Day Four
July 24, 1952
Thursday Morning
River’s sense of intrusion was well founded because the dark silhouette of a man was approaching, fifty yards away on foot, closing hard with a purpose. He was strong and carried his body like a warrior. His posture was vaguely familiar.
River threw on clothes and had the gun in hand by the time the figure was close enough to recognize.
It was Robert Gapp.
He looked more like Robert Mitchum now than ever.
River motioned the man into the boxcar and closed the door.
They hugged.
The man focused on January, at first her face, then her tattoos, then her eyes. “You’re too good for him,” he said.
She smiled.
“It’s the other way, actually.”
“No, trust me, I have it right.” Then to River, “We need to talk.”
“I already figured that.”
They stepped outside.
Gapp got right to the point.
“There’s a dick named Bryson Wilde running around town trying to figure out who dropped that red dress off the roof this past weekend. I was buying her drinks and squeezing her ass right up until the minute she left.”
“That was stupid.”
“It would have been if I was the one who killed her,” Gapp said. “That’s not what happened though. What happened is that you killed her and set me up to take the fall. You paid her to pick me up and be seen with me. Then you killed her.”
Gapp stopped talking.
He let the words hang in silence.
River studied his face to see if he was joking.
He wasn’t.
“That’s bullshit,” River said.
“Is it?”
“Yes, it is, total, one hundred percent, falling down dead drunk bullshit. Why would I do anything like that?”
Gapp tightened his brow.
“I’m still chewing on it but once I get my brain convinced, I’m going to have to kill you. You know that. The only surprise in all this is that I’m giving you a warning.”
River let the corner of his mouth turn up.
“You’re going to kill me?”
“You forced me,” Gapp said. “You’d do the same.”
River picked up a piece of gravel and threw it at a pigeon down on the tracks.
He missed.
The bird and three more like it took to the sky.
He turned to Gapp.
“What we need to do is get this PI off your ass. We’ll do it tonight. Meet me back here at nightfall.”