The Criminal (12 page)

We went through the pictures again. Except that he was a little slower with it, it was the same story.

I got up and paced around the room. He watched me, started to say something a couple of times, and I guess I cut him off pretty short.

I scraped the pictures up from the lounge and carried them over to the window. I held them up to the light, turned through them slowly.

Nothing. I'd taken him over every step of the way, and there was nothing. Nothing that might mean people- someone who could have seen him.

I came to the last picture, and I cursed out loud. Why couldn't he have gone on to the golf course? Why couldn't he have gone at least a little further down the bluff so that he might have been seen from the course? Why the hell did he have to stay back there in those God damned rocks when-

I let the pictures slide out of my hands, all but the last one. I held it up to the light, turning it this way and that, squinting at it.

"Bob," I said. "Come here! Hurry up, God damn it!"

"Y-Yes, sir." He came running like a dog. "Yes, Mr. Kossmeyer?"

"This little dark patch over here on the far right… see it? See where I'm pointing? Down in the bottom of that little swell of land- there in those weeds or bushes or whatever they are."

"Yes, sir. I see it."

"What is it? It looks like it might be a little clearing."

"Yes, sir. I guess maybe it is."

"Maybe?" I said. "Don't you know? You've wandered all over hell out there, looked at everything else within a ten mile radius, don't you know what this is?"

"Well, I-there was some colored people over there, once, over that way, and this big old fat woman she looked pretty mean, so I figured I'd better stay away from there…"

He looked at me anxiously. I let out a groan. "You saw a- Wait a minute! You only saw her the one time, and yet you never went near there afterward?"

"W-Well, I guess it was more than that. I guess I've seen her pretty often, her and some colored kids."

"You guess! You must have, didn't you? Didn't you? When was the last time?"

"Well, I-I-"

"God," I said. "God in heaven! It must be a garden and you've seen people around it, and you didn't tell me about it! Don't you know they must live around there? Were you ever over in these woods? When was the last time you saw them-any of them?"

"N-Not-not very long ago, I guess. It kind of seems like it wasn't. Y-You see, I don't-didn't-try to see 'em. I mean, I get near there I always kind of look the other way, so that, well, they won't think I'm spying or anything. I kind of try to circle around, and pretend like-"

"When was the last time you saw them? I know. You pretended not to look over that way and maybe you circled around, but you'd damned near've had to see them if they were around. You'd know they were there even without looking. When was it? A week ago, two weeks? Four days? That day, the day you-"

"Y-Yes, sir," he stammered. "It was that day, I guess. That's when it was, yes, sir! I remember now it was that day, Mr. Kossmeyer. I-"

"Are you sure? Are you
sure
, Bob?"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

Then, I managed to get hold of myself, and I let go and stood back.

"I'm sorry" I said. "Don't pay me any mind, Bob. You know how it is when a guy gets excited."

"Yes, sire He eyed me watchfully "That's all right, Mr. Kossmeyer."

"Now, it doesn't make a bit of difference, see? If you saw them, fine; if you didn't see them, fine. Just tell me the truth. Either way it'll be all right."

He knew better than that. He said, "I saw them. Maybe I didn't actually see them but I knew they were there. Some of 'em were there."

"Bob," I said. "I-well, tell me this, Bob. Right from the beginning I've tried to get you to remember if you saw anyone or passed anyone or talked to anyone who might give you an alibi for the time of the murder. I tried that first night I talked to you; I've gone back and forth through these pictures today, trying to. And I'm sure various other people tried to, Mr. Clinton and the detectives and the newspaper men. And you've maintained all along that there wasn't anyone, that you couldn't remember anyone. Now, you suddenly tell me-and I'm sure you wouldn't deliberately represent-now you tell me that-"

"W-Well," he faltered, "you don't want me to say so, I won't. If you say I didn't, well, maybe I didn't."

I mopped my face. "I
do
want you to say so, Bob, but only if it is the truth, if you're sure, that is. That's why I'm asking how you happen to remember now when you couldn't before. Just to make sure, see?"

He wet his lips again, looked down uneasily at the floor.

"Yes, Bob? How do you happen to remember? Why do you remember now when you didn't remember before now?"

"Well, I-I guess I was trying not to remember. You know how it is, something you're kind of afraid of but you can't do anything about, so you try to act like it isn't there. So-well, that's kind of the way it was with me and them. All those colored people, and just me by myself and no one else around. I tried to shut 'em out of my mind, and I guess I did…"

I nodded. That took care of part of the question. It sounded reasonable-as, of course, we both wanted it to.

"Go on, Bob," I said. "You made yourself believe they weren't there. You convinced yourself that they weren't. Now, how do you remember they were?"

"Well"-his eyes clouded-"well, I guess it was something you said, the way you acted or something. It kind of scared me out of not remembering, sort of reminded me of them. I-I don't mean you're like them, o'course, but-"

"It's all right," I said. "Don't apologize. Go on."

"Well, I remembered they yelled at me, too. Cursed and yelled at me. When you started to-well, you know-well, it came back to me that they'd cursed and yelled."

"They'd never done that before?"

"Huh-uh."

"You'd gone by there day after day, they'd seen you day after day, and they'd never done anything like that before?"

"Huh-uh… Well, maybe that one other time, back when I first noticed that place and that big old colored woman just stood and looked at me. Maybe she said something that day"

"But that was a long time ago. After that, they never did anything like that afterwards until four days ago?"

"Uh-huh."

"No," I said. "Not uh-huh, Bob. Uh-huh isn't enough. I've got to know why-"

"Well, I guess maybe it was the way I was acting. Just walking straight and not trying to keep out of their way or anything. Kind of acting like I didn't give a darn. I guess they must've thought I was sort of daring 'em."

Well, that too sounded reasonable. It all fitted together, perfectly… Just the way we wanted it to.

I began gathering up the pictures and putting them in my briefcase.

"All right, Bob," I said. "That's fine. Of course, you realize I'll have to find these colored people and talk to them. They'll have to verify your story."

"Yeah?" he said. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'll have to do it, Bob. They'll have to verify it, swear that it's true. It won't do us any good if they don't. In fact, if you should be mistaken, it might hurt us a great deal."

"Well," he said, sullenly, "I can't help what they say. I 'spect they'll probably say I wasn't there just to be mean. They act like pretty mean people, an' that's what they'll probably do."

"Bob," I said, "look at me."

"What for? I'm lookin' at you, ain't I?"

"Look at me."

He looked up. He held my eyes stubbornly for a moment.

Then, his face crumpled and he began to cry.

"W-What you want me to say?" he sobbed. "What you want me t-to say, anyhow…? M-Maybe I didn't. Maybe I-I-You don't want me to say so, I won't…"

…I parked my car on the road at the foot of the bluff, and climbed up to the top. I found the garden, a few rows of browning corn with withered sweet-potato and stringbean vines wound round the stalks. I found a path, and followed it down into the woods. Their house, their dwelling, rather, had been assembled from packing boxes, scraps of sheet-iron, flattened-out tin cans and other odds and ends of junk. A rabbit hutch, improvised from an old chicken crate, stood on pegs against the house; and several moulting hens scratched at the packed earth beneath the trees. Two Negro boys, perhaps thirteen and fifteen respectively, were shucking beans into a kettle while a third boy-ten or thereabouts-looked on. I said, hello, and they leaped to their feet. The older boy placed himself in front of the other two. "Mammy," he called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off me, "some white man heah."

There was trouble in the way he said white man. There was trouble in the woman who squeezed through the door and silently confronted me, hands on hips. I could see what Bob meant when he'd said she was plenty mean-looking.

This was going to be tough, as tough as it could be made on me. But I was thinking not so much of the fact as the causes that must lie behind it. What had been done to them, said and done to them, to make them like this?

I was wondering why Clinton had made that remark to me.

He'd apologized. He'd said he hadn't meant it, and I wanted to believe he hadn't. But why, unless he'd had it in his mind for a long time, had it slipped out so easily? How, unless a guy thinks a thing, can he say it?

Well… no matter. It wasn't deliberate, only an unfortunate slip of the tongue that was best forgotten. And I had forgotten it. At any rate, I certainly didn't hold any grudge.

JONES

Lil man take pitcha out he pockit. You see iss boy befo, he say.

Mammy lookit pitcha. Mebbe, she say Mebbe, no. He in trouble, huh.

Lil man say, Smattuh uh fack, he is, mam. You n yo childrin kin be uh great deal hep to me.

Mammy say, Huh. Why we hep white boy. Suhv he right.

Man kina frown. He say, But, mam. He say, mam, ats yo gahden up deah on hill.

Mammy say, Who say so. Mebbe ouah gahden, mebbe no. Mebbe we don know nuffin bout no gahden.

Man say, I got reason bleeve you up at gahden fo day ago. You n some uh yo childrin. You deah roun noon when iss boy pass by.

Mammy say, Who say we wuz.

Iss boy say you wuz, man say. Say sum uh you hollah at he.

Mammy say, Well, he say so, why you talkin uh me. Don remembah nuff in about it mahsef.

But you mus remembah, lil man say. Fo day ago roun noon. Vey impohtant you remembah, mam.

Mammy say, Who say I got to. Who it impohtant to, anyhow.

Man say, Possibly some yo childrin remembah, dese fine young men you have heah.

Mammy say, Dose deah fine young men don remembah nuffin I don.

Mistah John Brown kina push aroun Mammy. Mistah John Brown jus lil boy n he like at fine young men talk. He say, Mistah, I- n at all he say, cuz Mammy smack him spang in he mouf. She sock he so hahd he sail back, almos knock me n Genril Ulysses S. Grant ovah.

Lil man kina squirm, shuffle he feet. Lady, he say, I insis on ansuh. Eitha you tell me willingly uh I be foahced to take you inna cote.

Mammy say, Cote make uh puhsson remembah, huh. Since wen dey do at.

Lil man say, Yes, lady, dey insis you remembah. You do yo bes tuh remembah. All you jus say you don remembah, knowinly conceal evdunce fum cote you be in vey seious trouble.

Mammy say, Ats fine. Thanks fuh tellin me. Reckon we tells cote we nevah seen dat boy.

Lil man lookit me n Mistah n Genril. He look back at Mammy. Mammy kina grin at he. Well, she say, how you like us do dat.

Mam, lil man say, all I ast is simple ansuh to mah question. Suahly, at isn much to ast, jus simple yes oah no. Did you see iss boy roun noon fo days ago?

Tol you, Mammy say. Mebbe we see him, mebbe we didn.

Man muttuh somepn undah he bref. He kina look aroun. He say, Mam, you reelize dis lan city propehty. Some un make complain you not be heah vey long.

Some un make complain, Mammy say, some un gets in trouble day selves. I say dat some un thretn me, try make me say somepn ain so.

Well, lil man say.

Well, Mammy say. You got somepn else on yo min.

Lil man kina cleah he thoat. Kina look off uh one side uh Mammy. Mam, he say, mus be vey hahd livin dese cuhcumstances. How you like nice lil house close in. Some place mebbe yo childrin cn go tuh school n you cn fin wuk.

How I like, Mammy say. How I get, mistah.

Lil man say, Well, mam, I couln pay you tuh say you see iss boy. You unnerstan at, mam.

Mammy say, I unnerstans, mistah. I unnerstans, awright.

Lil man squirm. He say, I like be vey cleah on dis point. I could not n would not be pahty tuh procurin false witness. I wan nuffin fum you but de troof. Dey is no connection between whut you say n any sistance I give you.

Mammy grin. Sho dey ain, she say. We jus do it fo favuh.

Please, mam, man say. Dis not mattuh tuh joke about. It mus be unnerstood at-

Sho, Mammy laugh out loud. Who jokin, mistah.

Lil man lookt Mammy. Mammy laugh some mo. LII man lookin like mebbe he go way but he don.

Well, Mammy say, whut you wan do, mistah.

Well, lil man say. I just wan be suah you unnerstood, mam.

Ain I said so, Mammy say. Mebbe we bettah go inside, mistah. You lookin kina peakid.

Lil man n Mammy go inside de house. Mistah John Brown staht cryin. Mistah John Brown jus lil ol boy, think mebbe man goin to huht Mammy. He say, He goin take Mammy way, Presdint. He goin lock huh up n shoot huh, Genril.

Hush yo mouf, I say. Cose he ain. What you think Mammy be doin while he doin at.

Bet he do. Mistah John Brown go on cryin. Lock huh up n shoot huh like dey done Pappy.

Genril Ulysses S. Grant give Mistah John Brown meaneye. Tells him, Hush yo mouf, boy. Don do no talkin about Pappy. All us does is thinkin.

Lil man n Mammy comes out uh house. Mistah John Brown run n thow he ahms noun Mammy n Mammy stoop down n hol him. Lookit up at lil man.

Aw right, mistah, she say. We see you fust thing in mohnin. You wan somepn else.

Mam, lil man say. I do whut I say, regahdless, so will you tell me, strickly fo my own infuhmation. Did you oah did you not see at boy.

Mammy don say nuffin. She jus stay stoopin down, huh ahms aroun Mistah John Brown. Just lookit lil man n grin, n she don say nuffin.

Lil man go way.