When One Man Dies Read online

  At that moment, the feeling from the old days returned. He knew what he’d find elsewhere in the house.

  He did a quick sweep, looking for specific items. They wouldn’t be hidden. Unless you had a trained eye, they wouldn’t strike you as odd. Good thing Martin had a trained eye.

  In the closet near the bathroom, he found twenty bottles of Sudafed. Above that, tons of batteries. There was more to Gerry Figuroa than met the eye.

  He called the station and told them to send some crime-scene guys down here. They’d have to tape it off, collect evidence, and take fingerprints. He hated to wake the crime scene guys up in the middle of the night, but hell, this was important. When he hung up the phone, he allowed himself another chuckle.

  This case was going to put him back on the map.

  Chapter 9

  I didn’t have time to go home. I wanted to talk to Jen Hanover before the police did. She was my client, and she deserved to hear the news from me, not two detectives who were thinking about arresting her husband. I found her address and tried to navigate the streets of Madison, following street signs toward Morristown. At nearly four in the morning, with few gas stations open, few streetlights on, it was hard to read the signs.

  I drove around in circles for nearly half an hour before finding the street. I drove down Washington Street slowly eyeing the cross streets. That turned out to be unnecessary, and I found the house by watching Blanchett and Daniels make their way to a small house, ranch style, and ring the doorbell.

  Jen Hanover answered the door after a few minutes. She was wearing a long New York Giants T-shirt that I assumed she used as a nightgown. She yawned as she opened the door.

  I put the car in park and watched the detectives go inside. I decided to wait until they left before talking to Jen. A second encounter with the cops in one night was too much. Plus, I wanted to know what the police told her without me around. It was possible they’d give the wife more information than they gave me, a lowly witness. And if Rex was there I didn’t want to be involved in an arrest anyway.

  Though, if I’d committed a murder, left the body out in the open, the last place I’d go was directly home.

  I sat in the car, engine and battery off, leaning my head against the headrest. My body was tense, not tired as I expected it to be. Adrenaline rushed through me, and there was no threat of my falling asleep. But sitting alone, on the dark street, my mind wandered a bit. After five minutes, neither Daniels nor Blanchett was dragging Rex Hanover out of the house in cuffs. I assumed my guess that he wasn’t at the house was correct and they were now questioning my client.

  I thought about Daniels, her ass swaying out of the interrogation room in perfect rhythm with her steps. She was confident, almost arrogant, as if she were better than the job. Every time Blanchett forced a question or a joke, she shot him a look like he was an idiot, not worth being in the same room as her.

  But the frayed tie, the disheveled look told me otherwise. I only owned one suit. I didn’t wear it much. I only wore a suit to impress the clients who held the kind of cash that could pay my rent two months in advance. One of the few times I did wear it, I ended up being attacked by a jealous husband.

  A few years ago, I had stopped by the Olde Towne Tavern for a drink before meeting a client at his mansion in Old Bridge. Artie served my drink with a message. There was a man who had been raving about beating the shit out of me. He’d come in an hour earlier, downed four shots of Jack, and started to talk.

  “This Jackson Donne asshole has ruined my life. Fucker took pictures of me coming out of the fucking Rahway Motel on Route One with a broad I’d met just three hours before I took her back to the hotel. What kind of world is this where a man can’t bring some chick to a hotel room?” Artie assured me he was completely drunk. But, he warned, I should probably stay away.

  I ignored Artie and ordered a beer, seeing the guy across the bar, head in his hand, about to pass out. Sipping my beer, I chatted with Gerry about the Yankees. They didn’t have enough pitching, he offered. I thought their offense could overcome that. As Gerry was about to respond, the drunk, all dressed in leather like a biker, popped his head up and saw me across the room. One beer was all I was going to stay for.

  The guy, I don’t even remember his name, came at me in a drunken rage, pulling a switchblade. I tried to sidestep his first stab and did so, but the second one caught me in the sports jacket, tearing a hole right through it. As he withdrew the knife, I hit him with a right cross. It sent him sprawling toward the floor. Two of the other regulars grabbed him and held him, taking his knife. The cops showed up a few minutes later and took him away, Artie told me. By then I’d already gone to see my client, jacket on.

  I never had the jacket fixed. In fact, if a client asks about the hole, I tell them the story.

  ***

  It was nearly five in the morning when both detectives stepped through the screen door. Blanchett headed back to the car, while Daniels turned to shake Jen’s hand. Probably thanking her for her help. That surprised me, the smile on Daniels’s face. Did she care what Jen thought, about the information she’d given? She didn’t act that way with me, didn’t seem to care. She only wanted answers to the questions, and didn’t get flustered when I didn’t give them.

  I was getting caught up in appearances, thinking about visual clues that I couldn’t be sure about. Lack of sleep was getting to me. I was thinking too much. When the detectives pulled away, their brake lights disappearing two blocks down the street, I finally stepped out of my car and approached the front door. I rang the bell, hoping that Jen hadn’t gone back to bed.

  She answered, tears in her eyes and a tissue clutched in her hand. Her cheeks were red, and she was breathing deeply. We stood in silence, the screen door a barrier between us. A bird was singing somewhere, starting to wake up, and the realization that I wouldn’t get home until after sunup hit me. I tried to fight exhaustion but yawned. “I thought you’d wait until later this morning,” she said, finally.

  I said, “I wanted to get here before the police did.”

  “Too late.”

  “I saw.”

  Through the door I could hear music playing. Something soft, a piano background, violins, sweeping music. It was a song I didn’t recognize, and it was too soft for me to hear who was singing. Jen didn’t offer to open the door.

  “What are you listening to?” I asked.

  “Lou Reed. It’s called ‘Perfect Day.’ ” She wiped her eyes with the crumpled tissue. “Rex played it in his car our first date. We played it again our wedding night. It’s our song.”

  “He’s not here, is he?”

  “No.” Jen started to cry again. Between the tears, she said, “What happened tonight? What happened?”

  “Can I come in? Let’s talk. Please, I want to help.” Help with what, I didn’t know.

  She pushed the door open, allowing me to step inside. The house smelled like steam. I couldn’t exactly explain it, but it was something out of my childhood, the way my home always smelled when my mother made tea or soup. The house looked nothing like my home when I was a kid, but for a moment I was transported. Definitely needed to get some sleep.

  Shaking my head, I looked around. The room Jen led me to was spare, with two chairs, a TV, a coffee table with tabloid magazines spread out over it, and a small love seat. In one corner was a bookcase filled with CDs. A small lamp stood between that and an end table with a CD player on it. The Lou Reed song ended, and Etta James came on.

  “It’s the CD we gave out as a table gift at our wedding,” Jen said, before I could ask. “Sit. Do you want a drink?”

  I shook my head.

  “Please. I need one, and I don’t want to drink alone.”

  “What are you drinking?”

  “Scotch and soda?”

  The scotch would knock me out, go right to my head. I said yes anyway.

  Jen went through a door to what I assumed was the kitchen and I heard glasses rattle around.
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  The room, the house still smelled. My mind traveled back to the night my father walked out on my mother and me. He never gave a reason, never left a note. My mother said he woke up in the middle of the night and left. He didn’t come back. She probably kept something from me that night; he must have said something to her. When my sister and I woke up she was sitting on the couch, crying.

  Jen came back with the drinks and placed one in front of me. The taste was bitter and made me cringe. Not a big scotch drinker, it really didn’t go down smooth.

  “What did the police tell you?”

  She took almost half the drink in her mouth. Swallowed and didn’t even flinch. “They asked if I knew where Rex was. They asked a lot of questions. Said he was wanted for questioning. They wouldn’t say if he was all right. Is he all right?”

  “I don’t know. Did he call here, did you hear from him?” Etta James ended. Sam Cooke now, “We’re Having a Party.”

  “What happened?” Jen said. “You’re acting like the police. I hired you. I want to know what happened. I asked them the same thing and they wouldn’t tell me. I don’t know what’s going on. My God, my stomach is in knots.”

  She finished off her drink. I told her what she wanted to know. By the time I was done, she was sobbing again. Now my stomach was in knots. Still couldn’t clear the smell from my nostrils. The feeling of déjà vu.

  I drank my scotch, let her cry. Over her shoulder was a window, Venetian blinds closed. There was a hint of light against the blinds. The sun was coming up.

  “He called,” she said. “Just said he had to go away for a while, but he’d be back. He’s done this a few times before.”

  “He has?”

  “It’s the reason I came to you in the first place. Sometimes he goes to work, calls me, and tells me he has to go away.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “I didn’t think it was too important.” Her crying had slowed. “Tonight. When he called tonight, I was mad. I swore at him. He told me he couldn’t talk long, hung up on me. Bastard.”

  “Did you tell the police he called?”

  No tissue now, she wiped her face with the back of her hand. “No. They wouldn’t tell me what happened. They wouldn’t tell me anything. So I didn’t tell them.”

  “Mrs. Hanover, your husband murdered someone.” She took a deep breath. “No. He didn’t.”

  The music changed again. Sam Cooke to Van Morrison, “Into the Mystic.”

  “My husband didn’t kill anyone.”

  “Mrs. Hanover—Jen—I took pictures of him.”

  “You have him on camera? Actually murdering someone?”

  “I have him with the body.”

  “You didn’t see him kill anyone?”

  “No.”

  Jen nodded. “I don’t believe Rex could ever kill anyone.”

  “You should have told the police he called. They need to find him. Did he say where he was going?”

  “No.”

  “You should have told them.”

  “I don’t want the police to find him.” I downed the last of my scotch.

  “I want you to find him,” she said. “Mrs. Hanover. Please.”

  “Find him, Mr. Donne. Bring him home to me. Once you find him, we’ll both see that he’s not a murderer. This has to be a misunderstanding. I can believe he cheated on me. I can understand that. But my husband is not a murderer.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  Sitting across from me, Jen leaned forward. Took my right hand in both of hers.

  “Will you help me?”

  I took air in through my nose. The smell—again I was back in my childhood home, my mother crying on the couch. My father had disappeared. We never heard from him again. I remembered how helpless I felt, an eight-year-old boy who could only hug his mother. A helpless eight-year-old.

  “I’ll help you find your husband,” I said.

  Jen Hanover smiled, stood up, and gave me a hug. I patted her shoulder, and felt the weight of the past day get a little heavier on my shoulders.

  Chapter 10

  The sun was barely coloring the sky, and the sound of traffic was still light. It wasn’t even six. That meant the man he was looking for was still around. He always was this time of morning.

  Jesus Sanchez made his way around the corner and froze. Bill Martin saw and nodded at him. Sanchez paled.

  “Yo, what the fuck you doin’ here, man? Didn’t think you were into this shit anymore.”

  Martin extended his hand; Sanchez ignored it. “I said, what the fuck are you doin’ here?”

  “Need to ask you a few questions.”

  “Yo, you ain’t a narc anymore.”

  “I need to know who the big guy is these days,” Martin said. “Fuck if it ain’t me.”

  Martin laughed. “You’ve never been a big seller. You never will be. Answer my question.”

  Being out here felt great. You didn’t get this working small-time robberies in New Brunswick. Martin loved moments like this, just fucking with a witness or informant until you got what you wanted. Working petty shit stolen from a frat house was boring. This was great.

  “Shit, man. You don’t gotta be like that. Michael Burgess, yo. Check in on him.”

  “Never heard of him.” Martin dropped his cigarette on the ground.

  “Yeah, you been away awhile,” Jesus said. “You still talk to your boy? You know, Jackson.”

  “Who’s Michael Burgess?” Martin fumbled for another cigarette. “Man, that guy, he didn’t give you up, did he? But yeah, you still holdin’ a grudge like he fucked you.”

  Maybe working this case wasn’t exactly as Martin had hoped. “Tell me about Burgess.”

  “Man, you ever tell him about what happened? What you did?”

  Memories rushed back to Martin, moments he’d long ago buried.

  “No,” Martin said. “I never told him.”

  “What you smiling for? You know I ain’t gonna tell you shit. I don’t have to.”

  “I can find out about Burgess without you.” He inhaled some smoke. “You just gave me an idea. See ya around, Jesus.”

  “Man, what are you talkin’ about?”

  “You still see Donne?”

  “Nah. Every once in a while walking up and down this block. But we don’t talk no more.”

  “You decide to get friendly, don’t tell him you saw me.”

  “Man, fuck you.”

  Martin turned and walked back to the police station.

  Chapter 11

  The ringing phone was like a jolt of electricity through my body. I snapped out of bed, still in a sleepy daze, and knocked the alarm clock off my nightstand. The ringing kept up and I reached for the phone.

  The clock, which landed faceup, said it was ten. I’d only gotten to bed around seven-fifteen. Jen had given me a list of Rex’s friends, their phone numbers and addresses, and then let me go. I spent the next hour and a half sitting on 287 in morning rush-hour traffic, listening to bad talk radio and fighting to keep my eyes open. I stumbled into my apartment, stripped to my boxers, and passed out on the bed. I hadn’t even had time to dream when the phone started ringing.

  “Hello,” I mumbled into the receiver, rolling onto my back. “This is Ellen Schwartz, admissions office at Rutgers University.”

  “Yes? How can I help you?”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Donne. Did I wake you?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. I could hear some disapproval in her voice, so I added, “I worked the night shift last night.”

  “I’m sorry to disturb you.”

  “Not a problem.”

  I tried not to yawn into the receiver.

  “Mr. Donne, we’re calling to schedule your entrance exam. You’re a late admit, so we’re afraid the letter wouldn’t reach in time. We’re holding the exam on May seventeenth. A Saturday.”

  “Okay.”

  “Will you be able to attend? It’s a six-hour exam, two hours for l
anguage arts, two hours for math, and two hours for a foreign language.”

  “Foreign language?”

  “It’s for placement in your classes. If you can test out of the intro courses, you’ll have to take fewer credits.”

  I found my daily planner in the drawer in the nightstand. I flipped to May 17.

  “Terrific. I should be free that day.”

  “Good. Report to the lecture room in Scott Hall at eight in the morning. We’ll sort things out from there.” She hung up.

  I closed my eyes for what felt like another minute. My blinds were closed, but the sun still found a way to force some beams into the room. The phone rang again. I opened my eyes; now it was eleven. I decided I wasn’t going to get much more sleep.

  I answered the phone, rubbing my eyes with my free hand. “It’s Artie.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Were you sleeping? Jesus, it’s eleven in the morning.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Holy shit. What happened? You okay?”

  I leaned back. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just spent the night with the Madison Police Department.”

  “Did it have to do with Gerry?”

  “No.”

  “What were you doing, then?”

  “You at the bar?” I asked. “Yeah. Tracy’s on her way, too.”

  “Who?” Maybe I’d missed something while I was sleeping. I had no idea who Tracy was.

  “Tracy Boland? Gerry’s niece? You don’t remember her?”

  “No.” But the memory of her face flashed before my eyes.

  “Be here in twenty minutes. Maybe by then you’ll remember.”

  ***

  It was more like thirty-five. I nearly fell asleep again in the shower, but I turned the water to cold and was instantly awake. Finally, dressed in clean jeans, sneakers, and a plain red T-shirt, I entered the Olde Towne Tavern. Artie was behind the bar, looking like he hadn’t slept in days.

  As I came through the door, he said, “You look like shit.”

  “Right back at you.”

  He forced a smile. The TV was perched over Artie’s shoulder above the bar, tuned to a news station. The words Special Report rolled across the screen.