An Exquisite Corpse by Helen A. Harrison

Author:Helen A. Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Forty-Five

Anne had retreated to the bedroom when she heard Carlos leaving. He and Roberto were still talking heatedly in Spanish, Carlos eager to escape and Matta apparently furious. “¡Vete al diablo!” he had hissed as Carlos bolted for the exit. Then her husband slammed the door behind him, stamped back to the studio, and slammed that door. She decided to let him cool off.

Fortunately he hadn’t agitated the twins, who were awake and ready for their evening feeding. She would go to the kitchen and take care of that chore while Roberto calmed down. She had both bottles going when she heard him emerge from the studio and leave the apartment without a word to her.

Once on the street, Matta headed for the nearest phone booth. Hare was waiting for his call.

“Did you find Carlos?”

“I left the note at his ship, like we agreed, and he came to my place. He just left. Wait until you hear his story.” Matta unloaded the whole sorry tale on Hare, who listened with hardly an interruption. More than one nickel was inserted into the coin slot before the story was finished.

“He said he found Lam dead. He said he didn’t take the money. Do you believe him?” asked Hare.

“I don’t know what to think,” Matta replied. “If he killed Lam, why would he come to see me? My guess is that he thought I wanted to tell him his friend was dead, give him a warning to steer clear. From his reaction, he had no idea I was involved in the deal until I told him. He probably took the money, but there’d be no point in leaving the package, whether or not he killed Lam. So he found another buyer.”

“There’s only one way it makes sense,” reasoned Hare. “Solana already had the uptown deal lined up. He knows there’s three hundred waiting for him at Lam’s, so he goes there, knocks Lam out, and takes the cash. He doesn’t mean to kill him, just double-cross him, but he hits him too hard. When he sees what he’s done, he thinks quick and dresses up the body to throw the cops off. Then he heads up to Harlem and sells the dope for more than what we offered. He gets paid twice, and the cops are looking for one of us instead of him, the double-dealing son of a bitch.”

“You’re forgetting something,” Matta pointed out. “How did he know what an exquisite corpse looks like?”

Hare had the answer. “From hanging around with Lam, of course. Don’t you remember, he was at Breton’s once when we played the game? He didn’t participate, but he watched.”

“So you think Solana is the killer?”

“Who else could it be?”

Matta was still skeptical. “That doesn’t explain why he answered my note. If he did it, he’d want to stay as far away from Lam’s friends as possible.”

Hare had another thought. “What time did he say he found the body?”

“Around nine o’clock last night. The ship was held up by a storm, he said.

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