rang the bell for number 5, which had been Crow’s apartment.
“No answer,” she told Maury.
“Would you answer if you were an illegal sublettor? Like Dad told you over dinner last night, there’s no way an apartment is sitting vacant in this market. The question is whether the landlord kicked Crow out to up the rates, or if he found someone to take his place. Let’s try the door.” He started up the steps ahead of Tess, but she passed him on the landing and reached the door marked No. 5 before he did.
“I’m looking for Crow Ransome,” she called through the door, after knocking and getting no reply. She heard footsteps creeping toward the door and away again, as if someone had peered through the fisheye and decided not to answer. “Look, this door is so thin I can practically hear you breathing through it.”
“You got the wrong place,” a voice called from the inside. “Never heard of anyone by that name.”
“No, it’s the right place. And I know whose name is on the lease here, and it sure isn’t yours,” Tess said, her voice louder now. “I’d hate to track down the landlord and tell him you’re not the one on the lease.”
Her bluff brought results. A marijuana-laden breeze drifted into the hall as a skinny man in baggy plaid shorts opened the door. He had red hair pulled back in a scraggly pony tail and pink, blotchy skin. His hairline was as high as it could be and still be considered a hairline at all.
“You with someone official?” he asked.
“I’m a private detective looking for the man who used to live here. Crow Ransome. You know him?”
“Never heard of any Crow.”
“Maybe you knew him as Ed or Edgar.”
“Eddie?” Eddie ? “Okay, sure, a little. I mean, I met him when I took over the place. I gave him cash up front for the next six months, he pays the landlady. He makes an extra 25 dollars a month on the deal. Everybody’s happy, you know?”
“Twenty-five dollars isn’t that much. Why didn’t he just break the lease and have his mail forwarded to wherever he was living?”
The man was beginning to relax, or maybe he was just too stoned to stay anxious. He yawned, leaned against the doorjamb, scratched the gingery hair under one freckled arm. “I don’t know. He had moved in with this chick, and he needed every peso he could get. Maybe he wasn’t sure it was going to last. We kind of left it open. I knew if he showed up here before his lease was up, I had to let him have it back. Those are the breaks.”
Moved in with some chick . Tess was having a little problem getting past that one piece of information. When she didn’t say anything right away, Maury jumped in.
“So when was the last time you saw him?”
He needed to think about this. “September? Anyway, a while ago. He came by, picked up his mail, not that there was much, a letter from Virginia, which he told me to mark ‘Return to sender.’ Although he always looked real carefully, as if he thought something else might be in there, too. He told me he was going to be out of pocket for a while, but promised he’d keep paying the rent. I hope so. I’d hate to lose this place.”
From what Tess could see through the open door, it wouldn’t be much of a loss. The remodeling of the old house had been done as cheaply as possible. The walls looked like painted cardboard, the kitchen wedged into one corner was nothing more than a two-burner stove and a half-sized refrigerator.
“Did you have a number for Crow? For Ed, I mean.”
“A number? Oh, you mean like for the phone.” He wandered back into the apartment, scratching himself at intervals, until he found a scrap of paper on the floor, near his own phone. “I think this is it.”
Tess glanced at it, then checked it against her date book. “This is the number he had here, before it was disconnected.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. It was disconnected for a while, but I got it turned back on.” He crumpled it into a ball and tossed it on
“No answer,” she told Maury.
“Would you answer if you were an illegal sublettor? Like Dad told you over dinner last night, there’s no way an apartment is sitting vacant in this market. The question is whether the landlord kicked Crow out to up the rates, or if he found someone to take his place. Let’s try the door.” He started up the steps ahead of Tess, but she passed him on the landing and reached the door marked No. 5 before he did.
“I’m looking for Crow Ransome,” she called through the door, after knocking and getting no reply. She heard footsteps creeping toward the door and away again, as if someone had peered through the fisheye and decided not to answer. “Look, this door is so thin I can practically hear you breathing through it.”
“You got the wrong place,” a voice called from the inside. “Never heard of anyone by that name.”
“No, it’s the right place. And I know whose name is on the lease here, and it sure isn’t yours,” Tess said, her voice louder now. “I’d hate to track down the landlord and tell him you’re not the one on the lease.”
Her bluff brought results. A marijuana-laden breeze drifted into the hall as a skinny man in baggy plaid shorts opened the door. He had red hair pulled back in a scraggly pony tail and pink, blotchy skin. His hairline was as high as it could be and still be considered a hairline at all.
“You with someone official?” he asked.
“I’m a private detective looking for the man who used to live here. Crow Ransome. You know him?”
“Never heard of any Crow.”
“Maybe you knew him as Ed or Edgar.”
“Eddie?” Eddie ? “Okay, sure, a little. I mean, I met him when I took over the place. I gave him cash up front for the next six months, he pays the landlady. He makes an extra 25 dollars a month on the deal. Everybody’s happy, you know?”
“Twenty-five dollars isn’t that much. Why didn’t he just break the lease and have his mail forwarded to wherever he was living?”
The man was beginning to relax, or maybe he was just too stoned to stay anxious. He yawned, leaned against the doorjamb, scratched the gingery hair under one freckled arm. “I don’t know. He had moved in with this chick, and he needed every peso he could get. Maybe he wasn’t sure it was going to last. We kind of left it open. I knew if he showed up here before his lease was up, I had to let him have it back. Those are the breaks.”
Moved in with some chick . Tess was having a little problem getting past that one piece of information. When she didn’t say anything right away, Maury jumped in.
“So when was the last time you saw him?”
He needed to think about this. “September? Anyway, a while ago. He came by, picked up his mail, not that there was much, a letter from Virginia, which he told me to mark ‘Return to sender.’ Although he always looked real carefully, as if he thought something else might be in there, too. He told me he was going to be out of pocket for a while, but promised he’d keep paying the rent. I hope so. I’d hate to lose this place.”
From what Tess could see through the open door, it wouldn’t be much of a loss. The remodeling of the old house had been done as cheaply as possible. The walls looked like painted cardboard, the kitchen wedged into one corner was nothing more than a two-burner stove and a half-sized refrigerator.
“Did you have a number for Crow? For Ed, I mean.”
“A number? Oh, you mean like for the phone.” He wandered back into the apartment, scratching himself at intervals, until he found a scrap of paper on the floor, near his own phone. “I think this is it.”
Tess glanced at it, then checked it against her date book. “This is the number he had here, before it was disconnected.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. It was disconnected for a while, but I got it turned back on.” He crumpled it into a ball and tossed it on
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