George Pelecanos - The Night Gardener

'You dippin out?' said Brock.

'I'm done, Romeo.'

'You ain't got the heart for it no more.'

'Killin and robbing is easy. It's the consequences… I don't want no part of it, man.'

'We almost there,' said Brock. 'Least you can do is stay till we cut it up. Take your share and then, if you want to, go.'

'That's blood money. I don't want it. And I don't want to be here to watch you go down.'

' Shit . Me?'

'You don't think it's gonna happen? Even your boy Red Fury exceeded his grasp. When he was getting stabbed to death in that prison yard, do you think he was boastin? Was he prideful of his rep? Nah, cuz. He was cryin for his mama, most likely. The way all men do in the end.'

'But I'm just getting started.'

'You already done,' said Gaskins. 'A guy like you has success against chumps and kids, but there's a ceiling. You make a score like you did the other day, you start spending, and then you got a standard of living to maintain. So you gonna steal bigger and bigger until you step on someone's toes you shouldn't have. That someone then puts a contract out on you and, bam, it's over. Hell, boy, you might already have sealed your fate. You took that girl with you, you made a big mistake. That Broad-ass fella got to know where she works at. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday some killer's gonna follow her out to this house. Whoever's fifty grand was you stole, most likely. So, yeah, cousin. You done.'

'Good thing I love you, man. I wouldn't let no one else talk to me that way.'

'I love you, too. But I can't stay.'

Gaskins got up off the couch and hugged Romeo Brock. He broke free and picked up his duffel bag.

'Take care of my mother,' said Brock.

'You know I will,' said Gaskins. 'That's my heart.'

Brock watched through the front window as Gaskins passed under the tulip poplar and walked on the gravel road toward Hill.

Brock could still catch up to Conrad if he ran to him now. Talk some sense into him, stop him from leaving. But he stood there instead, smoking his cigarette and tapping its ash to the hardwood floor.

Ramone entered the video monitor room at VCB with a fried-chicken sandwich and can of soda in hand. It was late in the afternoon, and he had not eaten lunch. Rhonda had processed Aldan Tinsley while Ramone made the carryout run.

Antonelli sat in a chair, his feet up on a table, his ankle holster and Glock fully visible. On screen 1, Bo Green was going at Dominique Lyons, who apparently had been informed of Darcia Johnson's on-camera testimony and cooperation. His face was contorted in anger, and he had been leg-ironed to the stool. Bo Green sat back, his hands folded on his belly, his expression neutral, his voice calm and soft.

'Bo just told Dominique that we've got the man who sold him the gun,' said Antonelli. 'And that that same gun was the weapon used in a homicide the night before. Check him out. Our boy don't look so pimpin now.'

Onscreen, Dominique leaned forward and punched his fist on the table.

'Bullshit,' said Dominique. 'Y'all can't charge me on no other murder. I ain't stupid enough to buy a gun got a body attached to it.'

'Beano told you it was clean?' said Bo Green.

'Damn right that motherfucker did.'

'Where'd he get the gun, then?'

'I don't know. Ask his punk ass where he got it.'

'We plan to,' said Green.

Antonelli dropped his feet to the floor and nodded his chin at screen 2, where Rhonda sat with Aldan Tinsley. 'Your booster's not saying much.'

'He will,' said Ramone.

'Rhonda hurt?'

'That door barely touched her. She went back like she'd been hit by a Mack truck.'

'Woman's got acting skills.'

'Along with everything else.'

They watched Rhonda go back and forth with Aldan Tinsley and make no progress. Ramone ate his chicken sandwich with the ferocity of an animal, killed his soda, and tossed the can in the trash.

'Think I'll go in,' said Ramone.

Antonelli watched the screen, saw Rhonda turn her head at a knock on the door. Then Ramone entered the box. He had a seat next to his partner and placed his hands on the table.

For the third time that day, Ramone loosened his tie. It was warm in the box, and he could smell his own body odor in the room. He had played basketball in these clothes a few hours earlier. He had wrestled with Tinsley. He felt as if he had been wearing this suit and dress shirt for a week.

'Hello, Aldan,' said Ramone.

Aldan Tinsley nodded. His lips were swollen from where he'd hit the floor. He looked like a duck.

'You comfortable?'

'My mouth hurts,' said Tinsley. 'I think you loosed up one of my teeth.'

'Assault on a police officer is a very serious charge.'

'I apologized to the detective here. Did n't I?'

'You did,' said Rhonda.

'I ain't mean to hit her with that door. It's just, I was upset. Y'all ain't say why you were there to see me, and I been having too many run-ins with the law lately. I'm just tired of it. Tired of being harassed, too. But listen, I wasn't lookin to hurt no one.'

'Serious as it is,' said Ramone, 'the assault charge is the least of your worries right now.'

'I want a lawyer.'

'Dominique Lyons. You know the name?'

'I don't recall it.'

'Five minutes ago Dominique Lyons told us that he purchased a gun from you on Wednesday night. A thirty-eight Special. The girl who was with him when he purchased the revolver has confirmed that it was you who made the sale.'

Tinsley's lip trembled.

'The gun was used by Lyons in the commission of a homicide later that night.'

'You ain't hear me? I want… a fucking lawyer.'

'I don't blame you,' said Ramone. 'I'd get a whole team of lawyers, I was you. Felony gun charges, accessory to homicides…'

'Man, I ain't did no motherfuckin homicides. I buy things and I sell things. I ain't no killer.'

Ramone grinned. 'I said homicides . Beano.'

'Nah. Uh-uh.'

'I wonder if you can tell us your whereabouts this past Tuesday night.'

'Tuesday night?'

'Tuesday,' said Rhonda.

'I visited this girl on Tuesday night,' said Tinsley, relief at the change of direction plain on his face.

'What's her name?'

'Flora Tolson. I been knowin her awhile. She can, like, verify that I was there.'

'Where?' said Ramone.

'She stay up off Kansas Avenue.'

'Where off Kansas?' said Rhonda.

'I don't know exactly. Above Blair Road.'

Ramone and Rhonda exchanged a glance.

'What were you doing there?' said Rhonda.

'I was gyratin. What you think?'

'And you left her house what time?'

'It was late. We had a long visit. After midnight, I expect.'

'And what, you drove straight home?'

'No, I…' Tinsley stopped talking.

'You walked,' said Ramone.

'On account of that DWI you're carryin on your sheet,' said Rhonda.

'You got no driver's license,' said Ramone.

'Gyratin player like you, walkin to your dates,' said Rhonda.

'I want a lawyer,' said Tinsley.

'And the way you would walk to your home on Milmarson,' said Ramone, 'is through that community garden they got on Oglethorpe Street.'

'Fuck y'all,' said Tinsley. 'I ain't kill that kid.'

'What kid?' said Ramone.

'I'll take a gun charge,' said Tinsley. 'But not a murder.'

Ramone leaned forward. ' What kid ?'

Tinsley's shoulders relaxed. 'I found that gun.'

'Found it where?'

'In that community garden they got on Oglethorpe. I always cut through it when I come back from Flora's. It's the shortest way to my mother's house.'

'Tell us what happened.'

'I was just walkin through. I came up on this thing, like, lyin in the path. I thought it was a man sleeping, at first. But when I looked down and let my eyes adjust, I saw that it was a boy. His eyes were open and there was blood around his head. It was obvious that he was dead.'