“And she lied again. Man, this dame loved to lie. She made up stories, she couldn’t help it. It was the lies that did it, finally.”
Mattheus wracked his brain to remember if he could remember Shelly lying to him? He couldn’t. He might have been taken in by her though, he finally realized.
“Listen, do me a favor,” Anthony leaned towards Mattheus across the table, as if they were old combat buddies, “help me get out of here. I’m innocent. I didn’t do it. Believe me.”
“Why should I believe you?” Mattheus pulled back.
“You don’t have to believe me. Find out for yourself. Go to Rancher’s Bar, it’s a biker bar here in town. My friend who saw them is the bartender there, Tommy. Go talk to him about it. He was one of the first friend’s Shelly made when she moved down here. He knew her like the back of his hand.”
Mattheus felt his mouth go dry at the thought of Shelly hanging out at a biker’s bar.
“Will you do it for me? Will you?” Anthony was pleading.
Mattheus looked at the pain etched across his face. None of this added up. But one thing was for sure, he didn’t feel like Anthony killed her.
“Tell me where you were when Shelly was killed,” Mattheus wanted to be absolutely sure his hunch was right.
“When I ran away from Shelly, I went to live with my cousin Bella across town. There are plenty of people who can tell you I was living there. They saw me around. Bella’s a user, if you know what I mean. I told the police when Shelly was killed I was with Bella. And I was. I was at her house with her, watching TV. I fell asleep while watching. Bella was high and went out to a club. Someone saw her dancing there and told the cops I wasn’t with her, that I was lying. I wasn’t lying, I was at her house, sleeping. I was with her before she left.”
“It’s a lousy story,” Mattheus mumbled, “doesn’t prove a thing.”
“But it’s true. Man, you got to believe me. I was asleep on the couch. Go talk to Tommy at Rancher’s Bar, I beg you. He’ll fill you in on Shelly. You’ll find out who she was cheating with. Whoever she was sleeping with is the guy you got to get!”
“Why didn’t you give the police this information?” Mattheus’s mind was spinning in a hundred directions at once.
“I tried, I really did. But they made up their mind about me, as soon as they heard my alibi. I never had a fair chance. All I want is a fair chance.”
“Okay,” said Mattheus, “You got it. I’m going to talk to Tommy at Rancher’s Bar tonight.”
CHAPTER 9
Rodney and Alex weren’t thrilled with the interview. There wasn’t anything new in it for them. After it was over Mattheus joined them in the back room where it was even more airless and humid.
“Nothing new,” Rodney tapped his foot on the floor, as soon as Mattheus sat down. “Anthony already told us Shelly was involved with someone else when she was killed. It’s a convenient story - only problem is there’s no evidence of it. We checked it out with a bunch of people who knew her well. No one corroborated it.”
Mattheus felt shaky. He believed Anthony, anyway.
“These kinds of guys make all kinds of things up,” Rodney said, flipping a pencil back and forth on the desk. “The truth doesn’t mean a damn to them.”
“You know him well?” asked Mattheus.
“Who the hell needs to?” said Rodney. “Guys like him float around down here all over the place.” He looked both disgusted and resigned. “I’ve been watching these guys for years - always the same thing - in and out of jail for minor offenses, doing dope, buying, selling, preying on all kinds of women. Then they snap - go over the line. You reel them in and they squirm like fish trapped in a bowl. It’s always the same excuse too - the police aren’t giving me a fair shake. They want to wrap the case up. If you knew how many times I heard that baloney. If only one of them would look me in the eye, like a man, and admit it – say, I killed her Mister, and I’m damn glad I did.”
Mattheus swallowed hard. He’d heard that excuse himself plenty of times himself, but each person was different, each one deserved a chance to be heard.
It was a principle he lived by.
“What about this guy’s friend at Rancher’s Bar?” Mattheus went on. “Did you check him out?”
Rodney scoffed and Alex just looked away.
“The tip about Tommy at Rancher’s Bar’s old, too,” said Rodney. “There’s no reason to follow it up. Tommy is Anthony’s friend – he’ll say whatever Anthony wants him to. Obvious, isn’t it? The lead has no credibility. The guy’s not worth wasting precious time on.”
“Everyone’s worth something,” said Mattheus.
“Yeah,” the statement caught Rodney up short. “Everyone’s worth something, but you have to know what. You have to know where to spend your time, or they end up dragging you around good. If you knew how many cops I’ve known who’ve gotten turned into rags.”
Mattheus felt defiant. He wasn’t going along, this was too important.