A: I picked up my valises, and also the empty container, and I started walking toward where Natalie was going to pick me up. I dropped the container in a garbage bin outside one of the warehouses. Natalie was already there when I got to Avenue K and Ulster. By that time I could hear fire engines coming.
Q: And then?
A: We went out for a bite, and then we went to a movie.
Q: What movie did you see?
A: I’d seen it before, when it was first playing. But it’s around again, and Natalie wanted to see it.
Q: What movie is that?
A:
I drove Henry downtown to where he’d left the truck. The rain had let up, but the sky was still overcast, and the night was very black. We had talked about the case on the way from the Twelfth, and now Henry said, “He shoulda just killed his wife. That was the easy way to do it.”
“He hadn’t planned on murdering anyone,” I said. “That just came up.”
“Well, you go around stealing dead bodies, you got to
I waited until he had started the truck, and then I drove off. I found an all-night diner three blocks away, got out of the car, and phoned Maria. She answered on the second ring.
“Ben?” she said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Maria,” I said. “May I come there?”
“Of course,” she said.
“I may be a little while. I want to go home first, check on Edgar Allan.”
She hesitated. “Are you keeping him?” she asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it. He’s not a bad person.”
“Ben?” she said.
“Yes, Maria?”
She had heard the tone of my voice, she knew what I would answer even before she asked. “You solved it, didn’t you?” she said.
“Yes,” I said. “I solved it.”
“You poor darling,” she said.