Bad Chili

8

I stopped at a pay phone and called Charlie. Before I could tell him the state of Leonard’s house, he said, “I hope you got something good.”

“It’s not that good. It’s about Leonard’s house. I just went by there. It’s been ransacked.”

“Maybe Leonard did it himself. Came back, grabbed some stuff he needed, made a mess.”

“I didn’t say it was messy. I said it was ransacked.”

I described the place to him. He was silent. If he had an opinion he didn’t voice it. Just before I started collecting Social Security, he said, “You need to come up with Leonard.”

“I’m working on it. Am I to think you no longer think he got nailed by bikers?”

“I think all kinds of ways. It keeps me from getting bored. And if you know where Leonard is, you ought to tell me.”

“So far, nothing.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you, Hap?”

“Gracious, no.”

“I’m not fuckin’ around here. This is some serious business.”

“I know that.”

“You put him up, hide him out, that’s a crime. You know that. Right?”

“Of course.”

“Are you talkin’ through a cardboard tube?”

“It’s my cold. It’s getting worse.”

“My cousin, he had a cold like that, neglected it. Fucker died. You takin’ medicine?”

“I’ve bought some, but no, I haven’t taken it yet. And I don’t believe you had a cousin who died of a cold.”

“Maybe it was my mother’s cousin.”

“You really aren’t that concerned about my cold, are you?”

“Hey, you’re sick, I’m sick.”

“You think you’ll soften me up, then I’ll confide something to you, don’t you?”

“You said it, I didn’t.”

“Let me ask you something. Raul. Is he a suspect in this case?”

“Everybody is a suspect. I’m thinking of running my wife in.”

“Come on, Charlie. You got Raul in custody? Know where he is?”

“No, and if you know where he is, you’d best tell me.”

“I just called ’cause I thought you should know about the house. You might want to go over there, bring some of your people, see if you can find a real clue. You could even bring your little Dick Tracy fingerprint kit.”

“You probably fucked up anything might have been there to find.”

“I don’t think so. I know I’m not a real policeman like you-”

“You’re not even a stuffed animal in a police hat.”

“Very true. But unlike you, I don’t have to step in shit to know a pile when I see it. And there is some shit goin’ on here that’s got nothing to do with Leonard. Not directly. At least I don’t think so.”

“You don’t sound all that certain to me. Maybe you got to step in shit after all.”

“Could be. But I did find a couple clues. You might take note of some footprints out back. They look to belong to Andre the Giant.”

I told him about my trek through the woods to the road, what I found there. I told him what I had touched. I said, “By the way, as you well know, it won’t be any surprise to find my fingerprints all over that house. And here’s an idea, and this is just an idea, mind you, and I don’t want you to take offense since it’s from a layman and you’re a real policeman with a badge and gun and everything, but you take fingerprints, what I’d do is see you have any other than Leonard’s, Raul’s, or mine.”

“My,” Charlie said, “you’re a regular Boston Blackie. This stuff about fingerprints. And that footprint business. Shit like that’ll bust the case wide open. All we got to do is make a cast of those footprints, make a shoe from that. Then we can go door to door and have people try it on. Shoe fits, we run the fucker in… All right, Hap, get this. Time is running out, and I better not find you’re fuckin’ around on me.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Charlie.”

“The hell you wouldn’t.”

“Charlie, you really got to either smoke more so you’ll be less irritable, or you got to quit smoking so you can get some poontang and be less irritable.”

“What I’d like is to fuck like a snake, then afterwards smoke like a chimney. Hap, you listen here. We’re buddies, but when it comes to murder, that don’t buy much. Hear me talkin’?”

“I hear you. I keep hearin’ you. What the hell is with you? I still think you’re pissed about Kmart closing down.”

“It’s not an easy thing to get over. But don’t change the subject. I’ll make sure Leonard gets as fair a shake as he can get. If it’s self-defense, I’ll do all I can to get him off. But I’ll tell you now. I’m comin’ after him, and if I discover you’ve had anything to do with hiding him, then I’m coming after you too.”

“You said I had twenty-four hours. My understanding of that was I found him during that time, could straighten out things, you wouldn’t bother me. Even if I did know where he was. Isn’t that right? I had twenty-four hours, didn’t I?”

“ Had. You got a lot less now. But I also said no promises if things changed around here.”

“Has something changed?”

Charlie let me hear the electricity in the phone for a while.

“Well, has it?” I asked.

“Just find Leonard,” Charlie said, “and listen close. I’m coming after you,” and he hung up.

I thought about that a moment, then understood what Charlie was trying to tell me. I called Leonard. I let it ring a couple times, hung up. Let it ring a couple times, hung up. Then repeated it. I hoped he’d realize it was some kind of code.

The third set of rings someone picked up the phone. I said, “This is me. If that’s you, might I suggest a stroll in the forest?”

The phone went dead. I took a moment to wonder if my phone was tapped, decided things had happened too quickly for that. I was okay. I was just feeling a streak of secret agent.

I pushed out of the phone booth and walked over to my truck. Down the road a piece I saw a yellow ’66 Pontiac parked next to the curb. There was a man sitting in it wearing a cowboy hat. He didn’t look like any of the cops I knew. He didn’t look like a cop. He didn’t look like anybody I knew, period. He didn’t seem to be watching me.

The phone booth was next to a 7-Eleven store. I went inside and bought a Diet Coke in a plastic bottle and a bag of peanuts. I drank the Diet Coke down a bit, poured peanuts into it, and went outside. I climbed into my truck and looked in my mirror. The Pontiac was gone.

Probably just some guy waiting for someone in one of the houses along the street. Or maybe he’d stopped to check a map. Pull his dick. Anything. I had to lighten up. I was starting to be one paranoid sonofabitch.

I drove away, an eye on the mirror, watching for yellow Pontiacs or low-flying stealth aircraft with radar.