named Crimson? We heard that one night at a coffeehouse Lorraine stole all Crimsonâs songs and performed them as her own set.â
âCrimson? I donât think I know any Crimsons. Is it a cat or a chick?â
I wanted to say neither fish nor fowl but settled for âWeâre not sure.â
âWell, it didnât happen at the Mercutio or Iâd know about it.â
âWhat about your staff? Were any of them connected to Lorraine?â
âMy staff tends to be a fairly transient lot. Wandering wenches who put in a month or two of work, then make tracks. None of the girls that were here when Lorraine was alive are still around. That is, except for Ruby Dovavska, the one you saw a few minutes ago. Rubyâs been here awhile. She waitresses, but sheâll also take the stage now and again.â
âAs a singer?â I asked.
âNo, Ruby gives out with the verse. Poet girls in blackâthatâs one of our bumper crops here in the Village.â
âLet me ask you this,â Mr. OâNelligan said. âDo you know of any individual who would be inclined to take Miss Cobbleâs life?â
âThatâs a weighty thing, taking a life.â Mazzo paused. âI know because Iâve done it.â
That widened my eyes. âOh?â
Mazzo continued. âWhen I was in the Pacific, I shot at least two Japanese soldiers that I know of. Shot them dead. Now, maybe they were vicious, bloodthirsty sons of bitches ⦠or maybe they were just poor dumb kids like I was, doing whatever their generals told them to.â Mazzo pushed off from his desk and walked over to one of the shelves. He reached up and took down a statue of a dragon made of shiny green stoneâjade, I guessedâand cradled it in his hands.
âThis comes from Japan, and all those, too.â He nodded back toward the row of statues behind him. âI was never one of those guys who went in for battlefield souvenirs. I never purloined a pistol or a bayonet, or pried out the gold fillings from a corpse. After I came home, though, I started to collect these Japanese statues. Itâs sort of my way of saying to those two dead cats, âHey, Iâm damned sorry I had to kill you, but I keep a little bit of your world on hand to remember you by.ââ
I wasnât sure what the heck to think about that, though I noticed Mr. OâNelligan was nodding thoughtfully beside me. Knowing something of his history, it suddenly occurred to me that I was the only one in the room who hadnât slain a man in battle. It was a sobering thought.
Mazzo replaced the dragon on its shelf. âGot a little off track, didnât I? You were asking if I knew of anyone around here who could kill Lorraine. Well, my first impulse is to say âhell no.â Itâs one thing to find somebody annoying and aggravating; itâs another to actually hurl them off a roof like youâre suggesting. On the other hand, if I slap on my philosopherâs cap, Iâd have to admit that the world can be one cruel, crazy playgroundâGuadalcanal taught me thatâand dark things happen, man.â
âYes, indeed,â Mr. OâNelligan said. âDark things do happen. The question here is did they happen in this particular situation.â
âEither way, the answerâs yes, isnât it?â Mazzo gave a bitter little laugh. âI mean, whether Lorraine jumped or was pushed, it wasnât exactly a big beautiful moment of splendor, now was it?â
âOf course, youâre correct,â my partner said. âThe loss of life, in whatever circumstances, is always a regretful affair.â
Mazzo pushed on. âAnyway, I donât buy into the homicide angle. Though, to tell the truth, Iâd almost rather it was murder than suicide. I was pretty ticked off at her when they said Lorraine had done herself in. Death will chase you down soon enough, Jack.