"Oh, that's right," he said snidely. "You never tell lies yourself."
"Not about murder. Absolutely not," I snapped.
"Bullshit. You really think Magruder beat a guy to death?"
"How do I know? That's what I'm trying to find out. Mickey was off course. He was intent on the Might and the Right of the law, and he didn't give a damn what he had to do to get the job done."
"Yeah, and you ask my opinion there should have been more like him. Besides, what I hear, you're not exactly one to be casting stones."
"I'll grant you that one. That's why I'm not in uniform today. But my butt wasn't on the line back then, his was. If Mickey had an alibi, he should have said so up front instead of asking me to lie."
Shack's expression shifted and he broke off eye contact.
I said, "Come on, Shack. You know perfectly well where he was. Why don't you fill me in and we can put an end to this?"
"Is that why you're here?"
"In the main," I said.
"I can tell you this much: He wasn't on Highway 154 hassling a vet. He wasn't anywhere within miles."
"That's good. I believe you. Now could we try this? Mickey had a girlfriend. You remember Dixie Hightower? According to her, they were together that night 'getting it on,' to use the time-honored phrase."
"So he was sticking it to Dixie. Whoopee-do. So what? Everybody screwed around in those days."
"I didn't."
"Maybe not when you were married, but you were the same as everyone else, only maybe not as open or as honest."
I bypassed the judgment and went back to the subject under discussion. "Someone could have warned me.
"We assumed you knew. Neither of 'em went to any great lengths to cover up. Think of all the times you left the Honky-Tonk before him. What'd you think he was doing, going to night school? He was nailing her. Big deal. She was a bimbo tended bar. She wasn't any threat to you."
I swallowed my outrage, dismissing it as unproductive. I needed information, not an argument. Betrayal is betrayal, no matter when the truth of it sinks in. Whether Dixie was a threat to that marriage was beside the point. Even fourteen years later, I felt humiliated and incensed. I closed my eyes, detaching myself emotionally as though at the scene of a homicide. "Do you know for a fact he was with her that night?"
"Let's put it this way. I saw 'em leave the Tonk together. She was in her car. He was behind her in his. Nights her hubby was home, they checked into that dinky little motel out on Airport Road."
"Wonderful. How considerate of them. They were there that night?"
"Probably. I couldn't say for sure, but I'd be willing to bet. "
"Why didn't you speak up for him?"
"I would have, for sure. I'd've gone to the wall, but I never had the chance. Mickey turned in his badge and that was the end of it. If you can't reach him, you can always ask her."
"Dixie?"
"Sure. She's around."
"Where?"
"You're the detective. Try the telephone book. She's still married to whosie-face, cripple guy. . . ."
"His name was Eric.
"That's right. Him and Dixie made a fortune and bought a mansion. Sixteen thousand square feet, something like that. Big."
"You're kidding."
"I'm not. It's the honest-to-God truth. They're living in Montebello on a regular estate."
"How'd he do that? The last I saw he was a hopeless drunk."
"He got into AA and straightened up his act. Once he sobered up, he figured out a way to build designer wheelchairs. Custom jobs with all the bells and whistles, depending on the disability. Now he's added sports chairs and prostheses. He has a plant in Taiwan, too, making parts for other companies. Donates a ton of stuff to children's hospitals across the country."
"Good for him. I'm glad to hear that. What about her? What's she doing with herself?"
"She's living the life of Riley, turned into Mrs. Gotrocks. Country club membership and everything. You look 'em up, tell 'em I said hi.
"Maybe I'll do that."
After I left Shack's, I went into the office, where I opened the mail. There was nothing of interest and no pressing business. Most of my other cases were in limbo, pending callbacks or responses to written inquiries of various sorts. I tidied my desk and washed the coffeepot. I dusted the leaves on the fake ficus. I had no reason to stay, but I couldn't go home yet. I was restless, brooding about Mickey in a series of thought loops that went around and around. Had I erred? Had I acted in haste, jumping to conclusions because it suited me? By, the time Quintero died, I was disenchanted with Mickey anyway. I wanted out of the marriage, so his involvement in Quintero's death provided the perfect excuse. But maybe that's all it was. Could he have resigned from the department to spare my pride and, at the same time, to avoid exposing Dixie? If Mickey was innocent, if I'd known where he was that night, the case might have gone differently and he might still be a cop. I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't escape the thought.