“He told your friend he killed somebody?”
“Of course not.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“But he told him enough.”
“Like what?”
“Drunk talk. Suppose this, suppose that.”
“Suppose what, Danny?”
“Okay, suppose there’s this old fart got something somebody else wants real bad and he won’t part with it? And suppose this something is worth a lotta money? And suppose…”
“This is our man talking?”
“This is him. Suppose somebody’s willing to pay a person five large to get rid of the old man and make it look like an accident? And suppose… ”
“Did he use that word? Accident?”
“Yeah.”
“And the price was five grand?”
“The same five he brought into the poker game.”
“When did he tell your friend all this?”
“Saturday night. After the game. They went back to his hotel room, had a few drinks, smoked a few joints.”
“Who supplied them?”
“The drinks?”
“The drinks, the pot.”
“The hitter. It was his party. I gotta tell you something, Steve. When a guy makes a big score, and then he quadruples it in a card game, he wants to talk about it, you dig? He’s proud of it. That’s the way these guys’ minds work. They want to tell you how great they are. My friend lost his shirt in that game Saturday night. Well, winners like to shit all over losers. So your hitter took pity on my friend, asked him to share a bottle and a couple of joints with him so he could tell him how fuckin terrific he is, gettin five grand to dust an old fart.”
“But he didn’t tell him that.”
“The five grand, yes. The actual dusting, no.”
“Then you’ve got nothing to sell.”
“Oh, I’ve got plenty to sell. Remember what you told me on the phone? You asked did I hear anything on this old man got doped with R2 before somebody hung him in the closet. That ain’t the kind of detail a person forgets, Steve. Well, before my friend left the hotel room-I think they had sex, by the way. My friend and the hitter. He’s gay, my friend.
Anyway, the hitter handed him a little present. A gift for the loser, you know? A consolation prize. Said it’d help his sex life. Grinning, right? It’ll help your sex life, Harpo, give it a try. That’s my friend’s name, Harpo. So Harpo figured the guy was laying a Viagra cap on him. But instead, it was this.” Danny reached into his coat pocket. He opened his hand. A blisterpack strip of white tablets was on the palm, the word Roche echoing over and again across its face. “Roach,” Danny said. “Same as your hangman used.”
“Who gave you that?”
“Harpo.”
“Harpo what?”
“Marx,” Danny said, and grinned like a barracuda.
“Let me get this straight.”
“Sure.”
“Poker game Saturday night…”
“Right on Lewiston Avenue.”
“Guy who killed Andrew Hale comes into the game with five grand, leaves it with twenty. Invites your friend Harpo up for a drink, some pot, a little sex, starts boasting about the hit, lays a strip of roach on him before they part company.”
“You’ve got it.”
“And you say the hitter’s leaving town the day after tomorrow?”
“From what I understand.”
“This isn’t any high-pressured bullshit, is it, Danny?”
“Me? High-pressured?”
“I mean, he really is going back to Houston this Wednesday?”
“Is what Harpo told me.”
“And he also told you the guy’s name…”
“He did.”
“… and where he’s staying.”
“That’s right.”
“Out of the goodness of his heart.”
“He’s a friend. Also, I’ll probably pass a little something on to him if your lieutenant comes through.”
“I’ll have to get back to you on this,” Carella said.
“Sure, take your time,” Danny said. “You got till Wednesday.”
“I’ll let you know,” Carella said, and started to move out of the booth, suddenly remembering how cold it was outside on this eighth day of November. You got to be forty, and suddenly it was cold out there. He was sliding across the leatherette seat, swinging his legs out, starting to rise, Danny doing the same thing on the other side of the table, when the first shot pierced the din of the abnormally crowded room, silencing it in an instant.
Even before the second shot sounded, people were diving under tables. It took a moment for Carella to spot the two gunmen advancing swiftly toward the booth, one black, one white, equal opportunity employment. It took another moment for him to realize Danny Gimp was their target.
