Shallow Graves

thirty, they wanted to.“
    “Okay. Back up a little. You first get to the building on Falmouth Street. You have a key to the front door?“
    “Shit, no, man. I don’t want any more to do with that building than I have to. I just ring the bell for Sinead from outside on the stoop, and she lets me in.“
    I said, “So the night Mau Tim was killed, you get inside Sinead’s apartment...“
    “And she says, can I go out and get some wine before Larry Shin comes by.“
    “Larry Shinkawa.“
    “Yeah. Larry Shin, he’s supposed to be there already, but he’s late. Sinead, she says Mau Tim’s in the shower, she can hear the water coming down the pipes in the kitchen, ‘Go on out and get the wine, willya?’ “
    “So you do?“
    “Right. Takes me a while, I don’t know the neighborhood, but I find a shitbox liquor store with something decent in it, buy a couple bottles, come back.“
    “And?“
    “And I go in and I’m in the kitchen working the corkscrew when Larry comes in.“
    “He rings the doorbell?“
    “Right, right. So Sinead, she goes over, buzzes him in.“
    “Go on.“
    “Larry, he says, ‘Mau Tim’s not down yet?’ And Sinead, she says, ‘No, but she’s out of the shower.’ And then Larry, he says, ‘Well, why don’t we go up to surprise her, the birthday girl in her birthday suit.’“
    “And then what?“
    “Then I say to Larry, ‘You go ahead, you want to. I’ll open the wine.’“
    “How come you didn’t want to go up with him?“
    “Aw, man. A dozen reasons. First thing, he’s hosing her now, not me. Second thing, I don’t like her family knowing I’m in the same building with her, let alone me seeing her buck naked after a shower.“
    I said, “Why didn’t Sinead go up with him?“
    “She thought it was shitty, busting in on her like that.“
    “Shinkawa had a key to get into Mau Tim’s apartment?“
    “I don’t know.“ Puriefoy thought for a minute. “No, he didn’t have a key, account of Larry, he come down the stairs a couple minutes later, saying he can’t get in and can’t get her to answer the door.“
    “You remember his exact words?“
    “Larry Shin’s?“
    “Yes.“
    “Larry, he said something like, ‘I knocked and knocked and yelled to her, but she ain’t answering.’ “
    “So he didn’t say anything about a key.“
    “No, not like that. You just got me thinking about keys, all the questions you’re asking about them.“
    “Sorry. Go ahead.“
    “So then Sinead, she says, ‘Christ, I hope nothing’s weird up there. I got a key.’ “
    “Sinead had a key to Mau Tim’s apartment?“
    “Yeah.“
    “Why?“
    “I don’t know why. Water her plants, maybe.“
    “Couldn’t the super do that?“
    “Cousin Ooch? I’ll tell you, I’m not sure Ooch could go to the store for bread and come back with a whole loaf.“
    “Go ahead.“
    “Where was I now?“
    “Sinead said, ‘I have a key.’ “
    “Oh, right. Right, Sinead, she says, ‘I got a key, let’s check, see if Mau’s okay.’ So she gets it from her pocketbook and we all go up there. Larry Shin hammers on the door some more, and Sinead gets the key in and turns it and the door opens, but not all the way account of the chain’s on it from the inside.“ 1
    “Mau Tim usually use the chain?“
    Puriefoy looked at me. “How would I know, man? I stopped seeing her before she moved in there.“
    “Go on.“
    “So we can push the door open only so far, but Larry Shin, he like wedges his head in and says, ‘I can see her, she’s on the floor.’“
    “Shinkawa did that, not Sinead.“
    “Right. Then he says, ‘She’s not moving. We got to break it down.’“
    “Break the chain?“
    “Right. So he tries twice and can’t do it. Thought all those guys knew karate, you know? But he’s just not big enough to bust through it, so I hit the door with a shoulder and the chain goes and we’re in there.“
    “And?“
    Puriefoy’s voice dropped. “And Mau’s on the floor, all right. Laid out, eyes half-open, face blue. She’s dead, and Sinead starts screaming.“
    “You remember anything else?“
    “Larry Shin, he said he thought he heard somebody on the fire escape—the window to it in the bedroom was open, but I didn’t hear nothing. Anyway, he ran over to it, but he said he didn’t see nobody.“
    “Did you look out the window, too?“
    “Shit, no. Sinead, she’s screaming at me to do something, I tell her, ‘Call an ambulance,’ and she says,