Part 13 (1/2)
”You mean like hit men and the United States government?”
He nods. ”That's what I mean.”
”But we've got Marcus. Advantage, us.”
Laurie's reaction when I get home and bring her up to date is the same as Kevin's. ”Are you sure Marcus is watching out for you?” she asks.
I shrug. ”He's never let me down before. But I must tell you, I resent the fact that you think I need Marcus for protection. I can handle myself when things get rough.”
”Since when?”
”Since always,” I say. ”You may not know this, but when I was a kid, and the other kids were at the library or the ballet, you know what I was doing? I was at home watching boxing on television.”
”Andy, you're a great lawyer and a wonderful man, and I love you completely. But you'd be in major trouble if you got in the ring with the Olson twins.”
”What does that prove? There's two of them.”
The situation is becoming very stressful for Laurie. She has to go back home in three days and can't stand that she will be leaving me in what she considers a dangerous situation. In the old days, meaning last year, she would have been on the defense team and would be taking an active role. Now she's on the sidelines watching, and having trouble with it.
I spend the rest of the day hanging out with Laurie, Tara, and Reggie, as appealing a threesome as ever existed. I'm not feeling overly nervous about my upcoming meeting in the darkened park. Since I requested the meeting, there's little reason to consider Franklin a danger.
At nine o'clock I park my car by the baseball field and walk the few hundred yards across the field to the old pavilion. It's empty now, but when I was younger it had a snack bar with some of the best french fries in history. My father would take me there after my team lost a game or I played badly, to cheer me up. I went there a lot.
I stand in front of the pavilion as instructed, waiting for Franklin. There is some moonlight, but he is only ten yards from me before I see him. He came from the opposite direction and is so quiet he must be wearing moccasins.
”h.e.l.lo, Mr. Carpenter.”
”Thanks for coming.”
”How is Richard doing?”
”He's okay, but he really needs your help.”
”I'm not sure what I can do.”
”I am operating under the premise that Richard was intended to be a murder victim, set up to look like he was perpetrating a murder-suicide. It could not have been to prevent him from revealing something he knew, since he would still be aware of it. It must have been to get him out of the way, so that he would not prevent something that was going to happen.”
”Roy Chaney took over when Richard... left.”
”I know. I spoke to him.”
He seems surprised by this. ”You did?”
”Yes. Is he a friend of yours?”
His response is instantaneous. ”No.” Then: ”I don't trust him.”
”You think he could be doing something illegal?”
”I'm not sure,” he says. ”But since he came in, guys have gotten transferred out of his section, and they brought in new people from the outside. They're a real tight group-not very friendly with the rest of us.”
”So it's possible Richard was taken out to enable some people to do illegal business, with Chaney allowing it to happen?” I ask.
He answers my question with a question. ”You think whatever it was is still going on?”
I nod. ”Probably. A lot of people are nervous about what I might turn up. If it was over, they wouldn't be quite as worried.”
”So what is it you want me to do?” he asks.
”I don't even know enough yet to be specific. I just want you to be alert to anything, maybe ask around discreetly. And carefully, very carefully.”
He promises that he will and, before he leaves, asks that I give his best to Richard. ”I feel bad that I stopped going to see him,” he says. ”It's just that-”
”He understands.”
Franklin leaves, and I head back for my car. It's gotten even darker, and I can barely find it. I'll be glad when I get out of here.
I reach the car, open the door, and get in. I turn on the car and flick on the lights at the same time, and when I look through the front window I get a jolt comparable to maybe six or seven million volts of electricity sent through my body. It doesn't kill me, but it makes me scream really loud.
There, lying on the front of the car, face pressed against the winds.h.i.+eld, is a really large man. He's also really ugly, a condition made even more severe by the fact that his large nose seems to be bleeding, perhaps from the impact on the winds.h.i.+eld.
I'm not quite sure what to do next. I can't drive like this, but neither am I inclined to get out of the car. The guy could be dead, and dead bodies freak me out. Even worse, he could be alive. Live bodies that look like this freak me out even more.
The next jolt is a tapping on the driver's window, which makes me jump so much that I literally hit my head on the roof of the car. I turn and see Marcus signaling me to roll down the window.
I do so, and Marcus sort of nods in the direction of Winds.h.i.+eld Man and says, ”Out.”
”Him?” I ask, a.s.suming that Marcus is talking about Winds.h.i.+eld Man. ”Is he just out, or dead?”
”He wants you to get out of the car, Andy. Which would be a good idea, since we're going to be here a while.” It's Laurie's voice, which represents still another surprise.
I get out of the car, but before I can say anything, Laurie says, ”Let's take a walk. You can show me this part of the park.”
”It's dark,” I point out.
”That's okay,” she says. ”I've got a good imagination.”
So Laurie and I go for a walk in the park, leaving Marcus behind with Winds.h.i.+eld Man, whose moans indicate he is regaining consciousness. ”Any chance you'll tell me what's going on?”
”It's pretty simple,” she says. ”Marcus was watching out for you, and he saw this guy following you. Marcus then put him on your car for safekeeping.”
”Who is he?”
”That's what Marcus is in the process of finding out.”
”Did he see who I was meeting with?”
”No,” Laurie says. ”Marcus intercepted him before Franklin got here.”