I nodded. It made no sense at all, but I knew it was true. Drug reasoning. The rhythms were brutally clear —and, to him, they made excellent sense.
He was slumped in the chair, concentrating on Mission Im possible.
I thought for a while, then stood up and began stuffing things into my suitcase.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Never mind,” I said. The zipper stuck momentarily, butl yanked it shut. Then I put on my shoes.
“Walt a minute,” he said. “Jesus, you’re not
I nodded. “You’re goddamn right, I’m leaving. But don’t worry. I’ll stop at the desk on my way out. You’ll be taken care of.”
He stood up quickly, kicking his drink over. “OK, god damnit, this is serious! Where’s my .357?”
I shrugged, not looking at him as I crammed the Chivas Regal bottles into my hand-satchel. “I sold it in Baker,” I said. “I owe you 35 bucks.”
“Jesus Christ!” he shouted. “That thing cost me a hundred and ninety goddamn dollars!”
I smiled. “You told me where you got that gun,” I said. “Remember?”
He hesitated, pretending to think. “Oh yeah,” he said finally. “Yeah ... that punk out in Pasadena .. .” Then he flared again. “So it cost me a goddamn
“You’re stupid,” I said. “I warned you about dealing with junkies on credit—especially when they’re
My attorney sagged. “He was my cousin. The jury found him innocent.”
“Shit!” I snapped. “How many people has that junkie bastard shot since we’ve known him? Six? Eight? That evil little tuck is so guilty that I should probably kill him myself, on general principles. He shot that narc just as sure as he killed that girl at the Holiday Inn ... and that guy in Ventura!”
He eyed me coldly. “You better be careful, man. You’re into some heavy
I laughed, tossing my luggage together in a lump at the foot of the bed while I sat down to finish my drink. I actually intended to leave. I didn’t really want to, but I figured that nothing I could possibly do with this gig was worth the risk of tangled up with Lucy ... No doubt she was a beautiful person, if she ever got straight ... very sensative, with a secret reserve karma undernenth her Pit Bull act; a great talent with fine instincts ... Just a heavy little gal who unfortunately went stone crazy somewhere prior to her eighteenth birthday.
I had nothing personal against her. But I knew she was perfectly capable—under these circumstances—of sending us both to prison for at least twenty years, on the strength of some heinous story we would probably never even hear until she took the stand:
“Yessir, those two men over there in the dock are the ones who gave me the LSD and took me to the hotel . .
“And what did they do then, Lucy?”
“Well, sir, I can’t rightly remember . .
“Indeed? Well, perhaps this document from the District At torney’s files will refresh your memory, Lucy ...This is the statement you made to Officer Squane shortly after you were found wandering naked in the desert near Lake Mead.”
“I don’t know for sure what they done to me, but I remem ber it was horrible. One guy picked me up in the Los Angeles airport; he’s the one who gave me the pill ...and the other one met us at the hotel; he was sweating real bad and he talked so fast that I couldn’t understand what he wanted ...No sir, I don’t recall exactly what they did to me at that point, because I was still under the influence of that drug ... yessir, the LSD they gave me ...and I think I was naked for a long time, maybe the whole time they had me there. I think it was evening, because I remember they had the news on. Yessir, Walter Cronkite, I remember his face all through it ...”
No, I was not ready for this. No jury would doubt her testi mony, especially when it came stuttering out through a fog of tears and obscene acid flashbacks. And the fact that she couldn’t recall precisely what we had done to her would make it impossible to deny. The jury would know what we’d done. They would have read about people like us in the $2.95 paper backs:
And of course we could’nt possibly taking the stand in our own defense—not after they’d cleaned out the trunk of the Whale: “And I’d like to point out, Your Honor, that, our Prosecution Exhibits A through Y are available to the jury—yes, this incredible collection of illegal drugs and narcotics which the defendants had in their possession at the time of their arrests and forcible seizure by no less than nine officers, six of whom are still hospitalized ...and also Exhibit Z, sworn testimony by three professional narcotics experts selected by the president of the National District Attorneys’ Conference—which was seriously embarrassed by the defendants’ attempts to infiltrate, disrupt and pervert their annual convention ...these experts have testified that the drug cache in the possession of these defendants at the time of the arrests was enough to kill an entire platoon of United States Marines ...and gentlemen, I use the word kill with all due respect for the fear and loathing I’m sure it provokes in every one of you when you reflect that these degenerate rapists used this galaxy of narcotics to completely destroy the mind and morals of this once-innocent teenager, this ruined and de graded young girl who now sits before you in shame ... yes, they fed this girl enough drugs to scramble her brains so hor ribly that she can no longer even recall the filthy details of that orgy she was forced to endure ... and then they used her, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, for their own unspeakable ends!”
5. A Terrible Experience with Extremely Dangerous Drugs.
There was no way to cope with it. I stood up and gathered my luggage. It was important, I felt, to get out of town immediately.
My attorney seemed to finally grasp this. “Wait!” he shouted. “You can’t leave me alone in this snake pit! This room is in my name.”
I shrugged.
“OK, goddamnit,” he said, moving toward the phone.
“Look, I’ll call her. I’ll get her off our backs.” He nodded.
“You’re right. She’s my problem.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s gone too far.”
“You’d make a pisspoor lawyer,” he replied. “Relax. I’ll handle this.”
He dialed the Americana and asked for 1600. “Hi, Lucy,” he said. “Yeah, it’s me. I got your message ... what? Hell no, I taught the bastard a lesson he’ll never forget.., what? ...o, not dead, but he won’t be bothering anybody for a while—yeah, I left him out there; I stomped him, then pulled all teeth out..
Jesus, I thought. What a terrible thing to lay on somebody a head full of acid.
“But here’s the problem,” he was saying. “I have to leave here right away. That bastard cashed a bad check downstairs and gave you as a reference, so they’ll be looking for both of you ...yeah, I know, but you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, Lucy; some people are just basically rotten ...anyway, the pie as a reference, so they’ll be looking for both of us. The last thing in the world you want to do is call this hotel again; they’ll trace the call and put you straight behind bars ...no, I’m moving to the Tropicana right away; I’ll call you from there when I know my room number ...yeah, probably two hours; I have to act casual, or they’ll capture me too ...I think I’ll probably use a different name, but I’ll let you know what it is ...sure, just as soon as I check in ...what? of course; we’ll go to the Circus-Circus and catch the polar bear act; it’ll freak you right out . .
He was nervously shifting the phone from ear to ear while he talked: “No . . .listen, I have to get off; they probably have the phone tapped ...yeah, I know, it was horrible, but it’s all over now...0 MY GOD! THEY’RE KICKING THEDOOR DOWN!” He hurled the phone down and began shout ing: “No! Get away from me! I’m innocent! It was Duke! I swear to God!” He kicked the phon against the wall, then leaned down to it and began yelling again: “No, I don’t know where she is! I think she went back to Montana. You’ll never catch Lucy! She’s gone!” He kicked the receiver again, then picked it up and held it about a foot away from his mouth as he uttered a long, quavering groan. “No! No! Don’t put that thing on me!” he screamed. Then he slammed the phone down.
