Part 24 (1/2)
”You got it.”
Waiting for Elroy the following afternoon in the jabbering chaos of Miami International Airport, I sweated. At ten minutes to four I began to pace. The son of a b.i.t.c.h might stay at the track for just one more race. I walked a few steps, put on my gla.s.ses, and checked the departure board again. Another flight left for Jacksonville at 6:00 P.M., another at eight-thirty-if Elroy showed up at all. I cursed and scowled. A woman standing nearby looked at me and took a step backward toward the protection of her husband.
At three minutes past four I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned, Elroy stood there in his baggy trousers and white golf s.h.i.+rt and Florida seagull cap. He was still grinning.
”Worried, huh?”
”Who, me?”
”Next race, I had this twelve-to-one shot I knew was gonna be in the money. No f.u.c.king way that horse can go off at twelve to one. You probably don't give a s.h.i.+t, but you want to know how I know? ... Hey, what's the matter?”
Behind Elroy, from the revolving door, emerged the gray-haired cop who had been sitting near us at Lacy's for dinner the night before. Or at least someone who resembled him. This one wore a brown cardigan and carried a small airline bag.
”Don't turn around,” I said.
He merged into a group that included a Latin-looking team of laughing athletes wearing purple striped shorts, a pair of pale young priests, and a woman with two crying children. The gray-haired man vanished.
”So what is it?” Elroy asked.
”I thought I saw one of your shadows.”
”No way.” Elroy searched for a while, then shook his head emphatically. ”One of those deputies followed me from the track, he ain't gonna stand around and jack off while we jump on board no airplane. He's gonna come right up to my face and go, 'What you up to, amigo?' ”
”I'm not so sure.”
”Believe it, they don't know d.i.c.k what happened. I'm at the five- dollar betting window, see? I don't even bet. I just walk back to where the cop is waiting. I go, 'Oh, s.h.i.+t, I forgot to tell you, man, I got a tip from a trainer. Twelve to one, number six horse.' The cop can't resist-he runs up to put his five bucks down. And I'm gone, man! Faster than a speeding bullet. How about that?”
”Let's go through security,” I said, still sweating.
The plane was full. I walked twice through the aisle to the toilet aft to see if anyone looked at all familiar. Elroy was drinking his second double Dewar's on the rocks when we began the descent into Jacksonville International.
”Where we staying, Counselor? Ponte Vedra? Plantation Club? Nice suite for us at the Omni?”
I had planned to make those arrangements the evening before from the Man O' War Motel, then catch a Sunday morning flight, spend part of the day prepping my witness and the rest of it arranging the papers for the hearing and going over my summation. But the need to spirit Elroy out of Miami had changed all that.
From the Avis counter I called the Omni downtown. With its upper-middle-cla.s.s solidity, it seemed safer than the Marina or a suburban motel.
In the rental car, Elroy cleared his throat. ”We were talking about what you might call a rebate? That thousand? You got it handy?”
”Not tonight.”
”How about a down payment? I wish I'd been born rich instead of so good-looking, but that ain't the case. I'm down to my last chip.”
”I can give you a hundred. What do you need it for?”
”Hey, I told you the doggies race in June. I ast if you need me at night. You said no. Right?”
”You want to go out to the Kennel Club tonight?”
”Man wins the jackpot. He figured it out.”
”Elroy, you were just at the horses this afternoon. The same night, you want to go to another track to see the greyhounds?”
”That's a kick, man!” he exclaimed hotly. ”Can't do that unless you go straight from Hialeah, fly Miami-Jax, get your a.s.s out to the Kennel Club by eight o'clock. So here's this golden opportunity! Something I can tell my grandchildren, I ever have any.”
”Let's get up to the hotel room,” I said, ”and then we'll see.” That's what I would have said to Alan and Cathy years ago. Dad was back again.
Elroy sulked. I took two rooms, hoping that he would settle down on his bed in front of his own TV. I called room service for a club sandwich and coffee. But it was useless. Within a minute, Elroy knocked on my door. ”Counselor! You comfortable? Everything cool? I been thinking ... just give me whatever cash you got, keep a few bucks for yourself. You do your thing, I'll do mine. That okay?”
”Stay here,” I said, hoping to sound sage. ”It's safer.”
”I told you, if that guy at the airport was a cop, we wouldn't be here now.”
I thumbed through my wallet. I had two hundred fifty in cash.
”The last race is over by eleven. Few beers, I'll be back by midnight.”
He could go anywhere. I'd have to wait up for him, biting my nails. This one night could be longer than a wet week. We wouldn't finish the hearing tomorrow, which meant I could work on the summation tomorrow evening.
”I'll go with you,” I said.
”You really want to do that?”
”No, but I'm doing it anyway. And when the last race is over, we're coming back here. Want to eat first?”
”Get a hot dog out there,” Elroy said. ”Come on, let's move. We already missed the first race.”
I had been to the dog track once, with my parents and sister when I was a boy. But on the drive out, I let Elroy explain everything. I let him pay the fifty cents admission for both of us and lead me to the seats in the gla.s.sed-in, air-conditioned mezzanine. I let him buy a tip sheet, choose the dogs to bet on, and place the bets.
”You got something on your mind, Counselor?”
”The hearing tomorrow.”
”Yeah, but it's not a trial, is it? Nothing serious like that.”
”It's serious, all right. That's why you're going to tell your story under oath. We're trying to save Darryl Morgan's life.”
”Three minutes to post time ...”
Held by the track handlers, the dogs in their blankets paraded around the track in front of us. The palm trees swayed in the night breeze. There were twenty minutes between races. Elroy kept checking the odds as they changed on the monitor. His pale eyes were never still. Finally he jumped up from his seat.
”I'm putting twenty bucks across the board on the number two dog. This fleabag is always in the money. How much you in for, Counselor?”
I handed him a five-dollar bill and he marched off buoyantly toward the betting desk. A few minutes later the lights dimmed and the mechanical rabbit was released. The dogs flew wildly around the oval.
I stood to stretch and glimpsed through a gap in the crowd the hard, attentive face of a gray-haired, crew-cut man in a brown cardigan. He was twenty feet away and watching me. He was the man who had been in the restaurant the previous night, matching us bite for bite with the meat loaf, and at Miami Airport earlier that evening, crowded in among the soccer players.
He wasn't a cop, I realized.
But he had been following Elroy. Following from the motel to the track and from the track to the airport. Missing USAir 133 out of prudence or because he needed backup. Probably catching the next flight at six o'clock. Checking the rental car companies at Jacksonville International: ”I believe my business a.s.sociates came through here?” As a matter of fact, sir, one of the gentlemen used our telephone ... I heard him mention the Omni, sir... .