In the Cut by Susanna Moore

Author:Susanna Moore [Moore Susanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82653-4
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

He telephoned this afternoon. There was a lot of noise in the background, and music, and a woman shouting.

“I’d like you to come in and look at some pictures,” he said. “Could you do that?”

“I didn’t see his face,” I said. “I told you that.”

“Well, just to make sure, you know what I’m saying? Just to be a hundred percent. You never know.”

“I wish there were a way to do smells. I remember his smell every now and then.”

“His smell?”

“There was a very particular smell. Like a dentist-smell. Or a stamp-collecting smell. Like glue.”

He laughed. I heard a man yell, “Hey, Malloy.”

“It’s like trying to remember a dream,” I said. “It’s in me somewhere.”

“I wish I were in you somewhere,” he said.

To my surprise, I was a little disappointed. Too easy, I thought. “Where are you instead?”

“Working,” he said. “I’ll be here late. What about tomorrow night?”

I didn’t know what he was asking. I didn’t want to sound too easy myself. “Tomorrow night?” I asked.

“It’s easier at night. Quieter. Not so many slappies. You could come in the evening if that’s convenient. Richie’s not too fucking happy working at the desk but I got him to start pulling pictures. He’s mad at me anyways. We had a homicide on Bank Street the other night, a gay chap, and I took the deceased’s Rolodex from the scene when I left. He must of had a thousand fucking names in it. All guys. I slipped in one of Richie’s cards. You know, Detective Richard—only it should be Ricardo—Rodriguez. Only I wrote un hombre magnífico on the back of it, and muy grande. The detective who caught the case, a young guy, newwent through the file like he’s supposed to and come across Richie’s card. I was watching from across the room. I knew he found it ’cause he got all white. Which is hard to do if you’re a nigger.”

I am sorry to say that he made me laugh.

“He come across the squad room and showed it to me. What the fuck. He was whispering and shit. I said, You got to do it, man. Give Rodriguez a chance to explain, man. It don’t mean he’s a killer. I had to leave. I was afraid I’d give it up. The last thing I heard, Rodriguez was trying to throw the kid out the window.”

“He is un hombre magnífico,” I said.

He was silent. “You think so?” he asked at last. “Maybe for a Puerto Rican. Tall for a Spanish guy. He wants to take a ballet class. Says it’s a great way to get laid.”

I could hear Willie Nelson in the background. Perhaps Malloy wasn’t at work.

“I wouldn’t think it would be too hard for Detective Rodriguez to get laid.” Making trouble. Smiling to myself.

“We were undercovers in Narcotics together. When we were still kids. He wasn’t so tall then. I used to say Rodriguez almost always gets his man. Which is saying a lot.”

“The other day you asked me why I was a cop.

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