I was hungry, so I went to Debby’s for dinner.
As I expected she asked me what happened to my head, showing genuine concern. I gave her the same story about having a fall and then asked, “Too late for dinner?”
“Not for you,” she said, smiling. “Sit tight and I’ll get you something.”
I watched her walk to the kitchen, clad in a one-piece, powder blue jump suit. She was the one person I’d met in the past few days — and her cousin, Rosellen — who had nothing to do with horses, or murder. She probably could have made me forget Brandy, Lisa and Penny if I let her.
I should have asked her for a beer while I was waiting.
“It’s heating up,” she said, coming out of the kitchen. “How about a beer while you wait?”
“What are you, a mind reader?” I accepted the cold beer gratefully.
She leaned her elbows on the bar and said, “I know a thirsty man when I see one.”
I smiled and took a healthy swig from the beer.
“And a troubled one, too,” she added. “How are you, Henry?”
“Not too good, at this point, Deb. I’m working on something that’s not going very well, I’ve done some things I’m not proud of.”
To her great credit, she didn’t ask questions.
“Let me get your dinner.”
It was a stew, which she told me she made herself because Rosellen had been unable to come to work that day. It was delicious.
I used an entire loaf of Italian bread to clean the bowl when I was done, and was having my third beer when she asked, “How was it?”
“It was fabulous. You’re an excellent cook, Debby, a great hostess and a very beautiful girl.”
“Ooh, I could get used to talk like that,” she told me, but she looked troubled. “Is there anything I can do to help, Hank?”
I shook my head slowly. “Thanks for asking, Debby, but I don’t think so. I think I’ll have another beer and go sit in a corner and think, if that’s all right with you.”
She drew me another beer and said, “Go take the house corner.”
I took the beer and thanked her.
Now I had to try and make some sense out of what had been happening.
What had started out as a simple missing persons’ case, which I didn’t really feel equipped to handle in the first place, had escalated into a double murder, which really put me in over my head.
But were the two murders connected?
The Mapes murder really wasn’t too hard to figure. His cryptic remark that night on the phone, that he was supposed to lose the Sunday Stakes race, indicated that he was killed because he wasn’t playing ball with a fixer.
Was that fixer Willy Donero?
Was he giving orders from where he was being held, as the state’s star witness in their investigation of thoroughbred racing?
By importing out-of-town talent he’d made it impossible for the police to trace the two dead men back to him.
Who did he have at the track relaying his orders?
Gordie?
Lassiter?
Someone else?
Penny’s case was harder to figure. The cops thought Melendez was ripe for it, but what about some others?
Paul Lassiter?
Lisa Lassiter?
What about Mickey Richards, who obviously had strong feelings for the boss’ daughter?
Yeah, and what about every other man who thought he was in love with her?
And how about the people who disliked her?
Like Brandy?
Now there was a disturbing thought. I signaled Debby for my fifth — or was it my sixth — beer. She brought it and set it down quietly enough so as not to interrupt the flow of my deductive juices.
Brandy a suspect?
Nonsense.
But from nonsense often comes sense.
Does that make sense?
Lassiter wasn’t the only person I had told about Aiello being in police custody, I suddenly realized with a start.
Even before Lassiter, I had mentioned it to Brandy.
But that was the Mapes case.
Wasn’t I just thinking about the Penny Hopkins case?
I was starting to get the two mixed up.
Or were they really one?
Brandy. Brandy knew that Diver had Aiello.
Why would Brandy take steps to spring Aiello?
Shit, I was drunk.
I’d have to wait for Shukey to give me some kind of word on Lassiter before I even thought about confronting Brandy with any kind of accusation.
Hell, all my careful mental exercises had succeeded in depressing me even more than I was before, when I walked in.
Now, Po, let’s see you get up and walk out.
I stood up, all right.
Walking out was another matter entirely.