When Old Men Die (30 page)

After I was finished telling it, Dino asked me about Harry.

"I haven't found him," I said.

"But don't you think he's all right?" Evelyn asked.

"He probably is.
 
No one was able to find him through this whole thing.
 
This is a small island, but there are plenty of places to hide.
 
Harry's all right."

Dino wasn't so sure.
 
"I hope you know what you're talking about."

So did I.

J
ody called me the next day, very early.
 
I was reading the newspaper when the phone rang.
 
Nameless, who had come out of hiding, was asleep on my bed.

"You still
lookin
' for Harry?" Jody asked.

I said that I was.

"
Miz
Williams say to tell you where he is.
 
She told him that the man who kill Mr. Macklin in the jail now, but Harry don't believe her.
 
He say he won't come out till he talk to you."

"I'll talk to him," I said.
 
"Where is he?"

Jody gave me the address.
 
"I better go with you," he said.

That was fine with me.

H
arry was in a vacant apartment in the housing project near where Mrs. Williams lived.
 
Jody guided me to it without any trouble, and I got the impression that he'd been there before.
 
I didn't ask him, however.
 
I was just glad to have him with me.
 
It cut down on the number of suspicious looks I got, though not by many.

The room was full of things that Harry had brought with him, and there was a strong smell of what I hoped was tuna and not canned cat food.
 
I thought about the cats that lived in the rocks along the seawall.
 
They would have loved Harry.

Harry seemed glad to see me.
 
The first thing he wanted to know was whether the man who'd shot Macklin was really in jail.
 
I told him that it was true.

"
Tha's
good," he said.
 
"I
didn
' like that man.
 
He point that gun at me, and I scoot right back out that hole."

"You should have gone to the police, Harry," I said.

He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.
 
"Who gonna
b'lieve
a crazy ole man like me?"

"I would," I said.
 
"So would the police."

"Police don't think much of me," Harry said.
 
"I don't like 'em.
 
'Sides, I never saw that man in my life.
 
I
didn
' know who he was."

And that was that.
 
I knew he'd never tell Barnes or any other cop what he'd seen.
 
That wouldn't keep Paul Lytle out of prison, however.
 
My testimony should take care of that.

"Are you ready to get out of here?" I asked Harry.

"You got that right," he said.
 
"I flat tired of bein' cooped up like a chicken.
 
I need to get out where I can
breathe
."

"Get your stuff together, then," I said.
 
"Nobody's after you anymore."

Harry laughed.
 
"
Tha's
good," he said.
 
"
Tha's
real good."

He was obviously quite happy, but he didn't feel any better than I did.

I
had another couple of stops to make after Harry was out of the apartment and back on the streets.

Sally West was almost as glad to see me as Harry had been.
 
She'd heard the news about Lytle on the radio and she wanted the straight scoop.

She sipped Mogen David while I told her the whole story.
 
It was just too early for me to drink, but Sally didn't seem to mind.

When I'd finished talking, she said, "Do you really think the police will find Laurel Lytle under the floor of the garage?"

"It's a dirt floor," I said.
 
"That's probably where they were going to put me, so I figured maybe Lytle had used it before."

"You should be proud of yourself, Truman," she said.

"Why's that?"

"Because you found Harry.
 
Because you kept anything from happening to him."

"I got lucky," I said.

She looked at the glass that held her wine.
 
"There's more to it than that.
 
You 'got lucky,' as you put it, because you cared enough about an old man to try to help him.
 
Not everyone would have done that."

Maybe not, but I was just glad that even if I hadn't found Harry until his friends decided it was safe for him to come out, I'd at least gotten in the way of everyone else who was after him, and in doing so maybe I'd kept him alive.
 
It didn't make up for not finding Jan until it was too late, but it helped.

"Thanks," I told Sally.
 
"I'm glad you think I did something right."

"I'm the one who should thank you," she said.
 
"You make me feel almost young."

Hearing that cheered me up almost as much as finding Harry had.

D
ino was next.

"How much to I owe you?" he asked, taking the sack of Big Red that I handed him.

"Whatever you gave me to begin with was enough," I said.
 
"You want to go see Johnny Bates this afternoon?"

"Johnny Bates?
 
I haven't thought of him in a long time.
 
What's he got to do with this?"

"He helped me out on a few things.
 
Put some of that Big Red on ice and I'll tell you all about it."

"Yeah.
 
I'll do that.
 
And maybe I'll even go see Johnny with you."

He turned to go to the kitchen, but I stopped him.
 
"Do you have a fishing rod?" I asked.

"Never owned one in my life," he said.

"That's all right.
 
I have three or four.
 
You can borrow one."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because after we go by Johnny's place, we're going fishing."

Dino looked hesitant.
 
"I don't know about that."

"You'll love it," I assured him.
 
"We'll stop by Jody's and buy some shrimp.
 
We can get some salt pork, too."

"Salt pork?"

"If the fish aren't biting, we'll tie some bacon on a string and go crabbing."

Dino smiled.
 
"I haven't been crabbing since I was a kid."

"It's about time, then," I said.

"Yeah," Dino said.
 
"I guess it is."