The Real Cool Killers Part 19

Grave Digger slapped him out of his seat, reached down and lifted him from the floor by his coat lapels and slammed him back into his seat.

"Now say that again," he suggested.

The boy didn't speak.

Grave Digger waited for a moment until they had settled down and were quiet, then he returned to his bar stool.

Neither Big Smiley nor Ready had moved; neither had looked at the other.

"You didn't answer my question," Grave Digger said.

"When he took Sissie off Sheik stayed in his seat," Big Smiley said.

"What kind of a G.o.dd.a.m.ned answer is that?"

"That's the way it was, Chief."

"Where did he take her?"

Rivers of sweat poured from Big Smiley's face. He sighed.

"Downstairs," he said.

"Downstairs! In here?"

"Yas suh. They's stairs in the back room."

"What's downstairs?"

"Just a cellar like any other bar's got. It's full of bottles an' old bar fixtures and beer barrels. The compression unit for the draught beer is down there and the refrigeration unit for the ice boxes. That's all. Some rats and we keeps a cat."

"No bed or bedroom?"

"Naw suh."

"He whipped them down there in that kind of place?"

"I don't know what he done."

"Couldn't you hear them?"

"Naw suh. You can't hear nothin' through this floor. You could shoot off your pistol down there and you couldn't hear it up here."

Grave Digger looked at Ready. "Did you know that?"

Ready began to wilt again. "Naw suh, I swear 'fore --"

"Sit up straight, G.o.d d.a.m.n it! I don't want to have to tell you again."

He turned back to Big Smiley. "Did he know it?"

"Not so far as I know, unless he told him."

"Is Sissie or Sugart.i.t among those girls over there?"

"Naw suh," Big Smiley said without looking.

Grave Digger showed him the p.o.r.nographic photos.

"Know any of them?"

Big Smiley leafed through them slowly without a change of expression. He pulled out three photos. "I've seen them," he said.

"What're their names?"

"I don't know only two of 'em." He separated them gingerly with his fingertips as though they were coated with external poison. "Them two. This here one is called Good Booty, t'other one is called Honey Bee. This one here, I never heard her name called."

"What are their family names?"

"I don't know none of 'em's square monicker's."

"He took these downstairs?"

"Just them two."

"Who came here with them?"

"They came by theyself, most of 'em did."

"Did he have appointments with them?"

"Naw suh, not with most of 'em, anyway. They just come in here and laid for him."

"Did they come together?"

"Sometime, sometime not."

"You just said they came by themselves."

"I meant they didn't bring no boy friends."

"Had he known them before?"

"I couldn't say. When he come in if he seed any of 'em he just made his choice."

"He knew they hung around here looking for him?"

"Yas suh. When he started comin' here he was already known."

"When was that?"

"Three or four months ago. I don't remember 'zactly."

"When did he start taking them downstairs?"

"'Bout two months ago."

"Did you suggest it?"

"Naw suh, he propositioned me."

"How much did he pay you?"

"Twenty-five bucks."

"You're talking yourself into Sing-Sing."

"Maybe."

Grave Digger examined the note addressed to GB and signed Bee that he'd taken from the dead man's effects, then pa.s.sed it over to Big Smiley.

"That came from the pocket of the man you cut," he said.

Big Smiley read the note carefully, his lips spelling out each word. His breath came out in a sighing sound.

"Then he must be a relation of her," he said.

"You didn't know that?"

"Naw suh, I swear 'fore G.o.d. If I knowed that I wouldn't 'ave chopped him with the axe."

"What exactly did he say to Galen when he started toward him with the knife?"

Big Smiley wrinkled his forehead. "I don't 'member 'zactly. Something 'bout if he found a white mother-raper trying to diddle his little gals he'd cut his throat. But I just took that to mean colored women in general. You know how our folks talk. I didn't figure he meant his own kin."

"Maybe some other girl's father had the same idea with a pistol," Grave Digger suggested.

"Could be," Big Smiley said cautiously.

"So evidently he's the father and he's got more girls than one."

"Looks like it."

"He's dead."

Big Smiley's expression didn't change. "I'm sorry to hear it."

"You look like it. Who went your bail?"

"My boss."

Grave Digger looked at him soberly. "Who's covering for you?" he asked.

"n.o.body."

"I know that's a lie but I'm going to pa.s.s it. Who was covering for Galen?"

"I don't know."

"I'm going to pa.s.s that lie too. What was he doing here tonight?"

"He was looking for Sugart.i.t."

"Did he have a date with her?"

"I don't know. He said she was coming by with Sissie."

"Did they come by after he'd left?"

"Naw suh."

"Okay, Smiley, this one is for keeps. Who is Sugart.i.t's father?"

"I don't know none of 'em's kinfolks nor neither where they lives, Chief, like I told you before. It didn't make no difference."

"You must have some idea."

"Naw suh, it's just like I say, I never thought about it. You don't never think 'bout where a gal lives in Harlem, 'less you goin' home with her. What do anybody's address mean up here?"

"Don't let me catch you in a lie, Smiley."

"I ain't lying, Chief. I went with a woman for a whole year once and never did know where she lived. Didn't care neither."

"Who are the Real Cool Moslems?"

"Them punks! Just a kid gang around here."

"Where do they hang out?"

"I don't know 'zactly. Somewhere down the street."

"Do they come in here?"

"Only three of 'em sometime. Sheik -- I think he's they leader -- and a boy called Choo-Choo and the one they call Bones."

"Where do they live?"

"Somewhere near here, but I don't know 'zactly. The boy what keeps the pigeons oughtta know. He lives a coupla blocks down the street on t'other side. I don't know his name but he got a pigeon coop on the roof."