“What you want, sugar?” Daigo asked me.
I did not think I could ever eat again, and ordered herbal tea, but she would not hear of that.
“I tell you what, you bring the Chief here a bowl of my bread pudding with Jack Daniel’s sauce, don’t worry, the wiskey’s cooked off,” she said, and she was the doctor now. “And a cup of strong coffee. Captain?” She looked at Marino. “You want your usual, honey? Uh-huh,” she said before he could respond. “That will be one steak sandwich medium rare, grilled onions, extra fries. And he likes A. I., ketchup, mustard, mayo. No dessert. We want to keep this man alive.”
“You mind?” Marino got out his cigarettes, as if he needed one more thing that might kill him this day.
Daigo lit up a cigarette, too, and told us more about what she remembered, which was everything because the Hill Cafe was the sort of bar where people noticed strangers.
Danny, she said, had stayed less than an hour. He had come and gone alone, and it had not appeared that he was expecting anyone to join him. He had seemed mindful of the time because he frequently checked his watch, and he had ordered a sailor sandwich with fries and a Pepsi. Danny Webster’s last meal had cost him five dollars and twenty . cents. His waitress was named Cissy, and he had tipped her a dollar.
“And you didn’t see anybody in the area that made your antenna go up? Not at any point today?” Marino asked.
Daigo shook her head. “No sir. Now that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some son of a bitch hanging out somewhere on the street.. “Cause they’re out there. You don’t have to go far to find ’em. But if there was somebody, I didn’t see him. Nobody who came in here complained about anybody out there like that, either.”
“Well, we need to check with your customers, as many as we can,” Marino said. “Maybe a car was noticed around the time Danny went out.”
“We got charge receipts.” She plucked at her hair and by now it was looking wild. “Most people who been in here we know anyhow.”
We were about to leave, but there was one more detail I needed to know. “Daigo,” I asked, “did he take anything with him to go?”
She looked perplexed and got up from the table. “Let me ask.”
Marino crushed out another cigarette, and his face was deep red.
“Are you all right?” I said.
He mopped his face with a napkin. “It’s hot as shit in here.”
“He took his fries,” Daigo announced when she got back. “Cissy says he ate his sandwich and slaw but she wrapped almost all of his fries. Plus when he got to the register, he bought a jumbo pack of gum.”
“What kind’?” I asked.
“She’s pretty sure it was Dentyne. As Marino and I stepped outside, he loosened the neck of his white uniform shirt and yanked off his tie. “Damn, some days I wish I’d never left A Squad,” he said, for when he had commanded detectives it had been in street clothes. “I don’t care who’s watching,” he muttered. “I’m about to die.”
“Please tell me if you’re serious,” I said.
“Don’t worry, I’m not ready for one of your tables yet.
I just ate too much.”
“Yes, you did,” I said. “And you smoked too much, too. And that’s what prepares people for my tables, goddamn it. Don’t you even think about dying, I’m tired of people dying.”
We had reached my station wagon and he was staring at me, searching for anything I might not want him to see.
“Are you okay?”
“What do you think? Danny worked for me.” My hand shook as I fumbled with the key. “He seemed nice and decent. It seemed he always tried to do what was right. He was driving my car here from Virginia Beach because I asked him to and now he’s missing the back of his head.
How the hell do you think I feel?”
“I think you feel like this is somehow your fault.”
“And maybe it is.”