Soul Circus

“I don’t know him,” said Stefanos.

“We’re kinda lookin’ for him on something else,” said Strange. “No one’s go

“The cops’ll get him.”

“We want to get to him first. It’s crazy, I know. But it’ll make us feel better if we do.”

“Go out and find some rumors, then,” said Stefanos. “You guys ever used to congregate at a liquor store or a beer market when you were younger, to find out where the action was for the night?”

“Country Boy in Layhill,” said Qui

“For me it was Morris Miller’s,” said Stefanos. “In Anacostia it’s Mart Liquors, at Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Or any bank of pay phones. The gas stations are good for that. Bring plenty of cash, and don’t forget the diplomacy. And humility, too.”

“Fuck humility,” said Qui

“Suit yourself. Me, I want to be around at the end of the race.” Stefanos looked from one man to the other. “You guys are busy.”

“The gun in that shooting last night,” said Strange, “it matches a gun used by Mario Durham in another killing.”

“Like I say, I don’t know him.” Stefanos shrugged. “My advice would be to follow the gun.”

“I’ve been thinking the same way.”

Stefanos picked up his pack of ’Boros, then put it back down. He looked at Qui

“I got cleared,” said Qui

“People say I am. To a fault sometimes.”

Qui

“You look like you could use a smoke,” said Strange to Stefanos.

“I’ve got to get going anyway.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

Stefanos slid out of the booth and shook Qui

“You, too.”

Stefanos stopped and looked at the photograph mounted on the wall by the front door. In it, a tall black man stood by the grill beside a short Greek, both of them in aprons. Stefanos saw the resemblance of the Greek to his larger son behind the counter; in the tall man he saw Derek Strange.

“That’s him,” said Strange. “That’s my father right there.”

“Yasou, Derek,” said Billy Georgelakos from across the store.

“Yasou, Vasili,” said Strange, pointing to the booth where Qui

“You speak Greek?” said Stefanos.

“A few key phrases. I know what you folks call a black man – the nice word, I mean. I know how to call someone a jerk-off, and I know the word for, uh, pussy.”

“Prove it.”

“Mavros, malaka, and moonee.”

“The three M’s. You’re just about fluent.”

“It’ll come in handy, I happen to get over to Athens for the Olympics.”

Out on Ke

“Tastes good, huh?”

“After a spicy meal like that? Damn right.” Stefanos gave Strange the once-over and smiled. “Strange Investigations. I drive by your place all the time.”

“You know my sign?”

“Magnifying glass over half the letters. How’d you ever come up with that?”

“That logo with the guy smoking the pipe, wearing that hat’s got two bills on it? It was taken.”

“Maybe I’ll stop by sometime.”

“If the light in the sign’s turned on, I’m in. You’re welcome anytime.”

“How about your partner? Think he wants me around?”

“I think he liked you, to tell you the truth. Terry’s carrying some baggage with him, is what it is.”

“Aren’t we all.” Stefanos dragged on his cigarette, looked at it, and hit it again.

“Just so you know, you and me got some similar opinions about guns. I figure, we sat down in a bar together, we might have a lot to talk about.”

“I’m trying to stay out of bars. But I wouldn’t mind hooking up with you sometime.”

“You know, I’m working this death penalty case for a reason.”

“Another thing we agree on. It’s why I’m on the Corey Graves thing. The federal prosecutors were looking to make it a capital case and they just got the go-ahead from the attorney general.”

“I heard.”

“There’s been too much death in this city already, Derek. I’ve had enough of it.”

“I have, too.”

“The neighborhoods you guys work, your partner’s gotta be careful, with that personality of his. He shows some smarts and less emotion, he’s go

“I tell him all the time.”

“I remember what that guy went through, with the newspapers and television and all, after he shot that other cop. He’s got some shit flying around in his head; it’s understandable. For what it’s worth, I liked him, too.”

“Don’t forget to stop by. Ninth and Upshur.”

“I’ll be around.”

“Thanks for your help, Nick.”

Stefanos shook Strange’s outstretched hand and said, “Right.”

Strange watched him walk toward a Mopar muscle car, a white-over-red Dodge with aftermarket Magnum 500 wheels. He listened to the cook of the Detroit engine and went back into the diner. Qui

“You ready?” said Qui

Strange nodded. “Let’s go to work.”

Chapter 25

BERNARD Walker waited in the idling Benz as Dewayne Durham walked out of the Sixth District substation on Pe

“Everything all right?” said Walker, so tall in the driver’s seat that his hair was touching the headliner of the car.

“Mario,” said Durham, as if that were explanation enough. He reached to the radio and turned down the sound.

“Well?”

“The gun he used to kill that bitch? It was the same gun Jerome used on that Coates cousin.”

“Same model?”

“Same exact gun.”

“Foreman’s woman said that gun was clean.”

“I know it. Foreman told her it was. He took a gun had a body on it, a murder gun attached to my own brother, and sold it to Long. Why you think he’d want to put me in that kind of situation?”

“Maybe he didn’t know.”

“Could be he didn’t. Or maybe someone wanted to see me get jammed up.”

“You think Foreman would set you up like that? Why?”

“That’s what I need to find out.”

“We better go talk to your brother,” said Walker.

“Nah, uh-uh. I don’t trust what he’ll tell me, scared as he is. And I don’t trust myself to be around him right now. I’m tellin’ you, Zu, I’m about to kill a motherfucker today. I see him and he starts to lie, I might just go ahead and dead my own brother. I don’t want to do that to my moms.”

“We could talk to his fool friend, see if Mario said anything about it to him.”

“Yeah,” said Durham. “Let’s do that.”

DONUT’S apartment was dirty and it smelled like resin and cigarettes. A window air conditioner ran low and kept the smell in the two-bedroom unit. Donut sat on the couch, wires and controllers around him from the PlayStation 2 co