“Bonsoir, Geneviève!” he said with a little flourish. He beamed, expecting a great show of appreciation for this. Geneviève only grinned, sleepy and content, as if she expected Joe to begin speaking French like a native.
“Bonsoir,” she said as she drew on her cigarette and sent a plume of smoke out of the side of her mouth. She gave a little three-finger wave and winked.
It would be many years before Joe realized something about that interlude. He would never forget Geneviève and René for their kindness and hospitality. It just seemed odd that neither one ever asked their names. Not once.
CHAPTER 54
Friday, August 25, 2017
Riegelmann Boardwalk, Coney Island
Brooklyn
3:40 p.m.
“Hi, Wilomena?” Aideen asked. Wilomena went rigid and shot a glance to the side but then seemed instantly to calm. Seated on a boardwalk bench, she turned her eyes, in a dark nest of wrinkles, back to the ocean.
“I shoulda been this popular in high school.”
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Aideen said, her tone neutral and tentative. “Do you mind if I sit down?” Wilomena shrugged, and Aideen smoothed out her skirt and sat, setting a thin leather briefcase to the side. “I’m looking for information about a woman who died near here. I’m not a police officer.”
“No, you definitely are not.”
“Well, I’m a lawyer, you should know. Not one who works with the police, though.”
Wilomena kept her head pointed toward the waves but gave Aideen strong side-eye for a few seconds. “Yeah, I see the briefcase. I figure you’re not selling watches out of it. You say you ain’t a DA, though? You sound like one.”
“No, I’m not.” She paused. “I was for a long time, though.”
“Yeah, I can hear it, yo. Cops in your family too?”
Aideen grinned a little. Whoever Wilomena was, she was not slow on the uptake. “I was married to one, yes.” She paused again. “Wilomena, the woman I’m here about, I think you knew her. Her name was—”
“Lois,” Wilomena said heavily, as if uttering the name was exhausting. “Funny how everyone and their aunt Jo all the sudden takes a serious interest in this woman. She had to turn up on a beach with a seagull’s beak buried in her cooch first, though.” Aideen had never heard that fact, and for a split second her face froze in horror. Wilomena looked back at her apologetically. “I saw that shit. It was nasty.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“So did they find him?”
“You mean the killer? They arrested someone, yes.”
“He did it.” Wilomena said it with casual certainty.
“Well, he’s who I represent, Wilomena. I’ll understand if you don’t want to speak with me knowing that. I will say that you’re right about Lois. I’ve found out a few things about her. No one really paid her any mind until she was dead. That’s awful.”
“You’re trying to get him off, then? Or plead him out?”
“Right now, I’m just trying to figure it all out. I believe that something’s wrong, and that Joe’s a good man. That’s why I’m representing him, and it’s why I’m here.”
Wilomena’s eyes had been dulcet and sleepy but now lit up sharp again. “He’s a good man? Strangled his mother like that? That’s the word on the street.”
“I don’t think they arrested the right person.”
“Oh, I got a headache comin’ on.”
Aideen sighed. “Yeah, I know that feeling. Did the cops ever show you Joe’s photo?”
“Didn’t see no photos from the cops.”
“Do you mind looking at one?” Again, Wilomena just shrugged. From the briefcase Aideen drew a manila envelope and then from it a photo of Joe, taken from his law firm’s website. He and his old partner, Jack Abrams, stood side by side in sharp suits against a dark background. “He’s the one on the left.” Wilomena studied the photo for a few seconds. She seemed about to speak but then stopped herself, her eyes still on it.
“He’s a lawyer too?”
“He is, yes.”
“Lois mentioned him,” Wilomena said matter-of-factly. Aideen felt her heart pick up a beat. “She said she knew where he lived, even.”
Aideen was taken aback. “Were you able to tell the police this?”
“Police didn’t ask. Anyway, I didn’t remember it until I saw that picture. Wilomena’s tired, yo.”