Death of a Rainmaker by Laurie Loewenstein

Author:Laurie Loewenstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2018-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter sixteen

It was not until the next day, Friday, that Etha had time to fill Carmine in on her findings. The young man’s jaw was now a mottled shade of chartreuse and his unwashed hair stuck up in greasy peaks. She told him about her visit to the Hodges’ house and described the setup.

“Does that sound like the place?” she asked.

Carmine swished a mouthful of coffee from one side of his mouth to the other. “Could be. Yeah.”

Pushing her back into the chair, Etha grinned. “Good. So I’m going to be paying Mr. Hodge a call today. We know his wife wasn’t there to witness your departure, but maybe he was. What do you think?”

Carmine stared past her shoulder, his eyes fixed in thought. Finally he said, “I’m grateful for all you’re doing. Really and truly. But I don’t deserve it. I mean, I didn’t kill that man, but you know, I’ve done other things, and maybe this is just settling the score.”

Etha stiffened.

“Things I’m not proud of.”

“What things?”

He exhaled. “I don’t want to say.”

“I need to know if I’m going to help you.”

Carmine wiped his nose on his hand. “Are you sure? It’s not pretty.”

Etha nodded.

“We was living in some crummy apartment on the South Side. This was after my mom died. Someone showed my dad how to rig a meter box and skim off the electric. He had a bad knee and so sent me up the pole outside our building. I was twelve. Something like that. I got a jumper line hooked up and it worked. Pretty soon everyone on our street was asking me to do the same for them. I rigged at least twenty over the next couple of years. And they were all good. I swear it! I was careful. But then there was this place across the street with maybe twenty apartments. Someone from over there, someone with a lot of kids, asked for my help. I must have cut a main without knowing it. The whole place burned to the ground.”

“Oh Lord.” A hollow opened in Etha’s breastbone. “Surely no one would blame you for—”

“Six dead, three of them kids.” Carmine pressed his knuckles to his lips. “I knew right away I’d done it. Dad said I’d better beat it west before the cops came sniffing around and asking who jigged the wires. He gave me ten bucks and hustled me over to the freight yard. Haven’t been back since.” He paused. “Anyway, that’s why I ran when I saw Commander Baker pointing me out to the sheriff. My legs took off.”

“Do you know for sure the wiring caused the fire?”

Carmine shrugged. “Dad said so. But things were bad then. Sometimes I think maybe he just wanted one less kid at the dinner table.”

“You’ll need to tell Mr. Jennings about why you ran.”

“You still willing to help me?”

“Yes, of course. You were just a child,” she said. “And I know you didn’t kill Mr. Coombs.”

They sat in silence. Then Etha raised a finger.

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