little further into the kitchen and speak quietly to Millie, drawing Joe in closer as he spoke, and Dougherty was impressed by the detective and thinking, How do you get good at something as hard as talking to parents whose child has been killed? He heard Millie Webber start to cry softly, and Dougherty felt if he stood there another second he was going to bust open himself, so he backed away down the hall and out onto the front stoop.
Arlene was there then, sitting on the stoop, smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. Most of the crowd was gone, and Dougherty looked up and down the street but all he saw was Arleneâs boy a few houses down in front of another house with a few other kids playing with Dinky cars.
Dougherty said, âThey finally go to work?â and Arlene said, âNo, theyâre on strike.â
âWho is?â
âThe port.â
âSince when?â
âLast night, I guess. Itâs a wildcat.â
âLongshoremen or checkers and coopers?â
Arlene looked up at Dougherty and said, âI donât know, Eddie â what fucking difference does it make?â and Dougherty said, âYeah, I guess.â He really had no idea what he was doing, what help he could be on a homicide investigation.
After a few minutes of silence, Carpentier came out of the house and nodded to Arlene and then to Dougherty and then started back to the car. Dougherty caught up to him and Carpentier said, âWhy donât you drive?â and tossed him the keys.
âWhere are we going?â
âThat store, what did you call it, Boss?â
In the car Dougherty said, âMost of these guys work at the port but theyâre on strike today, some kind of wildcat walkout.â
âNot them,â Carpentier said, âitâs the locks, St. Lambert and Côte St. Catherine. The ships are not getting through.â
It was only a few blocks and Dougherty stopped the car in front of Bossâs on Fortune Street. Before he opened the door Carpentier said, âI forgot to ask which funeral home theyâll be using,â
âItâll be McGillivrayâs,â Dougherty said.
âAre you sure? Could you find out?â
Dougherty said he would and they both got out of the car.
Carpentier walked ahead into the store, and as Dougherty started to follow him Danny Buckley came out and stopped and said, âYou back again, Eddie?â
Dougherty said yeah and stood in the way so Buckley would have to walk around him, thinking, Yeah, Iâm back, but itâs different now, not just the uniform and the gun â everything. Then he watched Buckley pretend he had nowhere to go and open up the pack of smokes heâd just bought and take one out and light it and then finally say, âItâs a shame about Brenda Webber.â Dougherty said yeah, and just kept staring.
Dougherty saw Buckley looking past him towards the street, and he glanced around and saw a car and looked back at Buckley and said, âCadillac?â
Buckley shrugged, and Dougherty said, âYou working for the Higginses now?â and Buckley didnât say anything.
âOkay,â Dougherty said, âthatâs good, Buck-Buck,â and he stepped forward so Buckley had to move to get out of the way.
Then Dougherty stopped by the door and watched Buckley rush to the Caddy and get into the back seat without looking back, and Dougherty had to admit he was enjoying himself.
In the store, Carpentier was standing by the cash, smoking a cigarette and talking to Herbie, saying, âAre you sure?â and Herbie, a guy whoâd owned the store as long as anyone could remember and never seemed to change, was saying, âI guess.â
âDonât guess,â Carpentier said, âthink. When she came in, what did she buy?â
Herbie shrugged.
Dougherty said, âI got Brenda mixed up with Arlene, you ever do that?â and the two men at the cash
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