The Harbor Widow

The DetectiveFrankie Slim wasn't slim, and his name wasn't Frankie. But he heard things, down by the docks, in the back rooms where the cards were crooked and the whiskey was worse. If a body turned up in the harbor, Frankie knew whose it was before the coroner did.

Frankie SlimDetective! Hey, hey, easy, I didn't do nothin'. I'm just havin' a drink, mindin' my own business. Whatever you heard, it wasn't me. I swear on my mother.

The DetectiveRelax, Frankie. I'm not here for you. I'm here for what you know. A man went into the harbor last Tuesday. Quiet type, married money. Somebody helped him in.

Frankie SlimWhoa, whoa, the harbor? No, no, I don't know nothin' about no harbor. Look, all I'm sayin' is, a guy like that, with them kinda debts? You don't go askin' around about Marchetti's business. You just don't. You didn't hear that from me. I gotta go.

The DetectiveAnd just like that, Frankie remembered an appointment on the other side of town. But he'd given me a name. In this city, a name is a thread. And I've never met a thread I didn't pull.

The DetectiveFlynn from the Chronicle found me before I found my coffee. Reporters are like rats that way. They smell a story before it's even finished dying.

FlynnDetective! Flynn, the Chronicle. Don't walk away, you'll want this. That body in the harbor? I've been chasing it a week. Here's the thing nobody's printing: the dead man had a meeting scheduled. With the district attorney. The morning before he drowned.

The DetectiveThe D.A. doesn't take meetings with dead men.

FlynnHe does when there's money on the table. Word is your floater was about to testify, about where certain campaign donations come from. Then, splash. You want my advice? Follow the money. It always floats to the top. Same as the body.

The DetectiveI don't like reporters. But I like the truth, and sometimes the only place it's printed is in a rag like the Chronicle. The D.A. The boss. The widow. Three threads, all knotted around one dead man.

The DetectiveShe was waiting in my office again, like trouble that liked the wallpaper. This time I didn't offer her a drink. This time I had questions, and a coroner's report that didn't match her story.

The DetectiveThe gun that killed your husband had two sets of prints on it. His. And yours, sweetheart. Funny thing to leave out when you hired me to find his killer.

The DameI told you he was dead. I never told you I cried about it. He was going to ruin a great many people, detective. Powerful people, the kind who don't forgive. I made a choice. I chose to survive.

The DetectiveYou chose to use me as your alibi.

The DameI chose the only man in this city who might understand. We're not so different, you and I. We both do the ugly thing, and we both tell ourselves it was justice.

The DetectiveShe was good. She was very good. And the worst part was, she wasn't entirely wrong.

The DetectiveThere's a moment in every case where you decide what kind of man you are. Mine came at two in the morning, with a confession in my pocket and a telephone that could call the cops or just stay on the hook.

The DameYou could let me walk, detective. Nobody would know. We could even be good for each other, you and I. Think about it.

The DetectiveNo. We couldn't. You'd put a bullet in me the first time I got inconvenient. I've known that since you walked in wearing trouble like perfume.

The DetectiveI made the call. They came and took her, and she didn't look back, because women like her never do. The rain started up again, right on schedule. Somewhere across town another phone was ringing, another door was opening, another dame was telling another lie. The city never sleeps. Neither, it seems, do I.