Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Eight

I sat for a long time in my bedroom in the half light of the moon, watching Angie sleep, playing my conversation with Brusa on repeat in my head, sipping from the mug I bought at Dunkin' Donuts on the way home from a walk coffee.I couldn't help smiling as Angie muttered the name of her childhood puppy and reached out and slapped the pillow with her palm. Maybe it was an aftershock from within the Tritters, maybe it was the rum; or maybe it was just that the more determined I was to dismiss the painful incident, the more petty things and casual words rang through my head and refused to stop.Whatever the reason, today at the playground, I discovered truth and lies.found at the same time.

Brusa is not wrong: nothing works. And I was right: No matter how strong a facade is, it usually still collapses. An Qi rolled into a supine position, mumbling in a low voice, kicking the quilt wrapped around her feet.It must have been the effort to kick the cast off her leg that woke her up.She blinked her head up, looked down at the cast, then turned to see me. Hey.Why? She sat up, smacking her lips, and pushed back the hair that covered her eyes.What are you doing Sit here, I say.think. are you drunk? I raise my coffee cup.Don't get too drunk, or you'd have figured it out. Then go to bed.She held out her hand.

Brusa lied to us. She moved her hand away and pushed herself higher up toward the headboard.What? Last year, I said, when RayWhen Lee Kanski disappeared after rushing out of the bar. How about it? Brusa said he didn't know the guy well.Said he occasionally tipped Ball. yeah, so what? This evening, he downed a half pint of rum and told me Rey was his eyeliner. She reached over to the bedside table and turned on the light.What? I nod. Then maybe he said it wrong last year, or we heard it wrong. I look at her. At last she raised a hand and turned toward the bedside table for a cigarette.you are right.We never hear anything wrong.

Can't get it wrong at the same time. She lit a cigarette, pulled the sheet up, and scratched at her knee above the cast.Why is he lying? I shrugged.I've been sitting here wondering this too. Maybe he protected Rey's informant status for his own reasons, I sipped some coffee.Possibly, but that's just too convenient, isn't it?Rey is Amanda.A potential key witness in McCready's disappearance; Brusa lied about knowing him.it seems suspicious. I nod.kind of.anything else. What? Brusa is about to retire. how fast? Not sure, sounds like a long time.He said that his service is about to expire for 20 years, and he will leave the police force as soon as he reaches the end of his service.

She took a drag on her cigarette and looked at me from behind the white light.So he's retiring.so what? Last year, just before we climbed to the quarry, you played a joke on him. She touches her cheek.yes. Um.You said something like maybe it's time to retire. Her eyes lit up.I said: It's time for us to give up. Then what did he say? She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, thinking about it.He said she poked the cigarette several times in the air.He said he couldn't afford to retire, citing medical expenses. His wife, no? She nodded.Before they got married, she had just been in a car accident and had no insurance.He owes a huge debt to the hospital.

What happened to medical bills?You think the hospital is going to say: Ah, you're a good man.Forget about the cost? Doubtful. Extremely unlikely.So, about the key witness in the McCready case, a cop who told a poor lie, and six months later, the cop has enough money to retire on not the cop's money after thirty years of service, but somehow It is based on the income after twenty years of service. She bit her lower lip.Throw me a shirt, will you? I opened the closet and took out a dark green Saw Doctors shirt from a drawer and handed it to her.She put on her clothes, kicked off the quilt, and looked around the room for her crutches.She looked at me and found me giggling to myself.

You look rather funny. She scowled.How to say? Sitting there in my shirt with a big plaster cast on my leg.I shrugged.It's funny to look at. Ha, she said, ha︱ha.Where are my crutches? behind the door. can you please I handed her the crutches and followed her down the dimly lit corridor into the kitchen.The LCD clock on the microwave showed four: forty. I felt something in my joints and the back of my neck, but my mind was clear.When Brusa mentioned Rey in the game field.During Likansky, something grabbed my brain's attention and started to speed up, and a conversation with Angie poured more energy into it.

Angie made a half pot of decaf coffee, got the creamer out of the fridge, and the sugar out of the cupboard, while I thought about that last night at the quarry when we thought we had lost Amanda.McCready.I know that much of what I'm trying to recall is in the case notes, but I'm not going to rely on them just yet.To study those notes will simply bring you back to the same position you were in six months ago, however, trying to recall everything in this kitchen may bring you new perspectives. The kidnappers asked four messengers to send the cheese.Olamond's money was brought in exchange for Amanda.McCready.Why the four of us?Why can't I be alone?

I asked Angie. She leaned against the oven, arms folded, thinking about it.I never thought about it.God, why am I so stupid? That's a subjective judgment. She frowned.You didn't question it then. I know I'm stupid, I said, we're talking about you now. They cast a net, she said, searched the hills, blocked the roads, but they couldn't find anyone. Perhaps the kidnappers had a tip on the escape route.Perhaps some of the police were bribed. Maybe there was no one else but us that night.Her eyes light up. Damn it. She bit her lower lip and raised her eyebrows several times.what you think?

Brusa fired from his side. Why not?We could see nothing there but the muzzle flashes.We hear Brusa say he was attacked, but, during that time, do we see him? Nope. The reason we were asked to be there, then, was to reinforce his case. I leaned back in the chair and ran my hands through my temples to run my hair.Could it be that simple?Maybe or, is it possible to be so roundabout? Do you think Pohl was involved?Angie turned around, steaming from the coffee machine on the long table behind her. what do you say She tapped the mug against the side of her thigh.It was he himself who said Ray.Likansky was his eyeliner, not Brousser's.And, remember, he was Brusa's partner at the time.You know how things work.I mean, look at Oscar and Devon. They're closer than a couple, and have more fucking blind loyalty to each other.

I thought about it.So what is Ball's role? Ignoring that the machine was still filtering, she picked up the coffee pot and poured coffee for herself. The coffee continued to drip from the filter and squeaked on the heating pad.For so many months, she said, adding creamer to the glass, you know what's been bugging me? Speak up. empty bag.I mean, suppose you were kidnappers.You pinch a policeman to the edge of a cliff, then grope in and take the money. Yes, then what? You stop to open the bag and take out the money?Why not just take the bag away? I don't understand.Either way, what's the difference? not much.She turned from the long table to face me.Unless the bag is empty to begin with. I was there when Doyle handed the bag to Brusa.Bag full of money. But what about when we get to the quarry? He emptied the bag while climbing the mountain?How can it be? She pouted, then shook her head.have no idea. I got up from my chair and took a glass from the cupboard, and it fell from my fingertips, brushed the long table, and fell to the floor.I ignored it. Pol, I said, son of a bitch.It's Paul.When he had a heart attack or who knows what, fell on the bag.When it was time to leave, Brusa reached under him and pulled out the bag. Then Pole collapsed on the edge of the quarry, and she spoke hastily, handing the bag to some third party.she stops.Also killed Mo Lan and Gutierrez? You think they hid another bag by the tree?I said. have no idea. I don't know either.I can believe that Boll took away the 200,000 ransom, but shot Moran and Gutierrez?This is too exaggerated. We can all agree that there must be a third party involved. possible.They have to ship the money out. So who would it be? She shrugged.The mysterious woman who called Leona? possible.I pick up the coffee mug.The cup wasn't broken, and after checking to see if it had broken a chip, I poured some coffee into it. God, Angie said, snickering.This is a big mess. What? the whole thing.I mean, are you listening to what we're saying?Brusa and Pol rigged the whole thing?To what extent? money? You think two hundred thousand is enough for guys like Pol and Brusa to kill children? Won't. So, what is this for? I thought about it, but couldn't find any answers. Do you really think that any of them could have killed Amanda?McCready? Man can do anything. Yes, but some people will never do certain things.Those two people?kill children? I remember Brusa's face and the tone of Pohl's voice when he mentioned finding a child in thin cement.They may be brilliant, but if they are as indifferent to the life of a child as they are to the life of an ant, then their acting is definitely Robert.De Niro's level. Well, I said. I know what that means. What? your hmm.It means you're completely clueless. I nod.I can't figure it out at all. Welcome to join the ranks. I sipped some more coffee.If one-tenth of our conjectures are true, then what is happening before us is a crime of considerable scale.The case is not with us, nor is it linked to the same zip code.But we have been on our knees with those who have committed crimes, and are right in front of our eyes. Did I mention that we do research for a living? Baba came to the apartment not long after sunrise. He sat cross-legged on the living room floor, signing Angie's cast with a black marker.In his fourth-grade, large, scrawled handwriting, he wrote: □□□ Angie One broken foot, maybe two.Ha ha. Lu Pei.Rogski Angie touched his cheek.oh wow.You signed Lu Pei.How sweet. Baba blushed, slapped her hand fiercely, and looked up at me.What? Lu Pei.I snickered to myself.I almost forgot. Baba stood up, the falling shadow covered my whole body and most of the wall.He rubbed his chin and grinned sullenly.Remember the first time I hit you, Patrick. I swallowed.First grade. Do you remember why? I clear my throat.Because I mock your name. Baba leaned over me.Want to try again? Ah, no, I said, and when he turned around, I added, Lu Pei. I danced away from under his dash and Angie said: Boys!boys! Baba freezes, and I use the moment to pull the coffee table between the two of us. Can we tackle the matter at hand first?She opened the notebook on her lap and unscrewed the cap with her teeth.Baba, you can beat Patrick anytime. Baba thought for a moment.Right. good.Angie was scribbling in her notebook and glaring at me. Hey.Baba pointed to her plaster cast.How do you take a shower wearing this thing? Angie sighed.what have you found? Baba was sitting on the couch with his combat boots on the coffee table, but I was already in danger with Lu Pei, so I let him go. What I heard from the rest of Cheese's team was that Moran and Gutierrez didn't know about the missing children at all. They only knew that they went to Quincy to get the goods that night. What to take?Angie said. What drug criminals usually take: drugs.The gossip is that Baba said that after a dry period the market will be flooded with China White.He shrugged.Never happened. are you sure?I said. No, he said slowly, as if speaking to a child.I talked to some guys in Oramon's organization and they said Moran and Gutierrez never mentioned taking a kid to the quarry.No one in Cheese's team has seen any children.Therefore, if she is in the hands of Mo Lan and Gutierrez, it is really their own deal.And, if they went to Quincy to lose the kid that night, that was their business. He looked at Angie and pointed his thumb at me.Wasn't he smarter before? she laughed.High school was the heyday, I think. I thought so too, I said. Everyone in Cheese that I've spoken to swears to God they had nothing to do with my attack.I trust these people.I'm a horrible person, and sooner or later, someone will tell the truth. Well, whoever attacked you Probably not someone who kills regularly.He shrugged.Just an opinion. The kitchen phone rang. What the hell would call at seven o'clock in the morning?I said. People who are not familiar with our living habits, Angie said. I went into the kitchen and answered the phone. Hey, brother.It's Brusa. Hey, I said, do you know what time it is? yes.sorry.Listen, I need help, a big favor. What? We had a guy who broke his arm yesterday while chasing bad guys, the game is now less personal. Contest?I said. Football, he said, the theft and homicide unit, the anti-narcotics crime and child abuse prevention unit.Speaking of ball games, I'm on the squad, but I'm also part of the anti-narcotics and child abuse prevention team. And this, I said, how could it have anything to do with me? I have less players. My laugh made Baba and Angie in the living room turn their heads to look at me. Is this funny?Brusa said. Remy, I said, I'm a thirty-year-old white guy.Permanently damaged nerves in one hand, and hadn't held a ball since he was fifteen. Oscar.Lee told me that you ran track and field in high school and also played baseball. It’s good to pay the tuition, I said, I’m a candidate for both, I shook my hair and laughed.Find someone else, sorry. I do not have time.The game starts at three o'clock.Come on, bro, please, I beg you.I need someone who can tuck the ball under the arm, run a few short yards, and play a little bit of defense.Come on, Oscar said, you're one of the fastest white guys he's ever known. I guess Oscar will be there. Damn, yeah.The enemy faction, of course. Where's Devon? Amron Klin?Brusa said he was their coach.Please, Patrick.If you don't help me, we'll be ruined. I looked back into the living room, and Baba and Angie looked at me in confusion. Place? Harvard Stadium.three o'clock. I didn't say anything for a while. Listen man, if this helps, tell you I play linebacker and I'll open the way for you and make sure no one picks a fight. Three o'clock, I said. See you at Harvard Stadium. I hang up the phone. I immediately dialed Oscar's number. He laughed for a full minute before stopping.Does he really buy it?Finally, he finally said with a froth. What to buy? I hard-sell him about your speed and stuff.More laughter came, not only loud, but also a few coughs followed. What's so funny? Woo︱hey, Oscar said, woo︱hey!Does he want you to run back? That seems to be the plan. Oscar laughed harder. Where is it funny?I said. The funny thing, says Oscar, is that you'd better stay off the left. Why? Because I'm going to tackle the tackle from the left. I close my eyes and lean my head against the fridge.Of all the appliances in the kitchen, the refrigerator is the only thing that is most suitable for touching my skin in the current situation.Size, shape, and weight are comparable to Oscar. See you on the court.Oscar let out a few more loud owl hoots, then hung up. I went across the living room and back into the bedroom. where you go?Angie said. go to sleep. Why? There is a big game in the afternoon. what kind of game?Baba said. football. What?Angie said loudly. You heard me right, I said.I went into the bedroom and closed the door behind me. They were still laughing as I fell asleep.