THE BANDAGE woke him, an unfamiliar weight on his head. The room was all white, which made him smile, a white telephone set, then he remembered the alley. Liesl was standing looking out the window, her back to him, and the loop started running again, Danny’s hospital room, this time Ben in the bed. But not dying, everything in focus, the fuzziness gone.
“Is this Presbyterian?” he said, surprised at the croak in his voice.
She whirled around and stared at him, then shook her head, her eyes filling with relief, caught in the same loop.
“Where?”
“Community. On Vine.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Most of the day. It’s almost four.”
“You’ve been here?” He touched the bandage at the back of his head, then the adhesive tape across the bridge of his nose. A dull throb in his chest. “What else?”
“It’s enough. Head trauma—” She looked away.
“It’s not the same. Not five stories.”
“You still might have died,” she said, still not facing him, then turned and came over, brushing her hand against his forehead.
“How about—whoever it was. Is he dead?”
She nodded.
“Any idea who?”
“Some Schläger. Kelly knows.”
“Kelly?”
“He’s here. Outside. He won’t go until he sees you. First.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t have to. You’ve been out. You should see the doctor first.”
“No, I want to know.” He grabbed her wrist. “I’m fine. It’s the kind of thing you know about yourself, if something’s wrong.”
Kelly came in tentatively, the usual jauntiness left outside. “Can you talk?”
“You doing a story? ‘I didn’t know what hit me.’ Pretty lame, except I didn’t. Make something up, I don’t care. The police out there with you?”
Kelly shook his head. “They want a statement, when you’re ready. Dot the i’s. They already took the witness’s.”
“Who?”
“Guy next door saw him punch you, try to throw you off. Day clerk thought he was in the building. Guy comes in, goes to the mailboxes, so the clerk figures he lives there. Of course, if he’d known it was Ray—”
“Who’s Ray?”
“The guy. Hired hand. If you need something done. People do, so he and the cops go way back. That’s why, when they saw it was him, you didn’t have to draw a map. He used to run with the pachucos, his mother’s a Mex. Then I guess he decided to put it to work, go freelance. He’s already been in once for armed robbery.”
“That’s what they think this is?”
“I have to tell you, don’t take this wrong, when I got the call the first thing I thought—I mean, same place.”
“Monkey see. Maybe a better story.”
“Don’t be like that. It’s what anybody would—”
“If I’d been the one who went over? I know. That’s what he wanted you to think.”
“Who? What are you saying?”
“Whoever paid—what was it, Ray?” He looked at Kelly. “Want something better than robbery? First of all, there’s nothing to steal,” he said, feeling Ray’s hands in his pocket again, not something for Kelly. “The door wasn’t forced. I had to open it with a key. But he was already in.”
“Door’s not a problem for guys like that.”
“Especially if they have a key.”
Kelly looked at him, waiting.
“You know, I never saw his face. He hit me from behind. All he had to do was walk away. If he wanted to kill me, a few more head taps would have done it. So why go through all the trouble? Lugging me out there. Maybe so you’d say, ‘the first thing I thought.’ Anybody would. They’d think I’d been planning to do it.”
“But how would he know?”
“Well, Kelly, how would he?”
“You think he did your brother?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Find out who paid him. But that’s how Danny was killed. I know it. For a few minutes there, I was him. Don’t worry,” he said, touching the head bandage, “I’m not going spooky on you. I just saw how it had to be. Find out who paid him. Work it from that side. Is he the kind who brags? Maybe there’s a girl. He get the money yet?”
“You’re so sure about this.”
“Fine, do it as a robbery. Maybe you get a column. The double jump would have been better, but I screwed that up for you. But a murder? Two? That the police never saw? Exclusive? That’s a ticket up.” He looked directly at him. “No more moonlighting.”