Lawrence Block - A Ticket To The Boneyard

You could see he'd done time. I can't always tell, but some guys might as well be wearing a sign.

His beer came, and my coffee. He picked up the longneck bottle and read the label, frowning as he did so. Then, ignoring the glass the waitress had provided, he took a drink from the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Jamaican," he said. Danny Boy asked him how it was. "It's all right," he said. "All beer's the same." He put the bottle down and looked at me. "You're looking for Motley," he said.

"You know where he is?"

He nodded. "I seen him."

"Where do you know him from?"

"Where else? The joint. We were both on E-block. Then he went in the hole for thirty days, and when he got out they switched him somewhere else."

"Why did they put him in solitary?"

"A guy got killed."

Danny Boy said, "That's the punishment for murder? Thirty days'

solitary confinement?"

"They couldn't prove it, they didn't have no witnesses, but everybody knew who done it." His eyes touched mine, then slid to the side. "I know who you are," he said. "He used to talk about you."

"I hope he said nice things."

"Said he was going to kill you."

"When did you get out, Brian?"

"Two years ago. Two years and a month."

"What have you been doing since then?"

"This and that. You know."

"Sure."

"What I gotta do. I started usin' again when I got outta the joint, but now I'm in a methadone program. I get day work out of the state employment, or I'll turn a buck. You know how it is."

"I know. When did you see Motley?"

"Must of been a month ago. Maybe a little more."

"You talk to him?"

"What for? No. I seen him on the street. He was comin' down the steps of this house. Then I seen him a few days later and he's goin' into the house. Same house."

"And that was over a month ago?"

"Say a month."

"And you haven't seen him since?"

"Sure I did. A couple of times, on the street in the neighborhood. Then I got the word, somebody's lookin' for the guy, so I hung around a little. Stood on the corner where I could keep an eye on the house. Had coffee next door to it so I could see who's goin' in and out. He's still there." He showed me a bashful smile. "I asked some questions, you know? There's a broad he's living with, it's her apartment. I found out, you know, which apartment it is."

"What's the address?"

He shot a look at Danny Boy, who nodded. He took another pull from his bottle of Red Stripe. "He better not know where this came from."

I didn't say anything.

"All right," he said. "Two eighty-eight East Twenty-fifth, that's near the corner of Second. There's a coffee shop on that corner serves you a good meal reasonable. Good Polish food."

"Which apartment?"

"Fourth floor in the back. Name on the bell is Lepcourt. I don't know if that's the broad's name or what."

I wrote all this down, closed my notebook. I told Brian that I wouldn't want Motley to know about our conversation.

He said, "No fuckin' way, man. I ain't talked to him since they switched him outta E-block. I ain't gonna talk to him now."

"You haven't said a word to him?"

"What for? I seen him, you know, an' I reckanized him right off. He's got this funny-shaped head, kind of a long face. If you seen him once you'd never miss him. Me, I got a face your eyes'll slide right over. He looked at me the other day, Motley, looked at me on the street. His eyes never even slowed down. He didn't reckanize me." Another shy smile. "A week from today you won't reckanize me."

He seemed proud of this. I looked at Danny Boy, who flashed two fingers at me. I got out my wallet and took out four $50 bills. I folded them, palmed them, and reached across the table to slip them into Brian's hand. He took the money and dropped his hand into his lap, holding the money out of sight while he had a look at it. When he looked up the smile was back. "That's decent," he said. "That's real decent."

"One question."

"Shoot."

"Why rat him out?"

He looked at me. "Why not? We was never friends. A guy's gotta turn a buck, you know that."

"Sure."

"Anyway," he said, "he's a real bad fucker. You know that, don't you? Shit, you gotta know it."

"I know it."

"That woman he's living with? I bet he kills her, man. Maybe he killed her already."

"Why?"

"I guess he likes it or something. I heard him talkin' about it one time. He said women didn't last, they got used up quick. After a while you had to kill 'em and get a new one. I never forgot that, not just what he said but how he said it. You hear all kinds of shit, but I never heard nothing like that." He took another pull on his beer and put the bottle down. "I gotta go," he said. "I owe for the beer or are you taking care of that?"

"It's taken care of," Danny Boy said.

"I only drank half of it. It's okay, though. Anybody wants the rest of it, feel free." He got to his feet. "I hope you get him," he said. "A guy like that don't belong on the street."

"No, he doesn't."

"The thing is," he said, "he don't belong in the joint, either."

I said, "What do you think?"

"What do I think, Matthew? I think he's one of Nature's noblemen. Generous, too. I don't suppose you'd care to finish his bottle of beer."

"Not just now."

"I think I'll stay with Stoly myself. What do I think? I don't think he told you any lies. Your friend may not still be on Twenty-fifth Street, but it won't be because Brian tipped him off."

"I think he's scared of him."

"So do I."

"But somebody else gave a very convincing performance of fear the other night, and then she led me right into a trap." I ran down what had happened on Attorney Street. He thought about it while he refilled his glass.

"You walked right into it," he said.

"I know."

"This doesn't have that kind of feel to it," he said. "Then again, our Brian didn't show up with character references. Still, you'll want to exercise caution."

"For a change."

"Quite. If it's not a setup, I don't think he'll sell you out. I don't think he'd want to get that close to Motley." He drank. "Besides, you paid him well."

"A duece was more than he expected to get."

"I know. There's an advantage, I've found, in giving people more than they expect to get."

That wasn't a cue, but it reminded me. I opened my wallet in my lap and found a pair of hundreds. I passed them to him and he smiled.

"As Brian would say, that's real decent. But there's no need to pay me now. Why not wait until you find out if his information is valid? Because you don't owe me anything if it's not."

"You hang on to it," I suggested. "I can always ask for it back if it's old news."

"True, but—"

"And if it's straight," I said, "I might not be around to pay you. So you'd better take the money now."

"I won't dignify that with an answer," he said.

"But you'll keep the money."

"I doubt I'll keep it long. Crystal's an expensive toy. Do you want to stay for another set, Matthew? If not, would you stop at the bar and tell the little darling it's safe to return? And put your money away, I'll pay for your coffee. My God, you're as bad as Brian."

"I only drank half of that last cup," I told him. "It's not bad for instant, though. You're welcome to the rest of it."

"That's decent of you," he said. "That's real decent."

The cabbie had it all figured out. The only way to handle the crack problem was to cut off the supply. You couldn't lessen the demand because everybody who tried the stuff got addicted to it, and you couldn't seal the borders, and you couldn't control production in Latin America because the dealers were more powerful than the governments.

"So you gotta be the government," he said. "What we do, we annex the fuckers. Take 'em over. Make 'em territories at first, until they shape up and they're ready for statehood. Right away you dry up your drugs at the source. And you got no more wetbacks, because how can people sneak into a country when they're already there? Any place where you got your insurgents, your rebels up in the hills, you declare 'em citizens and draft their asses into the U.S. Army. Next thing you know they got three hots and a cot, they got clean uniforms and GI haircuts and they're shopping at the PX. You do this right, you solve all your problems at once."