I knew the police were there, and my father was there, and Jon too, but I never felt so alone in all my life. My voice shook a little, but it was good and loud. “This man is Ray Bird,” I said. “His hair is brown now, but that’s just dye.”
Dad’s arm shot up into the air, like he was putting his hand up in school. At the same time, he was pushing me behind him. Then Sheena was there, and some other cops I didn’t know, and Ray was running, running like a wild man towards the gate and the stairs to the train platform. The chain to keep the passengers back didn’t stop him at all. He vaulted over it and passed the guard, who stepped backwards and flattened himself against the wall to get out of the way. All around me people were grabbing their kids and diving for cover. Sheena moved like the wind. When Ray was halfway up the stairs she was right there, at the bottom.
“Stop or I’ll shoot,” she yelled. Then she braced her feet and pointed her gun.
Ray kept going. When the single shot rang out, he staggered to the side of the stairs, balanced himself with one hand on the wall and raised the other above his head. A dark red stain seeped through his jeans, high on the outside of his thigh.
“She shot him!” Jon said. “He’s bleeding! She didn’t have to do that!”
“Yes, she did,” I snapped. “She had to stop him.”
Dad gave us both a hug. “Let’s be calm here,” he said. “It doesn’t appear to be too serious, since he’s still standing. It’s probably just a flesh wound. Sensitive place, though,” he added.
“A bummer,” I said. “Has anybody seen Tammi?”
CHAPTER 26
The pay phone I was using was on the lower level of the station. I stood on one leg in front of it, pushing the buttons for Mom’s work number, and admiring the mess that was my left heel. I’d called her from home, to tell her where I was going and what I was trying to do, but that was hours ago. By now she’d be having a haemorrhage.
She must have been sitting on the phone. “What happened?” she said.
“It was Ray. And they caught him.”
“So he did it? He killed that other guy?” Then she started to cry. “And Raffi..., Raffi had nothing to do with it?”
“Raffi’s innocent, Mom. The cops will have to let him go now, because the man he was supposed to have killed isn’t dead — he’s alive and he’s the murderer. Anyhow all the evidence against Raffi was garbage. That’s what Dad said.”
“When? When can he come home? He doesn’t even know all this has happened! He still thinks he’s the major suspect! He’s so depressed...”
“Tomorrow, probably. Dad said something about paperwork and the Crown Attorney and a judge. He told Sheena that Raffi shouldn’t ever have been arrested because, get this, a kid could figure out what happened.” I laughed. “So he thinks she’ll hurry things up. Anyhow, he’s going to see Raffi tonight, to tell him the good news.”
Mom didn’t say anything for a bit, but I could almost hear her thinking. “You did it, Jess. Didn’t you? Ray would have got away if it wasn’t for you.”
“I guess,” I said. “And Dad.”
“Tell him thanks,” she said. “From me.”
“Mom says thanks,” I said. “She was really happy.”
“Nice to have something work out so well,” Dad said. He and Jon and I were sitting in the back part of the Station Restaurant, shoving the food in like we hadn’t eaten in a week. Burgers, fries, rings and shakes. A fat fix.
“I’ve asked Sheena to join us,” Dad said. “We need to clear up some details.”
There were a lot of cops around now. Two of them even checked out the restaurant while we were sitting there. They were looking for Tammi, asking every woman with a baby to show identification.
I watched them. “They’re not going to find her,” I said.
Dad reached across me for the vinegar. “It would be good if they do. That was quite a story she told, pretending the dead man, Al Green, was her husband.”
“You think she could go to jail for that?” Jon said.
Dad moved his hand palm up, palm down a couple of times. “If they don’t find her, she’ll be a running for the rest of her life, waiting to be arrested. If they find her now, everything will be dealt with, and it will be all over. She’d probably just get a slap on the wrist.”
“Why?” Jon said. “She caused a heap of trouble.”
Dad finished his fries and started stealing mine. “Ah, her husband made her do it,” he said. “That’s pretty obvious from what Jess said. Remember, Jess? You said Tammi cried for hours the night of the murder.”
“I thought she cried because Ray was dead, but I guess not,” I said. “You think he made her do that? Say the body was him?”
“Don’t you?” Dad asked.
Sheena set her tray in the empty space beside Jon, and sat down. “It really busts me up to have to shoot somebody. And the more bust up I get, the hungrier I am,” she said. Her tray was loaded.
“Good shot,” Dad said.
“Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?” She unwrapped her first hamburger, lifted the top piece of bun, and held it in the air. “Tricky when he was hoofing it up the stairs like that.” She winked. “Gave him a little something to remember me by, didn’t I? A little dimple in his right cheek. Can somebody pass the ketchup?”
“No sign of Mrs. Bird?” Dad asked.
Sheena’s hamburger hovered near her mouth. “She must have cut out during all the excitement. We shoulda had somebody watching her, but to tell the truth...” She looked at me, and shook her head. “We thought Jess was just being creative again.”
Dad looked puzzled. “Again?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
Sheena’s mouth was full, so we watched her until she finished chewing. “You did good work, Jess. What really burns me is that none of us clued in about the corpse not being Bird.”
Dad offered me the last of my fries. I took it. “Everybody makes mistakes,” he said.
“Shouldn’t have happened.” Sheena shook her head in disgust. “Sure we had the grieving widow, but when we printed the body and found out he was really Al Green, we should of figured it out.”
“Any idea what the connection was between Bird and this Green fellow?” Dad said.
“Well, Green robbed a bank, we know that. We also know he had a partner who never got caught, a partner who took off with the money. Green got a jail term, and I guess Bird, the partner, got the loot. That’s the way I figure it anyway,” Sheena said.
“So when Green was released, he came looking for his old buddy,” Dad said. “I guess it wasn’t a terrific reunion.”
“I’ve got a question,” Jon said. “What’s going to happen to Ronny Roach?”
“What do you mean?” Sheena said. “Why should something happen to him? You think he got a little creative too?”
I sighed. I just wanted the Roach to go away. Far away.
“Don’t tell me we messed that up too,” she said.
I sighed again. “It wasn’t your fault,” I said. Then I looked at Jon, and Dad. “Could you tell her?” I said. “I don’t even want to talk about him.”
They did. Ion told most of it.
“I knew Jess was having troubles, but I never knew who he was,” Sheena said.
I shook my head. “I should have told you.”
“Well, I’ll have to follow up on that. We can’t have people misleading the police and get away with it. Mr. Roach and I will definitely have to have a little discussion. At the police station.”
“Misleading the police,” I said. “Now where have I heard that before?”
Dad frowned. “Have I missed something here? This conversation seems to be going on on two levels. One I understand, and one I don’t.”
“Not to worry, Mr. March.” Sheena said. “Jess here got a little protective about Raffi early on. Caused a bit of confusion. No big deal. Not now.”
The party started out kind of small: Mom and Raffi; Jon and me; the Orellana family
; Kelly and Joey; and a few of Raffi’s friends. As evening came and it got darker and the stars came out, we spread from the apartment to the back deck, then down to the back yard, out to the front yard, and across the street to Raffi’s building. What we ended up with was almost a block party. People just kept coming, partly because everybody likes Raffi, and partly because of the three guys playing steel drums.
I’d asked Dad, but I didn’t really expect him so it was a nice surprise when he showed up. I was glad he did. For one thing, I liked his wife a lot better in person than I did on the phone. Her kid was something else. A smart-mouth thirteen-year-old. Just what I need in my life.
The worst thing that happened, and the silliest, was when Mom and Dad ended up about a foot away from each other, back to back on the front sidewalk. When they turned around at the same time and saw they were almost rubbing noses, they both stepped backwards. It was funny I guess, but sad too. You could tell they felt dumb about avoiding each other, so they sort of pressed their cheeks together, or almost together. Mom was a little stiff and Dad got stupidly jolly, but they were OK.
The best part was when Dad fell in love with Raffi’s portrait of me. That was important, because Raffi didn’t want to take charity, so he needed to pay Dad. Dad, who knew how poor Raffi was, and who wanted to be a nice guy because of me, kept saying there was no charge, and he hadn’t really done much anyway. What the portrait did was give them a way to work that out. Raffi offered to do a new one of me for Dad’s office. So Dad was happy, and Raffi was happy. The only one who wasn’t too happy was Mom, and that had nothing to do with the portrait, it had to do with something Dad said.
“Paint her in that lacy white straw hat,” he told Raffi. Then he turned to me. “You know Jess, the one you wore at the station. You looked smashing in it, just smashing. I guess you can leave off your mom’s shoes though.”
“My new white hat?” Mom said. “My good summer shoes?” Her hands were on her hips and she wasn’t smiling. Wearing her clothes is one of those things that’s a complete no-no, even if I ask first.
“Oh, shoot,” I said.
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