13
The knock on the door was tentative, then firm.
Christ, what now?
“It’s open.”
Squeaking hinges followed by the door closing shut.
“You got a moment, Mike?”
Ness remained immobile, face covered by his forearm, legs stretched out, feet hanging over the side of the bed.
“Mike?”
“I hear you. I hope it’s quick.”
No response. Ness heard pacing. He lifted his arm from his eyes and propped himself up by his elbows. “Sit down, Jeffs. You’re making me nervous.”
Ness watched Eubie Jeffers drag a chair next to his bed and sit. Jeffs was still dressed in his tennis whites, his finger gripped around the handle of his racket. A thin sheen of sweat coated his café au lait face. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Guy was as jumpy as griddled butter.
Ness’s eyes went from Jeffs to his surroundings. The room was furnished with old leftover junk. The bedspread was torn, the dresser’s paint was peeling, and the carpeting was thin. There was only one tiny window in the whole place and that looked out to the pool filter. Still, living wasn’t costing him a dime. And after years of struggling, that was worth a lot.
“You gonna tell me what’s bugging you or is this gonna be twenty questions?”
“You talk to the lady cop yet, Nessy?”
Ness broke into a smile. Jeffers’s hazel eyes were oozing anxiety. He was biting his lower lip.
“She trip you up or something, Eubie?”
“That’s bogus. I’d never hurt Lilah. I’d never hurt anyone. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
“You’re a motherfucker, Jeffs. That’s what you are.”
Jeffers cast his eyes downward and moved onto the bed. “Can you say I was with you last night?”
“No.”
“It’s important.”
Ness burst into laughter.
“Mike. Please!”
Ness sprang up and grabbed Jeffers’s chin. “Fuck you, man! Hear what I’m saying? Fuck you!”
Jeffers felt tears in his eyes. “If it gets out, I’m gonna lose my job, Mike! I’m delinquent on the one credit card I have left. I’m two months behind on my rent. You gotta help me!”
Ness let go of Jeffers’s chin with a shove. “You make me sick, know that?”
“Please! I swear this time will be the last.”
“How many white women do you have to pork before you stop feeling black, Jeffs? Hundred’s not enough? What do you need? A thousand? A mill—”
“Mike.”
“Jesus Christ!” Ness sat up cross-legged on the bed and shook his head. “Jeffs, I already told the lady detective that I was alone all night. Which I was. If I start changing my story, start trying to cover your ass, she’s gonna look at me with ye olde jaundiced eye.” He looked up. “Stop worrying. If you had nothing to do with Lilah, the cop’ll leave you alone.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with Lilah, Mike. You know that. But what if the lady cop starts talking to the lady I was with? Mike, if that happens, the lady’s gonna get mad. You know how secrecy is to the people who go here It’s part of the game. If she tells Lilah, Lilah will see it like last year all over again. This time for sure I’ll lose my job—”
“How much she pay you for stud service?”
“You can have it all, Nessy.”
“I didn’t ask for it. I just asked how much she paid you?”
Jeffers paused. “Fifty.”
“You lie like a politician, Jeffs. Try again.”
“Two hundred.”
“Two hundred?” Ness laughed. “Tell the lady I’ll do her in blackface at half the price.”
“Mike—”
“Why does the detective think you were with a lady last night?”
“I … she caught me off guard, Mike. I don’t think as quick on my feet as you do. I knew I was coming off bad so I told her the truth. Or part of it. That I was here last night with a married woman giving her a private tennis lesson. I said I kept it secret ’cause I didn’t want it getting out that I was giving the lady a discount.”
“Why didn’t you just say you were with Natanya?”
“I didn’t think of her.”
“But you thought of me? Christ, you’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, it was stupid. ’Cause immediately I saw that the detective didn’t give a rat’s ass about what I wanted. But she didn’t press it. Then I thought … well, okay, I can’t take back what I said. But suppose I was with you, too. Then you could cover for me and the detective wouldn’t have to bother the woman.”
“Exactly what do you want me to say, Jeffs?”
Jeffers took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks—”
“Hey, I didn’t say I’d do it.”
“I know, I know. Can you just … if the cop starts getting real nosy, can you just say I was with you from ten till two in the morning?”
“Too long.”
“Okay, okay. Midnight till two?”
“I’ll give you an hour. Midnight to one. And I didn’t say anything to the detective because you were …” Ness sniffed several times.
“No, no, please don’t mention that. I’m supposed to be clean. Lilah thinks I’m clean.”
“You had a relapse. You and the woman were doping and that’s why you didn’t want to say her name—hey, that’s why you came to me! You were so upset about your relapse, you had to talk to someone. And I didn’t want to get you involved unless I had to. Hey, I’m a nice guy. I felt bad for you.” Ness smiled. “After all, Jeffs, you’re one sick dude and that ain’t lyin’. You’re an addict.” He held up his fingers and began to tick them off. “A drug addict, an exercise addict, a sex addict—”
“Mike—”
“You’ve just got an addictive mentality.”
Jeffers lowered his head. “Don’t do this to me.”
“Sob, sob, Jeffs. Betham is suing my butt, not yours. If you hadn’t porked her in the first place, she wouldn’t have gotten mad at me when I said no.”
“I know, Nessy. Please don’t rub it in.”
“I told you she was a head case.”
“You were right.”
“Who’d you ball last night?”
“Patsy.”
Ness smiled. “Little Patsy Levington. What is she? Five feet even?”
“They all look the same lying down.”
There was a pause. Both men burst into hard laughter. They laughed until tears rolled down their eyes. Ness wiped his cheeks.
“So Patsy paid you two hundred, huh?”
“They all love to fuck a nigger, Nessy.”
“You ain’t much of a nigger, Jeffs.”