Dark Maze

could see the bright ones dancing in the foam, but I never was much good at grabbing fast enough or holding on tight enough to save them from the undertow.”
    “Who is?” Ruby said.
    “Nobody, really. It’s a stacked contest. The ocean always beats you. When you do snatch a bright shell, the ocean has another that’s even brighter coming in on the next wave.”
    “It’s like Princess Pamela said, Hock—you’re no easy man.”
    “I wish I was.”
    “And I hope you’ll never be. I’ve known my share of easy men. I’ve forgotten all their names.”
    “You’re a good one, Ruby.”
    “Yes, I am.” She finished her Barq’s and handed me the French fries she did not want anymore. Then she reminded me, “There’s lots more ground to cover, and time’s wasting. There are lies yet to hear, there’s the hotel to check, there’s Johnny Halo to pressure, and who knows what might turn up tonight when I’m out of your hair and you drop by this Carny Club place?”
    “When you’re where?”
    “Oh, I didn’t tell you? We’ve got something on at the theatre tonight. A staged reading of a new play, for the potential angels, you know?” Ruby looked at her wrist-watch. “I’ve got to be heading back pretty soon.”
    This was very surprising. I was getting so used to the two of us, on the case and otherwise. Ruby was smart and fast and when I am around somebody like her I naturally get a little faster and smarter myself.
    “Hock, you’ll come by the theatre tonight, won’t you?” she asked. “Everybody’ll be there late.”
    “I should come by for a lot of white wine and cheese and the sort of people who actually like that stuff?” I said, with more surliness than I meant. “I thought you were riding with me today.”
    “Gear down, boy. I’ve got a life, too. I’m just the girl friend here, remember?”
    There was no recovering from what I had stupidly said, but I did not want Ruby to leave me yet. “What about the Neptune? Do you still have time?”
    She looked at her wristwatch again. “Okay, Hock. But you have to promise me a ride on the carousel after.”

    Johnny Halo was thumbing through the Post and sipping a short glass of beer at the far end of the bar where his sole customer had lain his head on a damp rag and fallen fast asleep. Halo looked up as we walked in off the boardwalk; he did not seem appropriately pleased by the new business.
    “You two again?” he said. “Officer Frick and Officer Frack.”
    We took stools at the middle of the bar. Halo closed his newspaper and walked over to us without the slightest enthusiasm.
    Ruby said to him, “That’s Detective Frick and Frack.” Halo rolled his eyes. “What’ll it be this time?”
    I told him Molson, Ruby said club soda with a lime twist. Halo said, “Give me a freaking break with the twist bit, lady.” He poured us our drinks, minus Ruby’s lime, and set them down, obviously waiting for me to continue.
    I sipped my beer and ignored him.
    When the beer was half-gone, Halo lost it. He said to me, “You better not be on the job now, pal, or else maybe some concerned citizen might call up the department to report how there’s a cop in my bar who’s drinking on duty.“
    “Well, I guess you got me, Johnny. I am on duty.” I drained my glass. “Just like I was on duty the last time I drank here. You remember that, Johnny?”
    Halo’s expression was malevolent. He looked like he might bite. He said nothing.
    “Remember when you told me that big fat lie about how you never heard of a Coney Island character called Picasso? And how you never noticed your pay phone over on the wall was tied up with all kinds of calls from Celia Furman on the day she was killed?”
    “When a cop waltzes into here asking about customers of mine, the house policy is see no evil, hear no evil.“
    “Nothing personal,” I said. “But I am now going to have to place you under arrest.”
    “What the holy hell?”
    “The charge is impeding an officer in the course of a police investigation. Which under certain circumstances— like a murder investigation—is a felony in the State of New York.”
    I got up off my stool and unbuttoned my windbreaker and Halo caught an eyeful of shoulder holster. I took a small card from my shirt pocket since it happens I sometimes forget the lines the Supreme Court gave me. I decided maybe I did need bifocals like Benny suggested because now I was squinting at the close-up words as I read them: “You have