All the Lucky Ones Are Dead by Gar Anthony Haywood Page A

YOU GOT FOR ME ?” B ENNY E LBRIDGE ASKED Gunner the next morning. It was only a few minutes after seven, and the sound of the ringing phone had nearly fried the investigator’s brain waking him.
    â€œNothing but a few questions,” Gunner said into the phone, willing himself up to a sitting position on the bed.
    â€œQuestions? What kinda questions?”
    To start, Gunner asked Elbridge why he hadn’t told him about the alleged suicide note his son had left behind.
    â€œâ€™Cause it wasn’t no suicide note, that’s why,” Elbridge said predictably, seemingly aggrieved by the very suggestion. “The police tried to say that, but that wasn’t nothin’ but some lyrics to a song the boy was writin’. Any fool coulda seen that.”
    â€œYou saw the note yourself?”
    â€œI didn’t have to see it. Coretta saw it, and she told me what it was.”
    â€œYou think Coretta might show this note to me, if you asked her?”
    Elbridge paused before answering, apparently taken aback by the request. “She might if you asked,” he said. “But if I ask, it’s for sure she won’t even talk to you. But what you wanna talk to her for, anyway? I already told you she don’t know anything.”
    â€œShe was your son’s mother, Mr. Elbridge. I would think she knew some things about him no one else did, including yourself.”
    â€œYeah, but—”
    â€œYou have some problem with my talking to her?”
    â€œWhat?” Elbridge grew silent again, but Gunner could hear his mind grinding out a response even over the phone. “No, I don’t have no problem with it. It’s just… She don’t know I hired you, see, and if she finds out, I ain’t never gonna hear the end of it. ’Cause she’s gonna think this is all about money, ’stead of about the boy.”
    â€œI hear what you’re saying, and I sympathize. But if for no other reason than to get a look at that note, it would really help my cause here to talk to her.”
    â€œDo you have to tell her who you’re workin’ for?”
    â€œI don’t have to, no. But if she asks, and I refuse to say…”
    â€œShe won’t wanna talk to you. Yeah, that’s right,” Elbridge admitted.
    â€œTell you what. I’ll keep your name out of it if I can. But it won’t be easy. In the meantime, I’ve got another question for you.”
    â€œShoot.”
    â€œYour daughter-in-law Danee. She’s something of a hothead, isn’t she?”
    â€œHow do you mean that, ‘hothead’?”
    â€œI mean she had a jealous streak a mile wide, and she liked to swing knives around when it flared up. Or didn’t you know that about her?”
    â€œLittle girl has a temper, that’s true,” Elbridge said, somewhat reluctantly.
    â€œI guess that was something else you forgot to mention Monday. Carlton’s wife once trying to cleave him in half with a carving knife.”
    â€œI didn’t forget about it. I just knew it wasn’t important. So the girl got crazy on the boy once, so what?”
    â€œWas she trying to kill him, Mr. Elbridge?”
    â€œNo! I mean …” The older man’s voice trailed off as he thought about it. “That ain’t what it sounded like to me. Carlton said she’d just had a little too much to drink that night, that’s all.”
    â€œHow long ago did this happen? Recently, or …”
    â€œA month or two, maybe. Not much longer than that. But if you’re askin’ ’cause you think she had somethin’ to do with Carlton gettin’ killed …”
    â€œI’m just looking at all the possibilities, Mr. Elbridge. That’s what you’re paying me for, right?”
    Gunner’s client let him listen to another short stretch of silence, then said, “Yes. I guess it is.” Making the concession sound like