Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty-Two

About ten-thirty that night, I walked in and out of Pogan's Bar on West Seventy-second Street. It started drizzling about an hour ago.Most people on the street are holding umbrellas.I don't have one, but I have a hat.I parked on the sidewalk, put on my hat and adjusted the brim.I saw a GM Mercury parked across the street with the engine on. I turned left and walked to the top bar.I saw Danny "The Boy" sitting at the back table, but I went up to the bar and asked him by name.I must have spoken very loudly, because quite a few people looked sideways at me.The bartender pointed to the back, and I walked in.

He is already accompanied.His tablemate was a slender fox-masked girl with hair as white as his, but nature dared not boast of her whiteness.Her eyebrows were badly plucked and her forehead was shiny. "Boy" Danny introduced her as Bryna. "Rhymes with agnina," he said. "Of course don't forget the vagina (Vagina)." She laughed, showing small sharp canine teeth.I pulled a chair and sat down heavily. I said, "'Boy Danny, spread the word. I know all about Kim Duckinen's boyfriend. I know who killed her and why she was killed." "Matthew, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "You know why I'm having such a hard time finding her boyfriend? Because he's not out and about, it's that simple. No clubs, no gambling, no hanging around. And don't know anyone. " "Have you been drinking, Matthew?" "Who do you think you are? Do you care if I drink?" "I'm just weird. You have a lot of volume." "Well, I wanted to tell you about Kim," I said. "About her boyfriend. You know? He's in the jewelry business. He's not very rich, but he's not starving. He's just getting along."

"Brianna," he said, "go to the dressing room and get a touch-up." "Oh. She doesn't need to avoid it." I told him, "I think her makeup is still good." Lin "Matthew——" — Stick School · E Book Group — "It's no secret what I'm telling you now, 'Boy' Danny." "Okay, up to you." "The jeweler," I went on, "in my opinion, he was just Jin's client, but things changed. Somehow, he fell in love with her." "There is no such thing." "That's right. Anyway, he fell in love. Meanwhile, someone contacted him. Some of their precious jewels didn't go through customs, and they didn't have a title. Emerald, Colombian emerald, good quality."

"Matthew, please tell me, why the fuck are you telling me this?" "It's an interesting story," "You're not just talking to me, you're talking to the whole room. Do you even know what you're doing?" I look at him. "Okay," he said after a pause, "Brianna. Listen carefully, honey. This madman wants to talk about emerald." "why?" "Because they're Colombian," I said. "It's the way they do things. If they have a reason to kill someone, they kill the whole family," "God." "Maybe they think it's a good way to kill chickens and monkeys," I said. "I've seen it a lot, and it's been reported a lot, especially in Miami. They used to kill the whole family because of that drug deal. small country, they have the best coffee, the best marijuana, the best cocaine."

"And the best jadeite?" "That's right, Kim's jeweler boyfriend is not married. I thought he was married, that's why I didn't hear anything about him, but he's still single. Maybe he never had a relationship before he fell in love with Kim. Anyway, he's single , no wife, no children, and his parents are dead. You want to destroy his whole family, what will you do? You will kill his girlfriend." Briana's face turned as white as her hair.She didn't like hearing stories about her girlfriend being killed. "The murderer did it professionally," I went on, "because he took special care not to leave evidence, and we couldn't find a trace. But somehow he decided to be a butcher instead of taking a few shots with a silent pistol. ..maybe he's biased against whores, maybe he's pissed off by women all over the world. Whatever the reason, Kim was horribly hacked by him.

"He cleaned up afterwards, packed the machete and dirty towels and left there. He left the mink coat and the money in the leather bag, but took the ring." "Because the ring is valuable?" "There is certainty. At present, there is no solid evidence that the ring must be valuable. As far as I know, it is just cut glass. She bought it for herself, but it may be really emerald. Even if it is not, the murderer may not know. It's one thing not to take a hundred dollars, which means you won't rob someone to death. It's another thing to not touch an emerald that may be worth 50,000 yuan—especially if the emerald is yours in the first place. "

"I know." "The front desk at the Galaxy Hotel is a Colombian, a young guy named Octavia Calderon. Maybe it's just a coincidence, there are so many Colombians in the city now. Maybe the murderer chose Galaxy because he knew someone there. Someone who worked. But it doesn't matter. Calderon probably knew the killer, or at least he knew who he was, and he didn't want to show it. When the police came to talk to him a second time, Calderon was gone. Maybe Friends of the killer wanted him to disappear, maybe Calderon himself decided to hide from the limelight. Go back to his hometown in Cartagena, for example, or move to a rented apartment in the Queens End."

Or maybe he was slaughtered, I thought.That's also possible.I doubt it though.If these scum want to kill people, they will throw the corpses in the sun for people to admire. "Another prostitute was killed." "Sonya Hendricks," I said, "she committed suicide. Maybe King's death triggered it, so maybe whoever killed King was somewhat responsible for Sunny's death. But she did kill herself of." "I'm talking about that warbler." "Honey Blue." "That's her. Why was she killed? To lead you astray? The problem is that you didn't know the right way."

"No." "What was the reason? You think the murderer went berserk after he killed the first one? Something in him exploded and made him want to do it again?" "I guess that's part of it," I said. "Nobody's going to kill you twice unless you like the first one. I don't know if he had sex with both victims, but he takes pleasure in killing. Definitely about sex." "So he killed Sweetie and Kim just to satisfy the pervert?" Briana began to pale again.It's bad enough to hear about someone being killed for crossing boyfriends, it's worse to hear about a woman being killed out of nowhere.

"That's right." "I can keep my mouth shut, Matthew, but not necessarily Briana. She thinks that too many unspoken thoughts in her head will blow up her skull, so she won't take the risk. Besides, you talk so loudly that half the room I can hear you clearly." "I know." "I suppose so. What note are you calling?" "I want the murderer to know what I know." "The news is guaranteed to spread quickly." "I want your word, Danny 'Boy'. I'm getting out of here, and I'm going to walk back to the hotel, maybe sit in Armstrong's for an hour first. Then I'll round the corner and go back to my room." "You want to die, Matthew." "The bastard only kills women," I said. "Sweetheart is only half a woman, maybe he's on his way to killing a man." "Maybe." "You want him to take action against you?" "It seems so, doesn't it?" "I think you're crazy, Matthew. As soon as you got here, I wanted to stop you and try to calm you down." "I know." "It may be too late now. Whether I send or not." "It was too late. I went north of town before I came here. You know Royal Walden?" "Of course I know Royal." "I've talked to him. They say Royal has a little business with some guys from Colombia." "He'll get out." "Boy," said Danny, "he's in that circle too. " "So they may already know. But you'd better pass on a word, it's safer." "Insurance," he said. "What's the opposite of life insurance?" "have no idea," "Death. Maybe they're out there now, Matthew." "possible." "How about you call the police? They'll send a car and take you somewhere else for a statement. These bastards are taking taxpayer money and should do something about it." "I want the murderer," I said, "I want to fight him one-on-one." "You're not Latin, where did you get your energy?" "Send the word, 'Boy' Danny." "Sit for a while." He leaned forward and lowered his voice, "You don't want to walk out of here empty-handed, do you? Sit for a while, and I'll bring you something." "I don't use a pistol." "No, of course not. Who would need it? You could take his machete and make him eat it, then break his legs and leave him in the alley to die." "good idea." "Let me get you a gun, please?" He looked me straight in the eye. "You already have one," he said. "On the body, now. Right?" "I've never needed a pistol," I said. I didn't need it then.Walking out of the top bar, I put my hands in my pockets and felt the stock and barrel of the .32.Who needs it? Such a small gun is not very powerful at all. Especially if you can't force yourself to pull the trigger. I walk down the street.It was still raining, but not increasing.I squeezed the brim of my hat and looked around carefully. The Mercury sedan was parked across the street.I recognized it because of its wrinkled fenders.I stood still and the car started its engine.Mercury has turned around.come towards me.The light turned green and I walked across the street. I held the gun in my hand, my hands in my pockets.My index finger rests on the trigger, and I still remember how it felt under my finger not so long ago. I was also on this street at the time. I continued walking towards the city center.I looked over my shoulder a few times and the Mercury rover followed me less than a block away. My nerves were always tense, especially when I reached the section of the road where I had drawn my gun before. I couldn't help but look back frequently, waiting to see this car rushing towards me diagonally.Once I heard the screech of brakes and I couldn't help but realize that the sound was at least two blocks away. Nervous. I walk past places where I've fallen and rolled on the pavement.I checked where the bottle had been broken.There are still some shards of glass in there, though I'm not sure if it's the same shards.There are many broken wine bottles every day. I continued all the way to Armstrong's Bar.Once there, I walked in the door and ordered a pecan pie and coffee.With my right hand still in my pocket, I looked around and didn't miss anyone.After eating the pie, I slipped my right hand back into my pocket and drank my coffee from the cup with my left. After a while, I ordered another cup of coffee. The phone rings, Trina answers it, and walks to the bar.There sat a stout fellow with dark blond hair.She said something to him, and he went to the phone.He talked for a few minutes, looked around, and came to my table.He has both hands where I can see them. He said, "Scudder? My name is George Lightner. I don't think we've met." He pulled up a chair and sat down. "It was Joe." He said, "Nothing out there, nothing. .They were all hatching eggs in the Mercury wagon, and there were two sharpshooters waiting at the second-floor window across the street." "very good." "I'm in the room, and there are two people sitting at the front table. I think you recognized us as soon as you entered the door." "I recognize you," I said. "I was thinking, you're either a cop or a murderer." "Jesus Christ, what are you thinking? This place is not bad, why don't you hang out here if you have nothing to do?" "Not as often as before." "It's very comfortable here. It's a pity that I can only drink coffee today. I must come here for drinks another day. Their coffee is very popular tonight, with you and me. And the first two." “The coffee is delicious.” "Yeah, not bad. Much better than what we drank at the bureau." He lit his cigarette, "Joe said nothing happened anywhere else. There's two guys watching from your girlfriend's downtown, and a few others on the East End Protect those three whores." He grinned. "We can only think about these people, and we can't do anything else." "Yeah." - Stick School · E Book Group - "How long are you going to be here? Joe guesses the guy is either ready to strike or he's going to stay put tonight. We can cover every step you take from here back to the hotel, but of course we can't guarantee that no snipers will come from here." Fire from the roof or high windows. We've inspected roofs before, but it's hard to tell." "I don't think he can do it from a distance." "Then we have nothing to worry about, and you're wearing a bulletproof vest." "Ok." "It would help. Of course, the vest has mesh and probably won't hold up against stabbing, but there's no way we're going to let him get too close to you. If he's out there, we think, he'll be between here and your hotel door. Take action." "I think so." "When are you going to go into battle?" "A few more minutes," I said, "just finish your coffee." "Listen," he said, standing up, "fuck it, drink up." He returned to his seat at the bar.I finished my coffee, stood up, and went to the bathroom. I was there checking my .32 to make sure I had one round in the chamber and three more rounds in spare.Could have asked Durkin for two more cartridges to be loaded into empty chambers.If he really spoke, he would probably give me a big gun with more firepower.But he didn't even know I carried a .30, and I didn't want to tell him.According to our arrangement, I don't have to use a gun at all, the murderer will find himself in the trap. It's just that things are not under our control. I paid the bill and left a tip.It's not going to happen, I can feel it.The son of a bitch isn't out there. I step out the door.The rain is a little weaker.I looked at the Mercury, glanced at the building across the street, and wondered where the police snipers were hiding.It doesn't matter, they won't have anything to do tonight anyway.Our prey did not take the bait. I headed toward Fifty-seventh Street, as close to the curb as possible—in case he might be hiding under some dark porch.I walked forward slowly, hoping that I was right and that he wouldn't strike from a distance.Because bulletproof vests aren't foolproof, and they won't stop a shot in the head either. But it doesn't matter.He is not there.Shit, I know he's not there. Even so, my breathing was much more natural when I stepped into the hotel.I may be a little disappointed, but also slightly relieved. There were three plainclothes policemen in the hall, and they immediately identified me.I stood with them not long before I saw Durkin come in alone.He put his arm around one of them and walked towards me. "We're attacking together," he said. "It seems so." "Damn it," he said, "we didn't leave any loopholes. Maybe he saw something was wrong—I don't know how. Or maybe he flew back to his grandma's Bogota yesterday and we gave him A trap was set, he has gone to another country." "possible." "You're going to get a good night's sleep anyway—if you're not too stressed out to relax. Have a few drinks and sleep for eight hours." "good idea." "Our people will guard the lobby all night. There have been no visitors in the hotel, and no one has registered. I also plan to spend the night downstairs." "Do you think it's necessary?" "I don't think it hurts anyway." "As you wish." "We're doing what we can, Matthew. If we can lure that scum out, it'll be all right, because God knows how hard it is to catch emerald smugglers in this town—it's all luck." "I know." "We're gonna catch that bastard sooner or later, you know."