Free A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock

client's supposed alibi, who lived on Avenue J, a couple of blocks from Glenwood Gardens.
    Marcus Riley was a large man, bulky and lumbering, and he certainly did not look thrilled to see a couple of white people in business clothes knocking on his door. Hip-hop rumbled out of the room behind him:
    Kingpins put in bullpens, old connects get paro'
Break out of town when the Jakes take down the Pharaoh.
    "We represent Lorenzo Tate," Myra said, when it was looking like Marcus was not planning on inviting us in.
    "You represent him in what?"
    "You know that Lorenzo has been charged with murder, right?"
    "You mean you his lawyers?"
    "That would be us."
    "Well, you ain't his family, that's for damn sure," Marcus said, finally moving aside to let us in.
    Lorenzo had told us that Marcus lived by himself. Even if he hadn't, I'd have been able to guess based on the condition of Marcus's apartment. The living room was cluttered, the furniture stained and ratty, although I noticed that the television was a large flat-screen. There were dirty clothes and empty beer bottles strewn across the floor, and it smelled like a locker room.
    "Lorenzo said you were with him on the night of the murder," Myra said, her inflection halfway between a statement and a question.
    "Yeah, uh-huh, true that," Marcus said, sprawling down on his couch, grabbing a tallboy from the floor, and helping himself to a hearty swig.
    "You mind if I turn this down?" Myra said, pointing toward the stereo. She was still standing, so I was too.
    Marcus shrugged, and Myra lowered the music until it was barely audible.
"I'm going to ask too that you don't drink any more just now," Myra said. "You
give us a statement, we write it up, your drinking a beer is the sort of detail
that can complicate things."
    "Ain't no thing," Marcus said, putting the can down on the floor.
"Strawberry told me you all was gonna come by."
    "What were you and Lorenzo doing that night?"
    "We was just chilling."
    "Where were you?"
    "Where Strawberry say we were?"
    "I want to hear it from you," Myra replied.
    Marcus hesitated, his face going slack, his whole focus draining out. I realized that he was stoned. The smell of pot was still faintly wafting through the musty air.
"We was here," he finally said.
    "Just you and Lorenzo?"
    "Ain't that what he say?"
    "Listen, Marcus," Myra said, starting to lose her patience. "We
can't just tell you what we want you to say. If you can't remember it on your
own, you're not going to be any use to us."
    "It was just him and me is how I'm remembering it."
    "And what were you doing?"
    "You know, just chilling. Wasn't getting in no kind of trouble."
    "Were you here all night?"
    "Strawberry ain't gonna want me to say we left, is he? Besides, I
ain't looking to put myself in the mix."
    "Nobody's suggesting you had anything to do with what happened in
the Gardens that night, Mr. Riley."
    "I know
you
ain't gonna be sayin' that, on account it don't
help your boy. But how I know the law not gonna just come after me, I say I was
with Strawberry? Then I don't help him none, and I'm facing time too."
    "I really don't think that's likely to happen," Myra said. "All
we're asking you to do is tell us the truth. Were you with Lorenzo Tate that
night?"
    "Lorenzo tell me that I was," Marcus said. "I know he'd been over
to my crib sometime that week, but I didn't write down no date as to when it
was."
    "What'd the two of you do?"
    "What's Lorenzo say we did?" Marcus asked.
    "We need to know what you remember."
    "Things are a little foggy in my mind just now," Marcus said.
"Truth be told, I sparked up a Dutch before you all came knocking."
    "Thanks for your time, Mr. Riley," Myra said, standing abruptly and heading toward the door.
    " WHAT'S WITH the quick exit?" I asked once we were back on the street.
    "There's no point in throwing good time after bad," Myra replied.
    "Is that an answer to my question, or something you got off of a
refrigerator magnet?"
    "Do you think