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"What did he want?"
"What they all want An interview"
He said so an errant thought, trying to run it down I said, "No private ain?"
"I wouldn't see anyone," I said, "without your bodyguards present in the room"
"Not even a fat old newspaperman, eh?"
"Not even the cardinal"
"Really? There's souess it's the red hat, hed and I laughed with him, and he told me to relax "The cardinal hasn't called," he said, "and Marty didn't want a , just a phoner Fivehis and his alone that he could , but he can always spin a coluh in the past"
We told each other good-bye and I hung up the phone and turned off the TV without finding out what the silent figures were chattering about I had an idea, and I sat there and let myself play with it It see the police would have long since ruled out, but you never know If nothing else, it gaveto do
As it turned out, a few hours on the telephone put ht back at square one You couldn't say it was pointless, in that I was now able to let go of a stray thought that had co of accoe to conjure up a coluiven him, a ruminative piece on the pluses and minuses of celebrity status Another colu on the fate of Byron Leopold, but after a paragraph or two he went on to so else, and so did I I could hardly claim close ties with Byron, I hadn't even known his last name, and the apprehension of his murderer was the responsibility of the fellows at the Sixth Precinct They could handle it just fine without any help froht away, and I found ood reason On Thursday, two days after the s that I was a five-minute walk from the murder scene I went over there and sat on a park bench for half an hour I got into a couple of conversations, then went over and exchanged a feords with the door
Saturday afternoon there was a memorial service for him at St Luke's on Hudson Street People who had known hi the years he was sober shared reminiscences I listened as if for clues
Afterward I had a cup of coffee with Ginnie "It's funny," she said "I keep having the feeling that I ought to hire you"
"To find the guy who shot Byron? The cops can do a better job of that than I can"
"I know The feeling persists all the sa for hi else I can do for him"
Later that day I had a call froured out how the son of a bitch is going to getit so I die of boredo of boredom," I said, "but you don't see it listed as 'cause of death' on a whole lot of autopsy reports"
"It's a cover-up, like the Catholics do with suicide People who die of boredoround Did you ever know a fellow named Benedetto Nappi?"
"I think I saw a couple of his paintings at the Frick"
"Not unless there's a side to the man that I don't know about Benny the Suitcase is what they called hioes that he had a job starting Tony Furillo's car He'd warine, and then if there was no explosion that o for a ride"
"Like a food taster"
"Exactly like a food taster You turned the key in the ignition and when nothing happened you went back home and watched cartoons Benny did this for a couple of months and then quit Not because he couldn't take the pressure I don't think he noticed any pressure 'Nothing ever happens,' he co ever did happen you'd have had to pick hie, but all he kneas the boredom was too much for him"
"And you kno he feels"
"I do, and in point of fact I've got less right to co to wear body ar a heat wave, but the truth of the o from an air-conditioned apartment to an air-conditioned limo to an air-conditioned office It's hotter than hell on the street, but I don't get to spend enough ti"
"I'll take your word for it I don't know that Kevlar flatters ure much, and it's not the last word in co o off, and when it doesn't I start feeling cheated What about you? Are you getting anywhere at all?"
"As ayou your ood way to earn it I've put in so I didn't already know, and I'ation"
"And?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"There's so else, isn't there?"
"Well, there is," I said, and I told him about Byron Leopold
He said, "He's what, a friend of a friend?"
"Essentially, yes I knew him, but just to say hello to"
"But not so closely that you can't sleep as long as his killer walks the streets"