nervous around cops.
“Careful if you drink that. Fat boy over there probably needs help collecting money.”
“Or he’s got a growroom in the basement.”
Harris sipped the drink. “Least he knows I don’t come cheap.”
“Quality costs.”
“Tell by his wife.”
“Word is she came mail- order.”
“No. Serious?” The woman was dark- haired but Harris hadn’t noticed an accent. She might have been eastern European, but so was half the Valley.
Riley burst out laughing.
“She’s from goddamn Uniontown,” Chester said, “she used to dance at that place he had over there.”
“Speaking of,” said Riley, “how’s
“Which one?”
“Grace Poe. Or just plain Grace, if that’s now how she goes.”
“No idea,” said Harris. “That fizzled out a long time ago.”
The table was quiet for a few seconds and all four men looked in different directions.
Chester turned his glass in his hands. “Well, you know we all sympathize with what happened to her son.”
“Get your waders on. It’s about to rain horseshit.”
“Be serious a minute, Riley,” said Frank.
“I am being serious. If we brought all those boys back from the sandbox, gave them blue uniforms and let them keep their M16’s, pretty soon we’d have a crime- free society. Stop wasting money on Arabs and put it to work right here.”
“What are you talking about,” said Chester.
“We could walk three blocks in any direction and score whatever we wanted. That’s what I’m talking about. No offense to Johnny Law, he’d need about three hundred guys to get this place under control. So you can’t expect kids to grow up here and not do dumb- ass shit.”
“We aren’t quite there yet. It isn’t quite anarchy yet, is it, Bud?” said Chester.
“No,” said Harris. “Far from.”
“Well, there’s a lot of loose talk about what it would mean if a person was literally allowed to get away with murder.”
“I have no idea about that.” But he was thinking about the jacket.
“The rumor mill is in high gear right now, is what Chester’s getting at.”
“I don’t give a fuck, Bud,” said Riley “Just for the record.”
“This could still be a good place. It’s just that the laws have to be enforced and people are worried about that you know, crime stats get up too high, no one wants to move here, gets hard to attract business, et cetera.”
“Chester,” said Riley, “that kid isn’t even a goddamn blip on the kind of radar you’re talking about. It was a goddamn derelict, even if he did do it and it wasn’t self- defense or something. Probably the same piece of shit that stole the camper shell off my truck.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Chester.
“Well you do know there was ten, fifteen smaller plants that closed around here just in the past year or so. I mean, you can’t smell it from your place in Seven Springs, but it’s still happening. Our time might have been the big bloodbath, but they’re still shooting the survivors. There’s gonna be fallout to it, just like there was in our time and hangin some kid out to dry doesn’t do shit for anyone.”
“Aside from all the HUD people,” said Chester, “this is still a good place to live.”
“I need a drink,” said Riley.
Harris pushed his untouched beer over.
“Listen, Bud, we all know it seemed like the right thing to do when you got Billy a slap on the wrist last year.”
“Only now,” said Frank, “from certain people’s point of view, I’m not saying my own, but from certain people’s viewpoint, Billy Poe should have been locked up and then this other thing wouldn’t have happened.”
“None of us knows what happened there,” said Harris. “There’s no one who knows.”
“Well, we all hear he’s not talking. Which might make him smart, but it doesn’t make him innocent.”
“I’m not involved.”
Riley was halfway through Harris’s beer. Fat Stan and his wife were both watching from the bar. Harris wondered how much they could hear.
“There’s people out there who want you to be involved,” said Chester. “It would make them happier than pigs in shit if they were to hear you’re still messing around in Billy Poe’s business.”
“That’s right.”
“There are people who think that boy is a bad seed, and that the reason he was on the loose is you.”
Harris shifted in his chair. He could feel that his ears were warm. Well, he thought, what did you expect. Better to know it.
“Keep your sails trimmed,” said Chester, “that’s all we’re saying.”
“Yeah, right,” said Riley. He glanced at Harris. “What I hear, they’re looking to hang you on the cross along with Cunko.” He tossed down the rest of the beer. “Think of it as a reward for a lifetime of service.”
“Who is it?” said Harris. Then he said: “Actually you guys don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s a lot of people, Bud.”
Riley smirked. “It ain’t that many. It’s Howard Peele of Peele Supply and Tony DiPietro. And Joey Roskins along with them. Basically your whole cocaine- snorting, wife- swapping chamber of commerce.”
Chester gave Riley a look.
“Fuck those people,” said Riley.
“It’s not just them.”
“Buddy,” said Riley. He leaned in close to Harris. “I know for a fact that Howie Peele gets his nose powder dropped off once a week by a guy from Clairton. You get in a jam, you got that in your back pocket.”
Chester’s face had become very stiff and Harris was feeling worse and worse. He’d let Howie Peele off for a DUI a year ago, made him call his wife for a ride home. Wrong message, he thought. It had seemed like a mistake at the time, but he hadn’t known why. No, he thought, that’s the wrong way to think about things. He wondered if he should talk to Glen Patacki again. He needed to get somewhere he could think about this.
Riley interrupted: “I can see you too, Chester. I ain’t afraid of that prick and I don’t care who you tell.”
“Settle down,” said Harris.
“A murder is a serious thing,” Frank said quietly. “No one would deny that.”
“That depends,” said Riley, coming back to the conversation.
“People are worried it might be time for new blood.”
“Well,” said Harris. “They’re probably right.”
5. Isaac
Ahead of him were the lights and signs of a Wal- Mart. He was walking very slowly; it took forever just to cross the parking lot and when he got inside he stood in the doorway in the blast of hot air until the greeter motioned him forward. Salvation Army type—looking you over. Probably call security.
Bright in here, he thought. I just want to sleep. Find a quiet corner. No, eat first. Do not leave without eating. Taco Bell right there and a Pizza Hut, you can spend two dollars. He made his way to the line for the Taco Bell and looked at the menu overhead. What has the most calories? Two bean burritos and a taco. Balanced meal. The body a temple.
After his food came he took a glass of water and sat slowly eating. Almost too tired to eat. Give it a few minutes. No, your head is clearing already—coming up from under water. Blood sugar rising. Close the eyes, just a
