“If you didn’t kill her, the best thing you can do is tell the truth. If you’re guilty, the best thing to do is say nothing, not a word. Call a lawyer and keep your mouth shut. But anytime you’re innocent, just tell the truth. It’s easier, it’s simpler, and it saves trying to remember what you said before. Because I’ll tell you one thing. Crooks lie all the time and cops know it and they hate it. And once they get hold of a lie they pull on it until something comes loose. You’re looking to lie to save yourself a hassle, and it might work, it’s an obvious suicide, you might get by with it, but if it doesn’t work you’re going to get ten times the hassle you’re trying to avoid.”

He thought about it, then sighed. “They’re gonna ask why I didn’t call right away.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“ ’Cause I didn’t know what to do, man. I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.”

“Tell them that.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What did you do after you got out of here?”

“Last night? Like you said, I drove around some. Drove around the park a few times. Drove over the George Washington Bridge, up the Palisades Parkway. Like a Sunday drive, only a little early.” He shook his head at the memory. “Came back, drove over to see Mary Lou. Let myself in, didn’t have to bust no chain lock. She was sleepin’. I got in bed with her, woke her up, stayed with her a little. Then I went on home.”

“To your house?”

“To my house. I’m not gonna tell ’em about my house.”

“No need to. You got a little sleep at Mary Lou’s.”

“I never sleep when someone else is around. I can’t. But they don’t have to know that.”

“No.”

“I was at my house for awhile. Then I came on into town, lookin’ for you.”

“What did you do at your house?”

“Slept some. A couple hours. I don’t need a whole lot of sleep, but I got what I needed.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I was just there, you know?” He walked over to the wall, took a staring mask from the nail where it hung. He started telling me about it, the tribe, their geographical location, the purpose of the mask. I didn’t pay much attention. “Now I got fingerprints on it,” he said. “Well, that’s okay. You can tell ’em while we were waiting for them I took the mask off the wall and told you its history. I might as well tell the truth. Wouldn’t want to get caught in some nasty old little white lie.” He smiled at the last phrase. “Little black lie,” he said. “Whyn’t you make that call?”

Chapter 23

Chapter 23