Jonathon King - A Visible Darkness

He had put a derisive emphasis on the "in" syllable.

"I'm not with the government," I said, holding his eyes but watching for movement from the pair behind him. I could probably kick through him and scramble for the truck. But if they were armed, I wouldn't make it.

"This the second place you showin' up after somebody did wrong in the off-limits," the leader said. "Ms. Mary said you was helpin'."

It was a statement, and it is my practice not to answer statements that are phrased as questions. Some people think I'm a smart-ass when I do it.

"I'm working with an attorney," I answered. "A friend of the women who have recently died like Ms. Mary's mother."

"Workin' on what? Takin' they money?"

His eyes betrayed no anger in the accusation. They only drifted off my face to the direction of the Thompson house. He was three feet away. I could see the two gold caps on his back teeth when he spoke. His breath was odorless.

"Some people don't think those women died naturally," I said. "Some people think they might have been murdered for their life insurance money."

"Family gets insurance," he said, this time his voice held a sense of dismissal.

"In these cases, some investors bought up the policies. But the longer the women lived, the less the policies were worth."

He kept his eyes on the house for several beats, assessing my words.

"Ms. Thompson ain't dead," he finally said, finding the flaw in my explanation.

"Some people think whoever's doing the killing didn't know she was being visited by Mr. Harris."

One of the two standing close behind now snickered, and the sound pulled at the corner of the leader's mouth.

"Hell," he said. "Everybody know Mr. Harris be visitin'."

When the leader went quiet, the others followed. He shifted his feet and the movement made me flinch, but I covered by asking my own question.

"What did you mean by 'the off-limits?' "

He assessed me again and decided to answer.

"They's parts of the neighborhood that business ain't done," he said. "People here know you don't mess in the places where the old folks live. 'Specially the great-grands."

The two behind were nodding.

"You wanna sell and smoke some shit, they's a place for that. We don't mess with that. They leave the off-limits alone."

I nodded my head. It was an odd truce, but admirable in some way. Again the silence had its time.

"I think the man who's killing the elderly women, including Ms. Mary's mother, is somebody from the neighborhood."

He again gave me the head tilt.

"I see," he suddenly said, changing the mannerisms in his voice to a mocking, officious tone. "Once again it is the notorious black- on-black crime pattern."

I started to think I'd made a mistake in tactics, trying to turn him into a source.

"Look, this guy knows the streets, the layout of the homes, the habits of the people," I said, trying again. "You know how a stranger would stick out here. You're the first ones who would see it. Maybe this guy is someone who moved in years ago, started to fit in."

The leader was staring again at the house, thinking.

"Maybe it's somebody that flashes money around. Acts like everybody's friend so no one suspects," I said.

"He got his needs?" the leader said, catching me off guard. He saw that I didn't understand.

"You know, habits. Dope, women, gamblin'?"

"Hundred-dollar bills," I said, dropping the only signature I had.

Now it was his turned to be confused.

"If he's got habits, he might be paying with hundred-dollar bills," I said.

The leader looked around at his boys. They shook their heads. He turned back to me.

"You got a cell or somethin'?" he said.

I gave him my cell number. He didn't write it down but I got the impression he didn't need to. He stood up and so did I. He was four inches shorter, but the difference didn't seem to phase him like it did some men.

"We'll see, G," he said and then turned and walked away, the others following. Their hands were all back in their pockets, and when they got to the end of the alley they turned left and headed west.

I stayed in the neighborhood, driving, watching, grinding the possibilities. If anyone could get a tip on the hundreds, the local crew trying to keep their pledge to the off-limits zone might. Then again, they could be playing me. I cruised past a dusty playground. The concrete basketball court was empty and unlined, the iron rims bent like the tongues of tired dogs.

I thought of the street games I'd found soon after I'd moved out of South Philly to the town house up near Jefferson Hospital. Down Tenth Street was a one-court park that held a competitive game on the weekend. I'd been playing there for a month, getting into more and more games when the regulars figured out I was willing and able to play defense and could pull a rough rebound as well as anyone on the court. I was often the only white guy there and they started calling me Bobby Jones after the 76ers defensive star.

One Saturday a group of challengers rolled in swaggering. One called game before he was even past the fence and everyone started posturing and trash talking and making their side bets.

When it came time to pick up, the local guy who had next let me sit until his final choice and then made his play: "We take the old white guy make it easy on your ass an' you buck up the bet another Jackson." The new man looked at me, snorted and peeled off another twenty-dollar bill.

I had learned over the years that as the minority on the ball courts the best tactic was to stay obscure, keep your mouth shut, and do the quiet things that win games and keep you playing. The real players are not dumb. They like to win. They'll pick you to play for their own purposes, regardless of color.

We won by six and I had only one basket but more assists and rebounds than anyone else on the court. After the game the local guy winked at me but never said a word. He collected his cash and I assume split it with his boys later. I picked up my ball and went home to get ready for a night shift.

I'd lost my bearings on my trip to the past and looked up at the street sign to realize I was driving east. It was late afternoon, the temperature had crawled up near eighty and I decided to stop in at Kim's. Maybe I was hoping to run into McCane, find an excuse. But the bar was nearly empty. The same young bartender had an old Don Henley tune turned up on the jukebox and I sat in McCane's seat. She brought me an ale.

"Good memory," I said, putting cash on the bar.

"You and the good 'ol boy from Moultrie," she said. "Where is your buddy, anyway? He don't usually miss the TNT movie. Likes all those old ones, you know, like High Plains Drifter and Catch-22 and stuff."

I noticed the sound on the corner television was muted. Henley was singing about all the things he thought he'd figured out that he'd have to learn again. She had the air conditioning turned up high and the lights already low.

"Did you say Moultrie?" I asked. "I thought he was from Charleston?"

"Might have been. But he sure knows about the state pen near Moultrie," she said, working the glassware under the bar even though there wasn't a soul drinking but me.

"Said he was a bull there and I should know. My daddy did some time there when I was a kid."

I wondered why McCane had skipped this part of his resume, not that we were on reminiscing terms.

"Must have been before I met him," I said.

She poured another beer from the tap and took my empty. I watched the lights playing in the bar's back mirrors through my second and left her a five-dollar tip on the way out the door. When I got to the truck I called Billy.

"Did you ever do a full dossier on McCane?" I asked, and it must have been in my voice. Billy was usually steps ahead of me and I had a feeling it got to his pride when he wasn't.