Page 179 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Slow Burn

his buddy got off lightly, owing partly to the lottery commission’s
desire to keep the whole thing quiet. The lottery depends on public
confidence, you know.”
We pulled into Starview Motorpark and scanned the rows of
trailers on blocks for one with an older Honda Civic parked next to
it. No problem; it was also the only trailer with people outside it
sitting around a table under an awning playing cards. We parked and
walked purposefully toward the group of four men. One had to be
Quigley, just from the profile. He saw us coming and laid down his
cards.
“I’ll be right back, guys,” he said. “Keep your hands out of my
chips.”
He beckoned us to follow him into the trailer, where he closed the
door behind us. It was a stuffy confined space, light coming in
through a small window curtained with an old dish towel. His few
personal possessions, mainly clothes, were scattered around the place.
He cleared some off the dinette bench and offered us a seat, then
pulled up a stool for himself.
“You’re police, right?” He was wearing a heavy flannel shirt and
black jeans. The smell of alcohol was easily detectable on his breath
at close range.
“Lieutenant Gramercy and Sergeant Donat. Are you playing for
money out there?”
“Just a friendly game of five-card draw poker, officer. Those chips
are worthless; as you no doubt observed, there was no cash on the
table.”
“We’re with Homicide, not the Vice Squad, Carbone. Can you
give us any information about the death of your uncle?”
He shrugged. Despite his youth, he had already mastered the poker
face. “Nothing you people don’t already know. Looks like Uncle
Alberto’s luck ran out, that’s all.”
I looked at Labelle. Her expression rarely changed, but it was far
from noncommittal. She might be playing out a weak hand, but her
opponents wouldn’t know it from her face.
“Were you at his apartment yesterday afternoon?”
“Nope. Just passing the time with some of the guys here in the
trailer park, playing cards. Most of us are drawing unemployment
checks.”

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