Angel Heart Page #2

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The man said:
"We're taking him home."

And what was the deal?

- $25,000.

For what? - I was supposed to pretend

that he was still a patient in hospital.

Didn't the administration suspect?

- Why should they? I kept the charts

up to date. And no one asks questions

when the bills get paid.

Tell me about Johnny Liebling.

What did he look like?

- No idea. His face was damaged.

He had facial reconstruction.

He was in bandages the day he left.

What can you tell me about Kelley?

It's too long ago.

I only have a vague memory.

He was well dressed

and had a southern accent.

I truly don't remember.

- All right, Doc. Have a lie down.

I'm going out to grab a cheeseburger.

Maybe a few hours cold turkey

will refresh your memory.

Watch yourself!

We're going to take

a little nap, sit your ass down.

We're going to clear your mind.

I'm going out. When I get back,

I'll fix you some goodies

from the icebox, alright?

Tell me what I want to know

and you'll get rid of me forever.

I'm back, Doc!

I brought you a little something!

I didn't think

you'd want a cheeseburger...

I will! Bye!

Hi, Ellie!

Is that your boyfriend?

He's got a car and everything?

See you later!

Did you see him?

- No.

Why not?

- It would've been difficult. - Why?

Why? Because he's not there.

Johnny Favorite

walked out of the clinic 12 years ago,

in his best suit, with a new face

wrapped in bandages and a headache.

He left with a guy called Kelley

and a girl.

Do you know this Kelley?

It seems this Kelley paid off

some bent doctor called Fowler

to pinch hit for your guy.

He's covered up for him all these years.

Looks like our Johnny has

a perfect disappearing act.

- It seems so.

But you know what they say about slugs.

No, what do they say about slugs?

They always leave slime in their tracks.

You'll find him.

- No, I won't find him.

Because I left out one little detail.

This Dr. Fowler ended up dead

with his f***ing brains blown out.

Did you kill him?

- No!

But the cops might think I did.

I took on a $125-a-day

missing persons job for you.

Now, I'm a murder suspect.

That's it! I'm out.

Such are the hazards of your profession.

If the fee bothers you, we'll adjust it.

You bother me!

The closest I ever come to death

is watching a hearse go by

on 2nd Avenue. That's the way I like it.

Are you afraid?

Yeah, I'm afraid.

I'll instruct my lawyer immediately

to send you a check for $5,000.

If you don't want the job,

I'll engage someone else.

You want this Johnny pretty bad, eh?

I don't like messy accounts.

Some religions think the egg is the

symbol of the soul, did you know that?

No.

Would you like an egg?

No, thank you.

I got a thing about chickens.

It's after eleven, you're late.

- I'm sorry.

You get it?

- If I lose my job,

I'll come and be your secretary.

I couldn't pay you what the "Times"

pays. Besides, they won't miss it.

Hi, Johnny, where the f*** are you?

He really was a crooner, like you said.

I didn't realize he was so big.

He was in a band called the Spider

Simpson Orchestra. They're all dead.

Only Spider is here in town.

- Where? - I wrote it all down.

The dyke in the archive is suspicious.

My boss hasn't

researched the story in years.

You can get the files.

Spider is in an old people's home

on 138th Street.

Oh, I get to go to Harlem again.

There was a picture of Johnny

with Toots Sweet, a guitar player.

No one's heard of him for years!

Johnny was engaged to a rich broad,

Margaret Krusemark.

Her dad owns half of Louisiana.

Met him at a high school prom. Johnny

sh*t on her, and she went back to Daddy.

There's lots on their spells.

Spells, what do you mean, spells?

The eye of a newt,

toe of a frog and that kind of sh*t?

- Seems she was a bit of a crackpot.

Casting spells

at society do's and stuff.

Didn't go down too well with

the lvy League stiffos.

She was known as the Witch of Wellesly.

Did I do good?

Great! So what've I got:

A religious loonie as a client.

I gotta find Johnny "Golden Tonsils"

and we don't know where he is.

And he probably doesn't know who he is.

I got a geriatric bandleader

in a home in Harlem.

I got a guitar player

called Toots Sweet.

What else have I got?

A hard-on?

Are you okay?

January 3rd,

Copy:
Winesap & Mackintosh,

attorneys. As reported,

Johnny Favorite has not been

in the Sarah Dodd Clinic in

Poughkeepsie for the last 12 years.

He was taken away by a man

called Edward Kelley and a girl.

The girl is unidentified.

Kelley paid a Dr. Fowler $25,000

to falsify reports

stating

that Favorite was still in the hospital.

The doctor is now deceased.

Before Johnny's accident it seemed

like his career was going great,

until he started to dump on everyone.

I tracked down Spider Simpson,

Johnny's old bandleader. He resides

at the Lincoln Presbyterian Hospice

on 138th Street. Johnny also

had a good buddy, a guitar player

called Toots Sweet.

Toots went back to Algiers.

That's Algiers in New Orleans.

I think maybe Margaret went back there,

and maybe Johnny, too.

Oh, yeah! According to Spider,

Johnny had a secret love.

A black lady

called Evangeline Proudfoot.

Evangeline ran

some kind of spooky store in Harlem

called "Mammy Carter's."

You don't

need to know that, Cyphre. I think

a secret love should stay secret.

The only person

who Johnny was seeing regularly

was a palm reader

in Coney Island called Madame Zora.

Are you lzzy?

Looks like the last bit of sun, eh?

The guy in the arcade over there

told me you might be able to help me.

I'm looking for Madame Zora. - I know

her, friend of the wife before the war.

She was a fortune teller, right?

- And then some!

I hate those hocus-pocus b*tches!

Her and the wife got along real well.

Wife's a baptist. Oh, here!

Have a nose shield!

Go on, take one. I found a whole

boxful under the boardwalk.

There's not much sun right now.

Yeah, but it keeps the rain off too.

Ever hear of a Johnny Favorite?

The singer?

- Yeah, he used to visit Madame Zora.

Heard of him, but don't know nothing.

Ask the wife.

She always sings stupid tunes

off the radio. She knows all that sh*t.

She likes the water, eh?

- She hates it.

She's getting on the heavy side.

She thinks it's good for varicose veins.

Alright, thanks.

What do you do here in the summer?

Bite the heads off the rats.

And in the winter?

- The same.

Excuse me!

I was just talking to your husband.

I was inquiring about Madame Zora.

Yeah, I knew her before the war,

Madame Zora, you say?

Yeah, she was a gypsy fortune teller!

Had the booth across the boardwalk from

me. She was a debutante not a gypsy,

and she did

more than just read tea leaves.

Did you ever see her with a guy called

Johnny Favorite? - Yeah, he was cute.

She was stuck on him. He was called

"Golden Tonsils". I knew all his tunes.

Have you ever

heard of a Margaret Krusemark?

Don't be a gazoony, fellah!

Madame Zora was Margaret Krusemark.

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