Lady in the Lake(64)

“Shell Gordon’s club?” Judith asked.

“Yes, he had me thrown out.” A little melodramatic, but essentially true.

“Well, if Shell Gordon is worried, it probably has something to do with Ezekiel Taylor.”

Maddie should have been thrilled to hear the name, any name. Yet it was a letdown that the thing she had been seeking fell so casually from the young woman’s lips, that it could have been hers long ago if she had just thought to ask Judith more questions when Shell Gordon first came up.

“Where have I heard that name?”

“You probably haven’t.” Maybe it was Maddie’s imagination, but Judith seemed to stress the you, as if Maddie’s ignorance were specific to her, and anyone else would know. “But you must have heard of EZ Kleeners. ‘Whatever you need cleaned, EZ does it!’”

“That’s a dry cleaner, right?”

Plastic bags. All the clothes were in plastic bags. She had been looking at the labels, but maybe it was the dry-cleaning receipts that mattered, the paper on the hangers.

“Yes. He’s also the man that Shell Gordon is backing to defeat Verda Welcome in the Fourth District.”

“And Taylor was Cleo Sherwood’s boyfriend?”

“No idea. All I said was that if Shell Gordon was protecting someone, Taylor’s the most likely person. They’re thick as thieves, and that’s not just an expression. Clothes aren’t the only thing that get cleaned at EZ Kleeners, or so people say.”

“Who says?”

A blithe shrug. “People. My uncle’s friends. They also say Shell Gordon is a Baltimore bachelor, for what it’s worth.”

Maddie turned that phrase over in her head a few times, finally got it. “So Ezekiel Taylor is running for the senate. Obviously, a man running for office can’t have a girlfriend.”

“Oh, they can have them, Maddie. But they have to hide them. If—and I really don’t know anything—but if EZ Taylor was seeing this woman you’re so obsessed with, all he had to do was be discreet. Women aren’t going to vote for a man who humiliates his wife, especially Negro women, especially when there’s a female incumbent in the race. But Taylor plays by the rules, appears in public with Mrs. Taylor, doesn’t make waves.” She smiled at Maddie’s look of wonder. “I told you—the Stonewall Democratic Club is a good place to meet people. And to learn the skinny on stuff. I know so much about how the city works now. I’m making connections for myself, too. One of the state senators that my brother knows thinks he can get me a job at a federal agency, a good one. But I would need some way to commute, it’s down in Fort Meade—I’ve probably said too much already.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that the boyfriend doesn’t matter because Cleo went out with a different man, someone no one knows, on New Year’s Eve,” Maddie said, almost to herself. “But what if it was all part of a plan? What if someone sent that man to kill Cleo?”

“Or what if Cleo died while she was with Taylor and they needed to create a story to cover up what happened? As they say, never get caught with a dead girl—or a live boy.”

“Who says that?”

Judith just laughed. “Anyway, will you think about it?”

“Think about what?”

“Letting me use your apartment when you’re not there.”

“I’m always there, Judith. Except on Wednesdays, when I have dinner with Seth.”

“Even that little window would be enough.”

Yes, Maddie knew. It was enough. It could also be too much. “Judith, please be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“With your heart. That’s the part they never tell us. They’re so busy making sure that we, um, protect our bodies. But bodies are resilient, bodies can withstand a lot of pain. But your heart. If the first man you let into your heart isn’t a good person, you’ll never be the same.”

Judith’s blush this time was more traditional, the bright red of high embarrassment. “Honestly, Maddie, we’re just going to—well, we’re not going to do that.”

“You could meet him at the movies, like you did with Paul.”

“But I want to talk to this man,” Judith said, almost as if surprised by her own desire. “If this were only necking, well, yeah, sure, we could go to the movies. I want to get to know him. He’s so quiet. But I could tell, that night at the drive-in, he was looking at me. He wants to get to know me, too. But I can’t even linger on the phone with him without my parents’ getting suspicious.”

Maddie didn’t have much experience feeling envy for other women, but she knew a pang of it now. Ferdie was the strong, silent type, too. She had been seeing him for six months and she hardly knew anything about him.

“How do I find this Ezekiel Taylor?”

“Maddie, you should really meet my brother who’s in politics.”

“Judith, I’m not—I’m happy as I am. I don’t need a fix-up.”

“My brother’s not looking to be fixed up, either. But he knows stuff, Maddie. He’ll know if you’re on the right track. I keep telling you—”

“I know, I know. I should come to meetings of the Stonewall Democratic Club.”