bastard? Shit.”
Mary let it all go by. “Now, Jimmy. I hate to point out your blatant lies…”
“Hush your mouth!” he said.
“-but the first time I asked you where the old guy lived you told me it was part of his act,” she said. “You said that’s how you knew where he lived. Remember?”
“Fuck no.”
“Now you’re telling me something different. That this old guy told you where he lived, as opposed to it being part of his act. So which one is it? Which one is the truth?”
“I hate to use harsh language on such a pretty lady,” he said. “But you’re fucking up the wrong tree, baby.” He took a long drink from his beer and set it back down on the bar, empty. He stood up to go.
Suddenly, a deep, cultured voice behind Mary spoke. “Why don’t you shut your filthy mouth and tell the woman what she wants to know?”
Mary turned into the face of Whitney Braggs.
“Oh, Christ,” she said.
“More like Moses without the beard,” Jimmy said.
“Fuck you, punk,” Braggs said to Jimmy. To Mary, it was incredibly odd to hear curse words come from a man who looked like a spokesman for the AARP.
“Who the hell are you?” Millis said. “Bob fuckin’ Barker? Why don’t you go back to the Price is Right, dickhead? Or if not that, the goddamned nursing home you denture sportin’ colostomy bag wearin’ muthafucka!”
To Mary, it was the funniest thing Millis had said all night.
Braggs walked past Mary and to Jimmy’s other side. He looked at the bartender. “I’ll have what they’re having.”
When the bartender turned to get the beer, Braggs slammed his forehead into Jimmy’s face.
“Shit!” Mary said.
She heard the crunch of cartilage. Jimmy sagged but Braggs held him aloft and half-walked, half-dragged him to the door.
“I don’t believe this,” Mary said as she threw some bills onto the bar.
She stepped outside just as Braggs propped Jimmy up against the wall. With lightning fast speed, Braggs hit him twice in the belly, then threw a wicked uppercut that made Jimmy’s head snap back into the brick wall. Another right and another left drove into Jimmy’s face. Blood covered the comedian’s face. Teeth dropped onto the sidewalk.
“Stop it,” Mary said, stepping toward Braggs. Braggs ignored her and grabbed a handful of Jimmy’s greasy hair and held him upright against the wall.
“Who told you to lie, nigger?” he shouted. “I’m gonna kill your black ass, eggplant. Who got to you? I need a name. Right here. Right now.”
Mary reached inside her coat and reached for her .45.
“Braggs, you are going to let him go right now,” she said.
Just as her automatic cleared leather, Jimmy coughed and spat out blood.
“No name,” he said.
“Liar.”
“Sheet of paper,” Jimmy gasped. “Two hundred bucks if I did it. Bad news if I didn’t. What did I care?”
“So you never knew Barry Olis?” Mary asked, keeping the .45 inside its holster for the moment.
“Fuck no!”
“You don’t know anyone,” Braggs said, sneering. “How convenient. Tell me someone you know, Jungle Bunny. You fucking goddamned worthless spoon!”
“Shut up Braggs, you fucking Nazi!” Mary said.
“Matter of fact, I don’t!” Jimmy said. “I don’t know no names. But I do know something else.”
“Yeah?” Braggs said, his voice dripping with doubt.
“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “I know who killed Brent Cooper.”
Twelve
“He was a big guy,” Jimmy said, and spat out more blood and another tooth.
“Did you see the actual murder?” Mary asked.
“Nah, but…”
“Then how do you know who did it, moolie?” Braggs said.
Mary grabbed a handful of Braggs’ shirt. “Shut up with that crap.”
“Cuz he and Cooper were really goin’ at it, man.”
“What do you mean going at it?” Mary said. She heard the sound of sirens in the distance and shot a look at Braggs. “You mean like fighting?” she said to Jimmy. “In the alley?”
“During Cooper’s act, man. The guy was hecklin’ him somethin’ fierce.”
“A heckler killed him?” Braggs said. “Yeah, right. You can do better than that, Aunt Jemima.”
“But Cooper, man. That fuckin’ guy had a nasty mouth. Almost as bad as yours,” Jimmy said, looking at Mary. “Cooper ripped that guy a new asshole. The dude was a fat fucker and Cooper went off on all these fat jokes. Christ, he had a million of ‘em. The guy couldn’t take it and finally left, the few people there was all laughin’ at him.”
“How come you didn’t tell the cops any of this?” Braggs said.
Mary looked at Braggs. How the hell could he know what was told to the cops and what wasn’t?
“No