i want my job back, mr. giacomo. i need to work and i need a good job. no, that's not all. i need money so that i can pay my mortgage and eat. i need a house to live in and a place to raise children. i need to buy clothes so i can-- ezekiel, mr. giacomo. my name is ezekiel. ezekiel rawlins. joppy, how much they payin' out there at mcdonell douglas? how ya doin'? houston. what kind of work you do? who the hell is that, joppy? what kinda business? in other words, he's a gangster. when somebody tells me "don't worry," i usually look down to see if my fly is open. i noticed albright didn't bother to pay for his drink. dewitt albright reminded me of somebody i knew back in houston. his name was raymond alexander but we called him mouse. mouse called hisself a businessman too. and i found out that i shouldn't be nowhere around when mouse got down to his business. i learned that the hard way. no. just leave the trees alone. i had moved to los angeles right after the war with three hundred dollars and the g.i. bill. and i liked coming home to a place that was mine. according to president truman i had that comin' to me 'cause i had fought in 'the good war' against hitler in europe. but that didn't mean a damn thing to a lotta white folks including the foreman on my job. so, here i was out of work needin' thirty-two dollars to pay the mortgage. that was three days pay on my old job -- and i had about three days to get it. i'm looking for, uh. no, no. i. uh. albright! i'm here to see mr. albright. dewitt albright! i have an appointment -- i'm supposed to meet him. forget it, man. next time i see him i'll just tell him you wouldn't let me in. hey, man! what's wrong with you? keep your hands to yourself. i don't let no man feel on me like that. your friends, hunh? sure. depends on what kind of job. i don't want to get mixed up in nothing. i mean i don't wanna get mixed up with the law. she leave him? i ain't never heard of her before. i wouldn't know how to find a woman like that. so you think she might be down in watts. what do you want me to do? that's all. i just have to tell you where she is? yeah? hey, junior. what's goin' on? you got a cigarette? damn! how do you smoke these things? naw. i got fired. that's the way you remember it, hunh? aw, man, get off that. i ain't had nothin' to do with that. boy, it's happenin' tonight. where's all the white women at? yeah. i bet you don't. go on, man. alphonso jenkins! hey, man, you seen a girl named dahlia or somethin'. white girl supposed to be somethin' to look at. hey, rita! what do they see in you? hey, lewis. gimme a couple glasses and a pail of ice and send a quart of bourbon over there to odell's table. hey, odell. how's it going tonight? not yet, dupree. hey, coretta, how are ya? sure. sure. i'm a sorry man, all right. any man without his paycheck is sorry. naw, dupree. this one's mine-- either one of y'all seen a white girl named dahlia or somethin' with a 'd'? hey, you goin' home, odell? think i'm gonna head out. i think i'd be more sorry if i stay. you know her? damn. i need a cigarette. coretta, sun catch me tip-toein' out your door and no tellin' what your neighbors say. you got a man in the other room. why don't you tell me 'bout your friend daphne? what if he hears somethin'? what things? forget about him! you got me goin', coretta! daphne? oh, yeah. i ain't after her, baby. that's just a job. man wants me to find her. who cares, what man? i don't want nobody but you. i went on hittin' her spot until just before sun-up. it occurred to me that coretta had found out a lot more about what i was up to than i had wanted her to. but i had found out that the rich man's woman had a colored boyfriend. it had cost me a sawbuck to get coretta to give me that information. well, let's just say somethin' had cost me ten dollars. "since etta mae has left me and i am a bachelor i figured i could come out and visit and we burn down the town. write me and tell me when's a good time." aw shit. the letter from mouse was worrying me in more ways than one. all i had to do was call albright to earn the hundred dollars i already had in my pocket. but the last time i got money that easy i got it from mouse -- fifty dollars -- and the next day i had to join the army to leave town. this ain't your friend's car? what'd you do mouse? where you goin', sophie? get away from there! hello? what? mr. albright, is that you? i got what you want. she's with-- uh. i don't know about that mr. albright -- mr. albright? i wasn't used to going to white communities, like malibu, to conduct business. champion aircraft was in santa monica but i drove out there in the daytime, did my work and came home. i never loitered nowhere except among my own people, in my own neighborhood. yeah. it's all right. huh?. uh. texas. the gulf, they have the gulf. i think they're looking for you. i don't want no trouble. listen. i was just being polite. i think he got the point-- you sure no harm is gonna come to that woman 'cause of me? woman told me she's with a man named frank green. he's got an apartment at the skyler arms on skyler and eighty-third. frank's a gangster. a hijacker. liquor and cigarettes. he's real good with a knife. naw. i just heard about him. no thanks, mr. albright. i don't kill children. yeah. where? you arresting me? i got a right to know why you're taking-- yes, sir. i'm cooperating. what do you mean? i don't know. i was out drinkin' and i helped carry a friend home. i could've been on my way home. i don't know. i didn't look at a clock. what do you mean? what's goin' on? i guess about five. five- thirty. why, i'm gonna sit down and you keep trying to knock me down? no, sir. huh? naw. he was asleep. i went home with a hangover. i don't have time right now. no i didn't, mr. teran. i read the papers. you're runnin' for mayor. no, sir. nobody. there was no one else. you can let me out here. it's okay. no thanks. there had been nights during the war that i still had trouble claiming as part of my life. insane nights i wasn't sure ever really happened. and here i was again. had i really just gotten out of a rich man's car who was runnin' for mayor?. running against the man i was supposed to be working for. was he really lookin' for the same woman i was trying to find? my ear was killin' me and the buses had stopped running. and i was feeling sick. sick from wondering if i had really hard that coretta was dead. huh? who is this? look, it's late-- now wait a minute, daphne. i don't know nothin' about all this stuff. yeah. no, thanks. why don't you just tell me what you want? i heard about you. fellas at john's said you were something to see. uh. yeah. guess i have. but you got a boyfriend i don't want no part of. frank green. uh. miss monet-- daphne-- i can't -- why don't you ask frank? that's nice of you but, see, i'm not really a detective-- i was just hired to ask around to try to find you for a man-- but this is a gettin' a little out of hand-- --easy. you'd do that? no. i can't do that. i don't want no part of all this. no dice. uh, miss monet. daphne, i'm sorry but i really better be goin'. crazy assed broad! what the hell are you doing?! how much further is it? ain't nothin' about me like frank. i don't get no kick outta risking my life for some white woman's entertainment. what? no. well then where's yours? damn. daphne! hey, wait a minute! dammit! what you doin' in my house, man? you got no excuse to be breakin' into my house -- what if i broke into your place? so what do you want? i went to see a girl. don't you get none, mr. albright? so what do you want me to do about it? you don't think i did my job. shit, i give you the money back. i seen her. she called me. had me drive up to the hollywood hills. i guess coretta. the girl that told me about daphne and frank green. i couldn't. she threatened to tell the cops that i had killed coretta. she took off. i don't know! while i was looking at the body she split. i tried my best to keep in the speed limit. that's all i did. hunh? uh. yeah. she left that place-- get it yourself. bottle's in the cabinet. no, thanks, mr. albright. people are gettin' killed all around me. you never said anything about all this. i needed help. albright didn't flinch at hearing that coretta was dead and he seemed to know all about richard mcgee too. raymond alexander on. forget about it, operator. that girl called me last night. the one your friend is lookin' for. no, joppy. wasn't no luck at all. it was you. you and coretta was the only ones that had my phone number who knew i was lookin' for her. and coretta was busy scammin' daphne so she wouldn't have done it. it was you, man. i ain't in the phone book, joppy. you damn right! coretta's dead! your friend albright is on my ass. the cops done brought me down once -- why didn't you just tell albright your damn self? and goddammit, he's about to get it back. what you got me into, joppy?! where is she, man? don't lie to me, joppy! what's she runnin' from joppy? damn, joppy. is there any white woman that ever gave you the time of day that you wasn't a sucker for? albright had said that when you're mixed up in something it's best to be mixed up to the top. i could see his point. so that's where i was going. all the way to the top. uh. yes. i came to see mr. carter. no, i don't. well, tell him mr. albright sent me, and it's real important. rawlins. but i'm not so sure he'd want me to tell you. okay. well, anyway, tell him i'm here with information about that little chippy of his that dumped him. yes. mister. i don't wanna hear it, man. it's too much goin' on for me to give a damn about what you think is smart. the last time i saw her she looked fine. yeah. last night. she was last night. a blue dress. blue heels. yeah, on the left side. --mr. carter, mr. carter-- mr. carter. i came here to get some answers. i don't know. i'm takin' a helluva chance. i guess it's just that when i'm working for somebody, i wanna know what i'm gettin' myself into. well, i'd like to know the real reason why mr. albright hired me. yeah. the man you hired to find daphne. you didn't hire somebody to find your girlfriend? what's goin' on between you two? yeah. do you know a man named richard mcgee? why would someone be after her, mr. carter? i don't know. mr. carter, why did she leave? okay. a thousand dollars. yeah. i'll take two hundred right now. good. then they can help us-- mr. carter, why'd you stop runnin' for mayor? why is matthew teran looking for her too? i'll take cash, mr. carter. so albright was working for matthew teran. and whatever teran had on carter was strong stuff. too strong even for carter to go to the police. but because teran was desperate to find the girl too, that gave me the best hand. i had seen her once, and if i played it right, i'd see her again. everywhere i went was a familiar place, but different because i was asking about buying hijacked liquor from the man nobody wanted to talk about. frank green. it was actually looking more and more like i might not make it through this little adventure i was having. but i was likin' the chill in my blood, and the freedom of working on my own. there were times in the war when i had felt like this. when life or death where the only two choices. that made it simple. and that was alright by me. frank! wait a minute! i need to talk to you! naw. i got five hundred dollars for you. rich man wants to talk to a white girl you know. daphne. mouse! aw, man naw, it's all right. no, don't! where's daphne monet? look, if you don't know where she is, maybe we can help each other find her. no, mouse. don't kill him. frank, a rich man she knows is willing to pay a thousand dollars just to talk to her. a thousand bucks, man. let him go! let him be! no, we don't, mouse. i don't need your kinda help or i would've called you. this is the same shit you pulled five years ago when you asked me to drive you out to your stepfather's house, then come to find out you killed him and your stepbrother. everything i say? who was that called? a right. and if dupree ain't over there in compton, just come on back 'cause i might have heard from the girl. who? i ain't been there. i ain't been in no dead man's house. what do you mean? naw, man. i didn't do it. i didn't do it. you know i didn't. i don't know nothin'. uh, listen! i don't know who did it! dammit, i didn't do it. look, gimme some time to find out. gimme till tomorrow. tomorrow mornin'. i guess you know what would have happened if you had shot them two cops in my house? come on, let's go. i'll tell you on the way. you got the keys? before we run out to compton we got one other place to stop by. man, don't you mess with my trees while i'm gone. you heard me. leave my trees alone. i mean it now. don't you mess with my trees!! easy! it's private, junior. lemme in. what ya smokin'? zapatas? this is one of yours, ain't it? you the only one i know cheap enough to smoke this shit. why'd you kill richard mcgee? ain't no time to play, junior. i know you the one killed him. tell me what happened, junior. well, the police will. when they find out that they got your fingerprints up there in that man's house. hattie had you pull that man out of john's the night i was there. and he was laying up there dead with the same suit on and a knife in his chest. quit lyin', you big ole sweaty- thick headed-cornbread eatin'-- you better tell it the way it happened. and maybe i'll forget what i know. otherwise, i'm gonna tell mouse to shoot ya 'cause you know i don't like your ass and he don't like you either. you killed him to take his money, didn't ya? you just had to rob him, didn't ya! you tell him but you won't tell me. fifty dollars? just to tell him you seen her with coretta? what letter? and you knew where she was? you 'spect me to believe that? why would he trust you to give it to the girl if it was worth fifty dollars? why? you better be tellin' the truth. let's go, raymond. hey, dupree. been trying to call you. i don't know, dupree. i don't know. did coretta ever say anything to you about a letter she was keeping? for that white girl. holy shi-it. i was as nauseated from fear as i was from what i saw. pictures of a much younger matthew teran and children. innocent, helpless, naked children. i got it. come on, i think that girl is gonna call again. you got your sails up pretty far too, raymond. well, you been puttin' it away along with him and-- put it down. i don't have a gun, raymond. come on, let's go. let him go, raymond. he done learned his lesson. if you kill him then he won't have got it. let him live, raymond, and he be scared whenever you walk in the room. the pictures were burnin' a hole in my pocket. i had no doubt that albright had killed mcgee. and that he had done it for matthew teran. but teran hadn't known who killed coretta. i was sure of that, too. for the first time i hated walking up to my house. i still didn't know if i could go to the police. but albright was liable to be showing up in a few hours asking about frank green. i was thinking i oughta forget the girl and leave town, back to houston or galveston where they didn't know me too good. shit! damn! your boyfriend, frank green, threw a surprise party for me. --i already have the pictures. oh yeah? matthew teran may have somethin' to say about that. try me. who killed coretta? you gave richard seven. where'd you get seven thousand dollars from? coretta's life was important to a few people too. what's say you tell me who killed her? 'honey?' do frank and carter really fall for that stuff? come on. you and todd carter have a fight and all of a sudden he doesn't wanna be mayor no more. you leave, he's worried but he can't even get his buddies in the police department to help him find you. and now you wanna buy some pictures of teran. why? 'cause he's got some dirt on you. is that what frank told coretta? was she being too nosy? or was she just being coretta and trying to bargain up the price? tell me. is frank your husband or your pimp? why don't you try screaming again? 'cause i bet police like white women with negro boyfriends who hijack trucks. i bet they like pimps, and whores, too, who scam rich white men like carter runnin' for mayor. and i'm sure they like it when these white girls tell their colored men to lay low 'cause they killed a woman over some pictures of another rich white man. who killed her, daphne? who killed her? who killed her goddammit!? what? marry carter? be white again? i'll tell you what can happen between us. you get carter to clear me up from all this and you can have your pictures. that's all that could have ever happened between us. wait a minute, albright. hey! mouse. get dupree's car. drive it to 78th and central. the butcher shop. hurry up. it had come to me in less time than it takes to think that albright was taking daphne someplace more isolated than that office building downtown. someplace where there would be no witnesses. and i was being left alive to take the fall. sorry, baby. lemme give you twenty bucks for them stockings you got on. gimme one of them guns you got. start up my car. i'm comin' out fast. come on, joppy. let's go! you heard me. i'll blow your head off! don't follow me, goddammit! shut up! drive this damn thing, mouse! albright's got the girl. he's gonna kill her. where would he take her? and you better get it right. don't fool with me, man! make a right, mouse! you sure 'bout this place? he killed dupree's girlfriend. naw. mouse! what're you doin'? hey! watch out! mouse, we need him to lead the way! mouse, the girl offered me seven thousand dollars for the pictures. no, i swear i'm not. is that it up there? shut off the headlights, mouse. is that it? how much farther? there's some rope in the trunk, raymond. who said she told me? stuff this in his mouth. i gotta get up there. no, mouse. and they'll hear it. mouse? come on. you all right? yeah. let's go. where's joppy? what happened? why, man? why? damn mouse! why? he was tied up! why?! i convinced mouse to take the two o'clock train to pomona and to let me handle everything else. he could get a train back to houston later that morning. he was fine with that but only because he was seven thousand dollars richer. daphne had gotten the money out of a locker at the ymca without a word. because she was still in shock and couldn't really talk. maybe too because she had stolen about four times that much from carter. naw, man. i knew i would see him again and i didn't know how i felt about that. 'cause, unlike mouse, my legs were like rubber. the way they had been in the war the whole two years i was there. i could tell how it was gonna go when carter asked us to meet him at the observatory instead of at his house. she knew it, too. but she had come this far and she had to play it out. hey, i'm sorry. for the first time i felt that i could fall in love with her, too. i was even wondering if it was starting to happen when i dropped her off at 63rd and dinker where her brother, frank, was waiting. then it occurred to me that she still had carter's money. and i felt like a fool. evidently carter had told all his cronies about the pictures because they were all smiles and handshakes and "how do ya do". the mayor, the police chief. the newspaper; land developers. all the men who ran the city, and who really stood to gain by who was the mayor for the next six years. would it really matter if she did, mr. carter? i'd been thinking about daphne, too. wondering if she meant what she said about what could have happened between us. but at the moment i was wondering if there was any such thing as a sprained chin. but other than that and a headache, a loose tooth and a kidney that a doctor would need to look at, i felt like five thousand, three hundred dollars. and unless albright was alive somewhere, that feelin' was gonna last a while. sorry, fellas. but i gotta go. why don't you go back to the station and, uh. wait around for my call. it might be the last moment of my adult life spent free was walking away from city hall. the paper treated the mysterious flip-flop like it happened every day. and i could tell that matthew teran wouldn't spend a day in jail. back in the second section of the paper was a small article about an unidentified man found dead, slumped over the steering wheel of a white cadillac just north of malibu. it scared me to think about a world that could kill a man like dewitt albright. what could a world like that do to me? in the shop. i'm havin' it fixed up a little. shoot. i ain't studyin' no job. i'm gonna go to work for myself. take a little money i got saved up and go into real estate. start fixin' up folks' gardens again. and do a few favors on the side. favors for friends. well, like a woman offered me thirty dollars to go track down her husband for her. like a man once said to me, odell: 'walk out your door in the morning and you're already in trouble'. it's just how you're mixed up in that trouble that counts. odell? if you got a friend that does bad and you still keep him as your friend, even though you know what he's like. do you think that's right? get out of that yard! bastard cut down two of my trees. i thought about what odell had said about friends and it made sense to me. odell goes to church every sunday, so he would know. later on, he challenged me to a game of dominoes. and what'd he do that for? we got to talkin' 'bout texas and fooled around and drunk almost a quart of whiskey. and i forgot about daphne monet, dewitt albright and carter and them. and sat with my friend, on my porch at my house. and we laughed a long time.