The way I feel right now, sir, I wouldn’t want to work for you again. . . . But you have to understand we believe . . . Mr. Rawlins and I believe that Axel Bowers was murdered and that Mr.
Haffernon was too. . . . Yes . . . Easy has talked with Maya a few times since that initial meeting and he told her that he located Miss Cargill and that he’d spoken to Axel. Did she tell you about that? . . . I assume that she hasn’t. . . . Sir, we need to meet . . .
No, not at your house . . . Not in San Francisco. . . . There’s a bar called Mike’s on Slauson in Los Angeles. Easy and I want to meet you there.”
There was a lot of argument about the meeting but Lee finally gave in. The way we figured it, if there was a problem between Maya and Lee he would have some inkling of it beyond our insin-uations. If he doubted her loyalty he’d have to take the meeting.
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As if she could read the vibrations in the air Easter Dawn made tea and brought it to us just when the call was over. Her father didn’t chastise her for leaving her room.
I took the child on my lap and she sat there comfortably, listening to the men.
“I’ll go with you and Raymond back to L.A.,” Saul said.
“No. Go to your family, man. Ray and me can see to this.”
“What about you?” Christmas asked Mouse.
“Naw, man. It ain’t no war. Just one white boy think he bad. If I cain’t take that then I’m past help.”
Easter brought out her dolls after that and we all told her how beautiful they were. She basked in the attention of the four men and Christmas was glad for her. After he put her to bed we all left. Mouse asked Christmas could he leave his red El Dorado there for a few days. He wanted to be able to strategize with me on the ride.
When we approached my flashy Pontiac I felt that I was leaving something, a fellowship that I’d not known before. Maybe it was just sadness at leaving a home when I was homeless.
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37
In the front yard Saul came up to us, shook Mouse by the hand, and then drew me away.
“Easy, I know I got you into this mess,” he said. “Maybe I should come along.”
“No, Saul, no. Neither you or me got the stomach for a man like this killer. Really Mouse would be better on this alone.”
“Well then why don’t you grab Jesus and come up and stay with us at the cabin?”
“Because EttaMae would kill me if I let her husband get shot out there. It already happened one time. I got to cover his back and you got to go to your family.”
Saul gave me his hangdog stare. He was a homely man, there’s no doubt about that. I held out a hand and he grabbed on to it.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be. I asked you for the job and you came through for 2 4 0
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me. If I’m very lucky I’ll come out of this alive and with the money for Feather’s doctors. If I’m just plain old lucky I’ll just get the money.”
Saul nodded and turned to leave. I touched his arm.
“Why’d you want me to come out here?” I asked him. I thought I knew but I wanted to see what he had to say.
“I did Christmas a favor once. He’s the kind of guy that takes a debt seriously. I wanted you to know him if you got into a bind.
He’ll do whatever it takes to make things right.”
i t w a s l a t e
on the highway ride home. After my accident and two near misses I was paying close attention to the road and the speedometer. Mouse and I smoked with the windows down and the chilly breezes whipping around us.
After quite a while I asked, “So what’s that Christmas Black’s story?”
“What you mean?” Mouse asked. He understood my question; he was just naturally cagey.
“Is that his real name?”
“I think it is. All the kids in his family named after holidays. I think that’s what he told me once.”
“What’s his story?” I asked again.
“He a terror,” Mouse said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He kilt a whole town once.”
“A what?”
“Whole town. Men, women, chirren. All of ’em. Every last one.” Mouse sneered thinking about it. “He kilt the dogs and the water buffaloes an’ burnt down all the houses an’ half the trees an’ crops. Mothahfuckah kilt every last thing ’cept a couple’a chickens an’ one baby girl.”
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