I told her that I didn't know if it was because of me, but that it was going to come out, yes.
She nodded and considered me for quite a long time, and then she said, 'Thank you.'
I offered my condolences to the old man, and then to Shalene. Marcus said, 'I remember you,' loudly, and with a big smile. Shalene shushed him. She still didn't like me much.
Ray Depente led me away from the grave and Joe Pike drifted up behind us. Cool T watched from the crowd. Ray said, 'How come that bastard D'Muere is walking around free?'
I told him.
Ray listened, his face tight and contained. When I was done, he said, 'You remember what you said?'
'Yes.'
'You said we'd have justice. You said that bastard would pay for killing James Edward. Him getting a fourteen- year-old fool to take his place isn't what I call justice.'
I didn't know what to say. 'The DA's people know what's going on. They'll keep digging for a case against D'Muere, and when they find it, they'll file.'
Ray Depente said, 'Bullshit.'
'Ray.'
Ray said, 'That bastard called the Washingtons. He said that if they open their mouths about this, he'll kill that baby.' He pointed at Marcus. 'He called that poor woman on the day of her son's funeral and said that. What kind of animal does something like that?'
I didn't know what to say.
Ray Depente said, 'Fuck him and fuck the DA, too. I know what to do.' Then he walked away.
Joe said, 'I know what to do, too.'
I looked at him. 'Jesus Christ. Marines.'
Cool T came out of the crowd and met Ray Depente and they spoke for a moment, and then the minister began the service. Maybe five minutes into it, Akeem D'Muere's black Monte Carlo with the heavily smoked windows turned into the graveyard and slowly cruised past the line of parked cars, his tape player booming. The volume was cranked to distortion, and the heavy bass drowned out the minister. The minister stopped trying to speak over the noise and looked at the car, and everyone else looked at the car, too. Ray Depente stepped out from the row of chairs and walked toward the car. The Monte Carlo stopped for a moment, then slowly rolled away. When the car was on the other side of the cemetery, the minister went on with the service, but Ray Depente stayed at the edge of the dark green canopy and followed the car with his eyes until it was gone.
Guard duty. The kind of duty where your orders are to shoot to kill.
When the service was over and the people were breaking up and moving down the slope, Joe and I stood together and watched Ray Depente help Mrs. Washington to the family's limo. Joe said, 'He's going to do something.'
'I know.'
'He's good, but there's only one of him.'
I nodded and took a breath and let it out. 'I know. That's why we're going to help.'
Pike's mouth twitched and we went down to our cars.
At two oh-five that afternoon, Joe Pike and I found Ray Hand Cool T together in Ray's office. Cool T looked angry and sullen, but Ray looked calm and composed, the type of calm I'd seen on good sergeants when I was in Vietnam. Ray saw us enter and followed us with his eyes until we were at his door. 'What?'
'Are you going to kill him?'
'I don't know what you're talking about.' Innocent.
'Well, there are ways to do it. Get a good scoped hunting rifle, hang back a couple of hundred yards, and drop the hammer. Another way would be to drive around for a while until you see him, then walk up close with a handgun. There are more apt to be witnesses that way, but it's a matter of personal preference, I guess.'
Cool T shifted in his chair.
Ray leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. 'Man, do you think I just fell off the watermelon truck?'
'What I think is that you've got a pretty good life doing well by a lot of folks, and you're about to mess it up.'
Ray looked at Cool T and Cool T grinned. Ray didn't. He gave me lizard eyes. 'That's what it is to you, that it?'
I spread my hands.
'So you come down here to point that out? Maybe set me straight?'
'Nope. We came to help.'
'Well, we don't need the white man coming down here to solve the black man's problems. We can manage that just fine, thank you.'
Pike's mouth twitched for the second time that day.
