even though yancey thought of himself as a person who did not watch much television, he had seen hundreds of shows in which the police, and police stations, figured prominently.
and he had also read a number of the thrillers yolanda brought home, in which a policeperson, usually a lone homicide detective defying foolish or corrupt bureaucratic superiors, tracked down serial killers and/or counterrevolutionaries
.but the police station, at least the front of it, did not look like he had imagined it would look. the ceiling was very high. there were no benches. there were a few chairs against the walls, but no one was sitting in them. it looked like a deserted bus station.
“can I help you?” the policeperson at the front desk was one of the largest women yancey had ever seen. her muscles bulged under her green uniform shirt. she looked more like genghis khan than lucy loo.
“lu - the lady at the rental agency said she made an appointment for me.”
“when?’
“just about ten minutes ago. the time it took me to walk over here.”
genghis khan ran her finger down the little green screen on the desk.
“yancey clevenger?”
“that’s me.”
“kind of a cool name. like some old movie star. what can i do for you, mr yancey?”
“doesn’t it say there?”
“no, it does not. tell me why you are here.”
“are you a detective?”
genghis looked a little annoyed. “why, did you want to see one?”
“no, i just thought - from what the lady at the rental agency said - that i would see a detective.”
“you can just tell me what you have to say.”
“um - my mom disappeared.”
“oh? you don’t seem too broke up about it.”
“i’m not.”
genghis tapped on her screen and it changed from green to white. she tapped it a few more times.
“all right, what is the lady’s name?”
“yolanda chase.”
“age?”
“um - about thirty-two, thirty-three.”
“you don’t know for sure?”
“no.”
“the adresss she disappeared from?’
“south - yh6-645-89045.”
“all right - nothing showing. looks like she wasn’t a party member.” genghis looked at yancey.
when he did not say anything, she asked, “was she a party member?”
“uh - i don’t think so.”
“if she was, you would have known it. she wasn’t a party member. did she engage in any counter-revolutionary activity?”
“the lady at the rental agency asked me that. i told her i didn’t know.”
“and now i am asking you. this isn’t the rental agency, honey. you can lie to them. you had best not lie to us.”
yancey was a little flustered. “i never heard her even talk about politics. she never talked about politics or the revolution to me, that’s for sure.”
“those are the kind you have to watch out for.”
“that’s what - “
“let me guess - that’s what the lady at the rental agency said. tell me, yancey, do you know any white people?”
yancey was amazed by the question. “white people? no, i’ve never even seen a white person, except on t v.”
genghis stared at yancey for about five seconds. “all right. you can go. thank you for reporting this. it shows you are a good citizen, and have the seed of a good revolutionary flower in you. this address you gave me - you are still there?”
“um - i might not be much longer. i have a job. i will give you their number.”
yancey gave genghis the number of the restaurant, she recorded it, and he got up and left.
outside, the sun was shining. it had been cool inside the station, but yancey welcomed the warm muggy air, and took a few deep breaths of it.
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