I told Milo everything I knew. About Fanny and Sol, about Elana Love and Reverend Grove. I told him about the car chase where they were shooting at me and about them burning down my bookstore. Some of it he already knew, but I laid out everything so he’d know exactly where I stood.
“So you see,” I explained. “I didn’t start nuthin’. I mean, a man got to seek out some justice if he been done wrong, right?”
“Not if justice gonna be your own hangin’.”
The words bore down into my mind. I pulled my hands apart and rubbed them down my chest. It wasn’t that Milo had let me know something so much more terrible than I already knew. But his point of view let me stand back and see how frightening my situation was.
“But there is one thing,” Milo suggested.
“What’s that?”
“If Waverly’s in it, then there’s a whole lotta money involved for sure. I ain’t talkin’ ’bout no colored money now, Paris. I ain’t talkin’ ’bout six months’ rent or new-car kinda money. I’m talkin’ Swiss ski chalet. I’m talkin’ luxury for life.”
“So what you sayin’, Miles?”
“Let’s work together. Let’s find out where the money’s comin’ from. Let’s skim a little luxury off ’a the top.”
“I thought you was so scared’a these boys?” I asked.
“I am,” he agreed vigorously. “Them boys scare me. They should scare you too. Shit. These boys is serious.”
“But you still want in with me an’ Fearless?”
“Just ’cause I’m scared don’t make me no coward,” Milo claimed. “I don’t want them white boys feelin’ that just ’cause they walk in the room that I’m’a scurry out like I’m some kinda rat or cockroach. Naw, baby, scared keep ya sharp.”
FEARLESS, LUCAS, AND INEZ were waiting out in front of the courthouse when Milo and I came down. Inez was grinning at Fearless, holding his hand. He took it all in good spirit, but I could tell that Inez wanted something more tangible.
“Thank you, Mr. Minton,” Lucas said. “They makin’ me do community service with the county park department, but you know that’s good. The judge said that if I learned somethin’ they might just give me a real job there.”
“Thank you, Paris,” Inez said. “And thank you for believing in us, Mr. Sweet.”
“Uh-huh,” the ex-lawyer grunted. “Fearless, you, me, an’ Paris gotta talk.”
“Okay, Milo,” the war hero said.
Inez didn’t want to let go at first. But Fearless finally managed to disentangle himself.
“You gonna call me, Fearless?” she asked.
“Just as soon as I get me a phone, baby. Just as soon as I get me a phone.”
“WE WORK IT together and split whatever profit three ways,” Milo said to us at his office after sending Loretta out for sandwiches.
“Not that I wanna insult you, Milo,” Fearless said, “but what you gonna do for us to deserve a third?”
“I found out about Douglas and his lawyers, didn’t I?” Milo whined.
“We agreed to find Lucas in trade,” I said.
“I let you sleep in my office.”
“That’s about two percent,” I said. “Where’s the other thirty-one and a third?”
“You’ll definitely need professional help if it comes to making bonds into money,” Milo suggested.
“That could work on a percentage,” I replied. “And not nowhere near the kind you want. I mean, you can’t even practice law, Miles. If we needed someone in a courtroom, we’d have to hire somebody else.”
It was a ritual dance. The conclusion was foregone. Fearless and I wanted Milo in it with us. He was smart and he knew things we didn’t, and he was less likely to turn us over than some other men we knew. But the problem we had — the problem we always had — was money.
“How much?” Milo asked.
“The same amount you was gonna lose on Lucas,” I said.
“Six hundred dollars!”
“That’s it,” Fearless chimed.
“In cash, in our hands, right now,” I added.
