Marys. Fifty? A hundred and fifty.
“They’re laughing at me in there, ” the cop said, lifting his chin in the direction of the brand-new cop-shop across the street. “They’re laughing all right, oh yeah. Big tough Norman Daniels, and guess what? His wife ran out on him ... but she took time to clean out most of the ready before she went. ”
Daniels made an inarticulate growling sound, the sort of sound that a person should only have to hear while visiting the zoo, and gave Ramon’s balls another squeeze. The pain was unbearable. He leaned forward and vomited between his knees—white chunks of curd laced with brown streaks that was probably the remains of the quesadilla he’d eaten for lunch. Daniels did not seem to notice. He was gazing into the sky above the jungle gym, lost in his own world.
“I should let them dance you around so even more people can laugh?” he asked. “So that they can yuck it up at the courthouse as well as at the police station? I don’t think so. ”
He turned and looked into Ramon’s eyes. He smiled. The smile made Ramon want to scream.
“Here comes the big question, ” the cop said. “And if you lie, little hero, I’m going to rip your scrote off and feed it to you. ”
Daniels squeezed Ramon’s crotch again, and now folds of darkness began to fall across Ramon’s vision. He fought them desperately. If he passed out, the cop was apt to kill him just for spite.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes!” Ramon wept. “I unnerstand! I unnerstand!”
“You were at the bus station and you saw her stick the card in the trash. That much I know. What I need to know is where she went next. ”
Ramon could have wept with relief because, although there was no reason why he should be able to answer this question, it just so happened he could. He had looked after the woman once to make sure she wasn’t looking back at him ... and then, five minutes later, long after he had slid the green plastic card into his wallet, he had spotted her again. She had been hard to miss, with the red thing over her hair; it was as bright as the side of a freshly painted barn.
“She was at the ticket-windows! Ramon cried out of the darkness that was relentlessly enveloping him. ”At the windows!”
This effort was rewarded by another ruthless squeeze. Ramon began to feel as if his balls had been torn open, doused with lighter fluid, and then set on fire.
“I know she was at the windows!” Daniels half-laughed, half-screamed at him. “What else would she be doing at Portside if she wasn’t going someplace on a bus? Doing a sociological study on scumbuckets like you? Which ticket-window, that’s what I want to know—which fucking window and what fucking time?”
And oh thank God, thank Jesus and Mother Mary, he knew the answers to both of those questions, too.
“Continental Express!” he cried, now separated from his own voice by what felt like miles. “I seen her at the Continental Express window, ten-thirty, quarter of eleven!”
“Continental? You’re sure?”
Ramon Sanders didn’t answer. He collapsed sideways on the bench, one hand dangling, slim fingers outstretched. His face was dead white except for two small purplish patches high on his cheeks. A young man and a young woman walked by, looked at the man lying on the bench, then looked at Daniels, who had by now removed his hand from Ramon’s crotch.
“Don’t worry,” Daniels said, giving the couple a large smile. “He’s epileptic. ” He paused and let his smile widen. “I’ll take care of him. I’m a cop. ”
They walked on a little faster and didn’t look back.
Daniels got an arm around Ramon’s shoulders. The bones in there felt as fragile as bird’s wings. “Upsa-daisy, big boy,” he said, and hauled Ramon up to a sitting position. Ramon’s head lolled like the head of a flower on a broken stalk. He started to slide back down immediately, making little thick grunts in his throat. Daniels hauled him up again, and this time Ramon balanced.
Daniels sat there beside him, watching the German Shepherd race joyfully after the Frisbee. He envied dogs, he really did. They had no responsibilities, no need to work—not in this country, anyhow—all food was provided for them, plus a place to sleep, and they didn’t even have to worry about heaven or hell when the ride was over. He had once asked