Page 67 of Fade Out

“Oh, I won’t forget you.”

* * *

When I leftFitz’s apartment, I found myself on Brompton across from the Salvation Army Training Center. I decided that wasnotan omen and no one was trying to give me a hint. I walked east to Broadway and then down to the Melrose. I got a table, let the waitress serve me coffee, and then walked back to the payphone between the restrooms.

The restaurant was half-full. Not a single person seemed at all surprised by a thirty-seven-year-old man stumbling around in a dirty tux on a Sunday morning. Welcome to Boystown.

I called Owen Lovejoy, Esquire, at home.

“Why aren’t you answering your beeper?” he asked after I said hello.

“I left it at my tailor. It didn’t go with my ensemble.”

“Don’t do that again. I talked to Tony Stork late yesterday. He’s desperate to put you in prison. I couldn’t budge him an inch. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“I’m a lousy lay.”

“Someone a lot scarier than me is pulling his strings.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Linda Sanchez.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“She told me.”

I let that sit. The line crackled. Finally, I asked. “Why didn’t you tell me about the deal they were offering?”

“Because it was ridiculous and I knew you wouldn’t take it.”

“I wouldn’t have. But you should have told me.”

“Why?”

“It means something.”

“Of course it does. It means they have no case. They’re scrambling; trying to get something out of this for themselves. When they realize there’s nothing to get, they’ll drop it. Where did you see Linda Sanchez?”

“At a benefit dinner. It wouldn’t be in the newspaper yet, but Richard Crisp was murdered during the dessert course.”

“Who is Richard Crisp?”

“He was on the board at 618 North Wells. And he killed Rita’s father.”

“Are they going to try and pin that on you?”

“I was sitting with Sanchez at the time.”

“Convenient.”

“Look, I have a plan.”

“Do you?”

It was actually the main reason I’d called—other than making him squirm about the offer from Sanchez.

“This is what I need you to do: Get Tony down to Marina City. ASAP. Unit 3535. I’ll wait for you in the lobby. Also, Hamish Gardner and Monroe White.”

“How am I supposed to accomplish this?”