Assumption by Percival Everett

Author:Percival Everett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55597-038-3
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2011-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

The big yellow square thing with windows that was a building was easy enough to find. A couple of young, rough-­looking men stood by the front door, smoking, leaning, staring at Ogden as he approached. Ogden was scared, but like when dealing with a bad horse, he had to keep his emotions, his fear, in check.

The three men were white, tattooed over most of their arms. One of them had a tattoo on his face, a chevron on his forehead. They wore heavy black boots.

Ogden addressed them clearly, firmly. “Excuse me, gentlemen. Maybe you can help me.”

“Maybe we can,” one of them said.

“Do you know a woman called Petra?”

“Nah, man, we ain’t be knowing no Peta,” the same one said.

“Petra. I was told that Petra lives here.” Ogden looked up at the second floor of the building. “Shelly told me.”

“Who the fuck is Shelly?”

This was not going well. Ogden was glad he wasn’t wearing his sidearm. Nothing gets you shot faster than having a gun, he always thought, and he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to resist the urge to pull it out if he’d had it. He tried to stay cool.

“Shelly is a hooker at the whorehouse around the corner,” Ogden said. He stepped close to them so he could read the names by the buzzers behind them. What few names were there were only last names, mostly Hispanic. There were no hooker pseudonyms.

The most muscular of the three leaned close to Ogden.

“She up there?”

“No. I have a picture,” Ogden said. He showed them the two women.

“You a cop?” the first asked.

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

“Let me see your badge,” muscles said.

“Why, you want me to arrest you?” Ogden smiled. “No, really, look at the picture. This one is dead. Somebody shot her. I’m looking for this one.”

They looked at the picture. “I seen her.” Muscles pointed at Carol Barelli.

“Here?”

“Yeah. I ain’t seen the other one, though.”

Ogden looked at the building again. It loomed larger now. He supposed he could ring every bell and knock on every door, but the prospect was not appealing. The three men outside the building had lost interest in him, and though they remained aware of his presence, he didn’t feel threatened by them any longer.

He tried the exterior door and found it locked. He recalled his father saying that a thing would not get done unless you did it. It wasn’t until he reached for the first button that he realized his hand was shaking. He rang bell after bell until someone buzzed him in. It was Hernandez in 104 who let him in.

Ogden went to 104 and an old woman opened the door a crack. She spoke Spanish and eyed Ogden, with every right, suspiciously. He immediately showed her the photograph. “¿Ha visto usted a esta mujer?”

The woman sighed, closed the door, and fastened the chain inside.

Ogden knocked at doors until another old woman answered. This woman was Hispanic as well, but she spoke English. “What do you want?” she asked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.