Barnes said, “ Marshall, why would we waste our time coming down here unless we had you cold?”

“’Cause you’re afraid of me and what I represent,” Bledsoe answered. “I don’t know anything about the dyke.”

“How’d you know she was a lesbian?”

“Because I read, Jack. Who are these imaginary fairies testifying against me?”

“Your peeps, Marshall.”

“Who?”

“Ray and Brent Nutterly?”

“Oh Christ!” Bledsoe made a pained face. “Those two idiots! They’re saying I had something to do with blowing a diesel dyke’s brains out?”

Neither Barnes nor Decker answered.

“I’ve been with my mom for the last week! The pop was just a couple of days ago, right? I’m a superhero for the people, but even I can’t be in two places at the same time.” Sly smile. “Maybe next year. I’m working on my superpower mojo.”

Decker said, “Where were you the night before last?”

“I told you, I was with my mom.”

“That tells us bullshit cause she’ll lie for you,” Barnes said. “Let’s try again. Where were you the night before last and what were you doing?”

Bledsoe tapped his toe. “Let me think, let me think. Uh, last night…” He snapped his fingers. “We watched a DVD- Boldface Liars…” A laugh. “You two should know about that.”

“The night before last night,” Barnes said.

“Okay, okay…uh…let me think.”

“Make it a good one, Marshall,” Decker said.

Another snap of the fingers. “Mom and I went out to dinner. Cody’s Family Restaurant, I paid with a credit card. That should be even easy enough for you clowns to check out.”

Barnes said, “What time did you eat?”

“Nine…maybe a little earlier. The place was pretty empty. The waitress’s name was Kris. Big tits, ugly face. Anything else?”

“What’d you eat?” Barnes asked.

Bledsoe laughed. “Chili cheeseburger, onion rings and a Coors. Mom had the same except she ordered curly fries. She loves her curly fries.”

“What did you do after dinner?”

“Went back to Ma’s, drank a couple of brews…watched a little TV. I guess I knocked off around twelve.”

“What were you watching?” Barnes asked.

“Uh…some old movie. Robert Mitchum and some nice-looking piece of old-fashioned ass. Piece of shit. I turned it off before the end. Can I go now?”

Barnes remained stoic but Bledsoe’s alibi was too damn specific and he wasn’t happy. If someone verified him in LA at nine, it would have been difficult- though not impossible- for him to travel four hundred miles, do the murder in the early-morning hours and drive back down. There were also planes, but Barnes figured a guy like Bledsoe would be memorable, easy enough to check out. Bledsoe could have ordered the hit, so he wasn’t off the hook. But bottom line: no evidence to pursue an investigation.

Decker asked, “How did you know Ernesto Golding was popped?”

“Good news travels fast.”

Again, Decker kicked the chair out from under Bledsoe’s ass. Marshall cursed and stood up, again, wiping off his pants. “Shit! You can keep persecuting me, man, but it won’t help your fucking cause! I had nothing to do with his death or the lesbo.”

“So how do you know about Ernesto Golding being popped?” Decker said.

“I knew the cunt that set him up.”

“Name.” Decker flexed a leg.

“Ruby Ranger. She’s doing a long stretch of time, which is probably okay for her. I think she also likes girls. Guess they’re everywhere.” Big grin. “Minus one.”

A knock; the door opened. Marge Dunn handed Decker a piece of paper. Decker read it and nodded. “Your arraignment is scheduled in two hours, Marshall. You’ll be put in a holding cell and when the time comes, cuffed again and driven to court. After you pay your fines, you’ll be lucky to have cab money. Then again, you can always hock your truck. You won’t need it since your license will be revoked- ”

Bledsoe gave a sick smile. “You’ve got to be shittin’ me.”

“You got three speeding tickets, two going excess of eighty-five.”

“This is so bogus.”

“Then there are all the parking violations. What’s the problem, Marshall? Have trouble reading signs?”

Something in Bledsoe’s eyes told Barnes that Decker had hit a nerve.

Decker said, “The grand total for your ass to stay out of jail is five thousand, six hundred and twenty bucks.”

Bledsoe glared at Decker, muttering to himself. “Fucking asshole kike!”

Decker’s leg shot out again and Bledsoe buckled under his own weight and went down. He looked up from the floor, spittle running down a corner of his mouth. “I’ll have your badge for this.”

Decker laughed. “Great. I could use a vacation.”

15

After Bledsoe was duly escorted out of the interview room, Barnes shut the door and lowered his voice. “Little rough, don’t you think?”

Decker faced Barnes, eye to eye. “Let him sue. I meant what I said.”

Barnes dropped the issue. Why piss off someone who was helping him out? Besides, he’d been in similar situations.

Decker said, “If Bledsoe gets jail time and his alibis don’t check out, I’ll give you a call and you and your partner can take a shot at him again.” Tight smile. He brushed back the ginger mustache. Bristly hairs spread and fell back into place. “It’d probably be better if I wasn’t around. Marshall wasn’t my most sterling interview.”

“Seemed fine to me, Lieutenant. Thanks for the help.”

Decker stretched. His hands reached the ceiling. “Look, I caused him some grief and I’m not sorry about that. I know he’s caused mischief down here. But I’m thinking that alibi had too much detail for you guys and if he’s right about the time frame, it’s going to be tough tying him in directly.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Barnes concurred.

“Cody’s restaurant is about twenty minutes from here,” Decker said. “Marge will give you directions.”

“Thanks. We’ll track down Kris the waitress and see what she says. Even if she alibis him, we’ll check the airports to make sure he didn’t take a quick hop north.”

As they left the room, Decker said, “I would’ve liked to see it work out better for you. Murder trumps everything and that guy should be put away.”

Barnes said, “He was a long shot, Lieutenant. Egging’s a far cry from blowing someone’s head off.” He took out his card and handed it to Decker. “If we can ever reciprocate, just let me know.”

“Will do. And have Marge Dunn give you her card…just in case you need anything else.”

“I’ll do that,” said Barnes. “Just in case.”

Kris, the thirty-year-old blond waitress with a large chest and a face Barnes thought more okay than ugly, remembered both Bledsoes. How could she forget them? He was a surly jerk and Mom was foulmouthed.

“They left like a dollar tip on a twenty-dollar tab and acted like I was lucky to get that.”

“Do you remember what time they left?” Amanda asked her.

Kris twirled a strand of too-yellow hair. “Late, like ten. Like I remember thinking that if I could, you know, finish off with these assho…these people, like I’d be done for the evening. I was more gone than there, you know?”

“Thanks for helping us out,” Barnes said.

“Sure. Is he, like, in trouble?”

Barnes shrugged.

“He must be in trouble. Like why else would the police be asking about him? Doesn’t surprise me. He had a strange look.”

“Strange, how?”

Kris bobbed her head up and down. “You know…looking over his shoulder a lot.”

“Really?” Barnes asked.

“Sort of.” Again, she bobbed her head up and down. “Kind of. Or maybe he was just hungry and wanted his food faster than we could give it to him.”

Amanda said, “You should be a detective yourself.”

“Thanks.” Kris smiled a mouth of white, straight teeth. “I watch a lot of Law & Order, especially SVU. Christopher Meloni is hot.”