“I don’t have it.”
“Then where is it?”
“Don’t worry. I know where it is.” A lie. I hadn’t thought about that pocket watch since Mr. Abbott’s party.
“Then get it and bring it to me.” Jerry swings his legs off the cot and stomps out his cigarette with his bare foot. “Look, the only reason I’m here is to make sure you finish the job Tony hired you to do.”
“And if I do, who’s gonna pay me the dough Tony promised?”
“When I have the watch, I’ll telegram Tony, and he’ll wire you the money.”
More lies Jerry expects me to swallow. “And what about you and me? You’re not gonna try to avenge your brother?”
“No way. Tony made me swear to leave you be. If any harm comes to you, I can kiss my ass goodbye.”
Liar, liar.He’s still gonna try and get payback because of Perry. I can smell it. But if he wants that pocket watch, he’ll also go after Vivian Jean, because if he was watching us at the party, he knows I gave her back the pocket watch. “The smell down here is awful. I can scarcely breathe.”
“The cigarette smoke helps,” he says. “You want one?”
“No. Let’s go upstairs. There’s nobody outside with all this wind.”
He pulls on a pair of boots. “Can we get it tonight?”
“We can make plans upstairs. On the deck.”
We climb the multiple flights to the Promenade Deck and head toward the bow.
“I’m curious,” I say. “What’s the story behind Tony Schaefer and Major Thomas? What makes this pocket watch such a big deal?” I ask a question I already know the answer to.
Jerry lights up another cigarette. “They used to be business partners.”
That’s what Robbie told me. So, it must be true, and maybe they are still partners. “What kind of business?”
“Before he became a banker, he owned funeral homes all over the Black Belt. During Prohibition, he was a rum runner. Perry and I drove his trucks, hauled crates of bottled rum from South Florida to Chicago. When the banks started collapsing,Major Thomas invested his money in jewels. That pocket watch is worth a fortune.”
Robbie didn’t have that information. “Why would he flaunt the pocket watch out in the open by giving it to his daughter to wear around her neck? It should be locked away in a safe.”
“Don’t ask me. I don’t know nothing but what Tony tells me.”
“Is that who you are these days? Just a gofer for Tony Schaefer? Don’t you want to have something of your own?”
“What you mean?”
“Why don’t you give me one of those cigarettes and I’ll tell you.”
He reaches into his pocket and ducks down low ’cause of the wind to light two cigarettes. “Here you go. Now what’s your idea?”
I take a long drag from the cigarette. “Forget about Tony. Let’s cut a deal with the major. He has the pocket watch and plenty of money and can set us up. You won’t need to go back to Chicago. You can go anywhere you like in the world with enough money in your pockets.”
He braces his back against the railing. A dark shadow falls over him. “Tony warned me you’d try to get me to turn on him. Like you turned on Perry.”
I want to swallow, but I have no spit in my mouth. “To tell you the truth, I think Tony had something to do with your brother’s death. I hit him, but I didn’t kill him. He talked to me as I walked out the door.”
Suddenly, Jerry stops talking. He swings me around and pushes my back against the railing. He has a grip on both my shoulders and he’s leaning in, making it difficult for me to keep my feet on the ground.
“What’s wrong with you?” I hiss.
“You’re lying to me. Lying about everything. About notkilling my brother, about knowing where the pocket watch is, about betraying Tony. You just want to save your own behind.”
