it was getting late, and mr eggwhistle had a long drive back to the city, but he wanted to talk to ace, the last of the four individuals the director had named as possible confidants of johnny’s.
despite being inmates of the asylum, zeke, ike, and luke had all seemed outwardly “normal” or at least harmless.
mr eggwhistle found ace, when he finally tracked him down, a bit disconcerting.
he was seated by himself on a chair in one of the corridors of inmates’ rooms. the corridor was filled wth shadows.
ace was thin, hunched, looked to be about sixty years old, and was dressed as a “gangster”, i e . a gangster as seen in old black and white movies. he was wearing a black pinstriped suit with a black shirt and a wide white tie. his hair was shoe polish black. and combed straight back.
ace did not look up as mr eggwhistle introduced himself , but nodded to indicate he had heard. him
“i understand you knew johnny dark,” mr eggwhistle said.
“knew him? i taught him everything he knew.” at that moment the lights in the corridor went on. in the light, ace looked closer to eighty than sixty.
“you would not happen to havre a gospel of johnny, would you?”
ace reached into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and handed mr eggwhistle a pamphlet.
“thank you very much.,” mr eggwhistle smiled, although ace had still not looked directly at him. “may i ask you just one question?”
“you can ask.”,
“did johnny ever talk about a guy named packy?”
“i don’t talk about packy,” ace replied. “packy is dead to me.”
“fair enough.” mr eggwhistle backed away from ace. and took his leave.
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