James Siegel - Deceit

Hinch went back to his office.

There was an embarrassing silence. Nate, who’d held his phone call in abeyance, resumed with a whispered got to get off, baby . Norma peeked at me sideways and sighed.

“She’s back in the hospital, Tom,” she said softly. “God knows, it doesn’t look good.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know.”

My expansive mood had pretty much dissipated. I thought I might as well call Mrs. Flaherty back.

“You want to talk to him?” Mrs. Flaherty asked me after I said hello.

“Talk to whom, Mrs. Flaherty?”

“Dennis.”

“ Dennis ? What are you talking about?”

I should’ve known what she was talking about. My son came back to say hey , 100-year-old Belinda had told me.

It was getting to be a trend.

We had a nice conversation.

Dennis and me.

It was a tad one-sided, since Dennis Flaherty wasn’t big on conversing, and seemed to be speaking underwater. I slapped the receiver against the desk in an effort to clear the foggy reception. It wasn’t the reception; it was Dennis.

“It’s the drugs,” Mrs. Flaherty told me after Dennis relinquished the phone to her and went to his childhood bedroom to nap. “They make him sleepy.”

What drugs were those?

The ones the VA psychiatric hospital used to keep Dennis docile and happy.

“Do you know you were in a fatal car crash?” I asked him after I’d introduced myself.

“Uh-huh,” he answered, in a lugubrious monotone that would never waver.

“How do you think that happened?”

“Dunno.”

“Someone had your wallet.”

“Yeah.”

“Dennis, you understand what I’m telling you? You were buried .”

“Right.”

“Where did you lose your wallet?”

“Dunno. On the street.”

“On the street? You mean, you were living on the street?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, when was the last time you saw it?”

“Dunno. Didn’t have it in the hospital.”

“What hospital?”

“VA.”

“You were in a veterans’ hospital?”

“Yeah.”

“What were you in the hospital for?”

“My head’s not right.”

“Your head’s not right. What’s that mean? You have… mental problems?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you ever in Littleton, California, Dennis?”

“ Where ?”

“You weren’t in California a week ago, right?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. You understand someone died in the accident. It wasn’t you-it was somebody else who, for some strange reason, had your wallet.”

“Yeah.”

“But you don’t know how he got hold of it. How you lost it? Somewhere on the street, you think?”

Nate had strolled over to my desk as if following the tantalizing aroma of moo goo gai pan. Even half of the conversation must’ve been kind of irresistible. Someone dead was alive and kicking. How often did that happen?

Dennis hadn’t answered my last question. It sounded like he was snoring.

“Dennis? Dennis, are you there?”

“Huh?”

“I said, you think you lost your wallet on the street?”

“I’m tired. Oh man, I’m tired.”

“Just a minute, few more questions, okay?”

“What time is it? Is it nighttime?”

“It’s 1 in the afternoon, Dennis,” I said, allowing for the difference in time zones. “Just a couple more questions.” I didn’t have any more questions. Dennis was drugged up and stupid. He’d had his wallet and then he didn’t. It had eventually shown up in the pocket of an accident victim burned beyond recognition.

Dennis must’ve passed Mrs. Flaherty the phone; the next voice I heard was hers.

“You were right, Tom,” she whispered. “After we talked, I actually went to church. First time in forever. I lit a candle. I prayed Dennis was still alive and would come walking through the door. He did.”

“How long was he in the hospital?”

“Who cares? It’s a miracle , don’t you see? I have my son back.”

“Yeah, it’s a miracle.” I took a second to motion a hovering Nate away from my desk. “Can I call you back, Mrs. Flaherty? I may have some other questions.”

“Of course, Tom. You can call me anytime you’d like. Thank you.”

“For what? I didn’t do anything. Your son wasn’t dead. Someone stole his wallet or found it. Whoever was driving that car. Dennis would’ve come walking back into your house whether I’d called you or not.”

“Oh really?” she said. “I know better.”

I resisted the temptation to enlighten anyone.

I kept the inquisitive-looking Nate the Skate out of the loop.

I walked outside after borrowing a smoke from Norma, who chided me for revisiting a forsworn habit. Just one , I told her, for old times’ sake .

I lit up under the overhang that sheltered Foo Yang Chinese takeout from the broiling sun as Mr. Yang’s 13-year-old daughter stared at me listlessly through the dust-coated window.

The jolt of nicotine gave me an immediate buzz.

The accident.

Two people had collided on that road.

Dennis Flaherty and Ed Crannell.

Only they weren’t Dennis Flaherty and Ed Crannell.

There was no record of an Ed Crannell. Dennis Flaherty was demonstrably alive.

Let’s play editor.

Pretend the story-the story so far-has been placed on this editor’s desk. You know which editor too, the one wearing bifocals and a world-weary expression he’s justifiably earned. This particular story’s been offered up for approval by a journalist who’s seen better days, okay, whose reputation is less than crap, who’s literally disgraced his profession.

Let’s watch the editor wearily pull out his tooth-marked pencil as I tell him that Dennis Flaherty was never in that car.

Okay, he says, so that doctor was right. The dead man was black. He stole Dennis’s wallet, found it, bought it from some street hustler. Anyhow, he ended up with it. So what?

You’re forgetting about the other car. Nobody’s heard of Ed Crannell.

So the man lied about his identity. Ed Crannell lied about who he was. People lie about their identity all the time. Maybe he was driving with a suspended license. Maybe he had a record. Maybe he owes back alimony in the state of California. Or maybe he is Ed Crannell, just not a pharmaceutical salesman. And he doesn’t live in Cleveland. Maybe all he did was lie about that. It happens.

There were no skid marks.

Haven’t you been listening? Ed Crannell lied. You’re familiar with lying, aren’t you, Tom? The accident was his fault. He was changing radio stations, chatting on his cell. He was admiring the scenery, daydreaming, glazing over. Next thing he knew, he’d caused an accident. He was the only survivor, so he concocted a story-the other car drifted into his lane, the other driver noticed him too late, jammed on the brakes. No one jammed on the brakes. He made it up.

The editor is clearly smirking at me. Worse. He has that tired, defeated look you offer in the face of a habitual liar. Don’t insult my intelligence, the look says. Enough.

It’s not just the accident, I offer tentatively.

He sighs, shakes his weary head.

It’s not just the accident, I repeat myself. It’s Belinda.

Belinda , the editor says. Oh boy.

She said her dead son came back to say hello. I know, she was 100 years old. She was maybe dotty. Only there was that note from Benjy. Happy hundred birthday . Mr. Birdwell said no one had visited Belinda, but Benjy had. What other Benjamin would’ve come and written her that note?

Her son died , the editor says. You understand what died means, right, Tom?