“I don’t know. A while ago. Ten, fifteen years maybe.”
“And you never thought to contact the police?”
“Huh?”
“You saw a guy who’d gone missing. You never thought to tell us?”
“Tell you what exactly?” Lorraine put her hands on her hips, her voice rising. “Was he a criminal you were after?”
“No but-”
“And, what, do you think I’m an informant or something? I’ve worked in this business for twenty years. You learn quick that nobody sees nothing, you know what I’m saying?”
He did.
“I wouldn’t be talking to you now only…” Lorraine suddenly seemed depressed and deflated. “Harry. How could someone hurt Harry? Look, whatever, I don’t want more people to die. When you’re a customer in here, I don’t much care what you do. Break whatever commandment. But if people are starting to die…”
She turned away.
“When was the last time you saw Stewart Green?”
Lorraine didn’t answer.
“I asked-”
“A few weeks back.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“It might have been around the time that that Flynn guy disappeared.”
Broome froze.
“Lorraine, I need you to think hard about this: Was he here on Mardi Gras?”
“Mardi Gras?”
“Yeah.”
She thought about that. “I don’t know, it could be. Why?”
Broome could feel his pulse start to pick up pace. “In fact, when you saw him over the years, could it have been during other Mardi Gras?”
She made a face. “I don’t know.”
“It’s important.”
“How the hell would I remember something like that?”
“Think. You guys give out beads on Mardi Gras, right?”
“So?”
“So think back. You remembered Stewart had hoop earrings. Close your eyes now. Picture when he was here. Was he wearing Mardi Gras beads maybe?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t know.”
“Close your eyes and try.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Come on, Lorraine, this is important.”
“Okay, okay.” He could see now that her eyes were welling up. She quickly closed them.
“Anything?”
“No.” Her voice was soft now. “I’m sorry.”
“You okay?”
She blinked open her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about Stewart Green?”
Her voice was still soft. “No. I gotta get back to work.”
“Not yet.”
Broome tried to think it through, then he remembered: Erin had the security footage. That was how they had realized the Mardi Gras connection. Erin could look through them now and search for the man Lorraine described. He debated dragging Lorraine in for Rick Mason to sketch, but Mason was also an expert on age-progression software. He could work that with what he now knew-shaved head and goatee? — and then bring it back to show Lorraine.
“I don’t understand,” Lorraine said. “Why did you ask about Mardi Gras?”
“We see a pattern.”
“What kind of pattern?”
He quickly figured, why not? Maybe she’d remember something. “Stewart Green went missing on Mardi Gras. So did Carlton Flynn. A man named Ross Gunther was murdered on Mardi Gras. Other men too.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do we. I have pictures that I want to show you-of missing men. Maybe you’ll recognize one.” He had the file with him. No other patrons had come over to this corner. They sat by the main stage while a stripper dressed as Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin started to dance to “A Whole New World.” The act gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “magic carpet ride.”
Broome took out the photographs and started to spread them on the bar. He watched Lorraine’s face. She took her time with the most recent one, the one that had been sent anonymously to his office.
“That’s Carlton Flynn,” she said.
“That one we know.”
Lorraine put it back and went through the other pictures. The tears were back in her eyes.
“Lorraine?”
“I don’t recognize any of them.” She blinked, turned away. “You should go.”
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing.”
Broome waited. For a moment Lorraine said nothing. He had always seen her upbeat, always with that sideways smile, the smoky voice, the throaty laugh. She had always been the dictionary definition of the good-time party girl.
“I’m dying,” Lorraine said.
Broome felt something in his chest dry up and blow away.
“I just came from the doctor.”
He finally found his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Cancer. It’s already pretty far along. I have a year, maybe two.”
Broome could feel his throat tightening up. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Okay.”
Lorraine tried to give him the crooked grin. “Believe it or not, you’re the only one I’ve told. Pathetic, right?”
Broome reached his hand across the bar. For a moment she didn’t move. “I’m glad you told me,” he said.
She put her hand on his. “I’ve made choices people don’t understand, but I don’t have regrets. I was married once, and yeah, true, he was an abusive son of a bitch. But even if he wasn’t, that life just wasn’t for me. This one was. I’ve loved it here. It’s been a lot of laughs, you know what I mean?”
Broome nodded, met her eye.
More tears came to her eyes. “But this is the part that sucks about having no one, you know? I wish… oh man, I sound like such a baby… I want someone to care. I want someone to be crushed when I go. I want someone to hold my hand when I die.”
Again he wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to sound patronizing. He wanted to do something, anything. Broome liked to be detached-emotions were messy-but he hated feeling helpless.
“I’ll be with you, if you want. I’ll hold your hand.”
“You’re sweet, but no.”
“I mean it.”
“I know you do, but that’s what I meant. Sure, I could find some people who pity me enough to be with me at the end. But the kind of thing I’m talking about, you only get that through commitment. You only get that through being with someone during good times and bad, over years, in a real relationship. You don’t just get to ask for it in the end, you know what I’m saying?”
“I guess I do.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s life. You can find joy and be happy-but you don’t get to have everything.”
The simple wisdom that is the truth. She smiled at him. He smiled back.
“Lorraine?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re beautiful, you know.”
“You hitting on me?”
“Maybe.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Would it be a pity screw?”
“For you or for me?”
She laughed. “Maybe both.”
“Even better,” Broome said. “I got this case right now, but as soon as it’s done…”
“You know where to find me.”
Her hand slipped out of his then. She started down toward the other end of the bar. Broome was about to leave when Lorraine said, “I assume Cassie is helping you out?”
“She is. She may have even gotten a look at Harry’s killers.”
“How?”
“She went back to his office last night.”
“Alone or with Ray?”
Broome stopped. “Ray?”
Lorraine’s eyes widened a bit. He could see that she wanted to take it back, but Broome was having none of that.
“Who the hell is Ray?”
26
Naturally, Megan ’s first worry had been for the safety of her family.
Before she let Broome start going into details, she’d called a few of the stay-at-home mothers. She didn’t want to raise suspicions, so she started chatting about the usual suburban inanities: kid sports, the father-coach who favored his own kid, the teachers who gave too much/too little homework, the new online school-lunch ordering system. Broome just shook his head. Eventually Megan got around to asking the mom for a favor, making sure that both Kaylie and Jordan had after-school coverage and even encouraged sleepovers, so they’d be safe and away from the house. She promised to do all the weekend driving in exchange.