Mark and Quinn go to the apartment house where the kid had lived a few years before to have a “little chat” with the landlord.
“You ain’t cops,” he declared, his tone belligerent.
“We never said we were.” Mark’s words were as bland as my smile had been. He exchanged a glance with me, no doubt finding it as interesting as I that this landlord’s mind went in that direction.
“Well, go away. I ain’t talking to you. My dinner’s getting cold.” Murchison attempted to slam the door shut. Mark decided against that. He caught it on his shoulder and gave a shove. “Hey! You can’t do that!”
“And yet I am.”
“I got friends!”
“I’m sure.” I stepped forward, crowding the man back. “As I said, we want to talk to you.”
“About what? No, y’know what? I don’t fucking want to know. I ain’t done nothing wrong.” His gaze darted from me to Mark as Mark shut the door and twisted the lock.
The overpowering odor of cabbage inundated the place, almost like an inescapable miasma.
An apartment door opened, and a blowsy woman poked her bleached and permed head out. “Everything okay, Harv? You want I should call the cops?”
“Everything is fine, ma’am,” I assured her.
At the same time, Murchison exclaimed, “Jesus, no!”
She shrugged, ran her gaze up and down my body, and winked at me. Fortunately, she didn’t say anything, just fluffed her hair and closed her door.
Mark scowled, and I rubbed his arm before I turned back to Murchison.
“Suppose you take us to somewhere a little more private?” I suggested.
He led the way to an apartment at the back of the house and threw open the door, resentment in every movement. “I got nothing to say.”
We followed him in, and Mark leaned against the door and crossed his arms.
“That’s all right,” I said. “I’ll do the talking.” I stalked toward him, and he backed up until he hit a sofa and dropped down onto it. “Two years ago, you had a woman and a boy staying here. Their name was Little.”
Something flickered in his eyes for a moment before it vanished. “This is an apartment house.” He sneered. “I rent out rooms to lots of people. You can’t expect me to remember some broad and her brat.”
“You’re sure you don’t remember the name?”
“I said no, didn’t I?”
“Now, that’s too bad.” Mark cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers. “I guess I’ll have to see if I can jog your memory.”
Murchison shied away as far from Mark as he could get, which wasn’t far. “Wait a minute. I remember now.” He began to sweat.
“I thought you might,” I murmured.
He started, as if he’d forgotten I was there, and laughed half-heartedly. “No, like I said, lots of people come through here. It took me a minute to remember, is all. Yeah, she was here. It was only for a couple of months though.”
“Why did she leave?”
“I don’t know. When I woke up, she was gone… Uh…” Murchison turned pale, and he swallowed so heavily his Adam’s apple bobbed.
That was interesting. “Keep talking.”
“She came on to me.”
Mark let his gaze run over the unkempt man. “A pretty woman like that?”
He puffed out his chest. “All the broads want me.”
“Right. Why did those men come looking for her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.” I strolled around the room, studying the sports memorabilia and knickknacks that were dust collectors.
He scowled at me. “What do you care?”
“I care because she’s dead, and we’re looking for someone to charge with her murder.”
“You can’t put that on me! If she died… I didn’t have nothing to do with it. I wasn’t even there.”
“Even where?”
“Where… wherever she got bumped off.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m telling you, I been here all this time.”
“All what time?”
“Since she took off two years ago. And whatever happened to her… it wasn’t my fault. Okay, look. I tried to call the men who wanted her, but I couldn’t. The phone didn’t work. I had to get the phone company out here, and do you know how hard that was on a holiday weekend?” His shoulders stiffened, and he looked outraged. “The bitch tricked me. She said she was going back to her apartment, but instead she and the brat took off. I tried to call you, but like I said, my phone was out of order, and that fucking repair ticket cost me a fortune.”
“Are you going to tell me the money you received didn’t cover it?”
His gaze became shifty. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
