Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

Author:Francis Spufford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Published: 2023-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

4

They left him in the village of St Louis, which was a church, a gas station and a general store, clustered under dripping oak trees. There was a sign put up by the state historical society saying the place had been founded by a French settler in 16-something. It didn’t seem to have grown much since.

The stop for the interurban was outside the store. Barrow went in and bought an apple and a piece of pie and handed over a dime for the use of the telephone. He didn’t want to go into the department and have the conversation with Doyle about Drummond until he’d spoken to the man himself – he certainly owed him that much – but Chokfi ought to be able to tell him what he needed to know to find him. He didn’t relish speaking to her about Drummond either, but at least that was a case of simple hatred.

‘Hello, Detective Squad,’ she said.

‘It’s Barrow,’ he said.

‘Oh, the miko’s been wondering where you are.’

‘I got sidetracked.’

‘He says he wants your report from the museum, and he wants it like a couple of hours ago.’

‘I haven’t got there yet. Tell him it was worth it, though, wouldya? I learned some other stuff, important stuff, which I will come in and tell him, soon as I can. Or type it up on a pink form, he prefers. But listen, first I got to speak to Drummond.’

‘Him,’ she said. ‘Why’d you wanna speak to him?’

‘I just got to, okay? Can you be a doll and find me his home address?’

‘Mr Barrow,’ she said. ‘Am I a doll? Am I a rabbit?’

‘You are not,’ he said. ‘Sorry, I mis-spoke. You are a woman of dignity. Since this morning, you terrify me slightly.’

‘That’s better,’ she said. ‘Okay, hold the line and I’ll go and get it. – It’s funny you don’t know it, though, you being his friend and all. Haven’t you ever been over to his place?’

‘I never have. I don’t know why, but I never have.’ And come to think of it, that is funny, Barrow thought.

There was a pause. Barrow could hear the tock-tock sound of her heels retreating, and then distant squadroom voices. In his other ear, however, the one not pressed to the black Bakelite earpiece, he could hear a distant clanging of a trolley bell. He glanced out the window. Still nothing, but it could only be a minute or two.

She came back.

‘The captain says he wants you back here right now,’ she said.

‘Have you got it?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘I’ve been riding with the Man of the Sun,’ said Barrow, remembering the Man’s portrait on the wall of her cubby. She would be looking at it now, he was sure, red earrings and all. ‘He gave me something to do. This is part of it.’

‘Yes, but—’

‘You’re in the Four Winds, aren’t you?’

‘I can’t talk about that.’

‘I know – but this is like that. I got to do it.’

‘… Okay,’ she said. ‘308 Dearborn, it says on his card.

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