Robert B. Parker’s Damned If You Do

41

“You lied to me,” Jesse said.

“I didn’t,” Jimmy Sloan said.

They were standing in bungalow twelve, the unit in which Janet Becquer had been killed. Although efforts had been made to clean and sanitize it, the stench of death still hovered in the fetid air.

“She moved in on March twenty-ninth,” Jesse said.

Sloan didn’t say anything.

“She was here for more than a month before she was murdered. You lied.”

“I was boffing her,” Sloan said.

“She was living here for free and you were having sex with her?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“I didn’t murder her, Jesse.”

“I don’t believe you did,” Jesse said. “But you lied. Why?”

“I promised her.”

“You promised her what?”

“That I wouldn’t tell.”

“That you wouldn’t tell anyone she was living here?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“She was doing some business here and didn’t want anyone to think she was living here, too.”

“Which anyone?”

“What?”

“Who didn’t she want knowing she was living here?”

“I don’t know.”

Jesse stepped up to Sloan and grabbed him by the throat.

“Quit lying to me, Jimmy,” he said.

Sloan didn’t say anything.

Jesse tightened his two-handed grip. Sloan’s face turned a bright red. He gasped. Jesse let him go. Sloan massaged his neck and started to cough.

“You didn’t need to do that, Jesse,” he said.

“Who,” Jesse said.

Sloan hesitated. Jesse reached for him again. Sloan threw his hands up and backed away.

“It was Walker,” he said.

“Thomas Walker?”

“Yes.”

“Walker visited her here?”

“Yes.”

“Often?”

“A number of times.”

Jesse didn’t say anything.

“I loved her, Jesse.”

“Come off it, Jimmy. She was screwing you in exchange for free rent.”

“Don’t demean her, Jesse. She was a wonderful woman.”

“What did Walker want with her?”

“I don’t know,” Sloan said. “But she was afraid of him. Whenever he was due here, she signed the register. So he could see it.”

“You mean she made it appear as if she had just checked in on the days when Walker came around?”

“She didn’t want him thinking she was living here.”

“And you made it possible for her to do that? You doctored the register.”

“Yes.”

“And added the phony names.”

“Yes.”

“And put her in different rooms each time.”

“Yes.”

“And he came here three times before she was killed,” Jesse said.

Sloan nodded.

“She registered as Jane Beck three times. And as Janice Becker once. Who came to see Janice Becker?”

“Another black guy. Fat guy.”

“Fat Boy Nelly?”

“Yeah. Nelly,” Sloan said. “She called him Nelly.”

“He was here only once?”

“I think so.”

“Do you have any idea of the business these men had with her?”

“No,” Sloan said.

Jesse took a step toward him.

“Don’t lie to me, Jimmy.”

“They wanted to pimp for her.”

“And she didn’t want them to?”

“She didn’t want Walker to. She was afraid of Walker.”

“Why?”

“He threatened her.”

“Threatened her how?”

“She didn’t tell me everything, Jesse.”

“Threatened her how?”

“She wouldn’t say.”

“Did he threaten her life?”

“She was afraid of him.”

“Was it Walker who showed up on the day she died?”

“I don’t know.”

“How could you not know?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. I was in the bar. It was crowded. I was busy. The guy came and went. I never saw him.”

“This is hard for me to believe, Jimmy.”

“I’m not lying this time, Jesse.”

“And then you found her dead?”

“Later. When she didn’t come to the bar. I got worried.”

“What about Nelly?”

“What about him?”

“What did she say about him?”

“She said he was a queer. That he was different from Walker. Guys like Walker not only wanted to pimp her out, they wanted to fuck her, too. Not Nelly, though.”

“Did she want Nelly to pimp for her?”

“More than she wanted Walker.”

“Did she make a deal with him?”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“I know.”

Jesse didn’t say anything.

“She said she wanted to work alone,” Sloan said. “Here. At the motel. She said I would protect her. That she felt safe here with me. She knew I loved her.”

“She believed that you could protect her?”

“Yeah.”

“Boy, was she mistaken.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s dead, isn’t she,” Jesse said.