This Dog for Hire

lifts his hands and covers his face.
    “He knock ’im down. He back out an’ leave ’im they. He leave th’ dawg they an’ the dawg cry out for ’ours ’n I di’n’t go look ’til he gots ’imself out o’ th’ collar and runs away, because I always hears if a dawg don’t bark, it bite. Tha’s what my mama tol’ me. Yes, sir.”
    I felt a tear run into my neck and realized that I was crying, too.
    I walked over and sat on the side of Billy’s bed. Magritte was as still as cold water. Slowly, Billy Pittsburgh reached out his hand and let Magritte lick his long, thin, trembling fingers.
    “Billy,” I said, “did you tell this story to the police?”
    “No,” he said. “I di’n’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “They di’n’t aks me nuthin’. I’s on drugs ’n they figure I di’n’t know nothin’.”
    I turned toward the door. Dennis and Ronald had moved into the doorway.
    “This is Dennis, Bill. The young man was his best friend.”
    “I sorry, man,” Billy said, “I so sorry ’bout you friend. ”
    “Bill,” Dennis said. He seemed unable to say anything else.
    “One more thing, Bill. Do you remember anything about the car, anything at all?”
    He shook his head.
    “Thank you, Bill. We want to find this man. You’ve helped us a lot. Can I come back soon with Dash, you know, Petey?”
    He nodded. I squeezed his arm and turned to leave.
    “Black,” he said.
    I turned around and looked at him.
    “New.
    I nodded.
    “ ’Merican. Th’s all I see.”
    He shrugged and turned back toward the window. There was a pigeon on the sill, its head down, its wings tight to its sides, like an old man with his hand stuffed into his pockets.
    “I di’n’t know ’t was goin’ happen. Cunna stop’t ’t nohow. Not nohow.”
    “Nobody thinks you could have,” I said. “This wasn’t your fault, Bill.”
    He turned his lumpy face toward me.
    “Then why’m I bein’ punish?” he asked.

    In the taxi on the way to the Garden, the little basenji curled up on the seat between us, and Dennis was nearly rigid.
    “He got Cliff out there with Magritte,” he said.
    “What do you want to do?” I asked.
    “Kill him,” Dennis said.
    “Dennis, that’s not your job. And we’re not positive it was Gil. Let’s take this a step at a time. First, what do you want to do now, about Westminster and Magritte? Should we even be going?”
    “Oh God, Rachel, we have to. Clifford wanted this more than anything. Magritte has to go up today. But how can I give him to Gil?”
    “Look, Dennis, even if what we suspect is true and Gil committed the murder, we have no reason to think he’d hurt Magritte. If that’s what he had wanted to do, he had the opportunity the night of the murder. Besides, he’s been doing pretty well with Magritte and he might just think things will continue along as they were, only with you the one he’s cheating instead of Cliff. Let him think that. Be charming. For Cod’s sake. Dennis, just act dumb. Okay?”
    “Yes. but—”
    „No buts. Here’s what I want you to do. .just give Magritte to Gil, no problem, okay? Tell him you’ve changed your plans, the trip got canceled, and you’re taking Magritte home right after the show. Eight-thirty, on the button, you’ll get Magritte from the benching area and bring him to your box. Unless, of course, he takes the breed. In that case, you’ll be able to keep your eye on him because he’ll be in the group, right in front of your face.
    “The rest is up to me. I’m going to bang out in the benching area. I’m a big fan of Magritte’s, remember? Gil knows all about my precious Crystal. He’s already offered to cut me a deal. So he won’t find it weird to see me there. I’ll ask a lot of questions. I’ll even tag along when he goes to the grooming area. When he’s with Magritte, I’ll stick to him like peanut butter on the roof of his lying mouth.
    “I’ll be ringside when he goes up at eleven-thirty. I’ll see you there, but I can’t sit with you. I can’t sit with you tonight either. Gil can’t know that we know each other. Okay? Then, after tonight, we’ll figure out where to go with the case, okay? I still have to prove he did it, Dennis, if he did it. So far, the evidence is all circumstantial—mounting, but circumstantial.
    “You still have your trip tomorrow. But I’ll have Magritte. You’ll give him to me tonight, just as we planned. And if I work my can off and we’re really lucky, maybe I’ll have