on the street. I think I might get a good price for the wire. Usually I don’t find so many cans, but I think there was a conference or something by the school. Maybe they gave the people Coke, like for refreshments. I figured if I knew about conferences in advance, I could maybe always go afterward, collect the cans. That’s a business opportunity, right?” He kept pushing the cart as he talked, the wheels squeaking, accompanying his monologue.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Ellis said. “And I see you also have a long metal pole there. You didn’t saw off one of the traffic signs, did you?”
“No, I jus’ found it, I don’ steal traffic signs. I know some people do, but I don’, it isn’t safe for the cars. I jus’ collect what I find.”
Ellis motioned at O’Donnell. “This here is Detective O’Donnell. She’s investigating a homicide.”
The man’s eyes darted around. “Okay.”
“Tony, I got a feeling you already know what this is about.”
“Nobody I know died,” Good Boy Tony said. “And I don’ know anyone who killed anyone. I try to stay out of trouble, an’ people mostly leave me alone. I have a friend who died two months ago, but it wasn’t a murder or anything, he jus’ died of the cold. It can get really cold at nights, and he slept outside that night, so he died of hypothermia. He was half-naked when they found him. Did you know that when people get hypothermia, they sometimes feel really hot? So they take off their clothes. That’s what happened to Randy. Randy was my friend, the one who died.”
“We’re talking three nights ago. You were under the bridge at South Halsted, right, Tony?”
The man seemed to think this over. He breathed hard, the wheels squeaking. O’Donnell shuffled in half steps to keep his pace.
“Yeah,” he finally said.
“Did you see someone while you were there?” O’Donnell asked.
He didn’t answer.
“This is important,” Ellis said. “I know you don’t want to get in trouble, but we know you were there. If you don’t tell us what happened, we’ll have to take you to the station and talk.”
“And my stuff?” Tony asked. “I need to sell my stuff. Frannie closes at four. If I don’ get there by four, I’ll have to wait until Monday. And people might steal my stuff. Back in the summer some of my stuff got stolen. They punched me and took my stuff, and the police din’t do anything back then.”
“Tell us what you saw, and we won’t delay you any further.”
“I won’ have to go to the station and give a statement?”
“Not right now,” O’Donnell said. “But we’ll record this conversation.” She took out her phone and started recording.
“And I won’t have to testify in court?”
“We might need you to do that later,” Ellis said. “But it’ll be months from now, if we’ll need you at all. And we don’t care that you were smoking crack. This isn’t about that at all.”
He stopped walking, and O’Donnell exhaled in relief as the wheels stopped their squeaking.
“I was looking for a place to smoke,” he said. “Usually I try to do it behind the mall, but the security guy spotted me, so I went to the bridge. Nobody cares if I do that under the bridge. So I finished, and I got out, stepped into the woods to take a piss. And when I got away from the bridge, I could hear two people talking. But, like, in hushed whispers.” He stopped, staring at the cart’s handlebar.
“What did they say?” O’Donnell prompted.
“Don’ know at first. I was high, and it was good stuff. So I wasn’t concentrating. And when one of them spoke, he was whispering, but he was angry, so he was kind of shout whispering? You know what I mean? So his words were all like a hiss, and that made me feel uncomfortable because it was an unpleasant sound, and I was high, so I shut my ears. And I lost track of time, kept seeing flashes of light, and I was nauseous . . . but when the high faded, they were talking about someone. They said to move her and dump her stuff. And I heard some splashing from the river.”
“Did you see them?” O’Donnell asked.
“No, it was dark, and anyway, you don’ go looking for company in the middle of the night in the woods, you know what I’m saying?”
“And then what?”
“One of them kept talking to himself. It sounded like