked at me with pleading eyes.
"What was he gonna do at a time like that?"

"He
sent
you and Ed Schwartz," I said.

He
nodded and
finished the beer. I signaled Terry for another.

The
secretary
had also played the flip side. A younger, brasher Van was begging her
to stay.

A
bead of sweat
ran through the stubble on Ralph's cheek and dropped onto the bar. "She
said Peerless Price showed up where she was living, down on the docks.
Wanted
to know where Jimmy Chen was. Pushed her around. Threatened her and the
kid.
Said he was gonna bring all of them down, if she didn't roll over on
Bill."

It
made sense.
Peerless Price must have been desperate. He'd been counting on Jimmy
Chen to
finally give him what he needed to bring Wild Bill Waterman to his
knees. He'd
publicly announced his intention. And then, just like that, Jimmy Chen
was
nowhere to be found.

Terry
waddled
down the length of the bar and exchanged glasses with Ralph. I waited
for him
to get out of earshot

"And?"

He
looked me
full in the face for the first time.

"She
shot
him. Said it was self-defense. Said she was protecting the boy."

He
chased the
words with another half a glass of beer.

"The
cops
say the gun belonged to Ed Schwartz," I said.

"When
she
gave Jimmy Chen the job, your dad insisted she have a gun, you know, in
case
..."

So
he did what
he always did with errands, he palmed it off on Bermuda,
who ended up with his name on the registration certificate. No problem
there.
Like Tim said, Eddie Schwartz tells nobody nothing.

"Bill
said
me and Eddie should pick him up and put him in the greenhouse floor.
Said we'd
figure out what to do with him later."

"Why'd
he
leave the body in the greenhouse? Why not wait for the dust to settle
and then
dump it somewhere else?"