“Did you ever see him with women?”
Her eyes darted to me and back to Wash. “A couple. They try to sneak them by me because they know I don’t allow them to get carnal in my house. Besides, if those truck stop trixies from down on Snow Street are going to stay here, they need to pay rent like everyone else. But I don’t rent to women.”
I itched to inform her of the flat-out illegality of her statement. I remained silent. More flies with honey.
“Snow Street?” Wash had slipped into his friendly interrogation mode, leaning back in his chair, one hand on the table, one in his lap—completely at ease.
“Yeah, two blocks over. Truck stop over there is where all the hookers hang around, trying to put their sin on any man who drives up or walks by.” She shook her head and took another drag. Her sallow skin seemed even yellower as she smoked, as if the smoke added an extra layer of age to her wrinkled face.
“You think Rowan picked up some girls there?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“He ever get violent with them that you know of?”
She shifted in her seat with a grunt. “There was one. Ambulance came.”
“When was this?”
“I don’t remember.” She grinned, several teeth missing or crooked. Her gaze moved down to Wash’s front pocket where he’d stowed the money. “I might need some help to get the details right.”
Wash drummed his fingers on the table. “One-fifty. That’s it. Now tell me.”
She took another drag and spoke through the smoke. “Been about six months ago. One of the girls from the truck stop. She’d come with Rowan and that other one, the one with all them tattoos.”
“Who?”
“Graves. Lived in 2B. Rowan lived in 1B. Anyway, Rowan had brought her home with him one night. It was about three in the morning, and the damndest racket woke me up. Screaming and banging. I didn’t investigate. I never do whenever it gets like that. Someone called the cops. I tried to keep them out, but they came on in anyway. Ran up there, found the woman. She’d been hurt pretty bad. Took her out on a stretcher. They arrested Rowan, dragged him down the stairs while he kept yelling he didn’t do nothing, that it was Tyler in 2B.”
“You know the woman’s name?”
“No, and I don’t care to. Women like that don’t belong in my house.”
I stifled my eye roll at the intensity of her hypocrisy—housing murderers and rapists yet looking down her nose at prostitutes.
“I know what you’re thinking, young lady.” She stared at me, and I got the distinct feeling she saw more than she let on. “But there’s a reason I don’t let women room here and don’t want the boys bringing them home. What happened to that poor girl that night is what I’m trying to prevent. These aren’t good men. I know that. But they have to live somewhere when they get out, don’t they? You want them in your neighborhood?” She cackled and snubbed her cigarette out in a cracked ashtray.
Good point.
“Did you tell the cops about that incident?” Wash snagged her attention again, to my relief.
She snorted. “I wouldn’t tell the cops if I was lying on the floor dying and one of them could save me.”
“What hospital did they take her to?”
“I think they said St. Paul’s, but I don’t remember.”
“Any other women for Rowan or Tyler, either one?”
“None that I knew about, but I suspect they brought some, yeah.”
“I take it Tyler doesn’t live here anymore?”
“No. I booted him after that incident. I don’t like cops in my house for no reason. I have enough trouble with them as it is.”
“Any idea where he went when he left?”
“No. Probably living under a bridge somewhere.”
“Was he friends with anyone else here, besides Rowan?”
“Yeah, I seen him talking to Gene. Lives in 3C.” She lit another cigarette.
“Got a last name? He still a tenant?”
“Rourke. He still lives here. If he keeps paying his rent late, not for long.” She took a puff and closed her eyes, as if pulling on the fresh cigarette were the height of her day.
“Is he home now?”
“Maybe.”
“What’s his story?”
“Rapist, thief, drug addict—same as all the rest of them.” She waved her hand, indicating the entirety of her house.
“Anyone else?”
She shrugged and pushed herself up with a labored breath. “I don’t know anything more than what I just told you. Now, I’m going to need you to pay up and get out.”
“I’d like to look at Rowan’s and Tyler’s rooms while we’re here.”