Free Harlot's Moon by Edward Gorman

tender and loving woman, Felice was — but it didn't make me any happier about this whole situation.
    I took a quick shower and kissed Felice goodbye.
    Vic was in her bathroom.
    She walked me to the door. "This'll work out, hon. You'll see."
    Then she kissed me and it was a warm and wonderful kiss.
    But it didn't change my feelings any.
    "No, it won't," I said. "I hate that prick and I always will."
    In the car, I called the police department and asked for Detective Judy Holloway.
    After I identified myself, she said, "I still can't get over a priest using a French tickler."
    She had herself a war story that she'd be able to tell for years.
    "So how can I help you this morning, Mr. Payne?"
    "There are two murders I'm interested in."
    "Oh?"
    I described the murders and gave her the dates. "I wonder if you could fax me the preliminary reports."
    "I suppose I could, Mr. Payne, but now you're making me curious."
    "Oh?"
    "Why would you suddenly be interested in these two cases?"
    "Monsignor Gray asked me to just sniff around a little."
    "'Sniff around' meaning what exactly?"
    "Exactly, I'm not sure. I think he just needs to feel that everybody is doing everything they can to find the killer."
    "We are doing everything we can, Mr. Payne."
    "I'm aware of that. I really am. And I told him so."
    "Let me ask you something, Mr. Payne."
    "All right?"
    "Is there any evidence you're withholding?"
    I thought about the earring. I hadn't been expecting a question like this. If I told Detective Holloway about the earring now, I could have some legal difficulties on my hands.
    "Nothing I can think of," I said.
    "Now there's a forthright answer."
    "I'm just trying to help my friend."
    "And I'm just trying to help your friend." She sighed. "Do you have a fax number?"
    I gave it to her.
    "The preliminary report is the only thing I can release."
    "I understand and I appreciate it."
    "It'd be fun to get you under oath some time, Mr. Payne."
    I laughed. "Fun for you, maybe."
    "It's only in movies that private eyes get involved in murder investigations, Mr. Payne."
    "Not anymore, Detective Holloway. One of the first people a good criminal attorney hires these days is a field investigator. And most of us are licensed by the state as private operatives."
    "And yours was issued three-and-a-half years ago following the death of your wife and your resignation from the FBI."
    "You checked me out."
    "Just doing my job, Mr. Payne."
    "I don't blame you at all."
    "That's nice of you." Then: "Chew around the edges if you want to, Mr. Payne, but don't try to hide anything from me. Understood?"
    "Understood."
    "You wouldn't want to piss me off. Believe me."
    "I believe you."
    "I'll fax those reports over to you. Have a nice day, Mr. Payne."
    Â 
    I t took me most of the morning but I eventually located Paul Gaspard.
    He lived in a red-brick six-plex in the middle of a block that had started turning black a few years ago. A variety of dirty words had been painted on the west wall of the apartment building and most of the windows were cracked and several of the cheap aluminum doors showed dents where burglar bars had been used to jimmy them open.
    Gaspard lived on the second floor. Two little black faces peering around the edge of a curtain stared at me all the time I stood in front of Gaspard's door and knocked. I waved at them and grinned. They looked at each other as if they weren't sure how to respond. Then one of them waved at me.
    And then the other one did, too.
    Gaspard opened the door on three different chain locks.
    "Yeah?"
    "I'd like to talk to you about finding Father Daly."
    "I already talked to you fellas. You woke me up."
    "I'm sorry I woke you, Mr. Gaspard. But I'm not police. I'm a legal investigator working for Monsignor Gray."
    "Legal investigator? What the hell's that?"
    I explained it as cogently as I could.
    "Shit," he said. "I guess you might as well come in. You got me woke up now."
    The apartment was small, cluttered and smelled of