A Walk Among the Tombstones Page #3

You're too smart for me, Jonas. Damn.

Think you can help me anyway?

Already told everything

I know to the police.

Eduardo. Guy who owns

the shop across the street,

says there were about 20

garbage bags that were here.

That true?

Eduardo was wrong.

There were only about 10.

And most of those were

on the Fifth Avenue side.

And there were four more

floating in the pond down there.

So you saw them?

I saw the pigeon first.

Keep a coop on my roof.

This was a Helmet.

It was alone.

Which, if you know anything

at all about Helmets,

is quite unusual for that breed.

It was sitting on one of the bags

trying to get at whatever was in there.

I just fished them both

out after I was done

with the mowing and threw them away.

You didn't open them?

No. I figured it was all

just some waterlogged trash

that kids had thrown in

there the night before.

They do that, you know?

Throw their rubbers and their

empties into the pond.

You see the cops across the street?

Yeah, but I didn't make that connection

until Vince came running over

from the Fifth Avenue entrance.

Vince.

Yeah, he's the other groundskeeper.

He's the one that found

the bags over there.

Is Vince around?

I'd like to talk to him.

He quit.

He opened one of the bags.

You know, I was just starting

to forget about her.

Thank you so much for

bringing that all back.

What's your book about?

Don't patronize me.

Yo, Matt, what's the dealie, man?

Hello, TJ.

You know I been shadowing you.

No kidding.

Aiight. So, "I followed subject back

"from dinner to a meeting

at some church."

Used to drink some, huh?

"I then followed subject back to

some shitty-assed building on 45th

"where subject remained until..."

I know where I was, TJ.

You made me at that

flower shop, didn't you?

I made you back at the subway.

Damn.

This book I'm reading

says a foot tail is hard

to do on account of

they're so easy to spot.

That it is.

It says it's good to use three guys.

Two alternating behind and another

guy on the other side of the street.

Sure. If you have three guys.

You know you spend a lot of time

at churches and you use

a lot of payphones.

So?

So you don't got no cell phone?

I don't like them.

You don't like computers and

you don't like cell phones.

F***ing Amish got more flavor

than you do, Matthew.

You know, I watched

you follow some dude,

you didn't even try to hide or nothing.

He wasn't looking for me.

Funny. Me following you while

you following some other guy.

It's real ironical.

- TJ?

- Yeah?

Stop following me.

Okay. No. No.

Reuben Quintana?

I help you with something?

My name is Matt Scudder.

I was wondering if I could talk

to you about your fiance?

- Fiance?

- Leila Andresen?

Oh. Leila.

You know, I kind of have this

other place I have to be...

I'll just be a minute.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, come on in.

I get you something to drink?

No, thank you.

It must be nice, have the time to

work out in the middle of the day.

I'd rather be working.

Period. I'm an actor.

Yeah, I thought you looked familiar.

Have I seen something you've been in?

Maybe. I did a Stetson commercial.

Few years back.

Stetson, the hat?

No, the cologne.

- Oh.

- Ran during the Stanley Cup Finals.

Missed that one.

Leila went to Brooklyn College,

is that right?

Studied decorating?

Interior design.

Right.

You told the police that

it was three men took her.

Yeah, that's right.

You're sure about that?

Yeah. I saw them.

I was at this coffee

place on Prospect...

She used to meet me there sometimes.

...when I see two guys jump

out of the van and grab her.

What'd they look like?

I couldn't really see their faces.

But I could see a third

guy behind the wheel.

Move!

Hey! What the f*** are you doing?

That's the last time I saw her.

This is a nice place.

Lots of nice stuff.

Leila do the design?

Yeah. You should see

the bedroom, it's...

Wait, I... That didn't sound right.

You don't deal, do you, Reuben?

- What?

- You heard me.

You asking, am I a drug dealer?

Unless you prefer trafficker.

Or maybe you wanna tell me you made

your money peddling cologne on ESPN.

I got a trust fund.

- From your rich family up in the Bronx?

- Yeah.

My mom won a lawsuit a few years back.

Hey, come on, Reuben, not even the

dog's dumb enough to buy that one.

Look, I don't care how

you earn your living.

But the guys who grabbed Leila?

They might have.

How do you mean?

How do you mean?

Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Jonas? Did you forget your key again?

What the hell is going on?

Cops showing up

to my house asking about Leila.

Who the hell is this guy?

"He carried her through the field,

"the dandelions and cattails

still wet with morning dew,

"and set her down by a stream,

"whispering through the strands

of her fine yellow hair,

"'You're safe now. You're safe."'

F***.

Jonas.

You caught me.

You gave the cops a

different address, didn't you?

That's why they never put you

across the street from Leila.

This is my mother's building.

I live in Sunset Park, but I'm not

allowed to keep my birds there.

Even though there's room on the roof.

Your mom home right now? Maybe we could

go down and talk, have a cup of coffee.

I can't let you leave here.

They'll kill me if I do.

Who's "they," Jonas?

The other two.

So what, you gonna stab me

now with that big f***ing knife?

It's gonna bother me, too.

For a long time, I know it will.

How much is it gonna bother you

I take that knife away

and stick it in your neck?

Could you really do that?

Yeah, I really could.

But I'd rather not.

How about instead we trade?

Okay.

Set it down.

What was it I said that gave me away?

Everything. You're a weirdo, Jonas.

I never laid a hand on Leila.

But the other two, they're the

ones you better worry about.

What other two?

Jonas.

What other two?

They're not human.

How'd you meet them?

There's this video store near my house.

They've got this basement where they

keep some of the more specialized stuff.

Always came in together.

You wouldn't really notice

them unless they spoke to you.

One of them had a beard, or a goatee.

The other one smiled a lot.

He did all the talking.

What about names?

You don't exchange names

in a place like that.

Not real ones anyway.

They loved that I worked in a cemetery.

Thought it was funny.

Wanted to buy me drinks.

So we went to this bar

in the middle of the day.

Drank rum and Coke.

Talked about the different

videos we liked.

It was all one big laugh to them,

watching all the drug

addicts f*** each other.

They were, like,

obsessed with that whole world.

Dealers, addicts,

different kinds of drugs.

They told me they worked with the DEA.

They were cops?

They wouldn't say for sure.

They said what they did was secret.

But they had one of those

police radios, you know?

One of those handheld units.

And they had all these files on drug

dealers with DEA stamps on them.

Told me they worked on

special assignments.

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