The Hard Bounce - страница 8

The cop decided he’d had enough of the silent partner routine. He quickly came over to the table. “What do you mean she was just here?”

“What the hell do you think it means, Chief Wiggum?” I smacked the back of my fingers across the envelope. “She was just here.”

Junior came in through the back. “Nothing. There’s a few band members and a couple of groupies downstairs, but not this one. Who is this?”

The cop said, “Where? Who was she with?”

“Who is this?” Junior asked again.

“I don’t know,” I said to them both.

“Then why the fuck am I looking for her?” Junior asked.

“Where was she?” The cop again.

“Hey!” I yelled at the cop. “Step off! Until you introduce yourself, you can blow me with the interrogation.” His face darkened, but he shut up for the moment. “Junior, go back downstairs. Show that picture to everyone down there and ask them if they know her, and if anybody does, where she went and who she was with.”

Junior threw his hands up and sighed. “Fine.”

I turned on the cop. “You. Who are you?”

He pointed a sausage finger at Kelly. “I’m with her.” Kelly just stood at the table, tense and unsure.

“I didn’t ask you who you were with, pal. I asked you who you were.”

Veins bulged on his forehead. “Danny Barnes.” He said his name like it should mean something. It didn’t. “And you’d better watch your mouth, boy.” He meant it. I suddenly remembered the man was a cop. And according to his bulgy jacket, an armed one.

“Good. Thank you. Now that we’re all introduced, why don’t one of you fill me in on what the fuck this is all about.” Relative calm restored itself, and the three of us sat back down at the table. “Question number one,” I said. “Who is this girl?”

Barnes answered. “Her name’s Cassandra.”

“Cassandra what? Just Cassandra? Does Cassandra have a last name or is she like Cher?”

I thought I could hear Barnes’s teeth grinding. “As I’m sure Ms. Reese has explained to you, last names are out of the question at the moment. We need to respect her father’s request for privacy.”

“Lemme tell you something, I don’t need to respect a goddamn thing. Ms. Reese hasn’t told me a whole hell of a lot as of yet, so why don’t you, Danny?”

Kelly shifted uncomfortably in her seat but stayed silent. Barnes had taken control of their end of the meeting. She seemed more than content to let him have it.

“Look, Malone, you’ll know everything you need to know when you need to know it. Until then, you’ll just have to make do.”

I laughed. “With what? A first name and a picture? Are you shitting me?”

Junior returned from the basement towing a protesting kid with dreadlocks and bad acne by the back of his Mudvayne shirt. “This little jackass was smoking a joint in the downstairs bathroom. He knows the girl.” Junior pulled another chair over and dropped him in it hard. The kid tried to shake it off with a defiant shoulder roll. “What’s your problem, man?” he said to Junior, feeling safer in the company of witnesses.

“Look at me,” I said to him. “Listen carefully. You’re going to answer my questions and that’s it. Now take a look at this guy.” I thumbed at Barnes. Barnes straightened up, confused at where this was going.

The kid looked him up and down. “Who, the cop?”

Barnes frowned and went red. I did my best not to chuckle. “Yeah, the cop. If you don’t answer me, he’s going to drop your ass in juvie.” I turned to Barnes. “What will possession get a kid his age? Three years?”

Barnes finally caught on. “Uh… five. Minimum.”

The kid’s fearless facade shattered. “It was just one joint, man! Please! I don’t know anything about Cassie.”

Hell, just knowing her name, he had as much info as I’d been given. “Relax. What’s your name?”

“Paul.”

“All right, Paul. How do you know Cassie?”

“I see her around the Square and stuff. She was just here for the show. What did she do?” He meant Harvard Square, a traditional hangout for the young punk kids and skate rats.

“No questions, Paul. Answers.” I thumbed at Barnes again. Paul nodded quickly. “Who was she here with?”

“I dunno. I think she was alone. She wasn’t with that creepy dude she’s always going off with.” If Barnes was a German shepherd, his ears would have shot straight up.