‘Leon,’ Buck said, ‘He’s losin his focus.’
‘No, Buck, I Aaoww! Listen, don’t Ohh! Owww!’
‘Okay, Leon,’ Buck said, ‘let’s see is he tuned in.’
‘Jesus, Buck, he’s gonna break somethin on me, don’t do this, man.’
‘Tell me your story, Goody.’
Goody looked at the beer bottle at his feet. Most of the beer had spilled onto the floor, but a little was left in the bottle, visible through the green glass. Goody licked his lips. ‘Uhh,’ he said. He met Buck’s eyes, wincing, and nodded, and said, ‘I called her, on the cell. Her cell, from my cell. When I heard on the scanner. I went over there, you know, her place, told her, she can’t help her brother, cops be all over her, watchin, see what she’
‘Move it along, Goody,’ Buck said.
Goody nodded, quickly. ‘She says okay,’ he said. ‘We both know he’s gonna call her, she’s gonna tell him, call good old Goody, he’ll help out, get you airplane tickets, whatever.’
Buck said, ‘When did he call?’
‘He didn’t yet,’ Goody said, then looked wide-eyed at Leon, then back at Buck: ‘Honest to God! I figured, tomorrow morning, I’d go over there, see Maryenne again, after her and her family get outa church.’
‘Churchgoing people,’ Buck said.
‘I told you,’ Goody said, ‘she’s a good girl, she’s okay, I wanna help out, I really do, Buck.’
‘You want that reward,’ Buck said.
Goody spread his hands. ‘What reward? I didn’t see nothing about no reward. If you know about’
‘Leon.’
‘Buck, no! Aii! Ow! Oh, no! All right, Buck, I Ow! Gee-ziz! I saidall right! Ow! Stop! Ow!’
‘All right, Leon,’ Buck said. To Goody he said, ‘It’s when Isay all right that Leon hears it.’
‘Ohhh. I can’t stand up no more, Buck.’
‘We could nail you to the wall, you like.’
‘Buck, please.’
‘This Brandon Williams,’ Buck said, ‘he’s gonna call his sister. Then he’s gonna call you. Right?’
‘That’s the plan. That’s the plan, Buck.’
‘Whenhe calls you,’ Buck said, ‘the second thing you’re gonna do is call the police, start the negotiation. What’s the first thing you’re gonna do, Goody?’
‘I’m gonna call you,’ Goody said. He was very subdued now. He didn’t like the situation, but he knew he was defeated. He was also in pain.
‘That’s right,’ Buck said. ‘You call me first, then you can go on and do the negotiation with the law, same as you planned. You’ll collect the reward, same as you already figured.’
Trying to look hopeful, Goody said, ‘And we split it, right?’
‘We’ll work that out, Goody,’ Buck said. ‘Okay, Leon, we’re done here.’
They left Goody huddled against the wall. Going through the front room, Buck nodded at the college girl and said, ‘You oughta wring that out before you put it back where you found it.’
‘That’s what I planned on, Buck,’ Goody said. His voice was high, with a new tremble in it. ‘But now,’ he said, ‘I think I just gotta rest awhile.’
Outside, the telephone company truck was gone. Some other emergency taken care of, working this late on a Saturday night.
8
‘Hold on, Brenda,’ Ed Mackey said. He held tight to her hips, felt her knees press to both sides of his rib cage, and looked up at her grinning grimace as she concentrated on that inner rhythm, bore down, eyes staring at some point inside her own head. ‘Hold on, Brenda, hold on.’
‘You know,’ she muttered, ‘you know, you know, come alongwith me, you know, you know’
‘Hold on’
‘Come alongwith me!’
‘Hold oonnn!’
He thrust endlessly upward, back arched, and she shivered all over like a bead curtain. ‘Oh!’ she cried. ‘Youknow!’
The shower stall, when they got to it five minutes later, was big enough for them both. This was one of the most expensive top-floor rooms in one of the most expensive hotels in the city, and Brenda had been checked in here for five days now, ever since Parker had told Mackey when he and the other two would be coming out of Stoneveldt. Mackey had kept the old motel room for himself until Thursday, and was not registered in this hotel, was merely a visitor, because he’d known, once Parker was out, the law would want to have a word or two with the guy who’d been coming to see Parker inside.
So Brenda was here to give him somewhere else to wait out the jewelry job, and she was herebecause Mackey believed, when the cops were looking for somebody, they looked first in places at the same economic level where they’d known the guy to live before. So let them spend a week on cut-rate motels; by the time they thought to look
