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"I thought of that There are plenty of Ricos in the phone book Or maybe he's from Puerto Rico"

"Why not? Everybody else is Maybe he's a Cagney fan"

"Cagney?"

"In the death scene 'Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?' Reht that was Edward G Robinson"

"Maybe it was I was always drunk when I watched the 'Late Show' and all those Warner Brothers gangsters tend to uys 'Mother of mercy, is this the- ' "

"Some pair of balls," I said

"Huh?"

"Jesus Christ"

"What's theco about?"

"The killer C O Jones and M A Ricone I thought they were names"

"They're not?"

"Cojones Maricуn"

"That's Spanish"

"Right"

"Cojones means 'balls,' doesn't it?"

"And ot' I don't think there's an E on the end of it, though"

"Maybe it's especially nasty with an E on the end"

"Or maybe he's just a lousy speller"

"Well, hell," she said "Nobody's perfect"

Chapter 30

AroundI went hoht a noonon the street, and ed at the papaya stand at Seventy-second and Broadway She earing a knit dress, dove gray with touches of black I'd never seen her in anything that dressy

We went around the corner to Cooke's, where a professionally sy ed to and ushered us through a hallway to Suite Three, where a card in a slot on the open door said hendryx Inside, there were perhaps six rows of four chairs each on either side of a center aisle In the front, to the left of the lectern on a raised platforlut of floral sprays I'd sent flowers that h of them to see a Prohibition-era mobster on his way to the Promised Land

Chance had the aisle seat in the front row on the right Donna Campion was seated beside hi out the row Chance earing a black suit, a white shirt, and a narrow black silk tie The wo black, and I wondered if he'd taken the the previous afternoon

He turned at our entrance, got to his feet Jan and I walked over there and I ed the introductions We stood aardly for a moment, and then Chance said, "You'll want to view the body," and gave a nod toward the casket

Did anyone ever want to view a body? I walked over there and Jan walked beside htly colored dress on a casket lining of cream-colored satin Her hands, clasped upon her breast, held a single red rose Her face ht have been carved from a block of wax, and yet she certainly looked no worse than when I'd seen her last

Chance was standing beside me He said, "Talk to you a ave my hand a quick squeeze and slipped away Chance and I stood side by side, looking down at Sunny

I said, "I thought the body was still at the ue"

"They called yesterday, said they were ready to release it The people here worked late getting her ready Did a pretty good job"

"Uh-huh"

"Doesn't look much like her Didn't look like her e found her, either, did it?"

"No"

"They'll creht, don't they? The way they're dressed and all?"

"They look fine"

"Dignified," he said After a pause he said, "Ruby didn't come"

"I noticed"

"She doesn't believe in funerals Different cultures, different customs, you know? And she always kept to herself, hardly knew Sunny"

I didn't say anything

"After this is over," he said, "I be taking the girls to their hoht"

"You know Parke Bernet? The auction gallery, the main place on Madison Avenue There's a sale toht bid on You want to meet me there?"

"What ti Be out of here by three Say four-fifteen, four-thirty?"

"Fine"

"Say, Matt?" I turned " 'Preciate your co"

There were perhaps ten ot underway A party of four blacks sat in the nized Kid Bascohter I'd watched the one tiether in the rear, and another elderly man sat by himself near the front There are lonely people who drop in on the funerals of strangers as a way of passing the time, and I suspected these three were of their number

Just as the service started, Joe Durkin and another plain-clothes detective slipped into a pair of seats in the last row

The hly he'd been briefed, but he talked about the special tragedy of a life cut short in its prime, and about God'sthe true victies from Emerson, Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber, and the Book of Ecclesiastes Then he suggested that any of Sunny's friends ished to ht come forward and say a feords

Donna Campion read two short poems which I assumed she'd written herself I learned later that they were by Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, two poets who had themselves committed suicide Fran Schecter followed her and said, "Sunny, I don't know if you can hear me but I want to tell you this anyway," and went on to say how she'd valued the dead girl's friendship and cheerfulness and zest for living She started off light and bubbly herself and wound up breaking down in tears, and the e Mary Lou Barcker spoke just two or three sentences, and those in a lowthat she wished she'd known Sunny better and hoped she was at peace now

Nobody else ca the platforether and win this one for the Gipper, but he stayed right where he was Theattention- and then one of the attendants played a recording, Judy Collins singing "A Grace"

Outside, Jan and I walked for a couple of blocks without saying anything Then I said, "Thanks for co me God, that sounds foolish Like a conversation after the Junior Pro me I had a lovely time' " She took a handkerchief frolad you didn't go to that alone," she said

"So alad I went It was so sad and so beautiful Who was that man who spoke to you on the way out?"

"That was Durkin"