But, in the end, he broke all the same.
It happened when Dallas threw up his hands and told Liam that he was through and the cops could take Billie. As soon as Liam thanked him and said that Billie would fit right in with the general population at the correctional center on Stock Island, Billie suddenly decided he liked the concept of living after all.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t even as helpful as his cousin had been. He swore he hadn’t killed anyone. He knew that he might have been asked to. He listed the relatively few robberies he’d taken part in, and explained that he’d mainly been responsible for transporting stolen goods.
From where to where?
He’d been told where a van would be and then told where to drive it.
Not much help, Dallas was forced to admit. The Wolf was meticulous, using several people on a haul, none of them knowing who had left the truck for them or who would be picking it up after they left it in turn.
“The four of us that night...we’re all from here, so we go way back,” Billie explained. “Martin picks up work as a dishwasher at different restaurants. Reggie plays a mean guitar. He hangs at Mallory Square a lot. Carter does odd jobs, pretty much whatever he can find. We mostly work gang jobs on our own, like everybody else, but when the Wolf needs a group effort, he comes to us.”
“How do you get paid?” Dallas had asked him.
“Cash, of course. We get a call about where we can pick up the green.”
“What about Jose Rodriguez?”
Billie grew visibly uncomfortable. He let out a sigh. “I met the guy at a bar on Duval. He’d been scrounging money from tourists over on Duval near Front Street. As soon as he got enough, he came in and asked for a drink. He told me he’d been let off from some kind of a computer job, and the more we talked, the more he seemed like a guy we could use. I told the Wolf about him, and he told me to feel him out. I did. The night he met with the four of us, I was supposed to give him a phone. I guess the Wolf had done some research on him in the meantime and didn’t like what he found out. And...well, you know what happened next.”
“Give it to me from your point of view. The five of you were seen walking along Eaton Street from Duval. You were ahead of the witnesses. Then you turned and went back the way you’d come,” Dallas told him.
“Yeah. When we were walking down Eaton, I got a call to circle around. When we got close to Duval the next time—” Billie broke off. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know. I was scared to death when the guy came up behind us. All I remember after that was someone shouting run, so I ran. I ran like a jackrabbit.” He was trembling as he spoke.
“You heard from the Wolf after that?”
“Yeah,” Billie said dully. “Yeah. I got a call. It said I had done a good job, and that I’d get a bonus.” He let out a mirthless laugh. “Blood money, I guess.”
Liam had handed Dallas a file, and now he opened it slowly, taking out an eight-by-ten picture of a beautiful young Latino woman. He put it down in front of Billie.
Unless the guy was really good, the picture meant nothing to him.
“Is she dead, too?”
“We don’t know. Do you know her?”
Garcia looked up at him. “I’ve never seen her. Who is she?”
Dallas shrugged. “If you haven’t seen her, it doesn’t matter.”
Billie looked up at him. “I really hope she’s not dead,” he said.
Dallas believed him. He didn’t think Billie was the diver who had killed Yerby. He wished he were, that he had gotten somewhere on this damn case. “What about your boat?”
“What about it?” Billie asked. He looked genuinely confused.
“Did you have it out recently?”
Billie shook his head. “No—oh, man, you think I killed that woman, the diver. That wasn’t me. I swear it. I haven’t even been at the dock in over a week.”
“Who knows you have a boat?” Dallas asked him.
Billie shook his head, looking cornered and beaten. “Everyone. Everyone knows I have a boat.” Now he looked genuinely frightened.
Dallas noticed and almost felt sorry for the guy. “They’ll keep you in a safe house tonight,” he said. “And while you’re there, try to think of anything—anything at all—that might help us. Your life depends on it.”
Billie nodded and dropped his gaze. After a long moment he looked back up at Dallas. “I knew that people died. But only people who deserved it. People who didn’t listen to the Wolf. People who were thieves, too—and worse. People like me. I figured this guy, Jose, was just another no-gooder who wanted more than what he was going to get. But then...”
“Then?”
“That girl who died on the dive...she didn’t just drown. There’s a guy—Machete, they call him—he’s the enforcer down here. I’m pretty sure if you can figure out who Machete is, you’ll have your killer. Her killer, anyway.”