Easy Rawlins 7: Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley

Author:Walter Mosley [Mosley, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery & Detective, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780446198226
Google: Zo9RyZ-dqTQC
Amazon: 0446198226
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2002-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

“Honey,” Sam said. “You know that man I always talked about —

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Raymond Alexander?”

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“The one they called Mouse?”

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Wa l t e r M o s l e y

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“Yeah, that’s the one. You know all them stories I said about him.

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About when he faced down and killed three armed men in the Fifth 3

Ward and all he had was a stick. About when the police heard that 4

he was holed up in a house outside’a L.A. and said that they couldn’t 5

go because it was across the county line.”

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“And when three of his girlfriends,” Clarissa added with a grin, 7

“made his birthday party with bows in their hair.”

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“That’s him.”

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Clarissa smiled and said, “So?”

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“This here Easy Rawlins was Mouse’s best friend. They ran to-11

gether for almost thirty years, since they were kids. If there’s anything 12

I’m sure of, it’s that Mouse would never have run with a man that 13

could turn another black man over to the cops.”

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“I thought you said that Mouse was dead,” Clarissa said.

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“Nobody ever saw a body or went to a funeral,” Sam replied.

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“And even if they did, that wouldn’t turn Easy here into no rat.”

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Clarissa considered for a moment and so did I. I wondered at the 18

strength of character and will of a man like Raymond who could 19

reach out beyond the grave to help me in that Riverside hideout.

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36 / “NO,” CLARISSA WAS SAYING, “he didn’t ever tell 1

me what he was doin’. All I know is that they

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started to work with Mr. Strong on somethin’. They were like a spe-3

cial group inside the Party, and only a few of them knew what was 4

goin’ on.”

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“What were they doing?” I asked again.

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“I don’t know. Conrad would come over and pick Brawly up at 7

all hours. They’d go off and meet with Mr. Strong —”

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“Did he meet with anybody else?” I asked.

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“I think so,” she said. “But I never knew who. I mean, I figured 10

that they were in the group but it was all secret.”

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“Now why they wanna keep somethin’ like that a secret?” Sam 12

asked his cousin.

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“Sam,” I said, “I let you come along but this is my party.”

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He didn’t like to hear it, but he sat back on the couch.

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“But you did know about the guns,” I said.

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She looked down at her knotted hands and nodded.

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“How’d you know?”

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“One day Brawly had Conrad’s Cadillac,” she whispered. “He 6

had let Conrad off at somebody’s place and they didn’t want his car 7

to be around there, so Brawly took it. He brought me out there and 8

showed me in the trunk. It was six or seven rifles wrapped in army 9

blankets.”

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“What he say they planned to do with them?”

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“He said that those rifles would take the first shots in the revolu-12

tion.” She began to weep.

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I believe that as she spoke to me, the full meaning of Brawly’s 14

words hit home.

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