Danny Upshaw had said the same thing to him–the one time they drank together. Mal took a chair facing Minear. “Why did you kill Gordean? Tell me.”
Minear, an easy mid-Atlantic accent. “Pride.”
He sounded proud. Mal said, “What do you mean?”
“Pride. Gordean was tormenting Reynolds.”
“He started tormenting him back in ‘44. It took you a while to get around to revenge.”
Minear focused on Mal. “The police told Reynolds and Claire that I informed on Reynolds to the House Committee. I don’t know how they knew, but they did. They confronted me about it, and I could tell Reynolds’ poor heart was broken. I knew Gordean was blackmailing him again, so I did penance. Claire and Reynolds and I had gotten so close again, and I imagine you could present a case for me acting in my own self-interest. It was good having friends, and it was awful when they started hating me.’
The rap was falling on him–he was the one who snitched the snitch. “Why didn’t you take the money?”
“Oh Lord, I couldn’t. It would have destroyed the gesture. And Claire has all the money in the world. She shares so generously with Reynolds… and with all her friends. You’re not really a criminal, are you? You look more like an attorney or an accountant.”
Mal laughed–a kamikaze queer romantic had his number. “I’m a policeman.”
“Are you going to arrest me?”
“No. Do you want to be arrested?”
“I want everyone to know what I did for Reynolds, but…”
“But you don’t want them to know why? Why Gordean was blackmailing Loftis?”
“Yes. That’s true.”
Mal threw a switcheroo. “Why did Reynolds and Claire steal Upshaw’s files? To protect all of you from the grand jury?”
“No.”
“Because of Reynolds’ kid brother? His son? Was it Upshaw’s homicide file they were most interested in?”
Minear sat mute; Mal waved Stompanato toward the back of the apartment. “Chaz, you’ve said it once. Now you have to say it to me.”
No answer.
“Chaz, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll make sure everyone knows you killed Gordean, but I won’t let Reynolds get hurt anymore. All you’ll get is what you want. Reynolds will know you had courage and you paid him back. He’ll love you again. He’ll forgive you.”
“Love you” and “forgive you” made Minear cry, sputters of tears that he dried with his sweater sleeves. He said, “Reynolds left me for him. That’s why I informed to HUAC.”
Mal leaned closer. “Left you for who?”
“For him.”
“Who’s ‘him’?”
Minear said, “Reynolds’ little brother was really his son. His mother was a crazy religious woman Reynolds had an affair with. She got money from him and kept the boy. When Coleman was nineteen, he ran away from the woman and found Reynolds. Reynolds took him in and became his lover. He left me to be with his own son.”
Mal pushed his chair back, the confession a horror movie he wanted to run screaming from. He said, “All of it,” before he bolted for real.
Minear raised his voice, like he was afraid of his confessor running; he speeded up, like he was anxious to be absolved or punished. “Felix Gordean was blackmailing Reynolds back in ‘44 or so. Somehow he figured out about him and Coleman, and he threatened to tell Herman Gerstein about it. Gerstein hates men like us, and he would have ruined Reynolds. When that policeman came around questioning Felix about the first three killings, Felix put things together. George Wiltsie had been with Reynolds, Marty Goines and Coleman were both jazz men. Then Augie Duarte was killed, and more details had been in the newspapers. The policeman had let some things slip and Felix knew Coleman had to be the killer. He renewed his blackmail demands, and Reynolds gave him another ten thousand.
“Claire and Reynolds confided in me, and I knew I could make up for informing. They knew after the first three killings that it had to be Coleman–they read a tabloid that had details on the mutilations, and they knew from the names of the victims. They knew about it before the policeman tried to infiltrate UAES, and they were looking for Coleman to try to stop him. Juan Duarte saw Upshaw at the morgue when Augie was there, and recognized him from a picture Norm Kostenz took. He told Claire and Reynolds who Upshaw really was, and they got scared. They had read that the police were looking for a man who resembled Reynolds, and they thought Coleman must be trying to frame his father. They left out clues to exonerate Reynolds, and I followed Upshaw home from Claire’s house. The next day, Claire got Mondo Lopez to pick the lock on his apartment and look for things on the killings–things that would help them find Coleman. Mondo found his files and brought them to Claire. She and Reynolds were desperate to stop Coleman and keep the…”