Страница 202 из 203
"I have a question for you," I said. "What does 'tick-tick' mean in Tagalog?"
Her eyes flickered with dull interest. "Tiktik." She corrected my pronunciation. "It's a word for detective."
Ever since Hector Bulis and Sal had accosted me I'd suspected as much.
"Where did you hear that?" Amor asked.
"One of the «Kabalyeros «said it when I went to Fat Robbie's earlier. Someone had told them I was a detective, probably described me. Whoever it was said I was trying to prove Tommy Dragon killed Reg Dawson."
"Why would-"
"More to the point, who would? At the time, only four people knew that I'm a detective."
She wet her lips, but remained silent.
"Amor, the night of the shooting, you were standing in your front window, watching for Isabel."
"Yes."
"Do you do that often?"
"… Yes."
"Because Isabel is often late coming home. Because you're afraid she may have gotten into trouble."
"A mother worries-"
"Especially when she's given good cause. Isabel is ru
"No, she-"
"Amor, when I spoke with Madeline Dawson, she said you were standing in the window watching for 'sweet Isabel, like always.' She didn't say 'sweet' in a pleasant way. Later, Jimmy Willis implied that your daughter is not… exactly a vulnerable young girl."
Amor's eyes sparked. "The Dawson woman is jealous."
"Of course she is. There's something else: when I asked the waitress at Fat Robbie's if she'd ever overheard the Kabalyeros discussing you, she said, 'No, not that one.' It didn't register at the time, but when I talked to her again a little while ago, she told me Isabel is the member of your family they discuss. They say she's wild, runs around with the men in the gangs. You know that, so does Alex. And so does Madeline Dawson. She just told me the first man Isabel became involved with was her husband."
Amor seemed to shrivel. She gripped the arms of the chair, white-knuckled.
"It's true, isn't it?" I asked more gently.
She lowered her eyes, nodding. When she spoke her voice was ragged. "I don't know what to do with her anymore. Ever since that Reg Dawson got to her, she's been different, not my girl at all."
"Is she on drugs?"
"Alex says no, but I'm not so sure."
I let it go; it didn't really matter. "When she came home earlier," I said, "Isabel seemed very interested in me. She asked questions, looked me over carefully enough to be able to describe me to the «Kabalyeros.» She was afraid of what I might find out. For instance, that she wasn't accosted by any men with guns last Friday."
"She was!"
"No, Amor. That was just a story, to make it look as if your life-and your children's-were in danger if you testified. In spite of what you said early on, you haven't wanted to testify against Tommy Dragon from the very begi
"When the Kabalyeros began harassing you a month ago, you saw that as the perfect excuse not to take the stand. But you didn't foresee that Dragon's lawyer would convince the gang to stop the harassment. When that happened, you and Isabel, and probably Alex, too, manufactured incidents-the shot-out window, the dead dog on the doorstep, the men with the guns-to make it look as if the harassment was still going on."
"Why would I? They're going to put me in jail."
"But at the time you didn't know they could do that-or that your employer would hire me. My investigating poses yet another danger to you and your family."
"This is… why would I do all that?"
"Because basically you're an honest woman, a good woman. You didn't want to testify because you knew Dragon didn't shoot Dawson. It's my guess you gave the police his name because it was the first one that came to mind."
"I had no reason to-"
"You had the best reason in the world: a mother's desire to protect her child."
She was silent, sunken eyes registering despair and defeat.
I kept on, even though I hated to inflict further pain on her. "The day he died, Dawson had let the word out that he was going to desecrate Be
"Lots of people did."
"But only one person you'd want to protect so badly that you'd accuse an i
"Leave my mother alone. She's suffered enough on account of what I did."
I turned. Alex had come into the room so quietly I hadn't noticed. Now he moved midway between Amor and me, a Saturday night special clutched in his right hand.
The missing murder weapon.
I tensed, but one look at his face told me he didn't intend to use it. Instead he raised his arm and extended the gun, grip first.
"Take this," he said. "I never should of bought it. Never should of used it. I hated Dawson on account of what he did to my sister. But killing him wasn't worth what we've all gone through since."
I glanced at Amor; tears were trickling down her face.
Alex said, "Mama, don't cry. I'm not worth it."
When she spoke, it was to me. "What will happen to him?"
"Nothing like what might have happened to Dragon; Alex is a juvenile. You, however-"
"I don't care about myself, only my children."
Maybe that was the trouble. She was the archetypal selfless mother: living only for her children, sheltering them from the consequences of their actions-and in the end doing them irreparable harm.
There were times when I felt thankful that I had no children. And there were times when I was thankful that Jack Stuart was a very good criminal lawyer. This was a time when I was thankful on both counts. I went to the phone, called Jack, and asked him to come over here. At least I could leave the Angeles family in good legal hands.
After he arrived, I went out into the gathering dusk. An old yellow VW was pulling out of Be
CREDITS
Barnes, Linda: «Lucky Pe
Boucher, Anthony: «Crime Must Have a Stop» by Anthony Boucher first appeared in «Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine,» February 1951. Copyright © 1950 Mercury Publications, Inc. Copyright © 1978 Davis Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd.
Carr, John Dickson: «A Footprint in the Sky» from «The Department of Queer Complaints» by John Dickson Carr. Copyright 1940 by William Morrow & Co., Inc. Copyright renewed 1968 by John Dickson Carr. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.
Chandler, Raymond: «I'll Be Waiting» by Raymond Chandler first appeared in the «Saturday Evening Post,» October 14, 1939. Reprinted from «The Simple Art of Murder» by permission of Houghton Mifflin Co. All rights reserved. Copyright 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1950 by Raymond Chandler. Copyright © renewed 1978 by Helga Greene. Published in the British Commonwealth, excluding Canada, by Hamish Hamilton Ltd. (Penguin Books 1950) in the collection «Trouble Is My Business» (pp.125-143). Copyright © 1944 by Raymond Chandler. Reproduced by permission of Hamish Hamilton Ltd.
Daly, Carroll John: «The False Burton Combs» by Carroll John Daly first appeared in «The Black Mask,» December 1922. Copyright © 1922 by Pro-Distributors Publishing Company, Inc. Copyright renewed © 1950 by Popular Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by arrangement with Argosy Communications, Inc., representing Mary A. Daly, heir of Carroll John Daly.