Ben answered on the third ring, lowering his voice when he realized it was me.
'Mom's mad.'
'I know. Will she speak to me?'
'You sure you want to?'
'I'm sure.'
I waited for her to come to the phone, thinking about what I would say and how I would say it. When Lucy picked up, her voice was more distant than I'd hoped.
She said, 'I guess you were right.'
'You heard about Joe?'
'Lieutenant Krantz called. He told me that Joe left the scene wounded.'
'That's right. I took away Krantz's gun so that Joe could leave. Officially, I'm under arrest. I have to go down to Parker Center tomorrow and turn myself in.'
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L.A. REQUIEM 367
'They call that aiding and abetting.'
I felt slow and stupid and sick to my stomach. My entire right side hurt.
'That's right, Lucy. I took Krantz's gun. I interfered. I committed a felony, and when I'm convicted I'll lose my license, and that's that. I'll get a job as a rent-a-cop, or maybe I can re-up with the Army. Be all I can be.'
Her voice softened. 'Were you going to tell me that you were shot?'
'Krantz tell you that?'
'Oh, Elvis.'
Sounding tired, she hung up.
I stood at the phone for a time, thinking that I should call her back, but I didn't.
Eventually, the cat came home, sniffing hopefully when he eased into the kitchen. I opened a can of Bumble Bee tuna, and sat with him on the floor. The Bumble Bee is his favorite. He lapped at it twice, then came to sniff my shoulder.
He licked at the bandages, and I let him.
There isn't so much love in the world that you can turn it
away when it's offered.
* * *
The next morning, Charlie brought me to Parker Center, where Krantz and Stan Watts walked me through the booking process. Neither Krantz nor Watts mentioned that I had spent the night at home. Maybe they had worked it out between them.
I was arraigned that afternoon, a trial date was set in Superior Court, and I was released without bail. I wasn't really thinking about the proceedings; I was thinking about Joe.
Paulette Renfro and Evelyn Wozniak drove in from Palm Springs for the arraignment. After, they sat with Charlie and me to discuss what had occurred between me and Krantz. Paulette and Evelyn both offered to lie on my behalf, but I declined. I wanted them to tell the truth. Charlie listened to their version of events, which matched with mine. When they were done, Charlie leaned back and said, 'u're fucked.'
368 ROBERT CRAIS
'That's what I like about you, Charlie. You're inspirational.'
'You want my legal advice, take them up on their offer to lie. We can cook up a good story, then it's the three of you against Krantz in court, and you'll skate.'
'Charlie, I don't want to play it that way.'
'Why not?'
That Charlie is something.
Later, Charlie spoke with the prosecutor handling the case, a young woman named Gilstrap out of USC Law who wanted to be governor. He came back and told me that I could plead guilty to the one felony charge of interfering with a police officer, and they would drop the obstruction of justice charge. If I took the plea, I would receive probation with no jail time served. I said, 'It's copping to a felony, Charlie. It means I lose my license.'
'You fight this, you're gonna lose your license anyway. You'll also do eighteen months.'
I took the plea, and became a convicted felon.
The next day I went into the hospital to have my shoulder rebuilt. It took three hours, not four, but left me in a cast that held my arm up from my body as if my shoulder were dislocated. I told the doctor that it made me look like a waiter. The doctor said another centimeter to the left, and Sobek's bullet would've severed the nerve that controlled the small muscle groups in my hand and forearm. Then I would've looked like overcooked macaroni.
Thinking about that made me feel better about the cast.
That evening, Lucy brought flowers. She let her ringers drift along the cast, then kissed my shoulder, and didn't look so mad anymore. A kindness came into her eyes that frightened me more than Laurence Sobek or getting shot or losing my license. I said, 'Are we over?'
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'Let's be honest: This job was an excuse to come here. I came to Los Angeles because I love you. I changed my life to be with you, but also because I wanted to change. I had no promises or expectations about where we would go with this, or when, or even if any of it would work out. I knew what you were and what it meant the first time we met.'
'I love you.' I didn't know what else to say.
'I know, but I don't trust that love as much as I used to. Do you see?'
'I understand.'
'Don't just say that.'
'I get it, Lucy, but I couldn't have done anything else. Joe needed me. If he's not dead, he still needs me, and I will help him.'
'You're angry.'
'Yeah. I'm angry.'
Neither of us said very much more, and after a while she left. I wondered if I would see her again, or ever feel the same about her, or she about me, and couldn't believe that I was even having such thoughts.
Some days really suck.
The next morning, Abbot Montoya wheeled Frank Garcia into my room. Frank looked withered and old in the chair, but he gripped my leg in greeting, and his grip was strong. He asked about my arm, and about Joe, but after a while he seemed to drift, and his eyes filled with tears.
'You got that sonofabitch.'
'Joe got him.'
'You and Joe, and the woman who came to my house.'
'Her name was Samantha Dolan.'
His face screwed up, concerned. 'They haven't heard anything about Joe?'
'Not yet, Frank.'
'Anything you need, you let me know. Lawyers, doctors, I don't care what. Legal, illegal, it doesn't matter. My heart belongs to you now. If I can do it for you, I'll do it.'
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ROBERT CRAIS
He started to sob, and I felt embarrassed.
