Private Affair(73)

Tonya paused at one of the backyard gates, pushed it open, and led the way into a narrow yard with patches of scraggly grass lining a sidewalk leading to a back stoop. When she knocked at the door, there was a pause before the blinds were pulled aside.

When the person inside saw Tonya, the door swung open. An older woman in a dressing gown looked from Tonya to Max and Olivia.

“Who’s this?”

“People who want to talk to Julie.”

“About what?”

“That night ten years ago.”

The way she said it clued Max in that something significant had happened back then.

“This is Marge,” Tonya said.

“Max and Olivia.”

Nobody said nice to meet you, because it was clear the circumstances were far from nice.

“She’s been sleeping a lot. She may not be awake,” Marge said.

“It’s important,” Max said.

Marge gave them a long look. “Nobody cares about a broken-down old whore.”

“We do.”

“A lot of good it’s going to do her now.”

“This has to do with some recent murders. And it may go back to Julie.”

The woman at the door thought about that, then stepped aside.

They walked into a small, dimly lit kitchen, and he was surprised to see that it was neat and clean, although the linoleum on the floor was worn and the appliances looked like they were thirty years out of date. Turning, he saw that Tonya had not come in with them. In fact, when he looked out the back window, he saw her hurrying away.

“This way.”

They followed the woman through the kitchen, along the end of a small, shabby sitting room to a stairway, then up to a second floor landing. There were four doors, all closed, and she led them to the one on the right.

“Just a minute.”

Marge went inside and was gone for several moments. Then she opened the door again and motioned them inside, where Max caught the odor of sickness and saw a woman lying on a narrow bed. A low light on a bedside table gave a small amount of illumination, and Max could see the woman in the bed was small and shrunken, with paper-white skin and thinning dark hair hanging around her shoulders. She looked up when she saw the people in the doorway.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“We’re hoping you can give us some information,” Max said.

“I don’t know nothin’.”

“About the two boys who came down here ten years ago. I think it’s something you remember.”

She winced, and he gathered from her reaction that she knew exactly what he was talking about, even after all these years.

“Please,” Olivia said. “My best friend was murdered a few weeks ago. And there are other murders, too. We’re trying to find out how it’s related. We’re hoping you can piece it together for us.”

“Let me sit up.” The woman on the bed tried and failed to push herself up. Marge came forward, lifted her narrow shoulders up, and propped the pillows behind her.

Just moving that much seemed to exhaust Julie, and she leaned back with her eyes closed.

Finally she opened them and focused on Olivia. “I don’t know who they were,” she said. “I never knew.”

“Just tell us what happened.”

“It was two boys. From the suburbs, I think. They had a flashy car and a lot of money.”

“What kind of car?” Max asked.

“I don’t know much about cars. I just know it was red and sporty.” She stopped talking and started to cough, and it was several moments before Max could ask her another question.

“How old were they?”

“Late teens, probably. School boys.”

“High school or college?”

“I’d say high school.”

“Why? There are a lot of colleges in town.”

“Yeah, and the college guys are more sophisticated.”

“Okay.”

He and Olivia exchanged glances. So far, it fit, but it could have been any two boys.

“Troy had a sporty red car,” Olivia said, sotto voce.

He nodded, then turned back to the woman on the bed. “Okay. And what did they do?”

“Pammy and me was on the corner with some of the other girls. The two boys in the car stopped and asked who wanted to party. They looked like they were okay, and a lot of the girls said they did, but they picked me and Pammy.” She paused, closed her eyes and rested for a moment before going on. “They took us to a motel out near Security Square. You know where that is?”

“Yes,” Olivia answered.

“It was a double room with two beds.” She turned her head away. “We thought they were nice suburban kids, but they wanted to play rough. They wanted to tie us up, and we didn’t like that idea, but they offered us a lot of money, so we agreed.