11/22/63

I let most of his blather roll off my back, I went on, because my leg was hurting and I was getting one of my headaches. I drove home to Eden Fallows and took a nap. But when I woke up, the German guy’s how-did-you-miss crack came back to me. I put on the TV, and they were talking about the president’s visit. That, I said, was when I started to worry. I hunted through the pile of newspapers in the living room, found the motorcade route, and saw it went right by the Book Depository.

“I stewed about it all day Wednesday.” They were leaning forward over the table now, hanging on every word. Hosty was making notes without looking down at his pad. I wondered if he’d be able to read them later. “I’d say to myself, Maybe he really means it. Then I’d say, Nah, Lee’s all hat and no cattle. Back and forth like that. Yesterday morning I called Sadie, told her the whole story, and asked her what she thought. She phoned Deke — Deke Simmons, the man I called her surrogate father — then called me back. She said I should tell the police.”

Fritz said, “I don’t mean to add to your pain, son, but if you’d done that, your ladyfriend would still be alive.”

“Wait. You haven’t heard the whole story.” Neither had I, of course; I was making up sizable chunks of it as I went. “I told her and Deke no cops, because if Lee was innocent, he’d really be screwed. You have to understand that the guy was barely holding on by the skin of his teeth. Mercedes Street was a dump and West Neely was only a little better, but that was okay for me — I’m a single man, and I had my book to work on. Plus a little money in the bank. Lee, though… he had a beautiful wife and two daughters, the second one just newborn, and he could hardly keep a roof over their heads. He wasn’t a bad guy—”

At this I felt an urge to check my nose and make sure it wasn’t growing.

“—but he was a world-class fuckup, pardon my French. His crazy ideas made it hard for him to hold a job. He said when he got one, the FBI would go in and queer things for him. He said it happened with his printing job.”

“That’s bullshit,” Hosty said. “The boy blamed everyone else for problems he made himself. We agree on some things, though, Amberson. He was a world-class fuckup, and I felt sorry for his wife and kids. Sorry as hell.”

“Yeah? Good for you. Anyway, he had a job and I didn’t want to lose it for him if he was just running his mouth… which was a thing he specialized in. I told Sadie I was going over to the Book Depository tomorrow — today, now — just to check up on him. She said she’d come with me. I said no, if Lee really was off his rocker and meant to do something, she could be in danger.”

“Did he seem off his rocker when you had lunch with him?” Fritz asked.

“No, cool as a cucumber, but he always was.” I leaned toward him. “I want you to listen to this part very closely, Detective Fritz. I knew she meant to go with me no matter what I told her. I could hear it in her voice. So I got the hell out. I did that to protect her. Just in case.”

And this is an in-case if there ever was one, the Sadie in my head whispered. She would live there until I saw her again in the flesh. I swore I would, no matter what.

“I thought I’d spend the night in a hotel, but the hotels were full. Then I thought of Mercedes Street. I’d turned in the key to 2706, where I lived, but I still had a key to 2703 across the street, where Lee lived. He gave it to me so I could go in and water his plants.”

Hosty: “He had plants?”

My attention was still fixed on Will Fritz. “Sadie got alarmed when she found me gone from Eden Fallows. Deke did, too. So he did call the police. Not just once but several times. Each time, the cop who took his call told him to stop bullshitting and hung up. I don’t know if anyone bothered to make a record of those calls, but Deke will tell you, and he has no reason to lie.”

Now Fritz was the one turning red. “If you knew how many death threats we had…”

“I’m sure. And only so many men. Just don’t tell me that if we’d called the police, Sadie would still be alive. Don’t tell me that, okay?”

He said nothing.

“How did she find you?” Hosty asked.